Craig opened the meeting with an announcement that Woodcraft would extend their "birthday discount" to all members that evening. Thanks was proffered to Mike the assistant store manager and a BAWA member. Craig then went on to make an announcement, in response to the member survey that a subsequent change was made in the order of the meeting. In the new order the Tech Talk was first. He also said that we will try starting the meetings at 6:30 instead of 7 and see what the membership thinks of this.

Tech Talk

Neal White made the presentation for the Tech Talk on the care and feeding of a bench top mortising machine. Neil has also authored a book on Tables. As to mortisers, he felt that these machines have gotten a bad rap because people have tried to use them and had bad results. The secret is to properly sharpen and adjust the tool since they are poorly sharpened. He also mentioned that the instructions that come with the machines are poorly written. Neil distributed a handout (a copy in our library.) and then went into some detail as to the care and feeding of the chisels involved with said machine. He made a point to show that the cutting area of a machine mortising chisel is the equivalent to four times its nominal size as a way of emphasizing the importance of proper post purchase sharpening. This was followed by a quick discussion on the use of rubberized abrasive bits in a rotary tool (Dremel) in sharpening mortising chisels. Neil also described some of the gimmick sharpeners on the market. A half inch chisel is the largest size he would recommend in a half horsepower machine, leaving larger bits to the three quarter horsepower models.

Neil demonstrated the use of his Enco machine with some discussion of quality of various machines and their relation to price. The same was done regarding chisels. He warned to make sure that proper bushings were available to fit specific bits to any given machine. He then demonstrated the use of his machine emphasizing the staggered step method of keeping the chisel cutting straight that is not to get near a previous cut since the drill will wander into the hole. At this point Neil asked how close he was to the allotted twenty minutes and Craig advised that he was at twenty three. He finished by emphasizing the following:

• setup is critical
• leave a 1/16th gap between chuck and shoulder
• tighten all three sides of the Jacobs chuck
• use gage blocks to set the fence
• always use a backer board
• stagger cuts, don't overlap

Business Meeting

• There were no Silent Auction items.
• Visitors were introduced. It is very hard to get names and woodworking interests as each person introduced himself. Generally most started woodworking a long time ago some with long breaks. Some build small things and some build houses. Some do both. All share the love of woodworking and we welcome them and hope they will get something out of our meetings. Here are their names: Jerry Krakauer, Doug Horner (Ken's son), Herman Hsu, ?. McCrystal, Ron Gerrard, Eric ??, Michel Cote.
  

The break came and everybody rushed out into the store waving their credit cards.

The break ended when Woodcraft ran out of merchandise. Craig started with Announcements as follows:

• Tony Fanning, who is in charge of recruiting members to run for offices announced that we need a Treasurer, Secretary, Refreshments and Librarian. However all positions are open. So, contact Tony at tonyfanning@mac.com or 650/323-1183. Oh yes, read the President's Corner column in this issue.
• Robbie Fanning described the great meal at the September meeting/party we will have. Culinary Institute of America eat your heart out.
• Craig asked for a volunteer(s) to search for a permanent home for our club. Get hold of Craig at researchem@msn.com or 209/928-5900. Also, the Board decided to spend $100 for new library items.
• Harold reminded everybody that we do have membership cards. See him to get yours. Also as the Toy Workshop Guru, he was working on have another workshop in September. The children's benches are finished.

Show and Tell

• Neal White showed a Cocktail Table with folding top which he developed for a winery in Livermore. It was made from White Oak with the top quartersawn. He rubbed on 4 coats on Urethane.
• Harold Patterson showed a box to store fishing flies. The box was solid Walnut with a piece of plywood as a stiffener. He then applied Black Walnut veneer using a vacuum bag.

Our Raffle Meister Stan showed a Black Walnut board that was going to be raffled off once enough tickets are sold. Everybody eagerly awaited the door prizes drawing since there was a stack of veneer ready to be grabbed up. Many went away satisfied including your editor who never wins nuthin'.

The meeting ended as satisfied members loaded their U-Haul trucks with all those Woodcraft goodies at 10% off.

Mark Rand/Andy Sobieski