GENESEE VALLEY WOODCARVERS

Transcription

1 GENESEE VALLEY WOODCARVERS Imagination is the eye of the soul (Anon) Newsletter November, 2014 Meetings are held from 7 to 9 PM on the 2nd Monday of the month (except July and August) at: The 40 & 8 Club (across the street from Gleason Works) 933 University Avenue, Rochester, New York Web site: GVW OFFICER: President: Don Buss; Treasurer: Mel Connell ; Web: Alison Currie; Show Chair: Chris Nilsen; Membership: Anthony Filetti; Vice President: Paul Yarrows; At Large: Anthony Filletti; Newsletter: Floyd Lombardi ANNOUNCEMENTS, EVENTS & CLUB ISSUES (2014) Message from our Club President Don Buss I am suggesting the following proposals be voted on after the November presentation by Anthony Filletti. I would like your feedback on these ideas and any corrections or changes would be welcome. PROSPOAL #1 Replace Magic in Wood with prize money {Best in Show $50 and Best in Class $25 each} Details: Prize money total is $250 vs Magic in Wood money total is $150. Eliminating Magic in Wood means no special registration category, extra display table, extra volunteers, ballots, or ballot box. Eight carvers get Best in Show and Best in Class money vs three carvers get Magic in Wood money. PROSPOAL #1A Keep Magic in Wood as an event judged by the Competition Judges. No ballots.. PROSPOAL #2 Free RAFFLE ticket to each person attending the Show Details: Tickets would be color coded {separate color from sold tickets} and request Name, Phone, and an . The number of tickets handed out would give us an attendance count. The tickets would be filled out at the Raffle ticket sales booth which will highlight the ticket sales area and maybe increase ticket sales. We could check the number of tickets sold to see if we gained or lost money in ticket sales. Adding the to the tickets would give us a data base to invite people to next years show. PROSPOAL #3 A club member will greet people at the entrance and hand out a show program and Club Brochure. They will also hand out a Free Raffle Ticket {depends upon PROPOSAL #2 VOTE}, A Magic in Wood Ballot {depending on PROPOSAL #1 and #1A}, and a Peoples Choice Ballot to each person attending the Show. NOTE: Paid-up membership will still be required to enter the competition or display in the Show/Competition At the Last Meeting (October 13, 2014) Our thanks to Al Jordan who gave a talk & presentation on Improving the Design & Presentation of your Carving.. Also our thanks for the Show and Tell table go out to Tony Filetti who explained pumpkin carving and showed a pumpkin with a beautifully carved face. Rob Lucci presented a couple of his miniature caricature carvings. Alison Currie, who showed her Purple Sandpiper stick-bird, then suggested that Al Jordan use it as a guinea pig to speak more about habitat and presentation. A simple stick-bird doesn't typically have a detailed base; however, on a realistic bird, a better setting would have enhanced the carving overall. Don Buss showed the Tufted Titmouse in the Roselyn Daisey "Songbird Carving" book and offered to mentor that as a winter class. Jim Butlin profiled two library books, one by Tom Wolfe for the general carvers and "Game Bird Carving" for the bird guys. And thanks to Alison for refreshing my failing memory! Announcement about raffle donations:

2 Alison Currie and Dave Hockenberry have begun collecting donations for the annual raffle held at the April club Show and Competition. Paul Yarrows is traditionally the first to donate! Please join him this year by looking on the shelves and workbench, in the closets, and under the bed to see if you have any carvings to donate. The patrons of our show would be thrilled to win a piece that you carved for a demo, used as a prototype, or are simply tired of seeing. It would be proudly displayed and may even inspire someone to try carving and join the club! As always, carving related items such as tools and books are also welcome. That said, hand-crafted carvings continue to be our most sought after prizes. GVW 2013/2014 MEETING & ACTIVITY SCHEDULE NOVEMBER 10, 2014 Tony Filetti & Bob Lucci will discuss how to knife carve a caricature. DECEMBER 8, 2014 Pizza Social - Also, each teacher will present their winter carving class project & Register for your carving class choice. Class cost is $10.00 to the club along with supply costs paid to the teacher. JANUARY 12, 26, 2015 Carving Classes begin. There will be two meetings per month in [Jan. Feb. Mar.] for a total of six meetings. We have multiple teachers, each presenting a separate project and teaching how to carve that project. Each project well take six meetings. Please consider teaching a class (see Don Buss). FEBRUARY 9, 23, 2015 Carving Classes continue. MARCH 9, 23, 2015 Carving Classes start to wind down. APRIL 18, 2015 GVW SHOW/COMPETITION! This year we will return to NOVICE, INTERMEDIATE and ADVANCED CLASSES. Some new CATEGORIES have also been added. These new additions will be announced during the September meeting so you will have a chance to give feedback. MAY 11, 2015 Carving Critique: Three Show Judges will critique 10 carvings hopefully giving you an idea as to what the judges are looking for during the judging process. This will be followed by, if so desired, a private critique of your work, so bring your carvings for an individual critique by one of the judges. Your carvings may be finished or be a work in progress. This is a great chance to see how to improve your creativity for competition. JUNE 8, 2015 DIBELLAS SOCIAL, Presentation of Show/Competition winners. Election of officers, and end of the year summery and conversation with fellow carvers. IMPORTANT NOTE: Dues are to be paid at the September meeting or mailed to our treasurer. Membership forms are available on our WEB SITE and will be available at the September meeting Woodcarver Of The Year Fred Cogelow (published in WoodCarving Illustrated magazine/ Summer 2013 / Issue 63) Fred wrights 2008 carving (Beets Weedin). I find this absolutely stunning!

3 Next Generations of Woodcarvers: (published in WoodCarving Illustrated magazine/ Summer 2014 / Issue 67) At the 47 th International Woodcarvers Congress in June 2013 the following young carvers earned recognition for their work. Per Show Chairman Larry Yudis, The Congress has long encouraged its membership to mentor young people in the hopes of placing the spark of enthusiasm and creativity into their impressionable minds. Also young people need to experience the joy of doing something with their hands that doesn t involve batteries and making a lot of noise. Here are just a few of them. I could not agree more, being a BSA Scout Leader for the past 45years, I have seen firsthand the enthusiasm and look in a young-persons eyes when presented with something new & different from their norm, like carving. Each time one of my scouts completes the Wood Carving Merit Badge class that I teach, they are so proud of themselves & hopefully will continue on carving through their lives. You just have to lead the way and instruct them with the safety procedures and carving fundamentals to get them started and show them that they can do it and how relaxing and rewarding of a hobby it can be! Josh Hamilton started carving with a rotary tool at the age of ten. After several years of instruction he developed a knack for creative realistic wildlife carvings. Parker Houdershell is an eleven-year-old left handed carver from Marion, Iowa, enjoys carving sea animals. Isabell McNamara is a 15 year old who enjoys carving birds of all kinds.

4 Make Your Own Sanding Drums (published in WoodCarving Illustrated magazine/ Summer 2014 / Issue #67) Being continually frustrated with the sanding accessories that are available, the sanders author Bill Kinnear designed are inexpensive and easy to make. You can make a bunch at one time in different sizes and grits or customize them to fit your current project. With a small, fine-grit screw sander, you can carve and sand the finest details. The sanders are made from metal rods, bolts, and screws. The technique is similar for all of them, so for the demonstration he uses a piece of metal rod and with a cushion. The cushion allows you to get a smooth finish without sanding away fine details. Without the cushion, you can use a sander to carve or sand sharp edges. Changing the Sandpaper: When the sandpaper gets beat up, cut the thread and undo the sandpaper from the cloth. Then, reverse the sandpaper, recut the ends, wrap it back up, and new thread and glue, and continue sanding. When a sandpaper is worn out on both sides, cut the thread, remove the sandpaper, and replace it with a new piece. Do not throw the worn piece away, because there will be enough perfectly good sandpaper left in the center portion to make one or more of the small sanders that will fit into a deck screw shaft. About the Cushions: The author has experimented with various materials to act as a cushion under the sandpaper and found that ordinary rags work just as well as anything else. The more material you wrap onto the rod before you put the sandpaper on, the softer the sander will be. Experiment with different materials to find the hardness that will suit your project. Making a Hard Sander: Use the hard sander template to cut the sandpaper. Insert the tab of sandpaper into the slot, wrap the sandpaper around the rod, and lock it in place with glued thread. Making a Lag Screw or Deck Screw Sander: Clamp a ¼ (6mm)-diameter by 3 (76mm)-long lag bolt in a vise and cut off the hex head. Clean up the area around the cut so the bolt will fit into a rotary tool collet easily. Then, chuck the unthreaded shank in a drill and rub the tapered end of the bolt on a belt sander or bench grinder while running the drill to a slow speed. The goal is to remove most of the treads and create an even taper on the bottom third of the bolt. Next, put the bolt into the hand piece. Check that it is running true, and then set it aside. Cut the sandpaper using the template, and then, starting in the left corner, roll it into a tight cylinder. Slide the cylinder onto the lag screw as far as possible, turning the sander counterclockwise as you push to get it to fit tightly. Wrap thread tightly around the cylinder and glue the thread in place. To change the sandpaper, turn the sander clockwise and remove it from the bolt. The process to make a sander from a deck screw is similar, but on a smaller scale.

5 Cleaning Sanders Tip: Over time, sanders clog with sanding dust. To clean homemade sanders, diamond and ruby bits, or carbide-point bits, rub them back and forth against a crepe block (purchased from a woodworking or carving supply store) while running the rotary tool at a slow speed. If y ou run the rotary tool too fast or hold the sander to the crepe block for too long, the crepe block will begin to melt and stick to the sander, defeating its purpose; usually a brief touch is all that is required. Materials for one sander: >Metal rod ¼ dia 3 ¾ long >Shop rag 2 wide and up to 12 long choice) 2 x 6 >Glue >Thread 6 long Tools: >Hacksaw or rotary tool with cutoff wheel >Rotary tool handpiece >Flexible cloth-backed sandpaper (grit of

6 The following item of interest comes to us from Chris Nilsen: Here are some amazing carvings in pencil lead with an inspirational parable at the bottom. Truly Incredible!

7 A PENCIL MAKER TOLD THE PENCIL 5 IMPORTANT LESSONS JUST BEFORE PUTTING IT IN THE BOX: 1.) EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL ALWAYS LEAVE A MARK. 2.) YOU CAN ALWAYS CORRECT THE MISTAKES YOU MAKE. 3.) WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS WHAT IS INSIDE OF YOU. 4.) IN LIFE, YOU WILL UNDERGO PAINFUL SHARPENINGS, WHICH WILL ONLY MAKE YOU BETTER. 5.) TO BE THE BEST PENCIL, YOU MUST ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE HELD AND GUIDED BY THE HAND THAT HOLDS YOU. We all need to be constantly sharpened. This parable may encourage you to know that you are a special person with unique God-given talents and abilities. Only you can fulfill the purpose which you were born to accomplish. Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot be changed and, like the pencil, Always remember that the most important part of who you are, is what's inside of you. Tid-Bits & Tips: Protect your workbench by covering it with freezer paper. Just cut the paper to fit and use blue painter s tape to secure it in place with the matte side of the paper down. The shiny plastic backing on the paper makes it fairly durable, & it keeps finishes & glue off the workbench. Using an air compressor to blow away dust and debris when carving in your shop makes a lot of sense but they do not travel well. So keep a can of compressed air (such as Dust Off) in your traveling carving kit. Sharpening Tip from Chris Nilsen:...A short time ago I purchased some 3M film abrasive sheets for knife sharpening and honing. It is available in the Woodcraft catalog and also in the Japanese Woodworker catalog. This micro finishing & lapping film is available in four grits, 12 micron -1200grit; 5 micron grit; 1 micron Grit; and 0.3 micron grit. The sheets are 8 1/2 x 11 and can be made into many sharpening laps. Cost per sheet is $4.25 to $4.50. Chris has glued strips to either side of paint stirring sticks, and so in two sticks have all four to grits to sharpen his knives with. They sharpen very well, and only need a few strokes to keep your knives sharp all of the time. Several carvers could share the cost of the sheets and all could have lap sticks at low cost. Really sharp tools will greatly aid in your carving. Don t Forget to keep your Monthly Newsletter Interesting & Informative for all Members? Always on the look-out for those Pics,Tips, Ideas & or Tidbits that you are willing to share with fellow carvers just let me know & I will include them in your Monthly Newsletter: Lets share them with fellow carvers, especially new carvers trying to get started & gain a foothold on this wonderful hobby & pastime! (catch up to me at our meeting or contact me through my (Floyd_gvwc@yahoo.com)). SEE YOU November 10 th MEETING We can never put as much detail in a subject as nature has. We are left to interpret and contain the spirit in a medium that can last. (Ullbert, sculpter) Floyd Lombardi, Editor ( Floyd_GVWC@yahoo.com )