September
17, 2001
To: Dick Morano
From: Dan Smullen
Subject: Minutes
from Furniture SIG meeting of 9/5
Attendees: We had 20 people at this first meeting of the year, held at
Stan Stozak's house. One new member,
Pat Camilleri, was in the group – welcome, Pat!
This
meeting is the traditional planning meeting for the coming season. As usual, we developed a meeting calendar
and sought hosts for each meeting date.
We quickly filled up the slots as shown below. [For those new to the SIG, we meet on the 1st
Wednesday of every month, with the target arrival time at the host's home
between 7:00 and 7:30 PM.] Where a
topic is already known it has been added to the table as well.
|
MONTH/DATE |
HOST |
TOPIC |
|
Oct 3 |
Jim
Altemus |
|
|
Nov 7 |
Craig
Smith |
|
|
Dec 5 |
Mike
Heiler |
|
|
Jan 2 |
Woodcraft
Store |
|
|
Feb 6 |
Chuck
Rinehart |
Sliding
dovetail joints |
|
Mar 6 |
Ward
Donahue |
|
|
Apr 3 |
Dan
Smullen |
|
|
May 1 |
Russ
Guinta |
|
|
Jun 5 |
Jon
Zuegel |
|
There
were several ideas around the theme of following the workshops presented by
visiting woodworking gurus so that we have a natural flow of material to work
with at our monthly furniture SIG meetings.
Examples might include:
·
Making
bracket feet
·
Making
hand cut dovetails
·
Making
sliding dovetails
·
Making
unusual joints that need special practice [drop leaf table joints and
installing some special hardware like locks for a slant front secretary,
perhaps?]
The
host would be able to work with one or more of those who had attended a
particular workshop for ideas. The
person familiar with the skill learned at the workshop could help arrange to
get kits for the group to use during the meeting [sized wood samples, hardware
if appropriate, etc.]. Anyone
interested in trying to learn or practice a key skill could "have at
it" with the benefits of group critiques. Comparisons in style and outcome
would help us all learn more, even if we didn't actually try the operation
ourselves that evening.
A
suggestion to dedicate one meeting to jig design, jig storage when not being
used, jigs with adaptations for varying a similar but different sized
workpiece, etc. We all invent and
improve on various jigs which we might use quietly by ourselves. Others may be thrilled to find out how to
solve a problem a new way, or extend the use of a current jig to add to its
utility.
Craig
showed us a wonderful example of a pipe organ made from a kit. The Castlewood Pipe Organ Company in
Australia makes laser cut kits that provide wood you can glue up and finish to
make the instrument. All joints are
either finger joints or mortise and tenon, and there are literally dozens of
joints to be mated. The wood is mostly
thin but multi layered plywood, which cuts very cleanly with the laser used by
the manufacturer. The kit costs about
$800, with the value of the completed organ at about $3000. These joints fit incredibly well together;
so well in fact, that the sections that needed to be air tight, remained so,
with no follow-up operations needed.
Since
we last visited Stan's shop, it has undergone a transformation. He has removed walls, rearranged tools and
made more space available. There is more to do, relocating the dust collector
and further large machine moves, but he has much more open space that in the
earlier arrangement.
Stan
showed us a huge MDF jig he created to make some exterior doors and/or
typically sized raised panel doors.
There are sections which can be used to square up and clamp entry doors
while still keeping them in planar alignment.
The bevel all around the inside provides a down force while clamping –
this eliminates the issue of having the workpiece creep up here and there
without him knowing it as the final clamp forces are applied. The jig was featured in Shop Notes # 35,
Volume 6. Stan adapted it to his needs. He didn't tell us where he was going to hide
it when not used, but it isn't going to hide very easily. I should talk; I have 3 giant jigs to make
octagonal pencil posts which won't fit anywhere either!
Quite
a few people [~ 30] took advantage of the two day Frank Klausz workshop on the
weekend of 9/15 and 9/16. Frank is a
master of the hand cut dovetail, among other things, and we had a very thorough
discussion of how to make the 3 drawer chest project featured. Frank explained along
the way, how to make it a true reproduction – no cutting corners, no modern
tool marks, etc. This author came away
inspired – I have read ad nauseam about cutting these dovetails, but not until
last weekend did I feel like I actually could create hand cut versions.
Frank
is a great teacher, blending knowledge, skill, humor and a dash of humility so
the audience gains a great deal under his tutelage. He follows up what he is
doing with why it's done. Also, his
skills are so well developed that the students can imagine how they might
accomplish the same operation with some practice; at least I did. I am very glad I invested the time to
attend this first workshop of the season.
Respectfully
submitted,
Dan
Smullen
PS
Chuck Rinehart brought a full size
model of the above mentioned 3 drawer chest. We all got to look at the piece
and as usual were educated as to some of the techniques he used. So most of us
wanted to know what some of the steps used to create the dovetails. This
discussion lead to Chuck hosting a meeting where he will show us how to make
them. He will provide materials list and tool requirements later. Thanks to Dan
for the notes and to all of you who signed up to host this year. As usual we
should be learning some new tricks of the trades this year.
On another note, please bring pictures
of your projects to share with everyone. Also to the new people we have a time
during the meeting when you can show off a project, new tool / “toy” for the shop or a new jig, etc. to the
group. There is also a time to ask questions of the group to help you solve a
problem or for you to share how you solved a problem. So come prepared to give
and receive as we look to another great year as the RWS Furniture SIG (Special
Interest Group). As a reminder you must be a member of the RWS to participate
in the SIG’s. Thanks you and see you next month.
Remember we need ideas for the hosts
for all but one meeting.
Dick Morano