Newsletter of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafter s Guild September, 2013 OFF-CUTS www.stpetewoodguild.com Are They Bugging You Too? I m not talking about government conspiracies here. I m talking about tangible critters attacking our precious hordes!! Last month I told you about my termite problem. Well, after a couple sweat soaked weekends, I am prepared for fumigation. And none too soon for me. It s driving me crazy thinking those voracious vermin are tearing up my variety of potential projects. Bill Murphy, our bugman and editor sent me an informative link concerning other pests that could do damage to our wonderful wood. Here is a partial reprint: Lyctid powderpost beetle The larvae of Lyctid powderpost beetles develop and feed in hardwood. They usually infest furniture, flooring, paneling and molding. The beetles lay their eggs on the surface of wood. The larvae are C-shaped grubs that feed and pupate in the wood. Adults chew out of the wood, leaving circular emergence holes about 1 mm to 2 mm in diameter. Adult beetles are brown and are 3 mm to 5 mm long. The antennae have two-segmented clubs. Bostrichid powderpost beetle The larvae of Bostrichid beetles live and feed in wood. They can attack both hardwood and softwood, including bamboo, wicker and weaving material of baskets. The beetles bore into the wood to lay eggs. The larvae eat and pupate in the wood. Adult beetles are 3 mm to 6 mm long. To emerge, they bore round exit holes greater than 3 mm in diameter. Dale Neff, In This Issue: A message from President Dale Neff...Front & 2 Board Members, Heritage Village & the Build along project......pg 3 Upcoming Programs................pg. 4 Silent Auctions and the Last Minute Elf....pg 5 Photos from the August Meeting....... pg 6 A Matter of Time.pgs 7&8 Page
2 Newsletter of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafter s Guild September, 2013 Anobiid powderpost beetle are 4 mm to 6 mm and develop in softwood or hardwood in structures. They are very common in subflooring of buildings. The beetles lay their eggs in cracks or on the surface of the wood. The larvae bore into the wood and feed on it. Adult beetles emerge from the wood by boring circular emergence holes about 2 mm to 3 mm in diameter. Old house borer This beetle is 15 mm to 25 mm long, flattened and grayish-black. The area behind the head has two shiny black spots. The larvae spend two to 10 years feeding on sapwood of pine, fir, spruce and other softwoods. Adults emerging from infested wood bore oval emergence holes that are 6 mm to 15 mm long. Formosan termite is a subterranean termite that has several unique characteristics that make it special compared to the Eastern subterranean termite. The reproductives are brown and swarm in the evening during May to July. Colonies of Formosan termites are large, with up to 5 million individuals. Therefore, they destroy wood faster than the Eastern subterranean termite. Formosan termites construct nests that are composed of carton material. These nests may be in the soil or in the structure. Drywood termite colonies are found entirely within wood in structures. Because they do not require soil contact, they do not make mud tubes. The swarmers are usually light-brown and are most prevalent from September to December. Swarming usually occurs in the evening. Eastern subterranean termite lives in colonies composed of workers, soldiers, reproductives and supplemental reproductives. During the spring, the reproductives swarm and leave the colony. The reproductives are black and have a thick waist. The antennae are straight and both pairs of wings are the same length. Subterranean termites feed on wood, but nest in the soil. They construct mud tubes from their nests to the wood in structures. Carpenter ant Carpenter ants are large ants, about 13 mm to 15 mm, that nest in hollows of wood. The nest is usually associated with wood decay or termite damage in a house. Outdoors, carpenter ants nest in mulch or debris. The Florida carpenter ant is red and black. Carpenter ants do not eat wood; they hollow it out for nests. So, be on the lookout for these hungry little beasts. If you want the footnotes and the bibliography for this article, go to this link: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in035 After all, I didn t pull this out of my head. Hope to see you next week at our next meeting when Scott Tiffany will be teaching us all he knows about glue-ups. See you there! And bring a Show & Tell to spice things up! Page 2
3 Newsletter of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafter s Guild September, 2013 Your Guild Officers for 2013 Dale Neff President 727-488-8135 dalegneff@yahoo.com 727-488-8135 Tom Iovino Vice President tkiovino@hotmail.com unpublished Chris Rau Treasurer 727-522-0839 cwrau@verizon.net 727-522-0839 Jay Marino Program Director 727-798-1885 jaymarino59@gmail.com 727-798-1885 David Ness Member at large 727-421-0146 nessd@tampabay.rr.com 727-421-0146 John Jardin Member at large 813-446-5740 jsjardin@verizon.net 813-446-5740 Jan Samay Secretary 727-347-3741 rsamay@ij.net 727-347-3741 The Great Build Along Project To be discussed at the September, Meeting Boat House & Caboose Update: Well the Trees were slated to be removed form the Boat House site, the second to the last week in August. However, Due to the heavy rains we had, this did not occur. The tree removal has been pushed to next year. The County moves very slowly. We are still very excited about this project. So please watch for more updates on this project. The Caboose is in the beginning stages of rust removal and prevention. That project is moving along. Please do not lose heart in the projects that we are involved in with Heritage Village. They are disappointed as well to not move forward on the Boat House, because of the weather conditions. This is a very exciting project and we are proud to be a part of. Page 3
4 Newsletter of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafter s Guild September, 2013 Upcoming Programs SEPTEMBER 2013 PROGRAM: Clamping and Glue Ups. Scott Tiffany will show us how to glue up joints and panels. Scott will explain some of the problems that you run into during glue ups and clamping of joints and panels and how to work with them. He will demonstrate several jigs and show how they can help you get squared joints and even panels. OCTOBER 2013 PROGRAM: How to prepare your project for finishing. What to do about grooves, gouges, dents, scratches, Glue stains, gaps in joints, pencil marks et cetera. What about the different kind of sanders for preparing the wood? Hand, belt, random orbit, palm? Explain sandpaper: different materials, grits, and techniques. How would you prepare your project for stain? How would you prepare the woods for an oil finish? How would you prepare for polyurethane, lacquer, or varnish finish? NOVEMBER 2013 PROGRAM: Election of officers. Preparations for Christmas party. Greenwood challenge: make a project out of recycled wood. DECEMBER 2013 PROGRAM: Christmas party. Page 4
5 Newsletter of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafter s Guild September, 2013 From Tom sworkbench.com I am launching a new woodworking effort this year the Last Minute Elf. From December 1 7, I am going to present a few simple ideas for projects that can be built in a small amount of time but can offer a big impact. Just as I have done with Get Woodworking Week for the past few years, I am asking for some help with this project from some of my fellow bloggers as well as some of the big players in the woodworking world. The best part? Everyone I have pitched the idea to so far is on board! What am I looking for? If you have an idea for a simple project that someone can bang together in a reasonable amount of time using a reasonable amount of wood, I d like to see it. Maybe you have recipe for a quick-drying finish that can help you play beat the clock. Maybe you even have a heartwarming, funny or just crazy story about a gift you received or gave during the holidays. Write it up and let me know where we can find it. I ll link out to your blog or article from here, just like I did for Get Woodworking Week. What a great idea! I know it is relevant to me. If you aren t yet subscribing to Tom Iovino s www.tomsworkbench.com you are missing out on a great blog. Let s help Tom make another big success with this project! Silent auction at the meetings. By Jay Marino Do you have tools that you are no longer using and would like to donate to the club? Bring them to the meeting and we will have a silent auction. The proceeds will go for the Christmas party. This is a good way to recycle the tools that you no longer use. This seems to be catching on with several people taking home some new tools from the last several meetings. Bring your donations, and bring a few bucks for that rare find. One man s trash is another s treasure! Page 5
6 Newsletter of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafter s Guild September, 2013 Snapshots from the August 2013 meeting Page 6
7 Newsletter of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafter s Guild September, 2013 By Bill Murphy It s a matter of TIME I haven t had much to bring in for show & tell for several months now. Instead of my usual routine of making several smaller projects over a period of time, I have been involved in a different sort of project. Sometime back my wife asked me to build her a clock. I have made several pieces of furniture in the past, but this time she wanted something different. For months we pored over magazines and websites until we found a Tall Shaker Clock that my wife fell in love with. My wife requested the clock to be made of solid cherry and then colored to be similar to much of our other furniture. We just celebrated our 40 th anniversary, and what the wife requests, the husband produces. The original was made by Erasmus Rude, and the reproduction was built by Glen Huey who also wrote the article for the June 2007 edition of Popular Woodworking magazine. The article was well written and I managed to get the electronic version, download the print out, and purchase an original copy of the magazine edition. I have found that sometimes when undertaking a project I have doubts about being up to the task. This was one of those times! When I first started woodworking back in the 70 s I read a book by R.J. De Christofero, who said all woodworking comes down to building nothing more than slabs and boxes. Everything else is just assembling the pieces and adding embellishments. Remembering this premise helps put me in the right mind frame when I am out of my comfort zone. I followed the directions to the bests of my ability, but of course I always have to make some changes just to suit my own desires. For example, a tall clock is made in three sections, the base, the waist, and the head. The plans call for the head to be a separate piece removable from the waist. I built mine permanently attached to the waist. Joinery used included mortise and tenon, lap joints, biscuits, and even pocket screws. Each type was used in appropriate situations. Other than card scrapers, no hand tools were dulled in the production of this clock. There were several aspects of this build which were new to me. Mr. Huey was very good in the article about explaining how to execute the unusual techniques and Popular Woodworking also provided some additional online support for the article. Page 7
8 Newsletter of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafter s Guild September, 2013 I had never used a tablesaw to produce cove moldings before yet the plans called for these moldings for the transition between the base and waist and again joining the waist and head. Not only were they made on the tablesaw, they were also mitered at the corners. With a lot of trepidation and a little experimentation they turned out quite well and I would not hesitate to use them again. A distinct feature of the head is the fact that there are two spindles at the front corners and two ½ spindles glued to a backer at the rear corners. One of the supporting websites detailed how to turn the ½ spindles by gluing up two pieces of wood with a piece of grocery bag between them, turning the spindle, then splitting it again into two ½ spindles after turning. On the onset it sounded iffy. In practice it worked perfectly and again I would not hesitate to use the technique again. One of the things I liked about following someone else s build was that I could use their list of hardware required. Otherwise, I was not prepared to select an appropriate movement, hinges for the doors, etc. It turned out that some of the original hardware is no longer manufactured. I did purchase all I could from the sources listed, and our friends at WoodCraft helped me in finding suitable replacements for the rest. It might be worth mentioning that the clock movement which cost $375 in 2007 is still available from the same source, but closer to $700 now. I dislike complicated finishing methods, and usually revert back to old methods. In this case it was particularly appropriate anyway. To achieve the desired color I mixed an aniline dye with a thinned out shellac and rubbed it into the wood. Then a few coats of straight dewaxed shellac followed by rubbing with 0000 steel wool and paste wax completed the process. The last stumbling block was that we agreed that we wanted something on the face in the arched space at the top of the door. Neither of us have any talent in painting, and my local resources didn t turn up anyone either. A coworker of my wife s put us in touch with Debby Pridgen who designed and painted the floral splash to our great satisfaction. If you need similar help adding artwork to a project, call Debbie at 727-483-0402 or email her at pridgeonvisions@yahoo.com. Too big and delicate for bringing in for show & tell, I wrote this article to share my experience. I learned a lot, and in the process I believe I have created a heirloom that will pass down in our family for generations. What are you building? All right, now you know what I have been working on, so how about you? Large or small, we are all interested to see what our members have been working on. If you don t feel like bringing it to a meeting for show and tell, email me some pictures and tell me your story and I will publish it here in the newsletter for all to see. My email is wmurphy1@tampabay.rr.com Page 8
9 Newsletter of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafter s Guild September, 2013 ST PETERSBURG WOODCRAFTERS GUILD c/o Grace Lutheran Church 4301 16th Street North St. Petersburg, Florida 33762 TO: This publication sponsored by: The Guild meets every 4th Tuesday of the month (except December) at 7PM in the Grace Lutheran Meeting Hall. 4301 16th Street North on the corner of 16th Street N & Haines Rd. Page 9