Club Updates

WOW, what a great night to end the year, we all had so much fun!  Thank you to all of the members that brought holiday treats, the serving table was completely full of cookies, cakes and snacks, I’m told that all were healthy.   The highlight of the night was Dan Alexanders hockey themed drink caddy, complete with a puck bottle openers, tissue dispenser and optional team logo which could be changed at a moment’s notice, depending on which bandwagon was rolling down the street.

Thank you to all of the participants in this year’s pen swap, what an amazing time.  Everyone brought a great pen to swap with, but also had great stories about the pen kit or the material used to make the pen.  Calvin was busy taking pictures, we’ll have those posted to the clubs web site.

Wayne Pye had a terrific idea, the club would like to collect everyone’s receipts from the following retailers, Canadian Tire, Home Depot, Lowes and Lee Valley.  The purpose of collecting the receipts is to validate to each of the retailers that the DWC membership has some significant purchasing power, with that, we’re going to ask for donations from these retailers to support our club.  We’re going to keep boxes in the shop that you can drop your original receipt or a photo copy, the receipts can be for any purchase, a fridge all the way down to a package of screws for a project.  Great idea Wayne, thank you.

Housekeeping

·        Shop hours will remain the same this week, however, please note the following changes during the Christmas break, shop closed December 24^th, 25^th, 26^th, 27^th, open 28^th.  Shop closed December 31^st, January 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, open 4^th.  These updates will be available on the club calendar on our web site.  The club will start back up again on January 7, 2019, 6:30 pm sharp.

·        This Tuesday, open shop night with Mike and team, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

·        This Wednesday, open shop night for turning, hosted by Denis and Chris, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

·        This Thursday, open shop night with Chad, starting from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm

·        Chris Lapine will be hosting a live demonstration on Saturday January 12^th, topic, “how to straighten a warped board”, there will be two secessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon

·        Chris will also be hosting a live demonstration on Saturday January 19^th, project “heart shaped pendant with epoxy”, additional details at the first meeting of 2019, which is January 7^th, 2019

·        Calvin will be hosting a live demonstration on Intarsia, details will follow in the new year

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to call, text or email me anytime.

Merry Christmas everyone, have a safe and happy holiday season, we’ll see you in January.

All,

Great meeting this past Monday night, we were treated to a fantastic guest speaker, Steve Grainer from Sense of Calm.  Steve’s company produces an array of natural products, however, from the clubs perspective, Steve has a line of bees wax products that are perfect for finishing cutting boards, natural live edge serving boards and more.  Steve has a web site with all the products that they produce, please feel free to take a tour, www.senseofcalm.ca.  Thank you to Steve for taking the time to visit the club and answer all of the questions from the membership.

This coming Monday night is the last meeting for the year, we’ll be hosting our pen swap and we’ll be offering coffee and treats as our way of getting into the Holiday season.  If anyone would like to bring in treats for the group, please feel free, everyone is welcome.

Housekeeping

·        Tuesday night is open shop night (I know, I’m a bit late, sorry)

·        Wednesday night is open turning night (yes, I’m late with this, sorry)

Terrific meeting last night, Dale Coolrige ran though part two of his sharpening demonstration, highlighting how to sharpen both a chisel and a plane blade.  Great discussion on the “how to” portion, lots of questions from the membership.  Thank you Dale for taking the time to present to the membership, it was a very insightful presentation.

The new Oneway lathe is set to arrive in the shop on Wednesday morning, Denis will be holding a tutorial for members on how to use the new Oneway lathe during the Wednesday night turning forum.  If anyone is planning to use the new lathe, please plan to attend the tutorial.

Please be advise that the daily shop hours are from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, members must exit the shop at 3:00 pm sharp.  Please plan to clean and pack up your projects at 2:45 pm and leave the shop at 3:00 pm.

Housekeeping notes

• Wednesday night, Denis and Chris will be hosting the turning forum, this will be the round table Q & A, start time is 6:00 pm.
• There are a number of plastic containers containing in the spare shop room with free wood, if you’re interested in picking up some wood, please feel free, please leave the plastic bins.
• Thursday night Calvin will be hosting a CLOCA meeting, the shop will be closed for Calvin’s group.
• Reminder, the pen swap will take place on Monday December 17^th.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to text, call or email.

Have a great week.

Great meeting last night, thanks to Mike Kellar for chairing a great discussion on the making of homemade paste wax.  We’ll be posting on the club YouTube channel a short video clip that Mike brought along, showing a safe method to melt the bees wax.  For those not in attendance last night, the most common methods to melt bees wax are by double boiling (boiling a pot of water, then adding a second pot which will melt the bees wax) or by using a slow cooking crock pot.

Wayne Pye also suggested using a glass mason jar and placing it in a pot of boiling water to melt the bees wax.  The most important safety tip when making your own homemade past wax, do not leave the stove top unattended when melting the bees wax, if left unattended it could potentially start a fire.

Additionally, throughout the discussion, the group had a number of great tips, it’s best to use light weight mineral oil, which can be purchased at any local drug store.  Chad Shaw mentioned that he last purchased a gallon of light weight mineral oil from Rona, I believe the brand purchased was “DVL”.  It was also mentioned that we had a presentation last year from a gentleman who sells bees wax and we’re going to ask him to come back and visit the club and to sell his bees wax products.  All in all, it was a great discussion, a lot of great information.

The Simcoe Street United Church will be holding their annual Christmas market on Saturday December 1^st from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, it is a free admission and there will be a number of great activities, as well as, holiday gift items for sale.

Housekeeping

• Wednesday night, open turning night hosted by Denis and Chris.  If you have any turning questions or need a helping hand, please feel free to stop in to the club, anytime from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
• Bernie Visser let the membership know of the upcoming Brooklin Carving Club annual show, this year the club will be hosting the event at the Brooklin Community Center on March 9^th, 2019, more details to follow.
• If anyone is interested in learning how to re-finish furniture, Kade Bolger will be hosting a “how to” seminar in the near future, we’ll post the information shortly.
• Chris Lapine advised the membership about a group buy of cheese knife blades, if you’re interested, please contact Chris directly.
• Don McFarland passed along a note from Hearth Place inviting anyone who has participated in the wig stand build of a luncheon on December 11^th, if you’re interested in attending, please contact Don.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to call, text or email.

Have a great week.

Great meeting last night, we have a fantastic open forum hosted by our very own Calvin Perry discussing possible meeting topics for the future.  Don’t let Calvin fool you, he’s a natural at the mic, great participation from the membership, a lot of strong suggestions from meeting topics.  The executive will get to work planning out future meetings and load all of the dates on the club calendar.

Housekeeping

• Wednesday night is open turning night with Denis and Chris, start time is 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
• Next week we’ll be taking names for this year’s pen swap, if you’re interested, please email me if you would like to sign up.
• This coming Saturday November 17^th will be a scheduled shop clean-up, start time is 10:00 am, all volunteers are welcome to come help out.  The more volunteers we have, the quicker the clean-up the shop is cleaned

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to call, email or text.

Have a great week.

Rob Peros
President