November meeting: Violin bows and tables

The November meeting will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 12. Our featured speaker will be John Aniano, who will be showing how he makes bow for violins and other stringed instruments. John is a very accomplished bowmaker, having won numerous awards for his bows.

Mike Callanan and Walter Levy will also be talking about tables that they have built, although for very different purposes. Mike will discuss a walnut table that he made, and Walter will present his Roubo workbench.

We look forward to seeing you there.

October meeting: Restoring vintage saws

The October meeting will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 8. Our featured speaker will be Bob Garay, who will cover restorating of vintage hand saws for the woodworker. He plans to cover what to look for in a good useable saw and how to evaluate their qualities, as well as how to do a total restoration including handle removal and restoration, straightening and cleaning the saw plate, and sharpening and setting the teeth. Members are encouraged to bring in saws with questions that Bob might be able to help them with.

Bob has extensive experience in restoring and maintaining tools. He presently spends most of his time as an antique tool dealer, and is president of CRAFTS of New Jersey, the NJ antique tool club. He is the editor of The Tool Shed, the CRAFTS newsletter.

We will also have many other items of interest, including a updates from our group build projects. We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

CJWA trip to the Stickley Museum, Oct. 25

We are arranging a group trip to the Stickley Museum at 5 Manor Lane, Morris Plains, on Saturday, Oct. 25. This will be a special tour of the Stickley Museum with a guide who knows the details of Arts and Crafts furniture construction. The cost will be $10 per person, and space is limited. The tour starts at noon, so it would be good to get there beforehand.

If you are interested, contact Frank Bodner at Fbodner@gmail.com, by Saturday, Oct. 4. Our thanks to Frank for coordinating this trip.

September meeting: Rich Mantell demonstrates hollow form turning

The September CJWA meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sep. 10, at 7:00 pm. Rich Mantell will be giving a demonstration on how to turn a hollow form. He will be covering the tools needed, things to consider in selecting wood and material for making a hollow form, techniques, and more. Hollow form turning is both a challenging and satisfying area of woodworking, and many of the techniques used can be applied to other areas of turning as well.

As if that wasn’t enough, Ray Ostrow and Frank Vucolo will also cover turning basics as it applies to pen turning and furniture making at the meeting. Bill Woodard will also provide updates from the CJWA summer picnic and projects at Camp Quality. We look forward to seeing you there.

CJWA Summer Picnic, Saturday, Aug. 16

The CJWA summer picnic will be on Saturday, August 16, at 2 PM with a rain date of Sunday the 17th. Again this year, Bill and Becky Woodard will be hosting at their home, at 13 Roberts Road, Millstone Township, NJ 08535. This is a family event with spouses and children welcome and it’s always a fun day.

The club will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, non alcoholic drinks, and paper goods. As we have done in the past, if everyone coming can bring a side dish or desert there will be more then enough for everyone. Please contact Marc Gaertner if you can attend and how many people, as well as what you are bringing so we can have a better idea of how much food to buy. If you have some folding chairs please bring them, so we are sure to have enough.

We are also going to do a small tool sale and swap meet for anyone who is interested. In addition, we are going to bring out an invention from the past, the Chisel-O-Meter, built by David White.  This will be a contest to see who has the sharpest chisel. If you want to participate, you just need to bring a well sharpened 1/2 inch chisel and this Patent Pending contraption will determine whose chisel is the sharpest.

Looking forward to seeing you there.