March 2009 meeting: Three ways to a beautiful finish

This meeting was opened by Jeff Brown with 8 new members present.  Jeff discussed our participation in The Woodworking Show in Edison this month. Paul Weber gave us his input about dyes, stains, and finish techniques. Matt Greco talked about how he applies shellac. Marc Gaertner went over his process of applying wipe on and aerosol polyurethane.  Roger Ackerman made a home electroplating rig to extract rust from iron. The components necessary are a bucket, with a steel anode as a positive and the work as the negative attached to a low amperage battery charger or rectifier. The solution Roger used was sodium carbonate and water. the results were quite pleasing. Some links related to the process are provided by Roger are listed below.

A Primer on Rust

Rust Removal using Electrolysis

Rust Removal Using Electrolysis (another page)

February 2009 Meeting: Walpole Woodworking

This night we had three new members with us, including two ladies. Our guest speaker was Bill Lowell, of Walpole Woodworking.  Bill gave us a slide presentation and spoke about his company which primarily builds cedar fencing, outdoor furnishing, custom period railings and of the like. Bill is very knowledgeable about his company. Walpole has a work force of 500 employees in the height of their season, and is based out of Massachusetts.  The bulk of production is in Maine. 

Bob Masterson discussed a problem of drilling a straight hole through a 18” long block of cocobolo. With over 10 members suggestions, we’ll see the outcome next month.

Bill Woodard was able to show his shop of the month again, as time was limited last meeting.  Bill is building a kayak from cedar wood and fiberglass in his basement.  Bill has been added to our Members Gallery with a number of beautiful furniture pieces he has built over the years. Check him out, as Bill is a very skillful woodworker.  I’m sure we’ll soon have pictures of the finished boat and Bill kayaking off the coast of Anchorage!

Thanks to Mihail for providing a banquet for our break!

January 2009 Meeting: Power tool tune up

We had several new members with us this evening.  An election of officers was held and the slate remained the same except for Treasurer. Jeff Brown continues to serve as our President, Marc Gaertner will be the Vice President, Wilbur Pan will be Secretary, Ray Ostrow will be our Librarian, and please welcome our new Treasurer Doug Poray. Many thanks to Paul Weber for serving as treasurer for 4 years. 

Our main speaker was Marc Gaertner who discussed table saw tuning.  Ray Wendrzycki  gave us some tips about the power mortiser, and Stewart Moore discussed bandsaw alignment.  Shop of the month was Bill Woodard. Jeff mentioned The Woodworking Show in Somerset next month, and we settled on the rules for the stack of wood competition.