John's Junket

As promised, we began distribution of the "Woodworker of the Year" nomination forms at the last regular meeting. A dozen of you took the time to submit a nomination, thank you!. I would still like to hear from the rest of the membership. For your convenience, a nomination form has been included in this month's RIPSAW, and they will be again available at the October regular meeting. Please take this opportunity to recognize any member that you believe has made sustained and significant contributions to the Guild over the last year or years. You can drop the forms off at the October regular meeting or send them to me at home.
At the September meeting I heard a member exclaim that they were going to nominate another member for the President's position, although it was clear that they had not discussed this action at all with the potential nominee. This is not what volunteering is all about. Any member choosing to become more involved with the Guild, must choose to do so of their own free will, not by mob action. Your Board of Directors would not accept any nomination under these circumstances. I would suggest that if you know of a member that you believe might be interested in a position you should talk to them privately, outside of a general meeting where they may feel uncomfortable or pressured.
I would also like to again dispel the myth that a member must possess certain woodworking skills in order to hold an elected or appointed position within the Guild. Neither I, nor any of the current Board Members are woodworkers by profession. The only requirement is a desire to participate in the continuing effort to make our organization an interesting and useful way for local woodworkers to gain and share information. That is how and why Guilds are started, and that is the only way ours can continue.
If you are interested in becoming more involved with your Guild in the capacity of President, Workshop Director, or Toy Chairperson, please contact myself, or any Board of Directors member.

Board Briefs

Jeff Nebel

President:

John Petrovic reported no response so far for the open board positions. He has received twelve responses so far for the Woodworker of the Year award.

Secretary:

The Lie-Nielsen tool purchase is complete. Jeff will write a wrap-up article for the next R.I.P.S.A.W. Apparently, some Guild member turned in three of the Guild's books to the North Lake Public Library. North Lake mailed the books back to the Guildâ's P.O. Box. Mary Anderson and Liz Rohde have volunteered to be on the Secretarial Committee to take board minutes when Jeff is absent. Rural Insurance sent the Guild a letter informing us that the last agent assigned to the Guild is no longer with them. The raffle license renewal procedure will start by next board meeting. Lenard Mumm has provided Jeff with a list of camcorder equipment for record.

Treasurer:

Elizabeth Rohde reported the Guild's account balance to be $6,944.24 on 9/12/02. She also distributed a bar graph showing income and expenses for 2002. There was a large increase in both for August due to the Lie-Nielsen tool purchase. Ed Goldman still has the financial records for 2001.

Programs:

Ken Bahr reported the 2003 schedule has speakers for all but three meetings. There is also one speaker committed but not assigned to a particular month. Write-ups for most are done and need to be sent to Si Farmer so we can offer at least a partial program schedule to the Guild members for next year. The board reaffirmed its decision that starting in 2003, only particular Guild meetings will be videotaped. It is believed there is currently a year more supply of Tongue awards. The location of the mold to make more, however, is uncertain and should be identified sooner than later.

Workshops:

Dick Yezek distributed updated workshop registration information. There are seven paid signups for the Plane Restoration session on 9/14/02. The Claussen Clock Workshop is full at six people with several more on a waitlist for a possible second class.

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:

Elizabeth Rohde reported only two people have expressed interest so far in receiving their R.I.P.S.A.W. via email instead of snail mail. Brian Halligan is the current webmaster, but his position is tentative due to personal issues. The Guild website is presently financed via Jerry Davis's credit card. This needs to be changed to the Guild somehow. The Guild may have to prepay to do this. There is some question whether the current I.S.P., CIHost, is willing to do this. If not, there are other I.S.P.s and the Guild should find one.


Program

October 2nd: The Spruce Goose Airplane

Pat Packard is a seasoned airplane enthusiast. He spent 20 years in sales at Lockhead Douglas Aircraft. He also spent 20 years as Director of Exhibits for the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He served as Director of Exhibits at Long Beach, California in the early 1970's and as Director of Exhibits in Portland, Oregon where the Spruce Goose is now located. During World War II Mr. Patrick was in the Air Transport Command in the South West Pacific.
Mr. Packard's presentation includes discussion of why it was developed, the driving forces and designers behind the plane, how it was constructed, and some of the people involved in the actual construction of the plane. An interesting part of flying memorabilia presented by a person very involved with one of the most unique planes in aviation history.

October Workshop Saturday, October 12th

Build a Mantle Clock with Jerry Claussen at Jerry's Studio in Memonomee Falls from 8 am - 5 pm

November Guild Meeting Wednesday, November 4th Table Saw Blades 7:00 PM - 9:29 PM

Buying a new blade for a table saw can sometimes be a daunting experience. Rip or crosscut, ATB or flat top, regular or thin kerf, what do all of these terms mean and how do you choose the best blade for the kind of woodworking that you do? Tom Lankton from Freud will join us for this program to educate us on the properties of table saw blades and to discuss the process of choosing the appropriate blade.

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

Last months winner of the Makita cordless drill was Bill Klug.
The October raffle prize is a 12 gallon low profile Craftsman wet/dry vac. The unit operates as both a vacuum and a blower. The kit includes several accessories as well as a 2 1/2" and 1 1/4"diameter locking hose.

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 Fall Guild meetings and at the holiday party.


Reflections

Clock Making and Restoration


Dick Butula

Our September monthly meeting had a very interesting and informative presentation on Clock Making and Restoration by Howard Young, the former Wauwatosa Director of Public Works. He started his interest in clocks at the age of nine; got hooked on power tools in junior high school; and gradually began to gather a shop full of his own tools. About twenty years ago, before he retired, he started building his own clocks, now he is fully involved in repair, building and restoration. His personal collection has over four hundred clocks.
The first portion of the program was devoted to the building of clocks. Following a brief history about them, he went into some of the detail about what is necessary to restore older clocks.
When Young had assembled a shop full of the necessary power tools he began building clocks of his own design, not from kits. He has made over twenty of them to date. Each takes 60 to 80 hours to complete. Half of the time is in actual building and the rest is for finishing.
If you are considering building a clock yourself, Young suggests that you have the movement in your hands before you even cut the first piece of wood. He also suggests that you make a full size pattern so that you can determine that the movement will fit and the weights have enough room to drop completely. You can use any number of catalogs to get different ideas for your clock design. The woods to use for clock building are maple, cherry, oak, or walnut. Among the over twenty clocks Young brought to the meeting was one that he had made out of purpleheart (Nazarene) which he bought in Costa Rica.
He makes each individual part, including the turnings, for every clock he builds. Most of the parts are small enough that you donÕt have to worry about expansion. Each joint needs to be tight so that they work together to make a good sounding board. Most joints are made with dowels. He has tried other types of joints, such as biscuits, but dowels seem to work best in the process of stacking parts on top of parts. He has never had one come apart.
The sanding is done progressively i.e., 100 to 200 up to 400 grit. Some woods even go up to 600. Depending on the type of wood, he may also use pigmented paste wood fillers, but does not use it on multi-wood projects. All finishes are hand rubbed. He applies two coats of Birchwood Casey True-oil Gunstock Finish, thinned 50% with mineral spirits. Then the finish is used straight for up to eight coats, sanding between each with 320 or 400 sandpaper, or with #000 steel wool every third coat. Some of the parts are sanded and partially finished before assembly for ease.
Some woods are stained before finishing. He uses water-soluble aniline dyes rather than oil or water based, because they can be mixed to get exact colors.
The movements in his clocks are either quartz or wind up, which usually run for about twenty years before they need any tune up. Young said you should never oil a clock, especially not with WD-40. (It deteriorates brass). Let it run until it stops and then have it professionally cleaned, because they use ultrasonic cleaners.
Before getting into restoration, Young gave a brief history about clocks and the differences between German, (Cuckoo), American, French and British made. Most early American clocks were made around Bristol, Connecticut. Clocks newer than 1930 are not considered antique.
When a clock has a broken missing part, you need to know what it looked like originally in order to repair or replace it. Hopefully you can find a picture of the same clock or find another one just like it so that you can duplicate the part. Replaced or repaired parts reduce the antique value of a clock. The value of a clock is determined by how many were originally made, how many are still around, and the condition.
Old clocks were made using hide glue, since that was all that was available at the time. This makes working on them easier since they can be disassembled using hot water and a hair dryer or heat gun. For repairing or replacing parts he uses yellow glue which is compatible with hide glue.
Veneer repair can involve re-gluing loose pieces or replacement of missing sections. To re-glue, he uses either a steel six-inch ruler or a flexible putty knife to place glue under the veneer and then clamping it in place. For curved pieces he will steam the veneer so that it will bend to conform to the shape. After applying glue to the wood surface and attaching the veneer he backs it with a formed or flexible metal sheet or strip, held in place with rubber bands.
Some clocks, such as the Black Mantel Clock, were painted. They either had many coats of paint or were Japanned (a process of applying a 300 degree liquid to for a plastic type of surface). To refinish them Young uses a metal polish called Flitz. He brought a clock that was half refinished and half untouched to show the effect. For those clocks that require repainting he has had the best success with Krylon spray paints.
Metal pieces of the clocks that are broken or missing, are replaced by new ones, which he makes by casting a good similar part. He makes a mold of the good part using liquid silicone rubber and casts the new one out of pewter. It is then painted using Zynolie Epoxy Finish, which is available in gold, copper, brass or chrome.
Clocks are more valuable if they have their original faces. If they are in bad, they may need to be replaced. Since new ones are hard to find, Young makes new ones by scanning the old one, and with his computer either cleans the copy or makes an entirely new one using the old as the model.
Clock movements may need repairs as well. They usually wear out in the pivot hole. The repair could be done by replacing the gear with a part from a similar movement or installing a new bushing.
Although Young is not looking for business (he is already backed up two months) he can be contacted e-mailed at clockmanyoung@juno.com.

Special Features

Lie-Nielsen Tool Purchase Wrap-up

Jeffrey M. Nebel

The program to purchase Lie-Nielsen tools is now complete and by all accounts was popular and successful. All tools ordered have been received, paid for and delivered. For those keeping score at home, here are the final numbers. Eighteen Guild members took advantage of the discount offered and ordered tools. A total of 43 items were ordered, including 32 tools as follows: 28 planes, 3 saws and 1 marking gauge.
The 11 non-tool items were books, videos, spare blades, Camelia oil,etc. The most popular items ordered were the #60-1/2 low-angle blockplane (four), the #102 low-angle block plane (three) and the #4 smoothing plane (four).
Happy woodworking to all those who ordered these high-quality tools. And yes, the Guild can do this again in a year of so if there is sufficient interest.


Toy Makin' Fun Fest

Ron Hinderman


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 three 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.
Starting in September, I will be available every Saturday and during the week! My shop is OPEN for toy making work shops, during the week & week ends .
Please call me.
Thanks