Meeting 11/16/21
Meeting called to order by President Carl Blumenthal at 6:30 PM.
Carl welcomed all those online and to those present in UTSI’s H-111 Conference Room to our November combined in-person and online Zoom Meeting. We appreciate UTSI’s generosity allowing the club to use H-111 and their broadcasting capability.
Visiting Guests
TVW Member Marcos More introduced Wendell Copham and Roxy Majors.
Business
Officers and Committee Reports: Vice President & Program Chair Gary Runyon noted tonight’s Program will be by our own Fred Heltsey presenting “Making Miniature Harps”. December’s program will be our annual Super Show and Tell. He noted that Don Farr will present a program on Making a Grandmother Clock in January. Gary requested members email him any future 2022 program ideas to [email protected]. He noted that programs don’t necessarily need to be from local folks due to the ability of Zoom to connect us with anyone around the world!
The 2021 Calendar is correct with monthly general meeting dates and first and third Saturday Carving meetings as well as the UTSI & Zoom annotation for the monthly meetings. The special events column included “placeholders” for the special events. The special event leads will need to discuss the timing (if at all) of holding special events and update the calendar accordingly.
Paul Jalbert announced that this was his final meeting as Club Treasurer. Darren Earle is his replacement. Many thanked Paul for the outstanding 7 years as our treasurer!
Richard Gully reminded members that the annual Tool/Craft Sale is this Saturday November 20th beginning at 8 AM at the Church of the Nazarene in Decherd. Set up will be Friday afternoon from 3:30-6:30 or at 7 AM Saturday. Richard passed along thanks from Jack Kincella to those members who help apply oil to the pews of the Lynchburg First United Methodist Church!
We discussed a December Christmas Party. Chairman Karen Browning announced the luncheon is December 4th beginning at 11 AM – 2:00 PM at the Decherd Church of the Nazarene. The Club will provide ham and soft drinks. Members need to bring sides/desserts to share. Set up is Friday. Please email Karen at [email protected] to let her know if you will attend the party and if you want to help set up.
Matt Brothers and Vince Zaccardi noted that member Jack Kincella and his wife are moving to New York state and have sold most of his shop. They presented a slide show of Jack’s finishing supplies that the club bought as a central store for our members including a variety of stains and finishing pens. The supplies are being stored at Matt’s shop. Matt is trying to get Jack to present a finishing workshop early next year before the Kincellas move.
Once the general meeting announcements concluded we moved to the Show & Tell portion of the evening.
Show & Tell
Matt Brothers presented pictures of live edge walnut that he planed for a friend. The walnut starting dimensions were 2” thick, 20” wide and 8’ long. They turned out beautifully. His friend is working with a table maker from the Stones River Woodworking Club to build his live edge table.
Matt also presented an island top he made from hickory. It had a space for an undermount farm-style sink. He finished top, bottom and sides with pre-catalyzed lacquer and paste wax to try to protect it from the moisture from activities around the sink. He advised the client to periodically apply wax to protect the wood top.
Matt’s third project was a white oak door made for a house located on the University of the South grounds. The house was built in 1910 so the door needed to match that style and finish. Jack Kincella provided the finish to match the existing house trim. The door looks beautiful and perfectly matches the home’s trim.
Jim Jolliffe showed two bark houses he bought from a friend, Steve Rogers, who carved them both from 175 year-old cottonwood bark. Steve is an outstanding carver, who has moved back to the Chicago area from St Louis. Steve has studied with Rick Jensen, the “father” of carving cottonwood bark houses.
Carl Blumenthal showed a large cedar live edge sign he sand blasted to hang over a driveway entrance. He discussed the challenges of sand blasting walnut and cedar. He noted that cedar is easier to blast. He has to carefully watch the sand blasting penetration into the wood based on knots, heartwood, and sapwood density. He uses a vinyl-type matte for his blasting design templates that are cut to cover all the wood that won’t be blasted. He said the paint type and style varies with the piece’s design. For exterior projects, Carl finishes with water-based Varathane Exterior Poly that is slightly thinned with mineral spirits. Carl highlighted a safety note with sand blasting based on recent experience. He had to create a “blasting room” for this large piece. He wore full personal protective equipment (PPE) during the blasting. After the piece was finished, he had removed his PPE and wanted to go back into the chamber to look at the piece. The high pressure air was still on and attached to the blasting wand. The wand is actuated by a foot switch. As Carl approached the piece, he accidentally stepped on the foot switch causing the blasting hose to fire and whip around the chamber! The gun whipped past Carl’s eyes, blasting sand into his unprotected eyes. He scratched his cornea and was still in discomfort during tonight’s meeting. He’s thankful he is healing and knows it could have been even worse. Lessons learned including wearing PPE whenever you are around tools and to turn off/depressurize high pressure air systems when finished.
Richard Gulley showed a deer sign he CNC-carved into a pine slab for Jack Kincella. Jack will apply the finish to the piece. Richard showed a “puzzle chair” or “pack chair” that is a child’s rocking chair that can be assembled and disassembled easily. The pattern was provided by visiting woodworker Steve Tracy at a previous meeting. Steve recommends carving ½” slots to assemble the chair. Richard made a model out of MDF and reduced the slot a bit from the MDF thickness to tighten the joints. Richard has the pattern for members.
Richard has been busy CNC-carving “a gazillion” Christmas ornaments with the nearly two dozen names for Jesus. They are made from a variety of woods and finished with lacquer. He also carved 66 chip-carved Christmas Trees for friends. Finally, he carved some “Merry Christmas Y’all” ornaments.
Mike Layfield showed a tic-tac-toe boards he made from a variety of hardwoods including red oak, white oak and cherry. He finished them with lacquer.
Program
FC-22 Harp Mass Production – Fred Heltsey
After a short break, we held a very interesting program on building a low-cost but functional 22-String, 3-Octave Harp. He then described the production set up for 14 kits and then organize an assembly workshop. His presentation was extremely interesting. He noted the harp joinery is critical becaused the 22 strings impart 435 pounds of force to the joint! The volunteer work Fred and his team provided to support his church’s Harp Choir is inspiring!
Meeting adjourned at 8:43 PM. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, December 21st at UTSI’s H-111 Conference Room (our standard meeting location). We hope to see you all there or on Zoom! The December Program will be “Super Show & Tell” by our members.