CJWA March Highlights

The CJWA held their third meeting of the year on Wednesday, March 11^th. Approximately 45 active members were in attendance. With the exception of Treasurer, Doug Poray, all other club officers were present.

President, Matt Kestenbaum, called the meeting to order at 7:15 PM. Regular introductory remarks were made, including information about the use of the club library and a reminder to the membership to please wear their name badges.

Announcement of upcoming events was made. Walt Hunter then made an announcement that the NJ State Forestry Service would be selling tree seedlings for reforestation. Details can be found on the state DEP web site at:

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/forest/nj_forest_nursery.htm.

Following announcements, Ray Wendrzycki and Joe Ferraro summarized the club’s weekend at the Somerset Woodworking Show. A sincere thanks was offered to all who participated, especially those who helped to set up, break down and transport the club’s booth and supplies. Ray & Joe also asked club members to begin thinking about ideas for next year’s show now for discussion at the May meeting, in order to get an early jump on communications with show organizers.

Next, Persident, Matt Kestenbaum provided a brief summary of discussions that took place at the officer/advisory board meeting that took place in February. There was a proposal to research and purchase an A/V system for the club’s use at meetings and events like the Somerset Woodworking Show. There was also discussion about possibly recording video of club meetings in the future. Since these undertakings would require active participation from the club, members were asked to begin thinking about their interest in participating in an A/V Committee that would manage the audio & video equipment for the club.

In addition, a possible purchase of a club owner laptop was also discussed so that the club would not have to rely on the use of members’ personal computers for club meetings and events. Frank Vucolo offered to sell his gently used laptop to the club at the fair going rate for the specific model, so the club will research fair market value for Frank’s computer.

Finally, the future of the club’s website was discussed. It was agreed that updates to the website are necessary. Therefore, over the next several months, options for upgrading the site will be explored and implemented.

After the opening announcements and remarks, Matt Greco presented the thrilling conclusion of his entertainment center project build. In addition, Matt shared a slideshow of other projects he has constructed over the last several years.

Following Matt’s presentation ongoing group builds provided an update. John Aniano discussed progress on the Benjamin Seaton hand saw group build and shared one of his in progress saws with the group. Frank Bodner shared a slideshow of his workbench build. Marc Gaertner and Mike Callanan also shared their completed tools chests, based upon those built by first year students at the North Bennett Street School in Boston.

Finally, new group builds were introduced. Stuart Moore will be leading a group building a Connover Cabinet. Bill Woodard will lead a kayak build.  And Paul Dzioba will lead a group building a spoon carving knife. Anyone interested in joining an upcoming group build should sign up at the next club meeting or contact the build’s mentor.