Robbie Fanning described the December Dessert party and meeting. At the suggestion of Bill Henzel, Stan Booker, and others, who missed our annual holiday party, we are instituting a Dessert Party for the December meeting. Please bring sweet something to share: cookies, cupcakes, candy, brownies, fruit cake for Jay Perrine, etc. There should be enough for 8-10 people.

Our president, Craig Mineweaser started our November meeting with Announcements. He thanked Robbie and Tony Fanning for their wonderful efforts in putting together the BAWA booth at the Woodworking show. He said that Arnie Champagne working at his tool bench and John Schmidt demonstrating how to make pens on a lathe attracted many visitors. Both were there for the whole 3 days. Robbie then thanked Mark Ferraro and John Blackmore for doing the meeting refreshments at last month's and this month's meeting, respectively. Harold Patterson was next who thanked everyone who participated in the Toy Workshop at Gene Wagg's workshop. He showed an articulated cricket, a truck and an elaborate pyramid puzzle that were made. He also thanked Obie Gilkerson who made many wheels for the various rolling toys.

At this point, Craig called on the guests and new members to identify themselves. This may not be a complete list. We apologize for anyone we left out. Craig Colvin from San Jose makes telescopes and furniture. From San Carlos came Greg Burge another furniture maker and Assistant Manager at Woodcraft-San Carlos. Mike Kilcrease makes his furniture in San Jose. Marcus Miller from Mountain View does furniture as well. Redwood City is where Don Park makes furniture and toys. Rick Parfitt of Los Gatos does turning, furniture and light construction. Tracie Johnson of Cupertino teaches wood working and does small projects and residential construction. Andy Aronson from Sunnyvale does all kinds of things as does George Coughlin of Redwood Shores. Frank Cavit of Fremont does dovetail and other kinds of work. Robert Eastshore from Sunnyvale makes furniture. With all those furniture makers no wonder that Breuners is going out of business. Three new members from months past are Gene Clark and Bob Hill both from Redwood City and Bob Le of Fremont. A big welcome to all.

Jay Perrine our Program Chair said that the December BAWA meeting will be held at this same place, the Unitarian/Universalist Church in Palo Alto, in the Fireside Room. The January meeting will feature Dan Stolzer from The College of the Redwoods. He will demonstrate the making of a chair from green wood. The meeting will be held at the new Woodcraft Store in San Carlos. Jay also expects to receive a shipment of BAWA ball caps by next meeting. Mike Cooper announced the recent addition to the film library of Router Workshop, a four tape set. It can be rented for $3. Mike also described the laser etched name badges which he will have made. They would cost $8 and he passed around a list for people to sign up for them. Arnie Champagne will host the next Open Shop tour on December 5. At 9 AM he will talk on how to select and buy wood followed by a mortise and tenon demonstration with time for some 'hands on' work. Stan Booker our Rafflemeister showed a very large and thick green Bay Laurel board which was to be in the raffle. The door prizes were a magnetic tool holder, clamps, a Woodworking Show logo cap and a block of Bay Laurel and a long round Ash blank suitable to make a baseball bat. Mark Rand reminded the membership that dues are due now for the next calendar year. Craig presented the nominee list for club officers, committee chairpersons and volunteers for the coming year. The vote will take place at the December meeting. The list of nominees can be found at the end of this report. He also said that we need mentors. You don't have to be an expert in all aspects of woodworking but if you are knowledgeable in some part then let Craig now. Both Woodcraft Stores (in Dublin and San Carlos) are offering to give BAWA a 3% share of the monies spent by club members at the stores. This money is not a discount to the club member, but is given directly to the club. You have to give your receipt to our treasurer, Mark Rand who will then submit them to the stores.

Show & Tell was next as follows:

Arnie Champagne brought in the leg from a table commission he is working on. The leg is quartersawn Cherry, attached to the skirt long grain to long grain so he used a birch plywood tenon. The leg is adorned with a fine inlay. Mark Ferraro showed a plastic bench dog for his table vise he had made of high density polyethylene (HDPE). The plastic blocks can usually be found in a 'bargain bin' at TAP Plastics. A woodworker whose name we did not catch, has developed a jig to do dove tails. He passed around some samples and will make a presentation at the January meeting.

The evening's presentation was a panel discussion of finishing techniques. The panel consisted of members Jamie Buxton, Don Naples, Carl Johnson and Glenn Krueg. The panel was introduced by Jamie Buxton, explaining that finishing is a field of enormous and varied knowledge. We are fortunate to have members with excellent experience who will be sharing some of their favorite techniques and showing examples of their works.

Don Naples prefaced his remarks by revealing that his knowledge and techniques are derived from his experience of having worked in an automobile body shop while he was in high school. From among a group of apprentice workers, he was the only one asked to stay; because he could be depended upon to produce quality work with little or no supervision. He was also selected to refinish 7 school buses. He said after that job, he had no finger prints left and strongly considered going into burglary. He learned finishing by experience and learned to pay attention to the details. As an example of his work, he brought in a Honduran Mahogany panel used in his house. He has built a curving stair case in his home and was able to steam bend Honduras Mahogany which the experts said could not be done. He selects his wood carefully, noting that there is considerable variation between boards, even from the same lot. First he fills the wood pores with a paste filler, specifically Behlen Pore-O-Pac. For use on Mahogany, he creates a mixture of the natural paste and one stained with a Mahogany dye. The paste is applied with a rubber squeegee, then scraped off with a plastic spatula. The coat applied to the wood is a shellac, working as a sanding sealer. He uses orange shellac flakes dissolved in alcohol. He will use blond flakes for lighter finishes. The finish is rubbed out with pumice stone or rottenstone. He applies thinned varnish by conventional or HPLV (high pressure, low volume spray) techniques. His conventional spray apparatus has an explosion proof motor. He rubs out the varnish between coats with 600 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper, using mineral oil as the lubricant. He typically applied 5 or 6 coats. Don showed the speaker front plate panels he finishes for a 'high-end' speaker manufacturer. The panels have a Sapele veneer. He makes color samples for the client who then choose the one best suited to their needs. Usually he will surface treat the raw wood with a cabinet scraper, since it produces a superior surface to sanding. Don told the story of how the painter, who applies flat black to the rear of the panels had shot staples into the edge the panel so they could be hung for spraying. The staples split the wood, spoiling the parts. The painter was encouraged to develop a non-damaging hanging process.

Glenn Krueg who makes small decorative turnings and has many finishing options. His favorite, however, is no finish. By sanding down to 2000 grit, he produces a lustrous finish. Some woods he chooses to send out for impregnation with an acrylic at 4000 psi. The acrylic penetrates into the pores of the wood. He sends the wood to a vendor in Iowa, where it is processed for about $5 per pound. A dye can be added as well. He uses the Beale system for buffing. He has many different buffing compounds, depending on the type of wood to be finished. He has 3 muslin buffing wheels for the respective use of Tripoli, White Diamond and Carnuba Wax. He also uses a lot of lacquer which he sprays on. Incidentally, he has a HPLV spray system for sale. Originally it cost $700. It has been refurbished and he will sell it for $350.

Carl Johnson uses the KISS (keep it simple stupid) method. He seals raw wood with a one pound cut of shellac, mixing one part shellac to 8 parts of alcohol. He starts from flakes since they have an indefinite shelf life. He believes several light coats are better than one heavy coat. He applies the shellac with a gauze pad. He showed us a sample of white oak on MDF (medium density fiberboard) he had finished with a nitrocellulose laquer. He rubbed out the finish between coats with 600 grit paper using mineral oil as the lubricant. If the wood is to be stained, he does this step after the first coat of shellac. He showed us 3 samples that he finished using different approaches. He borrowed the notes from a friend who took the finishing class at the College of the Redwoods.

Jamie Buxton uses three types of finishes, depending on how much protection the furniture needs. His favorite is a thin film of wipe on varnish composed of oil and varnish. One example is a mixture which is often called the Sam Maloof finish. Another example is Bartley's Gel Varnish. He sands the finished surface to 320 grit before varnishing. Any dye coat is applied before the vanish coat. He does not use stains. His second type of finish is a water based pre-catalyzed lacquer made by Oxford. He likes this finish because it is non-yellowing, making it particularly nice on Maple. His third type of finish is used almost exclusively on tables. It is a brushed on Polyurethane. Generally, he thins the first coat. It can be wiped on, if desired. Subsequent coats are brushed on.

The panel as a group emphasized the importance of knowing the ambient temperature and humidity conditions in the shop before beginning to finish. Excellent information is available on the product labeling and should be read carefully. An excellent book to read is Bob Flexner's 'Understanding Wood Finishing', available from Taunton Press. Jeff Jewett has a new book on the same subject.

Several practical suggestions were made on how to avoid glue lines and residue. Glue can be removed with water and rags before it dries. Another approach is to scrape off the glue with a cabinet scraper or chisel or apply the finish coat to the wood before gluing the parts together. You can also apply to hidden areas of the raw wood where you might be likely to have glue squeeze out. Dust should be removed from the raw wood before attempting to apply the finish. First, vacuum the wood with a soft brush tool. Then, the wood can be rubbed with a tack cloth or damp clean rag. Oil based finishes will dissolve the residual wax from a tack cloth. Water based finishes will not. Use a damp rag to remove dust with water based finish products.

Club members were asked to share their finishing experiences. John Blackmore explained that he used a water-based pre-catalyzed lacquer on the Maple cabinets he made for his house. The finish is called Resistane, manufactured by Hydrocote and purchased from Highland Hardware. It was applied by HVLP spraying using the Fuji 3 stage compressor spray unit. Information is available by going to fujispray.com. Arnie Champagne mentioned that finishing products are constantly changing so something may have worked and now doesn't work as well. There was many questions and much discussion which were regretfully ended because the room closing time was getting near.

The meeting ended with the drawing for the Bay Laurel with Andy Grose, the lucky winner. The door prizes all went to eager members. Another satisfying meeting came to a close.

John Blackmore & Mark Rand