The President's Corner - September 2011

At our last meeting, I recognized Bill Anderson & Terry Tenhouse for their service to the club as Secretary and Program Chair, respectively. We need more people like them, who are willing to give of their time and efforts to the club. Charles Buenzli, Jeff Leimberger, and Hugh Fish were elected to the Board for 3 year terms to begin in September. Thanks to them for being willing to serve the embetterment of our club. Toys for Tots is beginning its season, be sure to sign up to help at a workshop. Together we can make it another good year for kids. This is our club’s big humanitarian project each year. Please give a day or ½ day to make the project a big success. It is not much work and you get to spend time with other members - all for a good cause. Dexter Adams, our speaker for the evening, explained the process & various steps in developing a custom finish using a combination of texturing, spray and hand applied finishes. During the Saturday workshop, at Hal Brown’s shop (which, by the way is a great shop), students were provided three individual door panels for use in developing their own finish. A wide variety of finishes resulted, and, I believe, all came away with an expanded repertoire of skills. September 20th will feature Jay Speetjens with a comprehensive program on furniture and cabinet design. This is a great opportunity to learn from one of the masters. We will see a slide show presentation of some of his work and then he’ll take us through the whole process using one of the pieces he will show. Points covered will be: design conception, sketches & drawings, modeling or prototyping, material selection, joinery, glue-up, special considerations and finishing. As an added treat, Jay will bring along a couple of finished pieces for viewing and discussion. Klingspor will host the third annual North Carolina Woodworking Showcase on September 17th. TWA is a sponsor again this year. The day is a fun & educational - I urge all of you to attend. There will be demonstrations, sale items, and lots of people’s work to see. The event has been a success in the past years, largely due to the support of the TWA. We have helped with workers and entries, and we donate $75 for the “Woodworker’s Choice award”. Please enter some of your projects into competition. It is only with participation from the membership that we get to see a wide variety of items. That is the most fun -- seeing things we might like to make ourselves and of course recognition of our own work always makes us feel good. My last item for this month is that we are asking all members to invite people they think would enjoy our club to visit and join. We aren’t suggesting a hard sell, but if you know someone who might enjoy it, please invite them to a meeting. To that end, we have flyers available for you to give to your guests. Hope to see many faces in September! President: Allan Campbell

The President's Corner - August 2011

In July, we had members’ skills demonstration. There were four stations, and the members were split into four groups which rotated through the four stations. Bob Gabor prsented a demo on the glue up of panels; Bill Anderson presented on the use and sharpening of the hand scraper; Mike Payst gave on the creation and use of the lock miter joint; and Pete Bucki on sharpening with the Work Sharp sharpening system.  

At our last meeting, we recognized Joe Gorman for his help in a wide variety of areas. He acts as Secretary when Bill Anderson is unavailable, assists in mailing the newsletter, coordinates materials for Toys for Tots workshops, and a variety of other tasks. 

Our nominating committee presented their candidates and the members had a chance to meet them. Chuck Arnold was nominated for the remaining two years of Larry Hendricks term, and as this was an interim nomination, he was voted on and elected unanimously. Charles Buenzli, Jeff Leimberger, and Hugh Fish were nominated for 3 year terms to begin in September. We will vote on those nominations at the August meeting.  

Please remember that dues are payable August 1st and after August 31st dues will cost $40, rather than $35, so please pay on time. Either send your check to Kay Baker or bring it to the August meeting.  

Toys for Tots is beginning its season, so be sure to sign up to help make it a good year for the kids.  

There is a new store for hardwoods open in Raleigh. It is Anchor Hardwoods at 6716 Old Wake Forest Road. Their websites are: Anchorhardwoods.com & CapeFearRiverwood.com. They are in the process of stocking the store but are open for business. In addition to a wide variety of domestic and exotic hardwoods, they have wood reclaimed from river bottoms, from old mills, and other structures which they process into lumber. The owners, Don Baker and Bill Moore, have joined the club and Anchor Hardwoods is a new Club Sponsor with a 10% discount to members. Joe Gorman and I stopped by their store today and it is worth a visit. They also donated a pickup truck load of red oak to our Toys for Tots project.  

Our next meeting will be on Friday, August 19th, when Dexter Adams will demonstrate the process and various steps in developing a custom inish using a combination of texturing, spray and hand applied finishes. In the Saturday workshop, students will be provided three individual door panels for use in developing their own finish.  

My last item for this month is that we are asking members to invite people they think would enjoy our club to visit and join. We aren’t suggesting a hard sell, but if you know someone who might enjoy it, please invite them to a meeting.  

Hope to see many faces in August! 

President: Allan Campbell 

The President's Corner - July 2011

June’s program featured Beth Woody of Hillsborough, NC. She is an accomplished and prize-winning Marquetarian. During her presentation she discussed the origins and development of the art of Marquetry and demonstrated the method she uses to paint with wood. Our members seemed to be very interested judging by the number any depth of questions. 

Tommy Revelle, who arrives early to set up, test our AV equipment and records the event was recognized in June. He also prepares a disc for entry into our Library. Along with his volunteer activities he also records many of our workshops and those are also now part of our library. 

For show and tell, Kay Baker & I brought our projects from the Glen Huey workshop. Hers was finished, mine not so much. Alan Leland brought in a wonderful Windsor chair he made. Frank Mansfield displayed a Marine Corps tank that was really impressive in the level of detail he included. Thanks so much for sharing. 

In July, we have scheduled a members’ skills demonstration. This type of program was so well received when it was first done in 2009; we decided to do it again in 2011. There will be four stations. Attendees will be split into four groups which will rotate through the stations. Bob Gabor, Bill Anderson, Mike Payst, and Pete Bucki have graciously agreed to be our presenters. More detailed information can be found on the first page of the newsletter. 

Our nominating committee has been hard at work on the openings for the club’s board. At the June meeting the opportunity for members to make nominations from the floor was given, however there were none. At the July meeting the nominating committee will present their candidates and the members will have a chance to meet the candidates. 

Please remember that dues are payable August 1st. Kay works very hard to make it as easy on you as posible. It would be great if we could all make her life easier and get this task behind us at the July and August meetings. 

Paul Rolfe announced that there will be a Third Annual North Carolina Woodworker’s Showcase in September. I will be meeting with him to develop the details and will be asking for people to assist at the Showcase. This was a fun and successful event the last two years, in large part because of the TWA support, both in manpower and entries. Please plan on entering some of your work. It’s fun to see the work others have done, but unless folks enter their work, there won’t be anything to see. 

My last item for this month is that we are still asking you to invite people you think would enjoy our club to visit and hopefully join. I am not suggesting a hard sell, but if you know someone who would enjoy our gatherings and the inforamtion we have to share please bring them along. To that end, flyers will be available for you to give to your guests. 

Hope to see many faces in July! 

President: Allan Campbell 

The President's Corner - June 2011

May’s program featured Glen Huey, Senior Editor, & power tool guy, at Popular Woodworking Magazine. After his slideshow of his work and a discussion of the weekend project, (a door for a Pennsylvania spice box) several people who had signed up for the workshop were heard wondering if they had bitten off more than they could chew. After the workshop and a check-in with those same folks, they are now saying, “I can’t believe that I did it”. All reports say that it was a really good workshop. 

At our last meeting, I recognized Leon Abbas for his efforts with our audio-visual system. He usually assists Tommy Revelle, but Tommy was absent and Leon was called on to set up the projector and computer. Don’t you love the solo act after very little training?. After one “O-my-gosh, what am I going to do?” he dug in and figured it out. I was really glad he was there and came through in a big way. 

In June, we have another particularly good presentation scheduled with Beth Woody on the subject of marquetry. It seems to me that it is a proper subject to follow last months inlay program. After this one we will all be able to create a design in marquetry and inlay it into something we have built. Maybe that would make the marquetry design an inlay, but regardless we should be able to do it, and that will really dress up a project. 

On May 18th, I attended the “program committee” meeting, and am pleased to report that they are already working on the programs for 2012. If you have anything you want considered, now is the time to tell Terry Tenhouse or Pete Leimberger. 

Our “nominating committee” has also been at work on the board openings. At the June meeting members will be asked to make nominations from the floor, so if you want to nominate someone, including yourself, you can make your nomination during the meeting or contact Fred Ford, Terry Tenhouse or Ed Mastin to make your nomination if you are shy during the meeting. 

My last item for this month -- we are asking members to invite people who would enjoy our club to visit and join. We aren’t suggesting a hard sell, but if you know someone who might enjoy it, please invite them to a meeting. There are a great number of people out there looking for a club like ours. Unfortunately advertising is not in our budget so we must rely on you and I know ALL of you like to talk -- so speak to your friends, neighbors, the guy in front of you at Home Depot -- word of mouth is the best form of flattery and advertising. We will have lyers available at the next meeting to give to guests. 

Hope to see many faces in July! 

President: Allan Campbell 

The President's Corner - May 2011

 April’s meeting featured John White, (former manager of the Fine Woodworking Magazine shop) discussing wood movement as it relates to the proper setup of woodworking machinery. During the weekend workshop he presented on just how to adjust and fine-tune the tablesaw, planer, jointer & bandsaw.  It was a really good workshop, even though we were in the tornado zone and lost power for most of the time. Thankfully there was no damage to Mark Keglers’ shop, but it did add something to the experience to be deciding which of his machines each of us was going to hide under.  

At our last meeting, we recognized Jim McNeil for his monthly efforts in setting up the meeting area before most of us arrive. Like some of you, I expect, I never really gave a thought to the fact that the chairs and tables are in place when we arrive, but Jim and his team are there every month to be sure things are ready.

Since our last meeting, our Board met to handle a variety of matters. The most important to most members is a new dues structure. The issue that caused us to restructure is this: it takes 6 months or more to collect dues which are due for all memebers on August 1st. While we engage in a several month compaign to prepare our mebership for the renewal date, some members just forget or put off payment. Most do not realize that late payments create a great deal of work for our Membership Chairman, Treasurer, & Newsletter Editor. Reminders must be sent to those who are late, if one choses to renew with that notice membership lists must be revised and sent out to appropriate parties. As it stands now we have renewals coming in at various times during the year which creates repeats of notifications going out to several members to make sure your needs are met (receiving your newsletter, posting your payment, and renewing your badges).  

One option we considered was instituting a penalty for late payment, but we don’t like the sound of a penalty. What we decided is that we would rather give a benefit to those who pay on time, or at least by August 30th. However, we couldn’t afford to reduce the club’s income, so we had to increase dues by the amount of the benefit. Does this sound like a late payment penalty in sheep’s clothing? Well it is. We decided to raise the dues by $5 to $40/year and at the same time to give a $5 discount to people who pay by August 30th. So, if you always pay on time there is no change for you; you will still pay $35 ($40 - $5 = $35). If you have been late in paying, you have a chance to keep your payment the same by paying on time, and if you don’t pay by August 30th you will have to pay $40. Let’s think of this as an incentive to pay dues on time. It sounds nicer. And, it will help reduce the workload for some good unpaid club workers. 

In May, we have another particularly good workshop with Glen Huey, Senior editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine, on the subject of Router inlay. I am happy to say the workshop is a sellout. As you know, I think these workshops are one of the greatest beneits of TWA membership and it’s great to see them being utilized. Do not forget that this is a Friday meeting not Tuesday -- so mark your calendar. 

My last item for this month: I am asking members to invite people who would enjoy our club to come visit & join. We aren’t suggesting a hard sell, but I am sure we all know a few people who would enjoy the club and us a group, so please invite them to a meeting. To that end, we will have lyers available at the next meeting for you to give to your guests. 

Thanks, and I hope I will see you on Friday, May 20. 

President: Allan Campbell