June 12th Meeting

As we have done in the past, the June meeting is ” The Members Exhibition”.  For new members, we encourage everyone to bring in a recent project, either completed or work in progress. It is still okay to bring in an older project, if it was never shown to the group before.

We set the projects up on the tables and once the meeting starts, everyone takes a few minutes to discuss what they brought in. This is always a great way to see what other members are working on.

Before we start that part of the meeting, Club Member Seth Kline is going to do a live spay presentation  / demonstration outside, using water based products from Target Coatings.

 The outside spraying is obviously weather dependent, so if it’s raining Seth will demonstrate other methods that he has perfected to apply the finishes.

May 8, 2024 Meeting

Club member Martin Dinburg will give a talk / demonstration on creating Decorative Faux finishing. Martin had a furniture repair and refinishing business prior to retiring. Some of his techniques are amazing, He is able to turn a wood panel into what looks like a piece of Marble.

The second presentation will be the building and completion of a Tall Case Clock that club member Rich Hyers

actually started in 2004. He initially completed about 70% of the clock that year, but time went on and he never got back to it. He was going to complete it in 2023, but due to health issues he couldn’t finish it. He asked me if I would complete it for him, which I did. The design of this clock is in the Philadelipia style from the 18th century. As you can see from the picture this is a complicated piece that Rich built and it was a lot of fun finishing it up.

 

April 10th Meeting- Getting Started Using Veneer with Scott Severns

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 at 7:00PM is our next meeting.

Scott Severns of the New Jersey School of Woodwork (www.njsow.org) will give a presentation and  demonstrate how to get started with Veneering. He will take some of the perceived mystery out of using veneer. The club actually has a commercial grade vacuum press and bag, so those members who are interested can take what they have learned and try out veneering for themselves.

Prior to opening his schools, Scott was a professional Cabinetmaker which included building many custom veneered projects based on the clients requests. Scott is a past winner in one of the categories for the annual ” Veneer Tech Craftsman Challenge.”

For Veneering inspiration, below is the link to the past winners by year.

http://www.veneertech.com/challenge

Matt Geene will also talk about Makerfest held on March 16 at the Monroe Library.

March 13 Meeting - Woodworking Fundamentals

This coming Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 7:00PM is our next meeting.  With the help of your input, we planned a somewhat different meeting.  Instead of spotlighting an advanced woodworking technique,  we will cater to the newer members to the craft of woodworking, but not to exclude the more seasoned of our veterans which could add input and also pick up a tip or two. We will host a meeting with 7 “Tag Team” presenters covering the process of build, from an initial plan to the final glue up.  

     With so much information available to us via the internet now, many can feel overwhelmed with far too many “experts” posting different opinions or methods on how to do a process or what tools you need to do to complete a process.  Sometimes these postings are actually unsafe practices with no accountability.   We will attempt to clarify by simulating a basic journey of a project build from start to finish.  Our wish is that everyone will gain some insight on the tools that you might need, some skills that you need to develop, some topics that you might need to learn more about, and gain a clear picture of what is entailed in making a piece of furniture or woodcraft.  Please bring your pen as this is a chance to take notes on a dispersed outline.  

·      Project Planning:  Purchasing a plan or drawing up your own.  Create a cut list.  Lumber and hardware resources.

 ·      Lumber Selection, fulfilling that cut list at the lumber yard. How to choose wood in those bins.  Surfaced vs Rough Lumber.  Calculating Board Feet. Best uses of Plain Sawn, Quarter Sawn, and Rift Sawn for certain parts of a project.

 ·      Hand / Power Tool Inventory.   Basic tools to dimension and finish the surface of all project parts including joinery.

·      Sharpening a Block plane blade

 ·      Using a Block Plane. Purpose and use of this important tool.

 ·      Adhesives / Clamps   Assembly, glue (PVA, Cold and Hot Hide Glue, Special Purpose Glues such as CY and Epoxy) and clamps to use.

 ·      Shop Setup. Whether working in a closet or 2 car garage, an organized layout and plan of available space is important, with consideration of electrical and lighting needs. 

February 14 Meeting

This month we will feature club members:

John Rubbo is going to talk about the below bowels / dishes and how he created them.

Matt Geene will give us a tour of his 1 car garage shop.

Seth Kline is going to show slides and discuss a Pergola he and Joe Messick built last spring.

John Tomaino will share four of his latest projects; one being a restoration piece.