Announcements
Over 35 members personally in attendance – great showing. Masks are optional – about 1/3 of members wear them.
Still have issues with audio for the Zoom Meeting – working to fix this with new tech purchases (new computer and new audio specific equipment)
BYLAW Changes
Kade announced two By Law changes.
BYLAW 1.3.2 ‘HONOURARY LIFE MEMBERSHIP’ was revised as follows:
To be considered for a possible ‘Honourary Life Membership’, a member
shall:
1. Be consistently seen to promote and practice good relationship behaviours towards members of the club and between the club and the community.
2. Have length of membership of at least fifteen years.
3. Have demonstrated outstanding service to club in maintenance or executive or community relations.
4. Have consistent attendance and participation in DWC meetings and events.
BYLAW 1.4 ‘MEMBERSHIP DUES’ was changed to include the following:
I. the DWC membership fee of $80 and Initiation Fee of $20 is set for 2023.
Ii. the initiation fee for new members joining DWC for 2023 is set at $20
Iii. the initiation fee for new members is a one time only fee; no member shall ever pay it more than once.
AV Update
A new computer has been purchased, and new Audio equipment will also be purchased to improve the Zoom meeting experience.
CHURCH Update
There was new communication from the local branch of the Church. They share our frustrations at the slow progress of developments, and are now working on two avenues to gain a positive outcome. One relates to management of their policy dates, and the other involves a shop inspection by a company adjuster.
Hopefully the latter happens this or next week.
CLUB Financials.
Mike Beaton gave a very good update on the current club financial picture.
Community Activities
Chad Shaw – the BackDoorMission FOOD DRIVE will continue weekly
Presentations
TIPS and JIGS
Chris Lapine
· Showed a hand crafted “bullseye” device used to identify the most advantageous centre location for a turning on an odd shaped piece of stock. Created out of a piece of plexiglass that had concentric rings scored on it with a skew while spinning it on the lathe.
· A good alternative for centre finding vs the “routine” intersection point of diagonals
Neil Fickling
· Demonstrated a clever depth finding device in situations of having a wide vessel that one wanted to replicate.
· The design involved a movable rod that passed through a tightly fitting hole in a piece of 1/1” stock that was longer than the diameter of the piece/bowl/box where depth finding was needed.
· The rod would be passed through the stock to touch the bottom of the vessel
· Friction would hold the rod at the measured depth for reference for the next copy of the vessel.
Kade Bolger
· Recommended ear plugs – MUCH less than hearing aids, and good in the shop and when out with friends who snore
· Recommended good eye goggles/protection – we only get 2, and they are not replaceable
· Also showed a “low tech but highly effective” depth device – a pencil. The pencil was put down into the box interior, and then with one eye shut, the user visually lined up opposing edges of the box and watched where that line intersected the pencil by moving one’s thumb along the pencil until the nail was in line with visual line joining up the perimeters.
· Kade also demonstrated a number of “trays” for holding round stock that needed to be cut on either a band saw or a chop saw. The tray prevented the stock from rotating when the blade was pushed against the stock needing to cut. The tray had parallel stock either glued flat on it or even glued at about 45 degrees to it that held the round stock firmly in place.
· Kade demonstrated a wooden pop can top made from cut offs that was attractive and stopped sawdust/bugs/wasps etc. getting into drinks. Note that exclamatory remarks of “ooh, its shiny” are common when these devices are correctly finished!
· Kade also showed a Spatula turning jig. It consisted of 2 parts – one was a cube with a slot cut into it. The other was a piece of stock where the design of the spatula was drawn onto. A bandsaw was used to make the “rough” cuts to bring the spatula shape down to a near finished form, and then the spatula shape was mounted on the lathe for final finishing. The cube slot was mounted on the chuck with the slot pointing at the tail stock. The spatual blade was inserted into the slot on the cube, and then the other end of the spatula stock was jammed with the free turning tail stock. Kade did not remove any of the handle material on the stock. Other mere mortals may want to cut off at least some of it with a bandsaw to reduce the amount of material needing to be removed on the lathe. Kade warned that it is easy to remove TOO much material when shaping with a bandsaw – be aware of this.
Mike Beaton
· Mike demonstrated how wine corks can make effective knife blade covers. He was not aware of differences between red or white wine corks, and had found no need to wash off corks prior to using them.
· Mike also demonstrated a series of homemade strops, one using a simple paint stirstick. The leather sources are variable – including old belts. There was a discussion of different grades of grit in Jewellery Rouge that was applied to the leather – it seems that at least 3 grits are available, with the Red or Green grit being the most used.
· A clever thumb protector for whittling was an old bike tire inner tube cut to proper length.
· As a pointer, Mike suggests that HS steel whittling/carving knife blades are very difficult to sharpen, and suggests are not worth it.
Calvin Perry
· Calvin demonstrated the difference between Titebond III and Weldwood – the former having amore yellow colour when dry, the latter being quite clear when dry.
· Discussion followed about using Weldwood glue for light coloured wood joints and Titebond glue for darker woods.
· The titebond III product is designed for wood only, while the Weldwood glue is for many types of media – wood, glass, ceramic etc.
· Calvin also showed how useful and effective consumer good packaging can be for storing workshop items. He had a lidded, plastic container that had been included in a purchase of Swiffer pads that was perfect for holding shop markers and other items.
Noel Green
· Noel brought a mustard container and a number of lids and demonstrated that lids from different products all fit onto numerous containers. In particular, the lid from a smaller container of Titebond III glue also fit onto the Frenches mustard container, as did a maple syrup lid and a salad dressing lid.
· The mustard container plastic was very convenient because glue did not stick to it.
· There was discussion about the potential for inadvertently applying the glue to a ham sandwich, but consensus was that this was likely a rare event and did not overweigh the value of the tip.
Paul Kidson
· Paul showed how gluing stands could be easily made from 2 or 3” PVC pipe mounted on flat bases.
· The PVC is a great choice of material because wood glue absolutely does not stick to it. When attaching the base, there is no need to put bolts deep into the pipe – it makes putting the nuts onto the bolts very difficult.
· Paul also talked about the value of repackaging large glue containers into smaller , recycled containers that allowed no air contact with the glue. He used Kraft salad dressing bottles with blue “snap” lids, using a small piece of saran wrap on bottles for long term storage. The price of glue/100ml of the glue was 5X as much for small purchases compared to buying a gallon at a time. The gallon purchase could be shared with a friend. It is easy to load the glue into smaller containers.
· Paul also demonstrated PVC cauls he uses for holding together pieces of wood that are being glued. The PVC cauls are purchased from a home improvement store (Rona/Home Depot etc). Paul used 1×2 square white PVC stock. Chris Lapine recommended that this is the minimum size to use to ensure straight alignment of the glued pieces.
Gallery, Show & Tell
Bernie Visser
· Great carving of a face, done in the thick bark of a cottonwood tree. The bark is soft but brittle to carve – done with chisels and knives
· Soft, dark brown color – Howards Wax used to seal the piece
Guy May
· A really nice selection of Xmas trees done on the Lathe, all finished with Pens Plus, with some also having a darker stain put underneath the clear Pens Plus coat.
· Some included bark on the turned pieces
Gabby Boileau
· A gorgeous decorated natural-branch walking stick belonging to her Mother
· Embellished with wood burning and Turquoise paint
· Discussion about being sure to use an exterior finish varathane product, and possibly a rubber tip
Mike Beaton
· A collection of very nice whittled figures (win money on a bar bet…. Here’s the difference between carving and whittling… “Carving employs the use of chisels, gouges, with or without a mallet, and often powered equipment such as lathes. Whittling, however, involves only the use of a knife”)
· Stock used is 1 – 1.5” square, with the face being typically carved on the corner of it
· Mike suggests that while you can buy huge assortments of cutting knives, in all likelihood one would normally only use a small fraction of them.
· It is worthwhile learning how to sharpen the knives one uses – once the knife has its desired shape and is initially sharp, best done by a leather strop and Jewellery Rouge
· Carving involves minimal drawing of the final figure beyond making marks denoting key space divisions of the figure
Next Meeting: 2023-01-23
