Our January meeting started with Eric McCrystal of Woodcraft-San Carlos welcoming us and announcing that all purchases this evening would receive a 10% discount. In addition, if receipts for purchased items other than this evening are given to BAWA Treasurer Mark Rand, the store would give a 3% rebate back to the club. Craig then started with Announcements. Charlie Parsons (not a club member) passed away and that there would be a sale of his tools to BAWA members only. As soon as details are firmed up, the members will be notified. Craig then read the obituary for member Peter Wronsky and said a few words about Peter and his involvement with BAWA and his personal involvement with Peter. He mentioned that there would be a Memorial Service on January 23rd. He then asked for a moment of silence in memory of Peter.

There would be no raffle or door prizes at this meeting since our Rafflemeister Stan Booker was called away on a family emergency. Jay Perrine has BAWA caps for sale at $10 and they are going fast. Jay also talked about setting up a seminar for sometime after Easter. Jay described the program for February and Peter Wheeler for March who is on the faculty of the CA College of the Arts. He will talk about mass producing furniture. There will be no Open Shop this month and probably also in February since Bruce Bell our Open Shop Coordinator is out of town. Laser Name Tags are available and can be ordered from Mike Cooper 510/471-6934 or mlcooper94555@comcast.net. Craig also thanked The Reisers who did the refreshments this month and volunteered for next month too. Yeung Chan had brochures for the Marc Adams School and the College of the Redwoods where he will be teaching. See the Classified page for details.

Harold Patterson then talked about the many activities of the toy making efforts. He mentioned that they could use cut offs. Also, patterns are available for members to take home and make parts in their own workshop. The next Toy Workshop will be at Bill Henzel's in San Mateo on 2/12, 9 AM-4PM. All are welcome to participate but please contact Harold Patterson at 650/349-7922 or at pattersonsys@earthlink.net.

Ken Horner announced that every 3 months a Marquetry group meets and he showed a sample of the type of work done. If you're interested contact him at 408/245-0127 or klhorner2@aol.com. Eric McCrystal said that there was a barn full of cut offs and that a truck is coming. He will let us know when it arrives. Also a person is clearing Walnut trees at Clear Lake. He is willing to bring a truck load down. Again, we will be notified. Tony Fanning announced that Grizzly Industries (www.Grizzly.com) has an interactive web site for a shop layout. You set your own dimensions, can change it and also save it.

Guests and new members then did self introductions. I have included people who came to the December meting also. Chace Coman of Carlsbad does studio furniture and restoration. From Portola Valley comes Andy Browne who builds tables, jigs and solves woodworking problems. Dan Goodman of Redwood City who does general woodworking. In Redwood City as well is Gene Clark building cabinets and furniture. Mark Bouquet of Burligame does cabinets and furniture. Matt Crampton of Mountain View does furniture and home renovation. San Francisco brings Brad Henzen who does cabinetry and guitar making. David Wu of San Carlos builds racks, tables and cabinets. A good round of applause and a welcome were extended to all.

At the break, members chomping on Krispy Kremes headed for Woodcraft for a round of frantic buying. Eric reports that the store had to close because there was no more stock left and the cash registers were full.

Show & Tell

Gene Wagg kicked things off with a nice segmented Maple turned bowl. Dale Chorney showed a plane made of Jarra. He said that the wood is brittle and chips easily. Don Naples showed a burnishing tool. David Klinke showed a box made of Spalted Beech with a Birdseye Maple insert in the cover. The box bottom was Cedar. Doug Ryan showed a bow saw that he got at a swap meet. He then replicated it using templates for a router. He even had red and green arrows on the templates to show which way to route. He used a variety of woods and a power hacksaw for the blade. The finish was Shellac. Ron Gerard showed a rolling pin for pizza dough. It was segmented with various woods. He put 10 coats of Salad Bowl finish. Now that's dedication Ron. Greg Burge who is in charge of the classes at Woodcraft-San Carlos is looking for instructors. He said classes have been scheduled through April and he needs students as well. Contact him at 650/631-WOOD or sancarlos-retail@woodcraft.com

Main Presentation

Dan Stalzer is a woodworker, teacher and builder of Appalachian ladder back chairs. His studio is located in Fort Bragg, California. Dan was introduced to chairs in 1985 when he took Drew Langsner's class in chair building at the Country Workshops (www.countryworkshops.org ) in North Carolina. Dan graduated from the California College of the Arts and from the College of the Redwoods where he teaches today. He is active in the California Hardwood Association. He conducts two to five day chair building classes at his studio. The schedule can be found on the web at http://www.mendocinoartcenter.org/cart/results.lasso?category=179%3ASculpture&feature2=spring When Dan decided to return to chair building, he began to look around Northern California for suitable wood. He found the perfect wood, one everyone loves to hate, Tan Oak. It is hard, it splits straight and it is plentiful. While Tan Oak is susceptible to Sudden Oak Death (SOD) syndrome, despite the name, it is not always fatal to the tree. Dan discovered that his neighbor's Acacia tree made good chairs, too. "Yes, he knew about it."

Dan came to the meeting well prepared to teach the basics of green chair building. His complement of tools included: twin pressure cooker steam chamber for the chair legs, shaving horse, billets of tan oak and acacia, froe, draw knife, spoke shaves, template gauges, and the Kent hatchet with Acacia handle. He was accompanied by one of his students, Linda, who brought along a chair she had made.

As chair legs cooked in the steam chamber, Dan began to describe the process of green chair building from cutting and splitting the billets, forming the parts and assembling the chair. Straight grained logs are chosen and split into billets while green for making legs, rungs and ladder backs. First, he splits the logs with the froe and an Acacia mallet on the ray plane, from outer circumference to the center of the log, where the wood is weakest, making a wedge of wood. Next, the wood wedge is split on the growth ring or tangent plane to form a rough square sectioned billet. He marks a line on two sides of the billet with a sizing gauge to the approximate size of the leg. Then, he uses the Kent hatchet with 1 plane flat side to trim the billet. Its flat surface cuts true to a single growth, thereby "staying level on the line." The sized billet is clamped into the shaving horse and a draw knife is used to cut to the line in several passes. With one end of the billet cut, he reverses it in the clamp, then cuts through the grain following a single plane for the length of the piece. The draw knife acts as a wedge to remove lots of material. Wood debris was everywhere. "It all falls to the floor eventually," he noted. Once the billet is squared, he proceeds to make an octagon by rotating it in the clamp of the shaving horse. The spoke shave is used to round out the piece. If the piece is to be used for back legs, it is ready for steam bending. The blanks are placed in the steam chamber for approximately 1 hour per inch of thickness of wood. Two steamed blanks are removed and immediately placed in a bending form and allowed to air dry in the form for six weeks. Invariably the dried leg will be slightly oval in shape due to differential wood shrinkage. Dried leg parts are finished to a round shape with the spoke shave. Asked about sanding, Dan replied in jest "You can sand it when you get home."

Kiln dried rungs are made in a similar process. Tenons are shaped using a sizing gauge. Mortises are made in the legs using "a Seventeenth Century 14V Panasonic Auger." In his shop he cuts mortises on a drill press, using jigs to maintain perpendicular and parallel orientations. When the kiln dried tenon is inserted into the air dried mortise, it absorbs ambient moisture from the leg, swells and seals tightly. Glue is not needed.

Back slats are band sawn to ¼" from split billets, hand planed to 3/16", steamed, then shaped and placed into mortises in the rear chair legs. Dan mentioned that he has 200 BF of tan oak boards for sale. The chair seats are made with a tape of woven hemp. Asked if it was locally grown, Dan explained he gets this fabric from Hungary and Romania.

He finishes the chairs with shellac and oil. It takes roughly four days to make a chair. His sell for $550 each or you can take the class for about the same price to get your own chair. Also, anywhere from 3 to 6 people can create their own 6 day class schedule for chairmaking ($650) or 4 day schedule for 4 legged stool making ($400).

As the meeting came to a close, Silent Auction winners carted away band saw blades donated by Dale Chorney, measuring tapes donated by Jamie Buxton and pieces of Olive Wood donated by Larry Berger. In addition, members were seen flitting around the parking lot looking at the trees and vowing to build a chair out of green wood.

John Blackmore & Mark Rand