Our September Dinner and Show and Tell meeting with 34 HUNGRY participants started with announcements.

Bill announced that his step son who was there was celebrating his birthday. A rousing celebration followed.

Bill Henzel asked that everyone fill out the email membership survey form and return it as soon as possible. This survey is important because helps to define the needs of the organization and it gathers ideas from the members for future club activities.

Eric McCrystal of Woodcraft-San Carlos is having an open house on October 6 & 7 with 17 vendors and keys available to open the Treasure Box, a food vendor and much more. BAWA will have a booth at this show which needs to be staffed. Contact Don Naples at 707 433-5234 or d419naples@comcast.net to volunteer.

Bruce Woods announced that a lady is Berkeley is cutting down a large Black Acacia tree and she would like to see it salvaged for lumber. Anyone who is interested can call Karen at 510-528-8506. Bruce says that Linda Mizes, Montelindo Garden Club, is looking for someone to build a backless slab type park bench to fit a habitat garden at Miramonte High School. Contact her at Imizes@comcast.net.

Woodcraft-San Carlos is sponsoring two upcoming classes: David Marks on December 2 & 3, and our own Yeung Chan on December 9 & 10. Contact them for details at 650 631-9663 or sancarlos-retail@woodcraft.com

Saturday, September 23, is the BAWA hand plane day at Woodcraft in San Carlos. This event was a huge success last year and promises to be the same this year. Bring your hand planes and your restoration expertise or learn all you ever wanted to know about planes from Maestros Neil White, Harold Patterson and Don Naples.

Robbie Fanning said that she was contacted by a Walt Strack of Redwood City who has a Shopsmith and many accessory tools for sale. $1,500 or best offer. 650 368-6158 or hummingbirdHmmmm@aol.com. (Hope I got enough of them m?s).

Tony Fanning is circulating a sign up sheet for the Woodworking Show to be held October 27 to 29 in San Mateo. BAWA will have a booth. Volunteers are needed to staff the booth, contact Tony at tonyfanning@mac.com or 650 323-1183.

Bill Henzel talked briefly about the plans being considered for the BAWA 25th Anniversary Celebration being planned for next year. He presented several program options. Based upon a showing of hands, the overwhelming favorite program is to have a well known featured speaker.

Mark Rand read an email from Stan Booker in Tanzania. He wrote thanking everybody for the donated hand tools and musical instruments which he and his family took as check in baggage. He also mentioned that Ebony Wood was plentiful there so I suggested that he fill his empty bags with it and haul it back to us.

John Schmidt reminded folks that the Tuolomne River Woodworkers were starting their 14th Annual Woodworkers Exhibit 9/23-10/8, closed Mondays at the McHenry Museum, 1402 "I" St., Modesto CA and it's free!

At this point, dinner was announced and people surged towards the tables to load up on the bounty of food followed by a great cake. Once re-assembled, Bill Henzel thanked Robbie for again staging a wonderful dinner.

Show & Tell was next.

John Schmidt showed three items. The first piece, a prototype of a music stand made of Maple for his daughter who was very demanding. What follows is what she wanted including carved tulips, a harp and her initials on the stand. So John being a loving father incorporated several unique features including the ability to tilt, rotate and go up and down. The locking screw on the post has an ingenious penny/plug locking mechanism. The screw impacts the penny that in turn applies pressure against a wooden plug to lock the vertical post. In this fashion, the metal does not contact and wear out the wood post. He pointed out that the book holder on top has a tendency to swivel freely on the post. He overcame this problem by installing a cork washer to impart light friction between the holder and post. He also made it portable so by unscrewing a wing nut at the base, the stand comes apart. He made the final music stand for his daughter in Koa.

John also showed us a version of his Galileo Thermometer made of Silky Oak Lacewood. The columns were made of Maple. The Lacewood Oak was salvage from a tree felled by a friend. When he went to Warren Wise, the Woodsman, to have the logs milled, Warren asked if there was more. There was since John had placed a Free Firewood sign on the pile. An emergency phone call to the friend and the sign was yanked and the wood was saved for us woodworkers.

Tony Fanning, adopting his new role as grandfather, showed us the wooden car, titled "Classic-in-the-Making" he is building for his new grandson. It is constructed like a Krenov hand plane, using a band saw to slice off the sides. Tony said it looks like a 1940's Mickey Mouse Car. Since Tony is much older then the rest of us, no one at the meeting understood what he was talking about.

Bruce Woods showed us a prototype of the column for a music stand he is building for his daughter who is soon to graduate from college. He asked for suggestions. Someone suggested that he turn it into a giant peppermill. However, Bruce will carefully examine John Schmidt's music stand. He will make the final stand in Cherry.

As a Valentines Day gift in 1998, Neil White made a Cherry table for his front entry hall. He explained it was a prototype for one he hopes to build. It was supposed to be the final, but once it was built, he realized it was too deep. The next final table will be 8 inches less deep and hopes to have it finished by 2014. The table has beautiful hand cut dovetail drawers and a finish of Danish oil and garnet shellac. It is gorgeous, just needs a bigger hallway. He is also negotiating with his neighbor to see if he could demolish the neighbor's house wall and widen his hallway.

Jamie Buxton spent the whole meeting sitting in the only comfortable chair in the room -- an armchair he built for himself. It took two generations of prototypes, but it fits his body perfectly. Made on Honduras Mahogany, the chair has an upholstered back, seat and arms. The arms are closer and higher than normal and curve down from back to front. The back of the chair is curved to support the lumbar spine. It is constructed of six laminations of 1/8" "bending poplar" plywood. The construction is mortise and tenon, both fixed and free floating. He used a General gel varnish. Per Madsen could not raise himself from the chair. Jamie extracted him.

Eric McCrystal presented the consummate project-- "Waiting for Arnie" it is called. Three years ago, Eric took Arnie Champagne's class to construct a small wall cabinet. The prototype, made of poplar, elicited some suggestions from Arnie along with some praise. Eric was inspired. He rushed out and bought the expensive pear wood he had admired. He milled and cut the boards, then set the project aside, as a pile of milled lumber. Yes, Eric presented his project as a pile of milled lumber. It is still waiting for Arnie and in some respect, so are all of us. He hopes to finish it by 2012 also.

Dan Goodman showed a folding small table he built from the Ipe wood that he used in building his Adirondack chair last year. It folded for carrying and was very handy.

Woodcraft San Carlos and the Saw Dust Shop donated gift certificates for the evening's raffle. The winners were Fred Reicher, Neal White, Neal Didrickson and Frank Ramsey.

Everyone thanked Robbie Fanning for organizing and planning a wonderful club dinner. Job well done, Robbie.

Members staggered home full of good food, good company and many ideas for making pepper mills and music stands.