Editorially Speaking
Si Farmer
We’re coming close to the end of another year. Just one more program presentation,
and then the Holiday Season Dinner Party. My, how time flies.
It’s getting to the time when we check off those things from our list
that we started with last January. We hope you did make a list, and also
accomplished some of the items that you had listed.
Of course, one must prioritize! The important items must be addressed
first, then the lesser items, etc. That’s the way it should work, but sometimes
that doesn’t happen.
Often one gets items from the internet that are of little value. But the
other day, I received an article entitled “Philosophy we have learned as we
hit 60”. I think it bears repeating. I think it was written by the famous
author, Anonymous.
“A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front
of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty
mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks of about two inches in
diameter. He asked the student if the jar was full, and they agreed it was
so.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open
spaces between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was
full. They agreed that it was.
The professor proceeded to pick up a box of sand and poured it into the
jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. Again he asked if the
jar was full and the students responded with a unanimous yes!
The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and
proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar, effectively filling
the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
“Now”, said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize
that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things, your
family, your partner, your health, your children, things that if everything
else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles
are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car and
(your Wisconsin Woodworkers Guild, Ed). The sand is everything else. The
small stuff.”
If you put the sand into the jar first”, he continued, “there is no room
for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all
your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the
things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical
to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean
the house, give a dinner party and fix the washer, (volunteer for Wiscosin
Woodworkers Guild, Ed.).
“Take care of the rocks first, the things that really matter. Set your
priorities. There will be room for the pebbles. The rest is just sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.
The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no
matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers!”
Board Briefs
Jeff Nebel
President:
John Petrovic reported receiving only one additional nomination for Woodworker
of the Year. There have been no volunteers for the positions of President
or Workshop Director. The board discussed several names for these positions
and various board members will call on them to see if there is any interest.
The board agreed the position of President and its duties should not be 'soft-sold'
in an effort to entice somebody to accept it. John will provide his job description
to the board members making the calls. Larry Peissig offered to be toy chairman
if he gets some help. Since this position is a Presidential appointment, John
will leave that for his replacement.
Secretary:
Jeffrey Nebel provided the raffle license renewal forms to Elizabeth Rohde
for completion of the financial report section. Jeff will send a thank you
letter and postage reimbursement to the North Lake Public Library for returning
the Guild books erroneously deposited there.
Treasurer:
Elizabeth Rohde reported that because of a recent computer crash,she could
only estimate the current treasury at $5,700 plus. The Guild is committed
to 100 people for the Holiday Party. Last year's attendance was 101 people.
Programs:
Ken Bahr reported no additional programs have been determined.That leaves
two months still open for 2003. Write ups for the eight programs determined
are in process. The Show and Tell meeting and Holiday Party do not require
a special write up. The March meeting program will hold importance for recruiting
because the Woodworking Show is in February.
Exhibits:
Don Berger reported with some frustration that he has not received
any response to his letter to Prof. Heerman at the Lutheran College regarding
next years potential show. The Guild had a year’s notice for planning at
the previous event there. He has also not been able to get any response from
the new Wilson Art Center in Brookfield and will give up on that for now.
Publications:
Si Farmer reported providing a CD with pictures of the 2001 Wisconsin Lutheran
College Exhibit to Webmaster Brian Halligan. Hank Yun will be doing the typesetting
for the next newsletter. Materials for the RIPSAW should be sent to Hank.
The Guild is presently out of trifolds and the board agreed to a request to
print additional
ones. The trifolds will include additional emphasis on the discounts Guild
members receive from local businesses.
Workshops:
Dick Yezek distributed a new format registration tally sheet. Three couples
have signed up for the Holiday party, but only one has paid. There is still
only one person signed up for pen turning.
Exhibits:
Don Berger reported the Lutheran College event for 2003 will run from June
thru August. Several members have expressed reservations about leaving their
items there for that long. A rotation of items in the exhibit was discussed.
Don will poll the membership at the next meeting to see how large an issue
this really is.
Toy Program:
Ron Hinderman reported members are starting to pick up wood and wheels
for their projects. Ron proposed some methods of recognizing the efforts
of some of the prolific toy-builders.
Membership:
Mary Anderson reported two new members have joined the Guild. Membership
renewal forms will be sent out soon. The form has revised to be just one page.
The due date was changed to January 1st, 2003, to expedite the Membership
Directory.
New Business:
Staff Librarian Pat Kashmerick distributed a sheet listing recommendations
and questions for the library that came out of the recent work session. Videos
of the Guild meetings involving non-big-name speakers will be sold for $1.00
or tossed. Other videos will be sorted by topic and author. A considerable
discussion was held regarding whether video tapes or DVDs should be purchased
in the future. This will be put to the membership. Pat may implement call
number system to replace the current colored dot system. The board agreed
hard cover books should be purchased if available. Only books worth $40.00
list minimun will be considered. A $500.00 target for new book, video purchased
was approved. Pat will put together a list of potential purchases for review.
The collection of Fine Woodworking and Woodsmith will be kept for now, even
though no one seems to ever check them out. ShopNotes might be another worthwhile
periodical to keep if the Guild can get a free subscription.
The next board meeting will be Thursday, November 14th, at 7:00p.m. at the
same location.
Program
Making Wooden Planes
The speaker for the November Meeting. is Peter Callen of Milwaukee. Pete
is retired. He started making wooden planes for his own use. He now makes
planes that he sells mostly to tool collectors. Pete will talk about making
planes. He will bring in examples of the different stages of making a plane.
In this case it will be a panel raising plane. He says if you can make a raising
plane, you can make any bench plane.
If there is enough interest by the members he is willing to schedule a plane
making work shop, in the future.
November Workshop Saturday November 16th
Pen Turning with Liz Rohde at Liz’s Studio in Kewaskum 9 am - 2:30 pm
Fee: $20
Participants will turn and assemble a ball point pen.
Raffle
Alan Clapp
Peter Stillmank was the winner of the wet/dry vac in October.
Several sets of German made woodworking clamps will be given away during
the November raffle. These are 4” and 12” clamps with a 2 1/2” throat depth.
Year End Raffle
The year end raffle prize is a Ryobi Oscillating Spindle Sander. This
tabletop sander hosts a 20 x 14 work surface and oscillates once a second
to create a burn-free sanded surface using any one of the included six sanding
spindles. Also included in the prize are fine and course 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/2,
2 and 3 cloth sanding sleeves. Tickets are $5 each and will be available
during the Nov. Guild meetings and at the holiday party.
Reflections
Howard Hughes Spruce Goose
Liz Rohde
The speaker for the October meeting was Pat Packard, an aviation enthusiast
who is familiar with the history of Howard Hughes Spruce Goose. Which was
a good thing because that was our topic for the evening.
Pat started with an explanation of why a plane that large needed to be built.
By 1942, the government realized it needed a better way to transport cargo
and troops to the battlefields. Because of the superiority of German submarines
the U.S. was losing ships at an alarming rate. They were looking for a new
method of transportation. What was needed was a flying boat.
Howard Hughes was a young millionaire and an up coming movie producer. But
he also had a passion for flying. He had broken a number of flying records,
as well as designed a plane. But he wanted to get into building planes as
well as flying them.
The Beginning
On August 22, 1942 Hughes reached a handshake agreement with Henry Kaiser
(a ship builder) to design a flying boat. Hughes would design it and Kaiser
would build it. But Hughes considered this project to be his alone. It was
designed and built to his specifications.
Next the new Kaiser-Hughes Corporation of Culver City, California secured
a government contract to produce the largest flying cargo plane. Immediately
Hughes set his engineers to design it. Building a large wooden plane resulted
in major problems. Elaborate and costly fixtures and jigs were built. And
new glues were developed.
The Flying Boat
Two Hangers had to be built, one for the fuselage and one for the wings.
Because of the shortage of metal the plane’s frame would be built of Birch
wood. The skin was laminated, bonded and shaped to produce a strong smooth
surface. Three different epoxy resins were used. To keep the hull skin and
resins from shifting while drying 8 tons of small nails were used, which were
removed later with special nail pullers. Then the small nail holes were filled
in.
The plane is 218’-8’’ long, the wingspan 319’-11’’, and its hull is 25’
wide and 30’ deep. The tail section stands almost 80 feet above the water
and the gross weight of the plane is 400,000 pounds. The plane has eight
(8) Pratt & Whitney 28 cylinder R4360-4A engines, producing 3000 horsepower
each. Each propeller is 17’ in diameter. The plane had a payload of 130,000
pounds and was designed to carry up to 750 fully equipped troops or two Sherman
class tanks.
Moving Day
In June 1946, the plane’s hull and 2 wing sections were ready to be moved
to Long Beach, California, for final assembly and test flight. Electrical
cables had to be moved, trees trimmed and bridges tested for strength. After
every detail was checked, the 28-mile trip took 5 days to complete.
The End of an Era
By the end of the war, it was clear that a plane that big and cumbersome
was no longer useful. A lot of the top aviation experts said it couldn’t fly.
Hughes ego and pride were at stake. The plane was to be tested at slow speed
on the water on November 2, 1947. On the third taxi-run, Hughes, unbeknown
to his crew and passengers lifted the plane off the water for less than a
minute.
For the next 33 years the Spruce Goose was housed in a specially designed
hanger at Long Beach. After Hughes death in 1976 the plane might have been
dismantled, it’s parts displayed at different museums. But a couple of corporations
came to the rescue and displayed it next to the Queen Mary, in Long Beach
Harbor. Later it was moved to Portland, Oregon where it is presently located.
Thank you, Pat for a great slide presentation and the stories behind them.
It was fascinating.
Special Features
Toy Makin’ Fun Fest
Ron Hinderman
Let’s make some sawdust, and in the process, make some toys for kids this
Christmas!
Are you interested in making sawdust along with producing some wonderful
toys? I know there are a lot of retirees out there. Would you like to join
me at a Toy Makin’ Fun Fest? How about during the day----or how about on week-ends?
My shop is waiting for some good people to help me out with your skill,
talent and ideas.
When a bunch of people get together, everything goes smoother - and look
at the results when we are done! Look at all the of the wonderful toys we
give the kids at Christmas time, and think of all the smiles on these kid’s
faces.
We have a large variety of woods available for toy makin’. The woods
that we have on-hand at the present time are red and white oak, red elm,
hickory, ash and butternut. We have cut-off shorts of ash, red and white
oak, walnut, cherry, poplar, pine and mahogany.
We have lots of wheels too, i.e. 3/4, 1, 1-1/4, 1-1/2, 1-3/4, 2, 2-1/4
and 2-1/2. We need doll beds, cradles and chairs. Numerous plans are available
at reproduction cost. I just received some more free wood ash, & maple
but guild
members have come and get the wood .
Wheels and plans are also available. Plans 8.5 X 11" are
available for $ 2.00. Some are full size blue prints for $ 5.00 per page
Note: I have two sheets of baltic birch plywood, 3/4 inch thick, 4 X
5 foot (along with the 1 foot cut-off, which I removed so you could get it
in your car/wagon/truck). The price per sheet is only $22.00.
I am willing to help or advise anyone on any toy project.
I am available every Saturday and during the week! My shop is OPEN for
toy making work shops , during the week & week ends.
Please call me.
Classified
For Sale
Scroll Saw, 15” Delta, with stand and anti vibration pad ,1 light, Hegner
blade holders also $ 110.00
Ron Hinderman.