October 9, 2001

 

To:                        Dick Morano

 

From:                        Dan Smullen

 

Subject:                        Minutes from Furniture SIG meeting of 10/3

 

Attendees:          We had 21 people at the meeting; our host was Jim Altemus at his circa 1830 home in Bloomfield.  One new member, Chuck Ciraolo, was in the group – welcome, Chuck!  Also, Mitch Ide has joined us as of the last meeting or two.  If I missed any other new visitors or SIG members, I apologize.  I would recommend that we start using name tags for a while again, since there are several new folks in the group.  Not to mention the fact that I can't always remember names of everyone anyway!

 

Upcoming meeting notes:

 

·         Craig Smith is our host for the November 7th meeting.

·         John Britton will coordinate a meeting we may hold at the Woodcraft Store on January 2nd, 2002. 

 

The buzz from the board:

 

·         The use of RIT facilities for various weekend workshops has essentially ended.  RWS is seeking other options. One is Edison Tech, which has great space and some vintage equipment that would make us drool.  Our club draws some strong presenters and we would like to have a workshop situation which could accommodate large groups comfortably.  The Woodcraft Store is a good option for some programs also, and worked well for the group of 30 or so that Frank Klausz attracted for the recent weekend.

·         Strong Museum is also fading away as a meeting place, so the board is looking for a new place for the monthly Friday night events.  Options are differentiated by of pre-meeting space availability, size and distance to auditorium.  Our group discussed the need for pre-meeting displays and whether that should be a predominant factor is selecting a meeting site.  In the end, though, most of us felt that the pre-meeting display is an important piece of the monthly meeting. It would help if there were more contributors to the pre-meeting, however.  If anyone has a suggestion for a meeting site, contact someone on the board.

·         A number of board members will leave after this season – anyone willing to serve a term should speak up.  The newsletter publisher is one of those leaving; the door is open to anyone wishing to consolidate and format 5 to 6 newsletters per year, using items sent in by various SIG's et al.

 

Furniture SIG Website Link

 

Kurt Hertzog has created a link for our SIG on the RWS website.  He has asked what in particular we would like to see there, and the group came up with plenty of ideas, such as:     [members only access]

[See next page]

·         Lead page of a blurb about the group itself [meeting format, # of members, etc.]

·         Pictures of SIG meetings as appropriate

·         Contact list for our SIG

·         Meeting calendar with hosts, dates, topics

·         Jig photos

·         Source list that we can add to [where locally can I find "XXXXX"?]  This list would NOT attempt to broadcast discounts, just a way to locate items special to our needs.

·         Hardware

·         Special wood or wood products

·         Services [kilns, fungus removal, whatever]

·         Separate copy and paste ability for our SIG only

I would be happy to pull together some sample pages for the link.  If anyone has SIG-specific stuff that would be helpful for the source list section, send it to me by e-mail or otherwise so I can include it. 

 

Other items:

 

Jim Altemus said that the Williamsburg event this coming January features tables.  It is 3 days, and costs $250, + lodging and meals on your own.

 

John Britton and Dick Morano reported that they had bought 33 router bits from a special at MLCS for $99 – pretty good deal – check out www.MLCS.com.  Free shipping also. Mark Rakestraw has also found out about a "special special", since he is their customer and receives e-mails directly.  Mark bought 66 router bits for $140. 

 

Some discussion around availability of MDF – where to get it, etc. Home Depot has full sheets, as does Pittsford Lumber – Pittsford has lots of thicknesses in stock.  They also have 1/2 sheets if desired, and carry lightweight MDF as well.  Dansville Dimension Lumber was mentioned as a supplier of sheet goods also.  Pittsford Lumber carries many species and thickness of plywood that may be difficult to find elsewhere. Dick Morano’s son works for Chase Pitkin in Newark and they will have MDF in stock Oct. 22. Call to make sure that they have it in. This is their first time stocking it. Should cost around $1695. Goes on sale for $15.95. Check it out,

 

George Cooper informed us that a new version of Cutlist Plus.  This shareware program for laying out a cutting diagram has been updated and improved.  SIG members may wish to try the free sample download to see if it interests them.  The updated version is Version 5. George has used the previous version and found it helpful in laying out a

cutting diagram.  It can be found at www.cutlistplus.com.

 

After our meeting we had a chance to see Jim's shop. It is located in a separate building, with a radiant heat system beneath the floor.  No dust blowing around via the heat ducts here! Jim had plenty of space and lots of daylight – nice setup.

 

Happy woodworking!

 

Dan