Tech Talk

Our Tech Talk was by new member David Goldenberg on the Legal Protection of Woodworking/Furniture Design. He said that this type of protection is pretty tough but there are several approaches. He defined some of them such as Copyright, which means that in theory, you can't copy others work. However, you have to show that someone in fact copied your work. This is extremely difficult. But you can protect a pattern on a table you designed but not the table. Trademarks such as the McDonald's logo or the shape of a Coke bottle can be protected as long as people recognize the product. The main approach seems to be a Design Patent, which is good for 12 years. You must take the design to an attorney who searches to make sure no one else has done the same thing. The design has to be new. The process costs around $3,000 or more and takes around two years. The problem is that the product may not be useful or needed after the two-year process.

Another approach is the Utility Patent. David had an example of a patent for an 1800 cast iron stove. The top round covers would burn up so people would go to a local ironworker and have new ones made. The patent holder protested but Congress ruled that to order them from the patent holder would take too long because of the shipping distances and cost and overruled his protest. Another problem is that if the design is slightly modified, the court has ruled that it is a new design. Plagiarism can only be fought by publicizing the item as a fraud and try and shame the copier to stop. David had a number of handouts including an article he wrote for The Recorder titled Designer Politics. He also included an example of a patent for an adjustable shelf arrangement for office furniture. All these handouts can be found in our library. What I have written is a very "bare bones" description of David's talk. Not being a lawyer, I'm sure I made many mistakes and wrote inaccuracies. David, for these I apologize. What I got out of David's presentation is you better see a lawyer before you decide to try to protect something you designed.

Main Presentation

Jamie Buxton made a presentation about how he does veneering. His basic message was that veneering is not difficult, and it can be done by any woodworker. He showed slides to illustrate his process, and showed samples of the few specialized tools and materials he uses. He uses commercial sliced veneers, without any preprocessing like paper backing. He roughs the veneer to size with just a sharp knife and a straight-edge. He edge-joints by clamping the veneer between two boards and shooting the edge with a jointer plane. He uses veneer tape to join the veneer leaves into sheets, and then glues the veneer to the substrate in a vacuum veneer press. When he is making a balanced panel with veneer on both sides, he veneers both faces in one pressing. He removes the tape with a sander when he is sanding the panel's faces. He uses PVA glue for small panels, and urea-formaldehyde glue for larger panels. Urea-formaldehyde doesn't cure properly below 65º, so he uses an electric blanket over the press in the winter. He outlined a home-brew vacuum press that can be assembled for less than $150. The handout for the talk includes a list of brands and sources for materials useful in veneering. The handout is available from the BAWA librarian, or here.

Arnie Champagne then gave a quick demonstration of his mechanical press and how to build one.

Reports

Harold Patterson has consented to organize our Toy Workshops. With Christmas (yes Christmas!) coming it is important to try and make as many toys as possible. He will be organizing some workshops so stay tuned.

Gene Wagg our Treasurer and Ron Slayen our Secretery were not present.

Robbie Fanning our Membership person showed the new spiffy aprons to be worn by the volunteers at our Woodworking Show booth. She also described the signs that we will have at the booth and she had the sign up list. Don Naples talked about the display cabinet that now only has to be assembled and a finish applied.

Craig also mentioned that Woodline in Dublin was going to have a tax-free day on all purchases on November 9th. Rockler has opened a store in Pleasant Hill at 541 Contra Costa Blvd., Pleasant Hill, 925/521-1800.

Arnie Champagne described his classes. See the Classifieds for the list.

Tony Fanning talked about the work party to dismantle the Oak church pews for that Saturday. Carl Johnson and Arnie Champagne said that it takes about 45 minutes to take one pew apart. Arnie volunteered to make end tables for the church.

Show & Tell

Paul Reif followed the instructions in the September issue of Fine Woodworking on how to cut compound angles without tricky math. It involves making a set-up block, and using it to set the angles on the table saw and miter gauge. He showed the block and a Poplar prototype of a tea tray.

Manny Hernandez showed a round table top with interesting matching burl pieces. He described some classes in Massachusetts. The school is the Center For Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine. The Director is Peter Korn, and the web site is www.woodschool.com. Also the Hiraidi USA in Pepperell, Mass. The contact is Harrelson Stanley at www.japanesetools.com He also described how a master plane maker called Inamoto was able to make a plane very quickly.

Linda Salter showed one of her signature segmented turned pieces that had 1468 pieces in it some only 1/8" square. The design was a series of bowls with flowers and she got the design from a needlepoint pattern. Her only comment was NEVER AGAIN!

Silent Auction

Craig described the items donated. Neal White brought some band saw blades. A router guide by Bill McCracken, Peter Wronsky brought a band saw fence and a Delta Universal Mobile Base by Nick Korens.

Raffle

Stan Booker showed the Canary Wood and a Paduk board and was selling raffle tickets. It appears the drawing will be at the November meeting if enough tickets are sold.

Elections

Tony Fanning is always looking for help to staff the various positions. These are the people who keep the club going and without them, there would be no club. So, please volunteer for one of the positions.

Guests and new members

Linda Hull introduced herself and Tony Fanning introduced his daughter Kali Fanning Murrell and her husband Jonathan Murrell who were visiting from England. Welcome to all.