Bill Henzel began the meeting by thanking several people who worked tirelessly to make the 25th Anniversary Celebration featuring Sam Maloof a resounding success. CJ Riser, Per Madsen, Mark Rand, Stan Booker and Jay Perrine deserve our special thanks.

Then came Announcements:

John Olson, who lives in South Lake Tahoe, visited BAWA to announce that he has 10,000 board feet each of Red Cedar and Alaskan Yellow Cedar for sale. Dimensions range from 1 x 4 up to 6 x 6, at prices from $1.50 per board foot, depending on quality and quantity. He can be reached at 530-416-0523.

Per Madsen announced that the next BAWA meeting in May will be held at the Segale Brothers plant in Hayward. Don Segale, the owner, was an early BAWA member.

Arnold Champagne brought in two boxes of veneers he is offering for sale at reasonable prices.

Tony Fanning has been working closely with Ethan Sanford, the director of the Sequoia High School Woodshop, to schedule a workday with BAWA members. There will be a "measuring day" on May 2 at the woodshop. Tony will present additional information later. The actual work day will occur after the high school graduation day, probably around June 8.

Following the Announcements came:

Stan Booker presented a plethora or door prizes and announced that the raffle prize of Bird's Eye Maple would go tonight if tickets worth $11 are purchased. Door prizes included wood glue, a push stick, a handle for a Porter Cable router, a gift certificate for $10 from the Japan Woodworker, a square set, a round turning block of mahogany, a stand for a DeWalt scroll saw and BAWA T-shirts. Freebies include plywood blocks and a board of Iron Wood. BAWA T-shirts can be purchased for $5 by members and $10 by non-members. Frank Taylor donated some plastic thickness gauges, free to the taker.Neil White presented the items for silent auction. Mark Ferraro donated several saw blades for a 14" bandsaw. Mike Marlow donated a 10" Delta contractor's saw that includes a Biesmeyer fence. The minimum bid for the saw was $150.

A Tech Talk followed with Bruce Woods and the Stealth Project

Bruce had a surprise gift for his daughter's graduation. He made her a Cherry music stand based upon a design he saw in Fine Woodworking.

The tall post he made by cutting a 4 x 4 in halves. He routed out a ¾" center channel in each half. Then he glued the pieces back together again. He reamed out the center with a Bell Hanger's bit. The post was turned on a lathe. In order to cut the dovetail slots in the base of the post where the legs would go, he first had to construct a router box. Bruce had taken the Woodcraft power tool fixtures class offered by Yeung Chan. The box was nearly 4 feet long. The post lay flat within the box. The router rested on adjustable rails within the box. Truss head screws held the rails within the box. The base of the post was marked in three positions at 110 degrees apart. At these marks dovetail slots were routed into the base of the post. Bruce also used the box to turn the small diameter spindle that inserted into the top of the post.

Making the legs of the music stand presented another set of challenges to Bruce. He wanted to taper the legs so once again he relied upon Yeung Chan. He constructed a sled fixture for the router. The leg was placed under the sled, then shimmed at one end so that an incline could be routed onto the top and bottom of each leg surface. But then Bruce had to figure out how to make dovetails that would fit into the round post. First he cut the dovetail sides on the table saw, but the shoulder had to match the curvature of the post. Now it was Arnold Champagne who came to the rescue. Bruce had taken Arnie's class on wooden plane making. He made his own wooden plane with a sole curved to match the curve on the post. Mission accomplished, a perfect fit.

The tray of the piece was made from highly figured Cherry using splines and biscuits fabricated by Bruce. In all, he estimated that it took 150 to 200 hours to make the music stand. We all admired this extraordinary piece of fine craftsmanship.

SHOW AND TELL was next.

Mark Bouquet brought in a hand grinding wheel tool rest with a tilting top. He has made several fixtures that fit on the tilting top enabling him to grind precise angles on his tools.

Arnold Champagne made a tea box for his sister that has a rounded top with an elaborate marquetry design on the outside and a beautifully figured veneer inside. Arnie used Brusso hinges, taking care to make the top thick enough to accept the 5/16" screws holding the hinges in place. He said there is a gentleman named Sanderson in Fort Bragg who can custom make hinges for special requirements.

Claude Godcharles made a small Walnut table for a child's doll. Measuring about 1 foot high and one foot square, the table was made with legs splined to the center support. He found a matching chair made in China, costing only $35. He could not make them at this price. For a school auction, Claude made a small doll sized armoire. It was made from prefinished ¼" Maple panels, using exterior trim. The top and base were made with Poplar.

John Schmidt goes back to reunions at Gladstone High School in Ohio. He always makes something for each class member. This year he is making Redwood candlestick holders using his Legacy ornamental milling machine. The Redwood is from salvage fence posts, circa 1935. Each candle stick holder is unique. He routed a ½" deep recess in the top of each holder to accept the candle. The intricate shapes of the pieces are sanded using a flutter sander. The finish is Deft, although he did some with the poly/oil finish of Sam Maloof.

We have a new member. Joe Brown owns Distinctive Woodworking, a local cabinet shop. He is building a home wood shop so that he can escape the administrative rigors of his business. Welcome Joe.

FEATURE PRESENTATION:

Eric McCrystal and Franck from Festool, described and demonstrated many of the tools making up the Festool system.

Imagine a complete woodshop, set up right in front of you. The centerpiece is the modular table. Overhead hangs the boom arm dust extraction hose, connected to the low decibel vacuum system. A metal rail is connected to the table. It is the guide for the TS 55 plunge cut saw. The guide imparts positive control to the path of the saw enabling it to cut perfectly straight lines with no splintering. Neoprene strips on the bottom of the metal guide prevent it from moving on the work piece. Metal rails can be purchased in lengths from 55 inches to 16 feet.

Three routers produce 1000, 1400 or 2000 watts of power. A racheting shaft lock allows for easy bit changes with one wrench. Routing depth is a full 2 ¾". There is an integrated dust collection port. The routers have variable speed ranging from 10,000 to 22,000 rpm.

The Rotex Dual Mode Sander can be used for sanding, buffing and polishing. Features include dust extraction, hook and loop abrasives and pads, easy pad changes and an edge protector to prevent marring adjacent perpendicular surfaces.

Franc held us spellbound, drooling for the opportunity to one day purchase the Festools of our dreams.

Following the presentation, Jamie Buxton presented his own take on Festool. Jamie has developed several shop fixtures to work in conjunction with his Festool saw and metal guide rails. The Festool rails are perfect for cutting straight lines. However, the rails by themselves do not address the needs of cutting perpendicular and parallel lines. Jamie constructed a giant T-Square to attach to his Festool Rail to cut perpendicular lines. It incorporates a tape measure indexed to the width of the Festool saw base.

To make a parallel cut, Jamie sets up a rail parallel to and indexed to the original cut with offset perpendicular bars held in place with stair gauges.

Clearly Jamie likes his new Festool saw. He compared it to his previously used Porter Cable saw and fixtures. Points of comparison included: blade flop, splintering, cut drift and dust collection. Festool was unsurpassed.

Tony Fanning had the opportunity to evaluate the new Work Sharp tool sharpener. This machine is produced by the makers of the Drill Doctor bit sharpening system. The Work Sharp system is a horizontally mounted sharpening wheel using tempered glass for the base plate and adhesive sand paper for the abrasives. It is a dry system. It costs $199. A crepe pad is used to clean the abrasive sheets.

The wheel is placed abrasive side down because the tool to be sharpened rests on an inclined ramp under the wheel. The tool is advanced to the wheel, bevel up to contact the abrasive sheet. It is retracted gently, and re-advanced as necessary to sharpen until completed. A see through wheel is offered for those users who want to be able to see the blade as it is sharpened.

Tony's assessment is that the Work Sharp does indeed sharpen, even to a mirror finish. It is not a heavy duty machine, but perfectly functional for light use. It does not compare favorably in quality and performance to the Lap-Sharp.

The meeting ended with the raffle results. Gene Clark walked away, narrowly escaping an envious crowd, with the three boards of Bird's Eye Maple. The rest of the members lined up at the closest ATM to withdraw money to buy the new Festool system.