President's Message
Fellow woodworkers,
It is less than 2 weeks to our big Biennial Fine Woodworking Show being held at Woodcraft in San Carlos.
This a well-attended show with many people who are new to woodworking visiting Woodcraft for the first time - and we hope some of them are encouraged to consider taking up woodwork as a new hobby, or a passion. It is also our time to showcase the skills and creativity of the exhibitors - most are BAWA members but some exhibit just as guests and we welcome all to attend an show.
There is still time to sign-up; just go to our website, go to the Show Details where you will find the Entry Form and submit you piece(s). The work is judged on the Friday afternoon anonymously before we put the tags with the exhibitors names out. If you have not already entered, please do; you can find the pictures of the work from previous shows under the Gallery tab.
Mike Tracy, our Show director, this year is still looking for volunteers to help with the setting up of the show and the manning the show table during opening hours. You can contact Mike at: md_trac@yahoo.com)
It will be a great show and we hope to see you there
Frank (Contact at: Frankramsay8@aol.com)
Attendees
President Frank Ramsay called the meeting to order at 6:05 PM.
New Members and Guests
Guests who identified themselves: John Reinhart from Mountain View and Mike Brown, who learned woodworking at the Palo Alto Adult School and now teaches there.
Announcements:
Frank announced that the Entry Form for the show is available on-line at our website and he is asking all members, and any interested non-members to submit a piece of their work; the more entries we have the better show we will have. The show will take place at the Woodcraft store in San Carlos the weekend of 18 - 20th May from May 18-20th.
Mike Tracy is the show director and is looking for volunteers to help arranging the show. If you would like to help you can contact Mike directly at: md_trac@yahoo.com)
Bruce is sending out the press announcements.
John Blackmore has brought several new table saw blades and accessories for a silent auction to benefit the club. We thank John and the members who participated for the club with this.
Program:
June 17th: Tim Killen will present on SketchUp.
July 15th:Bob Darr who will talk about building wooden boats.
August 19th:Our show judges, John Lavine and Andreas Strieve, will give a de-briefing of our show exhibits.
November 18th. Larry White of Sam Maloof's shop, house, and museum, will talk.
Frank introduced Scott Wynn, our featured speaker to talk about metal working for woodworkers. Scott mentioned some books he has written about handplanes, "Traditional Wood Handplanes", "Woodworkers Guide to Handplanes", and "Discovering Japanese Handplanes" .
Scott then described several projects he has done and the metal parts he used.
Alpha Line Chair with steel arm supports
The first was a chair that uses 3/4 in. aluminum brackets. Aluminum is a good metal for woodworkers since woodworking blades can cut it. It can be textured with a sander and burnished with a felt wheel. However, the saws need to be continually lubricated to avoid galling and binding when cutting. On a table saw you should use a triple chip negative hook angle blade. The metal can also be anodized to any color.
Local sources for suitable metal are:
Allen Steel, 505 E. Bayshore Road, Redwood City, 95063, has a good selection of materials.
McMaster-Carr has a good selection of bronze and brass shapes.
R.J. Leahy, 1475 Yosemite Ave, San Francisco, 94124, has a good selection of copper.
Douglas and Sturges, 730 Bryant St., San Francisco, 94107, is a good source for metal finishes.
A stool that Scott built in the 90's as a commission used aluminum as stretchers.
Scott also showed bath cabinets that he built in the mid 90's used a curly sycamore veneer, and 3/4 in. aluminum rod as towel bars. The light fixtures were made using brass frames.
Hanckock table
Next he showed a table inspired by a cherry Hancock table in which he inlaid a copper sheet. He created a patina using a finish purchased from Leahy. The copper sheet was bedded in Sikaflex caulk on an MDF base, which was joined to a cherry top with biscuits.
Followed by Dutch leaf table with a zinc sheet inlay. The base was a coopered ellipse with cherry feet. Plus an end table with an inlaid copper sheet with an abstract design created using ammonium sulfate. Allowing the chemical to remain in place for different lengths of time create the pattern. The finish was tung oil. Then a bent lamination chair supported by two sheets of 11-gauge steel; the back is 5/8x1/2 welded steel rod. The pattern on the steel waw created by first degreasing it and using the "Black Magic" finish (Sculpt Nouveau, Birchwood Technologies), and then coating the stool with lacquer.
A chair with aluminum stretchers
He then showed a table with a steel plate attached to it using barrel nuts. Next was a metal desk organizer. Then he showed a coffee table with a small steel top and a bird's nest pattern lower shelf.
Next was a reclining lounger with sides made of steel flanges. Then he showed a quarter sawn maple credenza with steel plates similar to that used in the preceding chair, using brass hinges and brass drawer pulls.
Finally he showed a liquor cabinet with a Richlite countertop, u-shaped ties, and brass hinges.
To see more of Scott's work: scottwynnarchitect.com
Tom Gaston showed photos of some built-in bookcases he had constructed from Maple plywood which he had spray painted, a Walnut mantel top for the bookshelves, and separate Douglas Fir and Redwood shelves.
Claude Godcharles described an evaluation he had done of low VOC varnishes in response to a customer request (less than 50 grams/liter) These are generally acrylic emulsions containing microspheres that coalesce after the carrier evaporates. The Woodshield, Gloss Varnish product he evaluated does not level well
Alex Golden showed a small Irish harp he had built which was assembled without glue. It is made of Maple and Walnut with brass and silver strings.
Stephen Rosenblum, Secretary steve@rosenblums.us