May meeting: CJWA member exhibition

Our next meeting will be on May 9, and feature the CJWA member exhibition. All entries are welcome, with the following guidelines:

1. Must be a CJWA member. (And if you aren’t, why not?)

2. Project must mainly be wood.

3. You have to be able to carry it in yourself.

All who enter will be entered into a raffle to win a Lie-Nielsen 9-1/2 block plane, generously donated by Lie-Nielsen Toolworks.

Also, don’t forget about the second exhibition opportunity: make a tilting wine bottle holder, otherwise known as “a board with a hole in it”. Anyone who enters into this exhibit could win a pair of skew chisels generously donated by Frank Vucolo. There’s still time. And if you don’t think you have time for this project, you can always fire up the lathe tonight.

Group build update: veneered boxes

The veneered box group build led by Marc Gaertner recently finished their projects. Most of the members finished two boxes and learned a lot in the process. From left to right: Len Moorehouse, Mike Callanan, Linda Keleigh, John Pernice, and Marc. The following CJWA members were not able to be present for the photo: Al Failla and Jerry Fishlin.

April meeting: Restoration and refinishing

Our April meeting will feature a talk by John Arslanian, of Arslanian Furniture Restoration, on furniture restoration and refinishing. He will cover many aspects of this process, including preparing the project for restoration, dealing with contamination, whether to restore vs. strip and refinish, suitable finishes for restortation, and dealing with glues. This should be a very informative talk on a subject that had one of the highest interest levels among our members.

Also, don’t forget to think about projects for the CJWA Member Exhibition in May. We are happy to announce that Lie-Nielsen has generously donated a Lie-Nielsen 9-1/2 block plane as a prize for the CJWA Member Exhibition. Any CJWA member who enters a project will be entered into a raffle to win the plane.

Hope to see you there!

Two scholarships available at Peters Valley for CJWA members

Peters Valley Crafts Center is offering two scholarships that CJWA members are eligible for. These scholarships will reduce the price of their courses for 2012 by 50%. A list of class offerings are available on the Peters Valley website. Some classes that will be of particular interest to CJWA members include Frank Klausz teaching “Hand Joinery for Fine Furniture Making”, Fine Woodworking editor Matt Kenney teaching “Three Ways to Make a Mitered Box”, and Fine Woodworking art director Mike Pekovich teaching “Woodworking with Handtools”. There are a number of other woodworking classes including carving, turning, and finishing as well.

To apply for the scholarship, download the form here, fill it out, and mail it to Jennifer Apgar at Peters Valley. Applications need to be in by April 1, so if you snooze, you lose.

March Meeting: Round Robin

For the March meeting of CJWA we are repeating an event from last year that was very successful — a round robin. Instead of our usual format where there is one main speaker, throughout the meeting we will have ongoing demonstrations that are geared towards beginners but are still good general topics for any woodworker.

The demonstrations and topics will be:

Clean shop: ask our panel of experts your questions about getting the most out of the shop space that you have. (Steve Altman and Frank Vucolo)

Pocket hole joinery: a quick and easy method for assembling projects (Jerry Fishlin)

Sharpening: learn a simple approach to sharpening that will work regardless of what method you already use, and how to get the most out of the sharpening system that you already have. (Wilbur Pan)

Shellac: learn a fast and easy finish that anyone can quickly learn to apply with minimal equipment. (Matt Greco)

Table saw jigs and tips: how to get the most out of your table saw with some simple accessories. (Marc Gaertner)