Dye stain, and shellac. Great Job Greg.
Author: Webmaster
Jim Kakacek – Toolbox and Restored Tools
Jim is a tool collector and has built a beautiful tool box to also store some of the tools he’s made. Cherry wood, hand rubbed and wax finish. All of the wood is flat-sawn so the wood produces a different feel and different results. Using a stain hides a lot. Some shellac was used initially to eliminate blotching from the Cherry wood. Case is dovetailed on all four sides.
Mark Willingham – Dulcimer
Announcements
Library Update
Wayne Manahan provided an update of new resources in the club library. There are newly purchased DVDs as well as some donated books. See the Librarian at our regularly scheduled meetings to check in/out resources.
Shop Clean-up
Shop clean-up will be the last weekend of the month, October 27th at 9am. We’ll be throwing out a lot of stuff and cleaning the shop. It shouldn’t take too long.
Bowl Turning Class
The Bowl Turning Class is progressing well. They’ll be making 4 bowls. Due to the positive response the class will be offered again in the new year.
Woodworking Sales
Klingspor is having their woodworking Extravaganza Friday/Saturday October 26 & 27th.
West Penn Hardwoods will also be having a big sale as well and some of us will be going there while in the area.
Officer Elections
Officer Elections will be next month. All officers have agreed to serve again if elected except for Vice President Bill Blackett. Nominations were taken at this month’s meeting.
Nominations received:
Jim Dunn – Vice President
Boy Scout Merit Badge Workshop
Please sign-up here:
Current Sign-up Sheets
No sheets available at this time.
This will be the 1st Two Saturdays in November 3rd & 10th from 8am-2pm. We need multiple people at each station to help the kids in different areas. Please plan to attend.
Raffle
We have an ongoing raffle for a Belt Sander. Raffle tickets can be purchased at the meeting, or online via paypal from the website.
Help Wanted
We are looking for a few volunteers to help setup and manage the raffles at our monthly meetings.
Upcoming Classes
Bruce Bogust will be doing a basic Table Saw Class on the 1st Saturday in December.
Christmas Party & Gift Exchange
Our annual Christmas Party & Gift Exchange is December 18th at Brixx Uptown
There is free parking nearby. This is just around the corner from the 7th Street Light Rail Station.
Cost is $10.
Don’t forget to put your red ticket from each meeting in the box for a drawing to win.
Our members will be doing the gift exchange again this year. Preferably shop made items that are given to our spouses (if you bring one) and servers.
One Special Christmas
One Special Christmas Banquet / Auction will be on December 1st, Saturday at Oehler’s BBQ Barn in Charlotte, NC.
This is our opportunity to help kids have One Special Christmas! Since 1989 One Special Christmas has raised more than $800,000 to help children experience the feeling of being special.
This year we will be helping children to have a BIG, life-changing Christmas season! Please help us this year by entering an item for the auction, coming to the auction and buying things!
Preview and silent auction will begin at 5:00 PM.
Dinner will start at 6:00 PM and the live auction will begin at 7:00PM.
Click Here to RSVP
or call 704-360-0643
Be sure to invite friends!
If you plan to donate, please fill out this form and bring it with the item. If not going, drop off the Monday before the meeting (November 26th).
Safety Announcement
Club members should be aware that we have a club AED (Automatic Defibrilator) in case someone has a heart issue while working in the shop.
It will be serviced soon with a new battery, but all members should be aware that it’s out there.
John Bregan will send email with details on how to use the device.
Sawdust Newsletter – Online Edition
This month marks a milestone for the Charlotte Woodworkers as we begin to release the monthly newsletter based on online content written during the prior month. See our Frequently Ask Questions below for details:
What does this mean for our members?
Going forward we will be delivering the newsletter to those who subscribe. We will continue to print a copy of the newsletter and archive in PDF form on the website, but going forward all of the content of the newsletter will be produced in WordPress, our new online platform.
Will I have to subscribe to receive the newsletter?
Eventually you will have to subscribe to receive the newsletter. We are planning to continue to publish a copy of it on the Google Groups for the time being, but now that the content will all be on the web, and we’re moving to a web based solution to speed things up. We need our members to register there.
Is this part of the online sign-up process?
Yes. Part of this is already being handled when you go through the online process to sign-up as a member and pay dues. Doing so you’ll be prompted to subscribe to the newsletter. If you refuse to opt-in, you will eventually stop getting them.
What if I haven’t signed up online?
If you’re a member in good standing, you should have already received an email requesting that you create a wordpress login and link it to the Charlotte Woodworkers Association site. If you haven’t received this, please reach out to Mark Boyer at MarkTBoyer@hotmail.com and he will send you a link with instructions.
Can I still access old copies of the newsletter?
Yes. You will still be able to get archived copies of the newsletter. However, as content is moved over to WordPress and available on our website, you’ll be able to search for and find it there. In effect this makes all of our articles easily viewable and consumable for our members and the public.
What if I have other questions or concerns, who do I contact?
Reach out to the club secretary, Mark Boyer at MarkTBoyer@hotmail.com. He’ll be happy to answer any questions and field any concerns you may have. You may also leave comments below if you’re a registered user on the site.
Wood Identification: The American Chestnut – Castanea dentata
Presented by Randy Hock
Common Name(s): American Chestnut
Scientific Name: Castaea dentata
Distribution: Eastern United States
Tree Size: 100-120 ft (30-37 m) tall, 5-7 ft (1.5-2.0m) trunk diameter (Because of the chestnut blight of the early 1900s, very few trees of this size currently exist)
Average Dried Weight: 30 lbs/ft3
Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .40, .48
Janka Hardness: 540
Natural Range of the American Chestnut Tree
The American chestnut tree reigned over 200 million acres of eastern woodlands from Maine to Florida, and from the Piedmont plateau in the Carolinas west to the Ohio Valley, until succumbing to a lethal fungus infestation, known as the chestnut blight, during the first half of the 20th century. An estimated 4 billion American chestuts, up to 1/4 of the hardwood tree population, grew within this range.
Chestnut Blight
The blight was caused by an accidentally introduced Asian bark fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica). It was responsible for killing over 3 billion chestnut trees. The wood in these standing trees was subsequently damaged by insects, leaving holes and discoloration. The trees were thenharvested and converted to lumber which is now known as Wormy Chestnut. Wormy Chestnut is preferred when a rustic or unpolished appearance is desired due to nail holes, discoloration, work and insect damage.
Before the early 1900s one in every four hardwood trees in North America’s eastern forests was an American Chestnut. Together, chestnuts and oaks predominated the 200 million acre forest. Every Spring so many chestnut trees erupted in white blossoms that from a distance, the hills appeared to be draped in quilts of snow.
The American Chestnut once provided food and shelter for animals and people alike. Bears, deer and all kinds of mammals and birds feasted on the fallen chestnuts. There were so many piled high that people would scoop them up with shovels from the forest floor. Reaching heights of 130 feed and growing over 6 feet in diameter, American Chestnuts were home to squirrels, chipmunks, blue jays and scores of benign burrowing insects. Because the wood was lightweight, rot-resistant, straight grained and easy to work with, it was used to build houses, barns, telegraph poles, railroad ties, furniture and musical instruments.
In the late 1876 a New York City nurseryman named S.B. Parsons imported Japanese chestnut trees, which he raised and sold to customers who wanted something exotic in their gardens. One or perhaps all of these shipments concealed the pathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica which chokes chestnut trees to death by wedging itself into their trunks and obstructing conduits for nutrients. Asian chestnut trees had a resistance to Cryphonectria parasitica, but the American chestnut trees were extremely susceptible to the fungal disease which came to be known as the chestnut blight.
The chestnut blight was first discovered in New York in 1904. Within 50 years, it killed nearly four billion chestnut trees. Now few large trees remain in the chestnut’s native range. Because the species has a resilient root system, the American chestnut survives here and there in the form of living stumps, which sometimes send up young skinny treelings. Such saplings almost always succumb to blight by their teens or 20s, never getting old enough to flower and reproduce.
Working with Chestnut
American Chestnut is easy to work with both hand and machine tools. It’s straight grain, light weight and highly rot resistance make ideal fence posts, railroad ties, barn beams, home construction, as well as fine furniture and musical instruments. Chestnut splits easily, so care must be taken in nailing and screwing the wood. Due to it’s course texture, turning is mediocre.
Although no adverse health effects have been specifically reported for the American Chestnut, other types of Chestnut in the the Castanea genus (C. sativa and C. mollissima) have been reported to cause skin irritation.
Rocking Chair
Jim Garnett & Kevin Olson built this Rocking Chair with Zebrawood and Walnut. It retails for about $6,000.
Precision and Accuracy in Woodworking
Presentation by: Bill Sutton
The May 2018 presentation was delivered by Bill Sutton. Bill has delivered a number of presentations to our association in the past and today brings his experience to bear on the topic of precision and accuracy in woodworking.
Precision and accuracy
Precision and accuracy are both important, but it’s important first to understand the differences. Accuracy refers to the closeness of a value to a known value. Precision refers the closeness of two or more measures to each other. This is where we want to focus our woodworking – High accuracy AND high precision. The bullseye chart shows what can happen if we lack one of these characteristics.
Some tools show up to 1/64th measures on their gages. This doesn’t really matter. What is important is that the parts are the same in the right dimensions. Rulers and tape measures make it easy to read the wrong measurement and/or mark a piece incorrectly. Once its cut you can’t stretch it. Rulers have a place, but typically we’re not building things that require extreme close tolerances.
In manufacturing, parts have to be done precisely so that the parts are interchangeable. This is not as important for custom work where each piece is custom fit to another. 
However, we don’t want to be sloppy either. We don’t want visible gaps, or noticeable inconsistencies, etc. The level of precision is different depending on the scale of the piece as well.
Tape measures are important. There are certain dimensions that are critical. For instance, a chair seat should typically be 17 inches. Dining table height needs to be set so that the legs can go under it.
Old timers built pieces from proportions. One of the tools they used was a “story stick”. A stick is chosen that is long enough to make a tick mark on the stick for each of the measurements. Then use use the stick as your measurement instead of trying to record and remember numbers from a tape measure or measures. The stick can be saved and used again and again if you need to produce another piece.
In addition, other tools can also make the measurements precise and accurate. If you use a marking gage, use the thickness of the piece to size the scribe line. Use a compass to find center.
Wood is constantly moving so it doesn’t need to measure in 1/1000ths of an inch. However, it is important to understand the wood and its nature when picking joints, etc.
World’s smallest Table
If you want a table to be square and rectangular, but the pieces are different, you don’t end up with a rectangle, you get a trapezoid instead. By properly measuring each piece from the same reference point, we can cut all the same size pieces with the same settings. Then they mate up and fit the same.
Matching Marking & Reference Surfaces
When milling, pick a reference surface. All layout should start from that surface. Use a pencil to mark the reference edge (squiggle), then mark the top. For dark woods use chalk. The markings need to be clearly visible.
Legs are marked with a triangle pointing to the front. This way we never mix up the legs or their orientation.
The last thing we want to do is cut a mortise in the wrong place and this will help prevent you from making that mistake. The way to do this is to lay them on the table and open them up. Put them back together, then open them up the other way. Then, mark the mortises.
Do the same thing with the sides and front/back. Set the triangle.
Another area where it’s easy to make a mistake is when taper the legs. Just remember that the taper is always on the side with the mortise for most shaker and period style furniture and you should be fine.
Wormy Rotten Peach Bowl
Tom Willis always turns up with an interesting bowl. This one he turned down to 1 in with the worms in and then microwaved. Then the worms came out. Just 2 weeks ago this was a live tree. He finished this one using a wool rag, Spar Urethane (thinned 25%), and rubbed in on the lathe. Then he spins the bowl to spread it out and rubs using a vinyl glove until it sets up and is fairly dry.
You must be logged in to post a comment.