May, 2016 Newsletter GENESEE VALLEY WOODCARVERS

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1 May, 2016 Newsletter GENESEE VALLEY WOODCARVERS 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: Important Disclosure: Wood carving and whittling may be habit forming and could prevent you from engaging in household chores and other unpleasant tasks. Carving is enjoyable and you may be prone to share it with others: thus, causing them to experience the same distractions from less pleasant tasks as you may have experience yourself GVW OFFICER: Co-Presidents: Alison Currie & Harry Patrick; Treasurer: Mel Connell ; Web: Alison Currie; Show Chair: Chris Nilsen; Membership: Anthony Filetti; At Large: Anthony Filletti; Newsletter: Floyd Lombardi GVW 2015/2016 MEETING & ACTIVITY SCHEDULE President s Corner: (May, 2016) IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING MEETING TIME/LOCATION Due to remodeling at the 40&8 Club, the May club meeting could be held at an alternate location. We will all club members and post the location on the website once Rene lets us know what's happening. Stay tuned! As I (Harry) am writing this, I can see Goldfinches, Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse & Grackles galore at my bird feeders. Now if only I had my camera ready, I d have some good reference photos It was a beautiful day (maybe too beautiful) for our annual show. All the comments we heard were very positive and complimentary. We want to thank everyone who participated in the April show. Without the carvers and so many club members volunteering, we would not have had as much success. A huge thank you to our Show Chairman, Chris Nilsen, for his dedication and organizational skills extraordinaire in chairing such great shows. Without stealing all of Chris s thunder, here s a very short recap of the show. This year there were 129 entries ( 23 or 21.7%) by 26 carvers ( 6) as compared to the 2015 show. Our longest distance carver traveled all the way from California and we had some Canadian visitors as well! The raffle earned $729, thank you to all our generous donors! Shameless plug for next years show: We have approximately 44½ weeks (~10.3 months) until our 2017 show! We d like to see ALL MEMBERS (this means you!) enter a carving in the 2017 show. We re calling it All-in in 17! It starts now! Prior to the show we had 63 active members. Post show, we currently have 69 members. We welcome our new members: Audrey Amir Bruce Fernandez (rejoined) Vern Hesketh (joined to compete) George Schell Dick Stoddard Jill Thomann (joined to compete) So far in 2016 we ve added 8 new members. One of our club goals is to increase membership. At our year-end meeting in June, we will host a brain-storming session on how to increase membership. New members are the life blood of any organization and, unfortunately, our numbers are ever decreasing. Remember, instead of thinking outside the box, get rid of the box. All ideas are welcome! Alison & I will tabulate results afterwards and forward them to the membership. Congratulations to our own Al Jordan on his first place in the Masters Division Birds of Prey with a Shorteared Owl at the recent Ward World Championships in Ocean City, Maryland. This carving also took a third in Best of Show for masters. Regards, Harry and Alison Show Chairman s Corner: First, I would like to thank the many volunteers who helped to make this another successful carving show. Their efforts and work are appreciated. Quite a few members brought their carvings to exhibit, but more would have been better. There was a very noticeable lack of novice category entries. From the 65 club members only 26 entered carvings! What are we doing wrong? Apparently we inspired only about 40 percent of the members to carve entries! The show setup went very quickly and smoothly due to the volunteers that helped. The show closed at 4:30 and we were out of the auditorium by 5:00 PM due to everyone helping.

2 Tom Johnson's sale went very well with many fine carvings sold at bargain prices. We learned some things about the carving categories this year. Changes will be made for next year s show. The nice weather affected our attendance, yet the raffle still netted over $ 700, while entry fees brought the total to a little over $900. News Flash Tom & Jackie Johnson will be at the May meeting with a lot of amazing bargain birds for special sale to members. If you want a carving done by a known career or just want a study bird to use as a pattern, etc., here is your chance to have one or some. Special sale to members at give away prices just as there were at the show. (Chris Nilsen) Meeting Schedule & format: ^ ^ ^ ^ 6:30-7:00 PM: Open time for socializing, informal coaching or critiquing, browse the library, & the informal Show & Ask Me table. 7:00-7:15 PM: Welcome new members and guests, announcements. 7:00-9:00 PM: Open carving time and/or demos. 9:00-9:30 PM: Room cleanup May 9: Show postmortem and critiques. June 13: Name tags, social, and elections. July or August: Carving social at a county park. MEMBER INFORMATION We said farwell to fellow carving and alumni this past month (Fred Heier). Fred was a past president and a very good one (Paul Yarrows). He will be missed by all who knew him, but his presence will always be felt! FRED HEIER, member of the GVWCA, master carver, and gentleman extraordinaire, passed away on Monday, April 4th. Thank you, Fred, for allowing me to purchase your beautiful birds over the years and especially for your warmth and friendship. Our prayers go out to Fred's family, God Bless! (The CAROLINA WREN by FRED HEIER) NEWSLETTER CONTENTS: o Carving Show Results o Sharpening Your Tools(Bench Stones o Protecting Your Tools While Power Sharpening o Benchtop Carving Vise o A Poor Man s Dust Collector. o Universal Bench Hook o Carved Fish Decoy BEST IN SHOW (Oh sorry that s Best Showman) BEST IN SHOW

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6 SHARPENING YOUR TOOLS: Now that our Show & Competition is over and we are heading into the summer months, it might be a good time to take stock of our knives, gouges and veniers and make sure they are all sharp or just practice and fine tune your sharpening skills so we all are ready for our the club s up-coming carving season. If you need one it s also a good time to build a Benchtop Carving vise & maybe build a Poor Man s Dust Collector and protect your lungs! Having been asked many times about the methodology I use to keep my tools sharp and what method I would recommend, for them, to sharpen their tools. The little knowledge I possess on this subject comes from reading many articles and books on the different sharpening styles along with a lot of trial and error on the different methods and then use what worked for me. I personally like to use a fine and medium grit diamond stones along with a good strop. I feel a good medium and fine bench stones, should be a must for serious carvers, and is still the most economical and practical way to sharpen your tools (and they are portable). Just remember though, once sharp, do not over use your tools, while carving, and let them get dull before putting them to the strop. This will force you to needlessly re-sharpen you tools on a stone, while frequent breaks from your work and stropping the tools you are using, will keep them sharp. Everyone has their own preferred method that they use to sharpen and you have to find what works for you. But remember no matter what method choose use, from sandpaper to stones to power sharpening, when carving, break from your work and strop the tool you are carving with frequently and your tools will remain sharp. In the following article, some of these issues on bench stones are addressed & following that, is a short article on power sharpening concerns: (Floyd) BENCH STONES: - Wood Carving Illustrated, Fall, 2001, Issue #16 by John Mignone. John has been asked, especially by newcomers, to recommend the one bench stone they should purchase as a sharpening aid. Although this sounds like a simple question, it s not. In response, I ask if the carver is using a knife and one or two palm tools or is he carving with full-size chisels and gouges? Is a grinding wheel available? And with what regularity are the tools finely honed or sharpened? The answers help determine the types of bench stones he needs. What follows is an examination of the better sharpening stones available to carvers today. A Little History: In the history of abrasives, a naturally occurring material called sandstone was traditionally used to sharpen tools. Sandstone sand being a description of particle size, not composition, came in two forms: bench stones and grinding wheels. Often rectangular in shape, the bench stone got its name because it was placed flat on a woodworker s or carver s bench and the cutting edge was moved across the stone s face. While either bench stones, grinding wheels or both are in almost every carver s shop, there have been some changes in the material and technology in the last century. Sandstone, consisting of quartz crystals that have been naturally bonded, has been replaced. Man-made materials held together with resinous bonding agents are much harder but still-natural stones are commonly used today. It was in the late 1800 s that harder materials for rotating stones were sought after. Materials called silicon carbide and aluminum oxide were developed. Cost efficient and able to put an edge on steel, these materials made their way into bench stones. In the last 30 years, diamond and man-made ceramic stones have put their mark on tool sharpening. Arkansas bench stones are formed from a mineral called novaculite. Graded with names that indicate how hard they are, the softer stones have faster cutting action but do not leave a finely honed edge. From left to right: Washita (coarse); hard white; black; a translucent stone for exceptionally fine honing, and slip stones, which take care of gouges and V-tools. Are Bench Stones for You? Power sharpening is becoming more popular today, with horizontal and vertical grinding wheels proliferating, and I won both kinds. Needless to say, if your tool has a chipped edge or is very dull, it can be foolhardy to attempt to bring the edge back on a bench stone. Moving the tool back and forth on a stationary stone, even one that is coarse, can take an excruciatingly long time. However some coarse stones described below will restore a dull or damaged bevel if you have the patience. What, then are the advantages to having a bench stone? A good bench stone removes the bur or wire edge produced by a grinding wheel. It also keeps the edge finely tuned saving you from going back to the wheel. I call this process finish-sharpening. Stones give you a longer-lasting edge. While you can achieve a very sharp edge with motorized grinding and buffing wheels, scratches are usually left on the edge, which result in jagged points that make the edge brittle. Medium and fine bench stones leave

7 smaller scratches and consequently smaller points. The smaller these points are, the longer they tend to last before breaking or wearing off. If you have only a few tools, it s probably not economical to purchase a grinder or power sharpening unit. A assortment of stones will suffice if your tools require only a touch up. If you work with bench stones, you don t have to contend with the irritating sound and volume of most motorized sharpening systems. When taking needed breaks during the carving process, touching up edges on a bench stone should be done and can actually be relaxing. Stones for All Seasons: Bench stones are available in a variety of sizes and shapes. Tapered stones have both concave and convex surfaces that are ideal for gouges. The slip stones that are on the market offer either small convex edges that are excellent for small gouges or tapered edges for V tools. Some have both profiles. Square stones can be purchased that are suitable for chisels, 90-degree V tools, and large gouges. Still others are shaped like rods-useful when touching up the inside of a gouge s bevel-and files, which are helpful for knives, axes, adzes and drawknives. Lubrication: Let me offer a few words about lubrication. Old-fashioned grinding wheels typically moved through a trough of water. Many of the wheels today have water-drip systems or water reservoirs. The water is necessary to keep the steel from heating up and losing its temper, which is the process of hardening steel through heating and cooling. For bench stones, lubrication is necessary because it contributes to the sharpening process. First, the lubricant helps prevent the stone from clogging up with the minute particles of tool steel that are left on the surface. And second, the sludge created when the stone s loosened grit mixes with the lubricant actually contributes to the sharpening process. Be advised that the coarser the stone, the more lubrication is needed because the absorption into the stone is greater. Many carvers have the mistaken notion that only oil can be applied to a bench stone. While it s true that oil cannot be used with silicone carbide and some other stones, I prefer water for all other bench stones. Oil is much more difficult to clean up than water. If it gets on my hands and then on a carving, a stain is produced that can adversely affect the finish. Water on the other hand, dries quickly and will not leave a mess on the wood, clothing or bench top. The Bond: To help you understand how well a stone sharpens, you need to understand bonding. A hard bond results in a stone that wears slowly. Typical stones with hard bonds go by the names of Arkansas, oil and ceramic, the last having the hardest bond. In all of these stones, the abrasive grit is surrounded by and almost immovably imbedded in the structure of the stone. The nature of the bond, however, creates a comparatively slow cutting action. Instead of the top layer washing away and exposing new grit, it stays in place. What results is a glaze. When even enough steel particles produced by sharpening get imbedded in the pores of the bond, the result is a dull or glazed surface. The problem of glazing in a flat stone can be remedied by regularly lapping it on a flat diamond stone or 150 to 220-grit wet-anddry sandpaper backed by a machined metal surface or glass. When rubbing or lapping one surface on another in a circular motion, the unwanted steel is removed. Only a small amount of lapping is required to remove the glaze. You will notice immediately how the performance of the stone is improved. The Oil Stone: An old standby and still a good choice for a carver today is the oil stone, which comes in a variety of shapes accommodate almost every carving tool from a knife to a gouge. Descried as a synthetic stone, the abrasive consists of aluminum oxide or silicon carbide. The abrasive is set in a clay-like material to create a hard bond. For a lubricant, a medium-weight oil or kerosene is recommended. The aluminum oxide oil stones are available in finer grits than the silicon carbide stones, but they are not available in very fine grits. It is important when using an oil stone to wipe it with a clean, dry cloth to remove the tine steel particles that clog the surface. When the particles do build up in the pores, then you will have to turn to a diamond stone or sandpaper. If the stone is tapered, round or V- shaped, gentle sanding with wet-and-dry paper removes the particles of steel. The Natural: Naturally formed from a mineral called novaculite, the Arkansas stone was considered to be the sharpening stone by many woodworkers and woodcarvers. I use past tense because, in general, the quality of novaculite deposits has declined while quality synthetic stones have become available. When you do come across Arkansas stones, which are available as bench and slip stones, you will discover that they are graded coarse to fine in the following order: Washita, which is fairly coarse but fast cutting, soft, hard, black hard and translucent. Either water or oil must be used as a lubricant when sharpening on these stones to prevent metal particles from getting imbedded. And, like oil stones, they need to be wiped clean after use. Arkansas stones are still good choices. In fact, hard Arkansas slip stones and files are available and make for excellent sharpening accessories. The Perfect Stone? Using aluminum oxide as the abrasive, the manmade ceramic stone is set in an extremely hard bond. The advantage is that it sharpens quickly and keeps its shape for a very long time with no dishing out on the surface. The disadvantage is that worn and rounded abrasive grit stays in place instead of dislodging. The result is a reduction in sharpening speed. To deal with the problem, I lap my flat ceramic stones frequently with a diamond stone. Ceramic stones are available in only three grits: medium, fine and ultra-fine. While sharpening can be accomplished without a lubricantsome catalogs suggest that it is not needed for this stone-i use water. I have found that without the lubricant, the stone quickly glazes. The Waterstone: About 25 years ago Japanese Waterstones hit the American market and are readily available. In competition is Norton, an American company that is now producing Waterstones. A decided advantage to these waterstones is their soft, porous resin bond. When sharpening, the top layer of abrasive grit is slowly but constantly washed away to expose new, sharp abrasives. This action is what accounts for the faster sharpening ability of these stones. However they will wear more quickly than their harder counterparts described above. I recommend that the tones be lapped regularly, but not because they become glazed. Rather, the lapping keeps them flat. A diamond bench stone is needed or wet-and-dry sandpaper backed by a metal plate or glass. The most commonly used abrasive in the Japanese Waterstones is aluminum oxide, although some stones with green carbide are available. The grading of their grit size is done very accurately, and they possess the greatest grit range of any stone: from about 100 to 8,000. The 6,000 and 8,000-grit stones cut and polish finer than any other type of stone. A word of caution: If you want to keep a flat and unmarked surface, don t let a tool corner dig into the stone. Are Diamond a Carver s Best Friend? Commonly available to carvers is the diamond stone, which I have recommended to use when correcting the problems of other bench stones. Since diamonds are the hardest material that can be used for sharpening devices, they will put an edge on just about anything, including carbide. But their real asset is how fast they sharpen, especially when compared to other stones. Diamond stones consist of either monocrystalline or polycrystalline diamonds. The diamonds of both types of sharpening stones are usually bonded to a metal plate that is machined very flat. In contrast to the stones described above, the grit of the diamond stone is not surrounded by any other material. The monocrystalline grit consists of single crystals while the polycrystalline grit consists of small crystals forming on top or around each other. The difference for a carver, aside from the fact that the monocrystalline

8 stone is more expensive, is that the polycrystalline grit fractures and breaks down over time, leaving a finer and finer grit size. Consequently, it takes longer to sharpen a tool, but not appreciably so. The typical grit range for diamond stones is 220 to Because the coarser stones cut so aggressively, they produce grooves in the cutting edge. A fine stone such as a black hard Arkansas is recommended for a second round of sharpening. If you do use diamond stones without a lubricant, be aware that metal particles will eventually clog them. Flexible Stones: A few years ago, 3M Corporation began manufacturing diamond stones. Rather than using a metal plate, the company produces a finely graded diamond grit on a piece of flat plastic. Even more novel are the flexible adhesive strips that can be cut to any size or shape you desire. This feature allows you to make your own slip stones, cone or rod-shaped sharpening devices, or files. Even a hook knife will no longer pose a sharpening problem. Another plus is that 3M diamond stones come in 1800 grit, which is fine enough for most finish-sharpening. Stones in Storage: Both oil and Arkansas bench stones usually come in wooden boxes. It s a good idea to keep them enclosed in these containers, especially if wood dust is a problem in your shop or work area. Wood particles will clog the surface of the stone and reduce the sharpening efficiency. If a box is not available or if you want to store those specialty stones, such as slip stones and tapered stones, try a plastic storage container. It is preferable to store a waterstone in water if you like to start sharpening immediately. Otherwise, the stone will have to be immersed for a while. In most cases, though, Waterstones can be allowed to dry out without problems. However, they must never be allowed to freeze. Any water in them will cause cracks and breaks. Making Choices: Every carver should have at least one full-size bench stone that measures 8 in. long and at least 2 in. wide. A wide stone will provide a surface big enough for a large chisel or gouge if you own one or might purchase in the future. I do recommend, in addition to the flat stone, a fine-grit slip stone and a leather strop to remove even the smallest bur left after sharpening with a bench stone. If you are still uncertain about what to purchase, talk to other carvers and try their bench stones. Sharpening should always be the first priority after purchasing toe tools. After all, how efficiently can you carve if your tools don t have that fine edge? Protecting Your Tools While Power Sharpening: Wood Carving Illustrated, Fall, 2013, Issue #64 by Bob Duncan Manufactures heat carving tools to harden and temper them. The hardening process transforms the soft steel into harder steel to increase the durability of the edge, but the hardening process can make the steel brittle. So, tools are often heated a second time to reduce the hardness slightly and make them less brittle a process called tempering. The hardening and tempering process is the reason many people fear power sharpening. Everyone has heard a story about someone who burned their tool when sharpening with power. The sharpening process generates heat, and unless that heat is removed, the temperature of the metal rises enough to remove the hardening and tempering, especially at the thin cutting edge. If the metal changes color while you are power sharpening a tool, the hardness and temper of the blade have been damaged. Although it is possible to re-harden and re-temper the tool, most carvers end up grinding off all of the metal that changed color (the damaged section) and re-sharpening the tool. Left intact, the damaged metal will not stay sharp for long. There are several ways to reduce heat while sharpening. First, don t keep the tool in contact with the abrasive for long periods of time. Second, use an abrasive belt, such as a belt sander, which spins in the air and distributes the heat. Finally, keep a cup of water nearby and dip the tool frequently to keep it cool and thus properly hardened and tempered. Benchtop Carving Vise: Wood Carving Illustrated, Fall, 2002, Issue #?? by Louis Foshay Carvings often require a vise or holding fixture for safety and ease of removing wood. My benchtop carving vise allows me to remove large amounts of wood from a variety of projects. The fixture is especially invaluable when I have both hands busy with a mallet and chisel or gouge and the carving cannot be handheld. Custom-Make Your Vise: The size of the vise I made measures approximately 12in. wide by 15in. long with jaws that are 1 ¼ in. square. These dimensions were chosen to accommodate the size of the carvings that I typically work on. But a larger or smaller vise can easily be built that suits your carving needs. However, I do advise that the jaws open wide enough to hold a variety of carvings from very narrow to fairly wide. The drawings, then, provide assembly details rather than dimensions. The vise consists of four major components: a base, a pair of jaws to hold the carving, a hook that holds the vise to a table or workbench, and a stop board that prevents the carving from shifting or moving out of the jaws. To hold the jaws to the base, four carriage bolts, flat washers and wing nuts or hex nuts are required. If you have, as I do, a selection of hardware around your home and some sizeable pieces of ¾ in. thick plywood, plus some lengths of 3/4in. to 1in. thick hardwood, the cost for the vise is zero. If you need to purchase the components from home center or lumber yard, I estimate that the cost for the vise will be under $20. Construction Notes:

9 The jaws, which consist of pieces of hardwood and plywood, are adjustable with slots in each jaw. The slots are easily made with a scroll saw, but a jigsaw with a fine blade will do almost as good a job. I find that 1/4in. by 20 by 2in. long bolts in 3/8in. wide slots work best for a vise of almost any size. To attach the hardwood to the plywood, I recommend both screws and glue. To protect the details on your carving from the pressure of the jaws, I suggest that you cut an old computer mouse pad to size and glue the pieces to the faces of the hardwood pieces. You can use softwood such as pine, but if you are carving a harder material, the wood will eventually have to be replaced owing to depressions and dents While the hook keeps the carving up close and prevents the vise from sliding away, the hook s opening may have play in it as mine does. If that s the case, you can wedge a piece of wood under the base at the rear of the vise. B bonus to the addition wood is that the vise is elevated, providing great visibility. There is also less strain on the body if you have to lean over the carving for any length of time. If you find it comfortable working with the wedge, it can be mounted permanently with screws and glue. Regardless of how big you make your benchtop carving vise, countersink all screws and make sure that the carriage bolts heads are below the surface. The vise, which does not require a finish, can be put together in a few hours. Now you have as part of your carving arsenal a tool that should last for years. A Poor Man s Dust Collector: Wood Carving Illustrated, Fall, 2000, Issue #?? by Jim Smith The fine wood dust particles created by power carving tools are a messy nuisance to say the least. At worst, they pose a real health hazard to woodcarvers. You can wear a respiration mask to protect your lungs from the floating wood particles, but for many of us, the dust is an eye irritant as well. This project fill the need for a low-cost, efficient dust collector that can easily be assembled in a few hours with common tools. I ve been using my unit for nearly two years and am very satisfied with its performance. The fan draws air and dust through the top of the unit and expels clean air through the four filters that make up the sides of the collector. Large dust particles and wood chips collect in the bottom of the box, which can easily be emptied. The advantage of this dust collector over other fan-and-filter-in-a-box units is the large surface area of the filters, which allows maximum air flow through the fan. The unit is made from items purchased at the local hardware and office supply stores. The cost is about $50. The shopping list includes the following:

10 Although different mounting strategies for the fan can be used, I screwed and glued two support blocks to the underside of the plywood, then screwed the fan case to these blocks. The fan has to be mounted so that if draws the dust in, not blow it out. Using a saber saw, I cut a circular opening in one of the plywood squares to accommodate the fan. To form the dust collector lid, I glued and taped for 3-in. by 12-in. foam board pieces to the sides of the plywood to form the dust collector cover. After the glue dried, I mounted the fan to the cover. Using a silicone caulking compound, I sealed the fan to the plywood and let the caulk cure. Universal Bench Hook: Wood Carving Illustrated, Fall,????, Issue #?? by Louis Andrew DiPace Get a grip on carving projects with uneven edges: Every wood shop should have a bench hook, whether you are into cabinet making, furniture making, or woodcarving. It is one of the simplest yet most valuable tools; it just takes three pieces of wood, some nails or screws, and maybe some glue to hold any project with straight edges. But what happens if the wood is oval or doesn t have any straight edges? The wood will rock, it will not be steady, and it may be difficult to get good cuts. That s the situation I was in when I was carving Lady Liberty from the Summer 2015 (Issue 71) Woodcarving Illustrated. The project has no straight edges. I needed a different bench hook. Making the Bench Hook: I made my universal bench hook from two scraps of wood and some dowel pegs. For the surface of bench hook, I used cabinet-grade birch plywood, which is more stable than regular plywood and has a smoother surface. Size it to suit your carvings; I used a large piece of scrap. 1. Cut a 45deg. Angle on each corner of the plywood to eliminate sharp corners. 2. Sand both surfaces and all edges to knock down any potential splinters. 3. Glue and screw a long, thin piece of scrap (the hook) to the back of one long edge of the plywood. 4. Make a grid of 3 (76mm) squares on the front of the plywood. Drill 5/8 (16mm)-diameter holes at the corners of the grid. 5. Cut a 5/8 (16mm)-diameter dowel into pieces 1 (12mm) long. Cut lots of them; I have about 10 on hand. Lightly sand the edges of each dowel.

11 Using the Bench Hook: Now place your carving on the bench hook and put dowel pegs in the holes closest to the edges of the project. My bench hook worked great for Lady Liberty; there weren t holes in every position needed, so I just drilled more. That s the beauty of this hook; you can adapt it to any project. Even if you need to carve on the edge of a project, you can clamp it and place dowels around the clamp and into the bench hook. Carved Fish Decoy: Illustrated in the Handcraft Illustrated, by Mike Denaro - (July/August 1995) I know there was some interest in a fish carving and I found this one in an old copy of Handcraft Illustrated. Carve and decorate your own folk-art fish using a few basic woodworking tools and acrylic craft paint. The body is hand carved from a 12 x 3 piece of basswood. Since I do not have authorization to reprint the article, if anyone is interested, just let me know and I will supply you with a copy of the article and all of its instructions and patterns. It looks like fun to me. Member s Corner & Contributions): (Floyd/Rob): Just prior to our Carving Show & Competition you all were sent a copy of a very well written summation, by Rob Lucci, of his Adventure to the 2016 Charlotte Showcase of Woodcarvings, accompanied by Tony Filetti and Jim Butlin. I think we found our new Newsletter Editor! Rob said that their main goal was to compete in the event sponsored by the Charlotte Woodcarvers in Charlotte, NC. Their other goal was to give the 2500 people attending (from across the country) a chance to see some of the carvings that are being created by members of the Genesee Valley Woodcarvers of Rochester, NY. It sounds to me like they very much accomplished their goal. Tony, Jim & Rob participated in the Tom Wolfe Carving Competition and it sounds like it was quite a challenge them. In true fashion they rose to the occasion in which Tony received an Open Level second place ribbon for his Meter Maid s A Comin, Jim received an Intermediate Level 1 st place ribbon & the Best of Tom Wolfe Award for a hound dog carving along with a 3 rd place ribbon for his Bad Dog Brewery carving and Rob received Intermediate level 1 st place ribbons as well as a 2 nd place ribbon in the caricature bust category.. His carving of Santa Claus was also honored with the Best of Intermediate Level ribbon. Who knew we had world class caricature carvers amongst us! Our congratulations to the three of them! Mr. Ray Branch, one of the Charlotte Woodcarvers show committee s member, extended a hello to all of the Genesee Valley Woodcarvers club members and extended his invitation for our entire club to come down for the show next year, which will be held in February 18 & 19, 2017.

12 (Floyd): Earlier this year I put on a Knife Safety & Soap Carving class, on behalf of Genesee Valley Woodcarvers, for 8 Cub Scouts of Pack 195. This gave them the skills to earn their Whittling Chip badge. Who knows, we might have some future wood carvers on our hands. (Floyd): recently read an article in the UK s Wood Carving magazine, by editor Mark Baker,Issue 149 March/April 2016 Please read the following comments by Mark does any of it sound familiar? So In response to Chris Nielsen s statement/question What Are We Doing Wrong I submit the following article? To me the key is young blood, diversity but the question becomes how do we attract them? Problems for Clubs. When Mark sadly heard about a club folding, he was informed that the club had very few younger people, joining, despite organized exhibitions, attending various events and published acknowledgment of their presence. It was noted that within numerous clubs 1) no one wants to take on being a chairperson or treasurer with older members stepping down. The lack of people wanting to take an active role in running a club and the lack of youngsters taking up the hobby are too often encountered. All organizations need to be proactive and have a clear vision as to what they can and cannot do for their members, and then have clear aims and objectives with a plan and timeline as to how to deliver those with everyone pulling their weight and playing an active part. If such a club or organization doesn t have these, what does it exist for? All groups face challenges, but we have to be relevant and current, proactive and all trying to work together by being willing to play a part if there is any chance of organizations continuing or developing and even growing. (Mark Baker) (Harry): The following information is courtesy of Keith Mueller.

13 MISC INFO, MEMBER PIC S & TIDBITS Editor s Request: Don t forget those carving images for the Monthly Newsletter! For the Newsletter I m always requesting pics or images of your favorite carvings, any carving, to add to the title line and bottom of the monthly newsletters. The images at the top and bottom of the newsletter are old news and I need something fresh and from our carvers. I would like to post and periodically switch off with images of club members creations which shows off the creativity and talent of club members. So, let s show some pride in your creations! Remember: It s still your newsletter, about YOU, for YOU and what YOU want to know - so just drop me a line & I will do my best to get answers to those questions, your interests in woodcarving into the newsletter and let s not forget those Pics, Tips & or Tidbits! Just remember I m interested in helping you and I m always Listening FYI: In the Calendar of Events section of Woodcarving Illustrated Winter/Spring 2016, Issue 74 There is a mention about the Genesee Valley Woodcarvers upcoming Show & Competition this coming April 16 th at the Rochester Museum and Science Center in the Eisenhart Auditorium along with our website information! Odd Tips: 1. Paint Cups: The disposable measuring scoops packaged with powdered detergents are perfect for paint or dye projects. They make an easy to hold paint cup. 2. Keeping Acrylic Paints Moist: If your in the middle of your painting project and have to step out for a short while, you can keep your acrylic paints fresh and moist for up to one week. Try an inexpensive plastic box with compartments, the compartments that are molded into the box and not removable. For an air tight seal, lay plastic wrap over the paints and snap the lid closed.

14 SEE YOU the May 9th MEETING! Approach each carving with possibilities instead of limitations Floyd Lombardi, Editor ( Lombardi_floyd@yahoo.com )