2019-05-14 Monthly Meeting

6:45 – Call to order and welcome from Brad

14 members 1 guests  (Bobbie Grace)

Overview of meeting

1. News
2. Member presentation: Don will discuss some strategies for managing wood projects
3. Break / Raffle
4. Show and Tell including our challenge for the month – dealing with knots and other wood issues and incorporating them in projects

News & Updates

• • Thanks for the generosity on contributing to the draw – lots of donations for today
  • Spring fairs are happening around the city at this time of year
  • Dartmouth Makers
  • Halifax Makers
  • Skills Canada National Program is happening at Cunard Center May 28-29. A reminder that former member, Nick Poole, won gold in this competition a few years ago.  He is now a cabinet maker now living in Kingston.  Also, current member, Ted Monk has been a judge for Skills Canada in recent years
  • An interesting program – Rob Cosman’s Purple Heart Project . Half of the spots in Cosman’s Training the Hand workshops are reserved for “wounded warriors”, who can also apply for scholarship to cover all costs.  Wounded warriors also receive free lifetime access to on line training and can apply for scholarship to pay for workshop
  • Brad’s article on chopsticks is available the current Furniture and Cabinet Making magazine

• Walt will be stepping down from Registrar’s role – he will stay on until replacement is found and help with the transition. Thanks to Walt for all his work in this important role
• Update on member, John Green, who has recently had surgery. He had some complications after surgery but is recovering. Stephen is going to visit and will bring AWA greetings

Member Questions

• J – is making signs and has been getting them  laser printed by Trevor and Charlene at Blue Crab Design   J. has had a request for sign of 15’ x 1’ but that is larger than can be printed.  Anyone else interested in this project? 
• Also, seeking info on about natural dyeing for wood, especially mordants – any suggestions or advice?  Mary Elizabeth suggested checking resource sites for natural dyeing with fabric for additional info sources and shared this link
• Stephen is doing some veneering and looking for some direction / advice for working on a curved surface – some sharing of ideas and options. Stephen is planning to try cold press glue for veneering and will share about his results
• Suggestions Presentation on attaching veneer – good bonding with a vacuum
• This month’s Canadian Woodworker has article on pressing veneer
• Phil shared some pictures that we were unable to project during last month’s show and tell

Member Presentation: 

Woodworking Projects and Processes – Don Shubaly

Book recommendation: Furniture design

• Design process
• Lessons learned

 

• Don spoke on his plan and processes for a project for his home -a  Medicine cabinet
• Some interesting numbers for pleasant proportions
  • Golden ratio
  • Fubinachi series

Some Highlights:

• With any design, you need to consider the environment. For this project, in this case, bathroom is all pine so wanted to use wood but not pine for this project.  Started with checking stash and selected cedar because there was enough for door / mirror.  Supplemented that with some additional cedar decking pieces
• Before doing designing, went to look at pre-build medicine cabinets to check proportions and designs. In the past, Don had picked up a mirror at Value Village and cut to size but wanted a finished beveled mirror and decided easiest to buy.   Went to buy mirror and found that they were available in limited set sizes not golden ratio but used the mirror as starting point for size / dimensions
• Used panel door formula for stile and rail design
• Order of construction is crucial and it is helpful to write all the steps and the order that they should be completed- then pay attention to the plan – Example in this case, realized wanted to Glue and clamp shelves 1^st then the bottom and sides
• Plan -dados across grain, grooves go with the grain
• Did dados first then milled wood to fit in the slot
• Choice of finish – no shellac on this one – varathane semi-gloss water base – quick drying

Lessons & Tips:

• Would not make any inside furniture out of cedar again – lots of tear out, hard to plane, scraper doesn’t really work (just gets furry)….  would not stain as would get an uneven stain (plus why would you want to stain cedar)
• Finish surface before assembly
• Have a plan with order of operations (ex. glue shelves to sides, put back on before bottom – top and bottoms last)
• Always check and double check sizes and cuts.  Don realized after gluing that the original cut for the door with mirror didn’t quite cover frame after the carcass  so he had to take it apart and was lucky that there was no real damage
• Check hinges requirement as there are variations. In this project, realized after the fact that the hinges had the wrong overlays (had full overlay when half was required) but fortunately they required the same size hole for installation)

Break – monthly draw

Lots of generous donations from members – some will be put to future draws

Contributions to the AWA-  $57

Winners: Stephen – tool box starter kit (donated by Phil);  Don – stack of wood

Show and tell

Walt – wood – knot

Callum – birds eye tray – piece of veneer that was too think for veneer not quite thick enough for bottom of tray  – set magnets in back and on the end of the shelf so can be attached and reached easily

Brad – turned knot in to spot for pour over coffee station

Tom – shared a piece  with an interesting knot that he plans to turn into bird house

 J.– shared wood block and wondered if it needs colour added or is good with just wood grain

Stephen – was making dog beds  put a section in backwards and had to cover hole so made an artificial knot with piece of darker wood

Other news and notes

• Still looking for a few board members
• Annual BBQ – working on options
• Fortsner bits – looking for 1.5 and 1 1/16
• Phil has lots of veneer if people are interested
• Don is seeking presenters for next year and field trips for summer and welcomes any suggestions.  Possible topics for presentations:
  • Using a chisel
  • Temporary fasteners (wood screws….)
  • Gluing and clamping
  • Sanding and abrasives
  • Carving
  • Sharing interesting articles – good tips, summaries
  • Providing product reviews – pros and cons

Next meeting

June 11, 2019

Challenge – annual 2×4 contest