Newsletter V o lume 11 I s s ue 3 M a r c h 2011

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Newsletter V o lume 11 I s s ue 3 M a r c h 2011"

Susanna Butler
5 years ago
Views:

1 A gainst the Grain b y R o land Johnson It s Showtime The CMWA is getting geared up for our sixth annual CMWA Wood Expo, and it looks to be our best show yet.

Zniewski, who makes sure we don t fritter away our life s savings on the meet. Albert Keppers, Gary Mrozek, Denny Myers and Bill Riner help keep the ball rolling.

1 1 A gainst the Grain b y R o land Johnson It s Showtime The CMWA is getting geared up for our sixth annual CMWA Wood Expo, and it looks to be our best show yet. Every year the show gets bigger, better and more interesting, thanks in large part to Brad Knowles, who gets to ride herd on the whole show, Cy Valerius, the marketing guru for the show and Kurt Zniewski, who makes sure we don t fritter away our life s savings on the meet. Albert Keppers, Gary Mrozek, Denny Myers and Bill Riner help keep the ball rolling. It s a ton of work getting a show ready and we really appreciate all the volunteers who help on the day of the show. Thanks guys and gals! The show is a real benefit for the club and for our community. Attending a woodworking show is a great way to stay in touch with what s happening in the woodworking world. I enjoy spending a day hanging out with a bunch of like-minded enthusiasts and getting the chance to see a bunch of seminars adds a bonus to a good day. I hope I see you at the Expo this year. In the past year I ve been a featured presenter at 16 Woodworking Shows around the country. It s been great fun (although the traveling has its drawbacks) and I ve seen a definite increase in attendance at the shows this year. In fact, the shows in Kansas City, St. Louis and Milwaukee looked like the shows from twenty years ago; big crowds, lots of vendors and an enthusiasm about woodworking that I haven t seen in years. I think we are going to see a renaissance in the woodworking hobby in the next few years. There are going to be a whole bunch of boomers retiring in the next few years and judging from the folks I ve talked to at the shows, woodworking is going to be a new vocation as well as a great hobby for many of them. The CMWA now has a meeting seminar committee. Shawn Jarvin, Bill Langen, Charlie Meyer, and myself met a couple of weeks ago to try and Newsletter V o lume 11 I s s ue 3 M a r c h 2011 The CMWA is a group of men and women from around the St. Cloud, Minnesota area who share a common interest in the art and business of woodworking. We meet monthly and share information, techniques and topics of interest in the area of woodworking. Visit us at: us at: newsletter@thecmwa.com 2011 CMWA Officers President: Vice President: Treasurer: Secretary: Board of Directors: Marketing Director: Newsletter Editor: Website Manager: Membership Information Rollie Johnson John Wilson Kurt Zniewski Bill Riner Tom Harlander John Kenning Albert Keppers Denny Myers Cy Valerius Glenn Street Darren McKeever Dues: $30 Mail to: CMWA PO Box 1955 St. Cloud, MN Benefits: Informational monthly program including seminars, guest speakers, demonstrations and hands-on sessions Instructive monthly newsletters Card entitling you to discounts at the following suppliers: Acme Tools, Youngblood Lumber, Renneberg Lumber Current Membership: 59 nail down a seminar list for the coming year. We should have a solid schedule listed by next month so we can let the membership know what s scheduled for our meetings months in advance. If you have any suggestions or would be interested in presenting a topic at one of our meetings please feel free to call anyone on the committee. 1

2 F e b r u ary CMWA Meeting ( g s ) The club met at Denny Myers shop for the February meeting. Thank you Denny for hosting us. Following a few administrative announcements, some member built items were shown. Particularly impressive was a turned and carved piece that Brad is shown displaying in the photograph below. John Caye testified to Brad s exceptional skills as a woodworker and carver. On a visit John witnessed the exquisite carved trim that Brad had made and installed throughout his home. John Caye then took charge of the meeting. He started by providing everyone with a bandsaw tuning handout written by Michael Fortune He and Denny, with the assistance of a few other members went through some of the tune up steps on Denny s 14 Powermatic bandsaw as shown in the top photograph on page 3. Things discussed were making sure a brush was properly installed to remove dust from the tire on the bottom wheel, centering the blade on the top wheel and the importance of a sharp blade. 2

As the string was adjusted to a shorter length, it pulled the slat into an arc (looked like a bow) that

3 We finished the meeting with everyone making a simple adjustable arc tool as shown below. It was a thin slat of wood with a length adjustable string attached to each end of the slat. As the string was adjusted to a shorter length, it pulled the slat into an arc (looked like a bow) that could be used as a template for drawing a uniform curve. Many members lingered in conversation after the official meeting ended. 3

4 B l ock Gauges ( g s ) A fellow woodworker introduced me to block gauges a few years back what a big favor that would turn out to be! A block gauge is nothing more than brass square stock, usually about 4 in length. The set I purchased is shown below, but there are other suppliers that provide similar gauge sets. The Whiteside set (<$10) includes five sizes as shown on the package. The various sizes can be stacked to give you additional gauge heights. For example, if you need 5/16, simply stack the 1/8 and 3/16 gauges. There are many situations where I use these gauges over pulling out a ruler or tap measure. For example, I find it much easier to use the 1/8 block gauge to set the height of my router bit when making cope and stick door panels. I lay the gauge on the router table and adjust the bit height until the gauge and bit feel flush. Another example where I use the gauge is when attaching drawer fronts to cabinet drawers. With a 3/8 offset, I clamp slats of wood to the face frame 3/8 from the inside edges of the drawer openings to keep the drawer front in the proper position when screwing them to the drawers. I find it much easier to set these slats by feeling when the gauge is flush with the rail or stile, as opposed to reading a tape measure. I m quite confident that if you decide to purchase a set, you ll be glad you did. 4

5 See you there!! 5

The MMAW will have members performing live demonstrations and selling their art in the Visual Arts Studio.

6 Calendar ( g s ) March 12 CMWA Expo, 9 am to 3 pm, St. Cloud National Guard Armory, admission is $4. March 16 CMWA monthly meeting, 7 pm, Randy Brown will demonstrate mortising equipment. See page 8 for more details. March 18 St. Cloud Art Crawl 5-9 pm. The MMAW will have members performing live demonstrations and selling their art in the Visual Arts Studio. April 9th 10:00 am Paramount Visual Arts Center - Demonstration on making a Pepper Mill. April 20 CMWA Meeting, topic to be determined. May 14th 10:00 am Paramount Visual Arts Center - Presentation of 4-jaw chucks and chuck safety. May 18 CMWA Meeting, topic to be determined. 6

7 Please support our sponsors by patronizing their businesses. 7

PO Box 1955 St. Cloud, MN 56302-1955 Upcoming Meeting Wednesday, March 16, 7 pm, at Sauk Rapids Rice Middle School.

8 PO Box 1955 St. Cloud, MN Upcoming Meeting Wednesday, March 16, 7 pm, at Sauk Rapids Rice Middle School. Randy Brown from Long Prairie will present on mortising equipment he has developed. Bring items to auction. CMWA Board Meeting Wednesday, March 16, 6 pm, Coborn s Superstore, Sauk Rapids. 8

Newsletter V o lume 11 I s s ue 9 S e p t em b e r

Newsletter V o lume 11 I s s ue 9 S e p t em b e r 1 Save Your Fingers! A gainst the Grain This week I received an email from CMWA member Lou Czarnowski. Lou is setting up a new shop and was curious about the current crop of tablesaws and what to look