Our President Frank Ramsay opened the meeting with the announcement that the club's annual meeting and elections to be held just prior to the regular December meeting on December 10th.

Per Madsen, our Program Director reviewed the upcoming scheduled BAWA meetings:

January -- Josh Salesin on Vacuum Kiln Drying
February -- Claude Godcharles and his tenure last summer at the College of the Redwoods
March -- Mike Cooper with a Router Demo
April -- John McCormack on Windsor Chair Making

Mike Cooper has volunteered to become the club librarian. The library will be web based. The materials will be listed on the web. Members who will want to check an item out would let the Librarian know. The item will be brought to the next meeting.

Mark Rand says that club dues for 2010 are due beginning at the December meeting: Thirty dollars for an individual membership, $35 for a family membership. Once again, Mark has raised the specter of severe retribution for those who are late to pay. Be advised ye of good intentions, beware the wrath of the club Treasurer (and Igor the 400 lb assistant who loves to break bones)!

Stan Booker has returned and we are having a raffle and door prizes tonight. The raffle is for four Walnut boards.

The Silent Auction has two items: 4 blocks of Mahogany donated by Frank Taylor and a power tool mobile base

Glenn Krug has a Performax 16/32 drum sander for sale. He is asking ½ the retail price. Fred Reicher was going to look at it last Saturday. Did you buy it Fred?

John McCormack is conducting a Windsor Chair making class soon. See him for details or johnpmccormack@me.com or 415 647-1760.

The main event for this evening was a members' presentation of jigs and fixtures and then the box contest.

First the Jigs & Fixtures. I am including the member's email and phone number in case someone has a question or wants to duplicate the item.

Per Madsen made a jig for cutting tapered table legs on the table saw. (permads@comcat.net 415-928-4509).

John Seybold made a series of table saw sleds for cutting dovetails. The sleds were based upon a design presented in a Fine Woodworking article several years ago. The first sled with adjustable spacer blocks is used for cutting the tails. Angles are set at 9 ½ degrees. Forrest makes a saw blade with a special 9 ½ degree kerf. The second and third sleds are used to cut the pins, one sled for the right cut, the other for the left cut. (johnseybold@gmail.com 650-269-5502).

John Blackmore made a tenon cutting jig that mounts to the sliding table on his Felder saw. It requires careful squaring to the blade. (Johnblackmore@comcast.net 650-400-9429).

Tracy Hartzler made a Japanese inspired hand plane station that mounts on top of a workbench. Because he has a bad back, he needs a working height that does not require him to bend over. The jig consists of a wide board mounted on an incline, held to the bench with a clamp. (Tracy.hartzler@comcast.net 650-637-1252)

Frank Ramsay made an end table that duplicates one in his family Scottish home. He made a series of fixtures to construct the table. First, he designed the table on Sketch Up, then printed out full sized paper plans that he then transferred to MDF to make templates for the curved legs and top. He made another jig to cut out a notch at the top of each leg to join it to the angle bracket on the table top. (Frankramsay8@aol.com 408-823-2382).

Frank Taylor made a table saw sled to cut precise 60 degree angles. It was not pretty, but again Frank did sign it. You know it is authentic. Frank also made a huge wooden chuck that he uses on his Nova lathe while making giant bowls.

He uses a floor mounted tool rest, a dead man switch and he took out a special and large life insurance policy. Frank brought in some boxes he had made for his daughter who works on the movie set in the film industry. Seems there is a tradition of having a film crew raffle. Frank made the theme raffle containers for two movies: a milk bottle for the movie Milk and a wooden Teslor tower for the movie Prestige. (415-468-2758).

The highly anticipated BAWA BOX CONTEST elicited the largest and best quality boxes we have seen in several years. And, you cannot imagine the variety. BAWA members cast their secret ballots and the impartial election fairness committee composed solely of Mark Rand, compiled the results. Here they are:

Stan Booker made a sand box table using a plastic mortar pan to hold the sand. His grand kids are in single digits. The neighborhood cats are waiting in the wings and judged this box to be the Most Useful.

Jamie Buxton made a wooden tool box and tools for a nephew. Each tool was made from a different wood species. He also made a 18 piece box puzzle.

John Wilson made a tea chest and a jewelry box with a Redwood veneered top.

Mike Cooper made two elegant boxes, one of Bloodwood and the other of Rosewood and Maple. Mike's boxes won Most Modern.

Per Madsen made a veneered plywood golden rule box using the golden rule calipers he had made earlier.

John Blackmore made two boxes using remnants from the construction of his Bubinga and quarter sawn Maple dining room table. John shared the Most Modern award.

Bob Hulgan made a dead limb apple tree box with a wooden apple on top. Bob's box was elected to be the Most Unusual.

Mark Rand made a monstrosity that defies description but was elegant none-the-less. He and his entry was thrown out of the competition but he doesn't care. He has the club's money.

Jerry Robinson made an eighteen piece box puzzle.

Jim Tham and his friend Bob made a series of music jewelry boxes for their daughters and wives. The music box is mounted on a separate sound-board to assure pure sound. The veneered top uses aircraft plywood as the substrate. After having cut and fit the felt to each box, both gentlemen have qualified as seamstreses. This box won the coveted Best Execution category.

Glenn Krug had the smallest and most elegant entry: a box composed of three boxes each made of a different wood then precisely fit inside each other, then pattern cut using a rose engine. The outer layer of the box was made of African Bloodwood. Glenn won the Most Intricate category.

The grand prize was a round the world cruise on the Titanic but the ship could not be found thus the prize was cancelled.

The meeting ended with members planning their Christmas ornament creation for the December Christmas Ornament contest. The grand prize being a one on one interview with Santa Claus in Miami on January 25, 2010. Transportation at your own expense. NOTE: In order to qualify, one must be a 2010 member which means the dues must have been paid.