John's Junket

I am very pleased to announce that the search for a new Guild librarian is finally over. Pat Kashmeric has stepped
forward and volunteered her services to reopen the Guild library. Pat brings a strong background in library services and the Board and I are excited to have her expertise and initiative. A number of members have told me that they would like to help out with the library when a new librarian was found. That time has come, and I’Äôm sure that Pat would welcome your assistance in returning order to one of the Guild's biggest assets.
Many other members have confided that although they too have an interest in helping on a committee, they don't follow through because they are just uncertain about what the committees do. I would like to strongly encourage any member with an interest in participating to attend one of the monthly committee meetings and discover for themselves how much fun it is to get involved. No invitation is required, just contact myself or one of the committee heads to get the details.

Board Briefs

Jeff M Nebel

Secretary:

No minutes were recorded for the last board meeting which was held in November. (However, a Board Briefs was in the December RIPSAW.) Jeff reported both the A and B raffle licenses have been received and are valid until November 13, 2002. A Guild green shirt was sent to Mario Rodriguez in December. A notice was received from the Wisconsin Secretary of State’Äôs office regarding the pending expiration of the Guild’Äôs trademark. This is renewable and Jeff will follow up and report back to the board.

Treasurer:

Liz Rohde reported the holiday party and year-end raffle both essentially broke even. Four people still owe for the party. Ed Goldman has completed the audit for fiscal year 2000 and the records were found to be satisfactory. The treasury balance as of 1/17/02 was $8,616.84. This is less than the $12 to 14K of the past at this time of year because of the lack of workshop income.
The board approved of Liz putting together a summary report on expenses to be published in the R.I.P.S.A.W. to inform the general membership. Past financial records are available on disk and backup copies will be given to the secretary for safekeeping.

Program:

Ken Bahr reported that the February meeting will be on boat building. The saw blade program may be moved to November. Ken will see that the dates for the April meeting and workshop are corrected.

Workshop:

The board agreed that workshops should be limited to members because of liability concerns. There was also some agreement that profits from workshops is a legitimate source of Guild income and does not need to be returned to the participants.

Exhibits:

Don Berger reported 42 participants are signed up to work the Woodworking Show on February 1-3. He has been trying to get in contact with the show people for final details.

Publications:

Si Farmer distributed proofs of the latest
trifold to be printed. Only 2,000 copies will be printed this time. A recent meeting of the committee was sparsely attended due to weather. Some assignments have been made thru the May R.I.P.S.A.W.

Registrations:

Dick Yezek distributed updated lists of registrations. The seminar/tour/workshop checklist has been updated slightly.

Toys:

Ron Hinderman reported that there was general elation over the number of toys collected in December. Jeff turned over thank you notes from several shelters to Si for publication. Is the goal for 2002 1000 toys?

President:

John Petrovic reported on contacts and conversations with potential librarians. Pat Kashmerick (Jerry’Äôs wife) was approved by the board as the new librarian. She will be paid $50.00 per meeting plus some extra if up front work needs to be done to get the library back in working
order.

New Business:

Dick Yezek will run the next Guild meeting in John’Äôs absence.
The next board meeting will be Thursday, February 14th (Valentine’Äôs Day!) at Faith UCC Church, 4240 N. 78th Street at 7:00 p.m.
 

Reflections

Shop Tours

Liz Rohde

On Saturday January 12, my husband and I visited 2 shops. Our first tour brought us to Walt Hadcock’Äôs shop in Mequon.
Walt’Äôs shop is located in a separate building a short distance away from his home and is about 100 years old. It still had the original thick wood beams and thick walls. Walt’Äôs shop is compact but very organized. His workbench takes up almost the full length of his shop and has drawers underneath.
Walt showed us some of his planes as well as some interesting antique tools such as an ice saw and ice spud. These tools were used on frozen lakes and rivers to cut and move blocks of ice in a bygone era when an icebox really was the method of keeping your food refrigerated.
He also gave a demonstration on hide glue. He had some already melted and showed how to apply it. We observed how rapidly it began to bond to some scraps of wood. He gave a brief explanation of hide glues different uses as well as some of its shortcomings.
Our next stop was the Alan Clapp woodworking shop. Alan’Äôs shop is in his basement. Alan stated his shop is long and narrow so he had to be very creative in arranging his tools. Alan’Äôs installation of his dust collection and clean air system, in this writer’Äôs opinion, was well thought out. Because of the length of his shop, Alan installed the galvanized pipe along
his long wall, then positioned his tools under it with ports to each tool.
I’Äôd like to thank Walt and Alan for their hospitality and their willingness to share their ideas. That’Äôs one of the advantages of belonging to the guild.
I plan on using some of those ideas.
Thank You

Program

February Program

Due to a scheduling conflict with the scheduled presenter for February, we have been fortunate to be able to move up our scheduled November speaker to February. We will be pleased to present Mark Bronkalla, to speak of the topic of Modern Boat Building Techniques. Mark, a Guild member, is a dedicated woodworker who loves large, time-consuming projects. Many of us saw his wooden boat at the 2001 Show and Tell meeting and were amazed at completing a project that involved the entire family!
Mark will discuss using modern boat building techniques to create a classic design. He will tell us about frame construction, hull lamination, and, of coarse, finish work. His boat used epoxies to form a cold molded hull, and he will cover this process during the evening.
Be there....learn something new!

Guild Calendar

February 1, 2, 3. Friday, Saturday & Sunday

Event: Woodworking Show
Location: Wisconsin State Fair
Contact Person: Don Berger

February 6, Wednesday

Event: Guild Membership Meeting
Program: Modern Boat Building Techniques
Presenter: Mark Bronkalla

March 6, Wednesday

Event: Guild Membership Meeting
Program: Scroll Sawing
Presenter: Al Caldiero

March 16,Saturday

Event: Workshop
Topic: Sharpening of Planes, Irons, Chisels
Presenters: Walt Hadcock and John Petrovic

Raffle

Alan Clapp

    Jeff Nebel was the lucky winner of the year end prize and added a beautiful Lie Nielsen plane to his woodworking tool collection.
Neu's Building Center is getting our new year kicked off to a great start by donating several items for the February 6 raffle!  Harvey Neu has donated a 10 inch 60 tooth Irwin saw blade, three American Woodshop videos and some Stanley hand tools.  Neu'shas a newly remodeled store with a knowledgeable and helpful staff located at the SW corner of I41/I45 and County Line Q.  Neu's has a complete line of stationary and hand power tools and finishing supplies to meet your woodworking needs during the new year.
Neu's Building Center is located at N95W16915,  Richfield Way, Menomonee Falls, WI 262-251-6550.
 

Special Features

Membership Renewal Deadline

Si Farmer

Please be advised that the grace period is ending for those of you that wish to renew your membership for the year 2002. After the February 6th Membership Meeting, you will no longer be a member in good standing if you do not renew by then.
What are the consequences if you don’Äôt, you ask? Well for one, we will no longer send you a RIPSAW. Secondly, you name will not be listed in the upcoming Directory. Thirdly, you will no longer be able to enjoy the benefits of membership, such as the programs, workshops, library (yes we have hired a librian and will have the library open as soon as she gets on board), Fourth, you will no longer get the fabulous
discounts from the Friends of the Guild, which more than pays for your membership dues.
I was reviewing a newsletter from another woodworking guild last week, and they charge $3 for each video rental (for one month). At that rate, you can recoup your $35 several times over in video rental from the Guild library.

Audit of Guild Books 2000

Ed Goldman, CPA, audited the books for the Guild for the year 2000. Below are some relevant comments from the report. If you wish to see the full report, please communicate your desire to the treasurer.
’Äú The financial condition of the Guild is very good....Liz Rohde is doing an excellent job as Treasurer of the Guild....The existing records of the Guild are adequate for the performance of control of the Guild’Äôs funds....All of the invoices and reimbursement payouts have been reviewed with the corresponding checks issued and found to be in order...Although control over cash receipts can never be absolute, the receipts of the Guild materially appear to be properly deposited and recorded. ... I would suggest that future bank deposit slips be identified as to the source of each amount so these amounts can be totalled by category to match the receipt with the disbursement.’Äù
The Guild and its Board of Directors appreciate this important professional service rendered by member, Ed Goldman and thank him very much.

Toy Drive

Dear Friends at Wisconsin Woodworkers Guild
Thank you for your mos generous gift of beautiful wooden toys. Your thoughtful gifts are greatly appreciated. So very often when a victim of domestic abuse comes into shelter with her children, it is with just the clothing on their backs. Little everyday conveniences are troublesome ’Äî when you have nothing. The simple pleasures of Christmas presents are somethings many of us take for granted and a heartache for a mother that cannot afford presents. For each wooden toy that you donated, a burden is lifted.
Than you for the simple but beautiful toy donation. It makes all the difference in the world to children who have lived in intolerable, abusive households. ... On behalf of the staff, volunteers, our Board of Directors and the hundreds of families we serve, thank you for your generous gift. Your contribution is deeply appreciated and gratefully acknowledged.
Sincerely,
Marianne Zirkle, Dir. of Outreach and Adm. Services
WoMen and Children’Äôs Horizons, Inc.
Kenosha

Dear Mr. Breckenridge (John)
Thank you for your generous holiday donation of toys and games to Sojourner Truth House. Yoiur kindness has brought hope to families experiencing domestic violence...... We treasure the support of the Woodworkers Guild. Thank you for the many years of providing these special gifts.
With gratitude,
Kathy Stolpman, Exec. Dir.
Sojourner Truth House

Dear Mr. Petrovic and our friends of the Guild,
Thank you for your recent donation of wooden toys. What beautiful and skilled work you do! Your generosity goes a long way toward providing practical support to families involved in our programs. Our children were thrilled with the trains doll beds, push toys and all of the lovingly crafted toys space doesn’Äôt allow to mention.
...Best Wishes into the New Year!
Deb Anderson, Community Relations Coordinator
Friends of Abused Families
West Bend

Dear Wisconsin Woodworkers Guild,
On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff, and clients, we want to thank you for your generous donation of wooden toys. Your donation made many families and children very happy. Enclosed are several thank you notes from some of our families. We value our association with your group and are looking forward to a continued union with you in the future.
Sincerely,
Watertown Women’Äôs Center

’ÄúJust a note to say thank you for making our little girls Christmas complete. A very grateful family’Äù

’ÄúI would like to thank you all for gifts. I am sure my children will be happy with them. Once again, thank you and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.’Äù

’ÄúThank you so much for your willingness to help my family. We appreciate everything you have been so generous to give us. I hope that you and your family will enjoy the season, and hopefully a dusting of snow on Christmas. We will be celebrating and opening gifts on Christmas morning. Thank you and God Bless You. Sincerely’Äù

’ÄúDear Donor,
Thank you for making my Christmas happier. Your generous support is greatly appreciated. I hope you will have the merriest Christmas this year. Thank you again for the gift you have given. Merry Christmas , Recipient’Äù

’ÄúDear Caring Individuals,
First, I wish you and your families a happy holiday and a blessed and wonderful new year. Second, I want to hank you for your generosity, you have really make a wish come true, that my kids may have at least something for me to give him this Christmas, I nope, no, I know that in coming years I will do the same for others. Thank you. Merry Christmas and God Bless You.’Äù

’ÄúHoliday Greetings,
Thank you so much for the wonderful gifts. I wish you could see the smiles our our little boys face on Christmas morning. Thank you for making our Christmas so special. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday. A happy and grateful family!!’Äù

’ÄúThank you so very much for the gifts for my son. They are greatly appreciated and he will definitely enjoy all his gifts. Thank you again and Happy Holidays. God Bless You.’Äù

’ÄúThank you so much for making my son Caleb’Äôs Christmas very special for him...’Äù

’ÄúDear Friend,
I am writing you this letter to say thank you very much for all the wonderful gifts you have given my family. My boys will be so happy. I’Äôm very grateful. Thank You.’Äù
 
 

Leigh Jig Tips

Part 1

Dick Yezek

While I have found that the Leigh Dovetail Jig will produce all the joints advertised, setup can be time consuming. Here are some notes you might find helpful from my experiences with the Leigh jig mixed in with those from a class I attended at Woodcraft, taught by Mark Hensley. Mark is a Leigh factory demonstrator at various Woodworking Shows. My class covered only the dovetail finger template, not the Isoloc or finger joint type templates.
I chose the Leigh jig because it can produce variably spaced dovetails. That guarantees you can layout a half pin on both sides of a dovetail joint regardless of board width. While repetitive use makes any task easier, anything that’Äôs variable takes more time to set up correctly. More than likely most of the tips below would apply to any dovetail jig but if you use it infrequently you will probably find yourself rereading the instruction manual for any dovetail jig.
The Leigh Jig instruction sequences in their book and video make some assumptions that are not emphasized. They cover bit selection and router technique exhaustively but fail to emphasize that successful dovetail joints absolutely require all pieces to be dimensionally accurate. Dimensionally accurate means no warp, cup or twist - and for a simple box, exactly the same width. Instruction sequences for a simple box show using only the left side of the jig, rotating each piece 180¬ƒ to cut the joint on the opposite end. It is not necessary for your dovetails be perfectly symmetrical for this technique to work as long as every piece is exactly the same width! Tails that are nearly symmetrical will not be detected by the eye in the finished product.
However as soon as one side is a different width, such as a drop front drawer where the front is wider than the other three sides, the simple box technique no longer works even though your tails may be perfectly symmetrical. (Assuming your tails are symmetrical end for end, the half pin on the top side of a drop front drawer will be larger.) Leigh calls these joints asymmetrical and devotes later advanced chapters in their instruction manual to them.
Asymmetrical joints are cut using so called mirror image setups on both the right and left sides of the jig. Leigh points out that the left and right sides of the jig need not be exact mirrors of each other as long as you always cut half the joints on one side and the other half on the other. Once you are forced by necessity to ’Äúmatch’Äù a tail cut on the left side with pins cut on the right side, you quickly see the value of cutting all joints as if they were asymmetrical, regardless of whether they are actually asymmetrical are not. Regardless of what joint you are making on the Leigh jig, be sure to mark every piece you cut including which side was against the stop when you cut it.
Although Leigh points out in their simple box instructions you need 5 pieces instead of 4 so one can be your test piece, that test piece better be dimensionally accurate. If you are making asymmetric joints, you need 6 pieces, one test piece for each side of the jig, even if you are just using the left and right sides of the jig for convenience as described earlier.
The difference between a tight dovetail joint and a loose one is measured in thousandths. With a Leigh jig you can ’Äúcreep up’Äù when cutting test pins as they are cut with a straight bit but you get one and only one shot at cutting the tails since they are angle cuts. If your joint is just a hair too tight, i.e., you must force assembly with a mallet, you can usually gain a few thousandths by reseating the pin board and re-cutting it. Hold your router so a different part of the guide bush contacts the fingers. This usually works because the hole drilled in your router’Äôs base plate is never at dead center with the motor shaft. Using this method and shaving one side of the pins only I am able to actually move my pin boards very slightly left or right.
It’Äôs very important to test fit each cut as you make it against your test piece. Leigh uses common nuts on all bolts on their jig. The nut holding my left front stop loosened slightly during a project permitting each joint to be successively ’Äúoff’Äù just a little. I discovered this when my test pin board, which had been a perfect fit at the start, became more and more off center with each successive cut. I reset and tightened stop, then used pieces of tape against the stop as shims to cut the remaining pins.
When making drawers of several different depths the jig must be reset for each drawer size to insure adequate half pins. Instead of making test pieces for each size I left my original stock too long by several inches. I then made test cuts in the worst ends until I was satisfied, then cut the other end, trimmed the board to length and cut the opposite end. This actual drawer piece then became a ’Äútest piece’Äù for that size drawer. This technique let me use the expensive actual stock for test stock as well.
You need to set this jig up with a machinist’Äôs square known to be accurate on both edges. It’Äôs surprising how many ’Äúsquares’Äù are not square when tested against an accurate square. You also quickly find out whether your chop or radial arm saw truly cuts at 90¬ƒ after you make a few drawers using a Leigh jig. If your saw is not cutting at 90¬ƒ your drawer will rock on two corners.
Depth adjustment is critical. You can cut all the dovetails, then put in a straight bit and cut all your tails but how can you test your tails as you cut them? What if you miss cleaning out fully one of the tail cuts? Resetting any bit will be a real chore because getting the height off by just a few thousandths translates into an open joint! A second router makes all this unnecessary and probably pays for itself in the long because you have less waste.
The stops that align boards under the clamps on D3 and later Leigh jigs have two adjustable sliding fingers which let you set the stop at 90¬ƒ even though the body of the stop may not be at 90¬ƒ to the jig. Be sure to set these fingers in the middle of their travel! I failed to do that on my right stop and ended up having to loosen that stop’Äôs nut to adjust it during my first unexpected encounter with asymmetrical joints. Then I had to reset the dovetail fingers all over again on that side. These small details ended up adding many hours to my project.
Leigh instruction manuals show a technique for routing pins that eliminates the need for a scrap back up piece. After doing a climb cut in front of the pin the bit is placed in the space behind the pin to do a second climb cut. I don’Äôt advise doing this. I thought my router was high enough and positioned just right but it wasn’Äôt; a coasting bit destroyed itself and two fingers instantly! Although I used other fingers from the jig, I had to disassemble the jig to do it and then make test boards all over again. In these circumstances matching an existing dovetail consumes large amounts of wood and time!
Dovetail joints are almost always cut in end grain. Cutting dovetails in end grain causes very little tearout as long as you have a scrap piece backing the cut as the bits cut with the grain, not against it. When you try using the same techniques to make dovetail joints against the grain, i.e., along the edge of a board, truly massive chipout occurs. The bits are cutting against the grain; they act like a dull hand chisel and actually lift out chunks of wood as they enter or exit a cut. For these cuts the workpiece must be backed on both sides!
You can selectively upgrade parts of a Leigh jig. If you do so be sure to keep all parts lists as Leigh changed the entire finger assembly on D4 and later model jigs, including the fingers themselves. The scales on the D4 are easier to see but they are no more accurate than those on previous models. Once a setting is established, scribe lines on the scale support arms are the best bet. Machinist’Äôs layout dye on the support arms will make scribe lines easier to see.
 

Woodworking Tips

Jerry Tackes

Use blue masking tape instead of the regular beige masking tape for woodworking. It does not hold excessively nor does it leave a residue even after being on for a long time or out in the hot sun.
When gluing up box joints or dovetail joints for a box or drawer, glue tends to squeeze out on the inside of the joint. Cleanup is difficult at best. To prevent this cleanup apply a strip of blue masking tape flush to the inside of the cuts prior to glueup. The glue will squeeze out onto the masking tape, making the cleanup simple.
When adding a decorative drawer front to drawer which has an internal front, place the drawer in place in the carcass. Temporarily shim the back so that the drawer is slightly proud of the carcass front. Center the drawer in the opening if necessary and then apply several pieces of carpet tape or double sticky to the protruding face. Carefully center the decorative front and press onto the carpet tape. Now remove the assembly and drill the holes for handles or knobs through both fronts. Apply glue between the fronts being careful to keep the glue away from the edges. Temporarily add the hardware and place the assembly back into the carcass for final adjustment and glue curing.
Hinge location transfer problems can be solved by using a set of hinge location pins. Cut a set of flathead screws so that they protrude about 1/8 to 3/16 inches above the hinge surface when inserted into the hinge. File these screws to a point. Make enough of these screw locator pins to fill all holes on one side of each hinge of the project. (Remember you only have to do this once for each size hinge screw that you use.) Now fasten the hinges to one surface. If a box, its usually the top of the box. Insert the location pins through the open holes and close the hinge. Carefully align the box top and press to mark the screw hole locations. Remove and drill the hinge holes in the top.
The above tip works on doors too. Just add the screws and hold them in place with blue masking tape.
While drilling the above hinge holes or for that matter any hole to a specific depth use a blue masking tape flag around the drill bit. Be careful.that the flag does not creep up the drill bit, especially if the drill bit gets hot.

A better way is to use the hinge drill bit and drill a hole through the end of a slightly larger dowel. Cut the dowel to length to act as a depth stop when slipped over the drill. Here you have to be careful that the drill does not slip up into the chuck leaving the hole too shallow. To prevent this problem, bottom the drill bit in the chuck before tightening. If the wooden dowel slips on the drill, use a small dab of plumbers putty.
Adding a self centering drill bit and a specific drill bit along with the location pins and depth stop completes the hinge installation kit ready for future hinge applications. I visualize that 4 or 5 size screw combinations will fit most hinge jobs. Better yet, putting them all together into one of those plastic divider boxes makes for good shop organization.

Classified

For Sale

Router, Craftsman, 1/4 inch, with case. $45.
Joseph V Schwarz