Main Presentation

Well, Jay Perrine our Program Director has another blockbuster on tap for us. For the main presentation for the evening Keith Stephens will be flying in from Phoenix, Arizona to speak at Foster City, in the Port Room. Keith owns an imported wood business called WOODWORKERS SOURCE, but his topic is related to the SOURCE of where South American wood comes from - not the selling part. Keith Stephens makes a trip twice a year into South America and he will share his many slides and stories with us. Keith made a similar presentation to the Furniture Society and a local woodworking club in Arizona. This will be regarding the realities and first-hand knowledge of various sawmill operations in South America. The topic began with Certified Wood; he wanted to see what was happening. He keeps going back to see first hand. Keith believes in the concept but his on-site visits to tropical areas and seeing the mill in operation with working conditions considerably different from the USA. Seeing the many slides and hearing of his adventures is plenty interesting itself, but hearing his concerns about the practical aspects of the Certification makes it very much more of interest. We often ask someone "What wood did you use?" and then we ask "Where did you buy it?". Many of us are thinking about where it actually came from and if it will still be available when our children take up our honorable hobby, but few of us have been able to personally go and see the harvesting and wood milling process. Keith is a former accountant with a Big 8 firm and has been in other businesses before becoming a lumber dealer - so this will be a talk by someone with a background similar to many of our members who have/had day jobs in mainstream businesses. This should be an informative and interesting evening with Keith. He will spend the night with our own member George before returning on Friday to Phoenix.

Box Contest!

What is a box? A box is a container with a lid hopefully of wood but not necessarily that you have made of any size and can be round, square, oblong, 3-sided or 20-sided or whatever. It can be finished with just about anything including Crisco or not finished at all. It can be stationary or be able to move as was a Frog box of last year. This is a fun contest divided into Advanced and Regular woodworkers with categories such as Biggest, Smallest, Turned, Strangest, Most Useful, Least Useful, Funniest, Most Original and BEST OF SHOW! None of the Supreme Court judges were available to judge the contest (they were afraid of chads in the ballots) so the judging will be done by YOU, the members.

Meeting Location

DIRECTIONS:
From 101, take the East Hillsdale exit. Drive a mile plus toward the bay. Turn right on Shell Blvd.
From the East Bay, take the San Mateo Bridge (92 West), Take the Foster City Blvd. Exit, and head southeast. Turn right on East Hillsdale Ave. and left on Shell Blvd.
From 92 eastbound, exit onto Foster City Blvd., turn right on Hillsdale, turn left on Shell.

FOR ALL DIRECTIONS:
Once on Shell, get in the left lane. Go past the library, and make a U-Turn at the center island opening. Then turn into the parking lot that is behind the library. The stairs to the community rooms are at the north end of the building.