Tennessee Valley Woodworkers

  Meeting 9/20/22

Meeting called to order by President Jim Jolliffe at 6:30 pm.

Introduction of Guests

Sabrina Watts, Sister-in-Law of member Anthony Watts.

Review of Calendar of Events

Calendar available on website.

Business

Committee Reports: Chuck Taylor said he will be trimming down membership list by removing non-paying members, so please check with Treasurer Darren Earle to ensure you have paid your annual dues.

There will be a new turning bee chairman announced soon.

Gary Runyon is still offering class on sharping planes and chisels. Contact Gary to set up time.

Club picnic is September 24th at Falls Mill 10:30am-2pm. The sign-up sheet was passed around the attending members. We gained 39 members and guests on the sign-up sheet.

Coffee County Fair was held September 3rd-10th. Jim thanked all those who came out to support the booth.  Participating members had fun and recommended we continue next year.  Jim took an action to ask Stewart Little, Fair Director, if he could schedule musical acts on the Porch Stage throughout the Fair to attract more visitors to the Morton Village where our building is located.

Matt Brothers announced that Jack Kincella and his bride are settled into upstate New York.  Jack’s phone number is still the same if you need to contact him.

Carving Bee was held September 17th.  The bee included a short overview of carving tools, techniques and styles. We then let participants pick a project, prepare the wood and have mentors help them with the project. After a delicious lunch from Whiskey Trail BBQ, we had an informative relief carving presentation by Paul Jalbert.

Richard Gulley noted that a previously announced estate sale was slipping to 6-8 October.

Show & Tell

Gary Runyon showed three sliding lid boxes.  He also had a small, turned mallet.  One of the boxes was made of Redbud and was highly-figured.  He then lifted the “monotone” mallet and asked what wood it was made from.  The answer was Redbud as well! He said the wood grain changes to a single color as it ages in sunlight.  The other box was made from spalted black walnut.  Both were finished in MinWax Antique Oil.

Vince Zaccardi discussed his live center getting stuck in the quill of his tail stock.  He tried to soak it loose using WD-40, Kroil and an old mechanic’s trick of automatic transmission cut with acetone but nothing worked.  He also used a torch and a 3 pound sledge…that didn’t work either.  So he bought a new quill. Member Geoff Roehm suggested Gibbs Brand as a loosening agent and said it works 10X better than Kroil.  On a different note, Vince showed a die and homemade wrench which is used to repair the threads on his head stock spindle.  It works very well!  He offered them to anyone to use.

Jim Jolliffe showed a picture of a sale list of tools.  They are:

           Tool Description                                                      Asking price

Rockwell Model 6 Jointer 9A with stand                                 $150

Grizzly Industrial Vacuum System                                            $150

Chicago Cut Off Saw with stand                                                 $150

Craftsman 33 gal 6 hp Air Compressor w/filter & hoses      $300

Chicago Generator                                                                        $400

If interested, please contact Bob Huffines at 931.581.4959.

August Auction Update:  The August Club Auction final tally was $1,180 raised for the club!  Thanks to all who brought items and to those who bought them!

Program

Tony Murphy – Building a Michael Fortune #1 Steam Bent Chair:

Tony Murphy provided a detailed presentation on building a Michael Fortune #1 Steam Bent Chair.  He accomplished this feat both at Marc Adams’ School of Woodworking (MASW) located in Franklin, Indiana and in his home shop. The website for MASW is https://www.marcadams.com/.  The MASW classes for this project were split over two weeks, separated three months apart. The first week was held in June and was focused on preparing the wood pieces, drying jigs, parts jigs and then steam bending the wood.  The wood was placed in the steam box for 30 minutes and then inserted into a compression spring clamp.  They let it dry more the same day and then transferred the pieces to their drying jigs.  The pieces went home, with Tony, in the drying jigs.  They remained in the drying jigs for 3 months! Tony noted that the steam bent pieces didn’t spring back at all after the 3 month drying process. Tony removed the pieces and took them back to MASW in October for the preparation of the mortise and tenons, dry fitting, gluing, and finishing.  He got most of the chair assembled during the October class.  He finished the assembly in his home shop, including the upholstered seat.  He noted that all but two of the joints had compound angles that required custom jigs for cutting, drilling and gluing. An incredible effort on this single chair!  While he enjoyed making it, he wasn’t prepared to make more.  Thanks to Tony for sharing!