Mark's Musings
Mark Bronkalla
Toy Drive:
With the December meeting rapidly approaching the toy building is reaching
frenzied levels.We went over to Ron’s to pick up some lumber for our toy cradle
project. There was a group working at Ron’s house on a number of toy projects.
The toy making is one of the more social activities of the guild. In our
house the toy project is a family affair. We get everyone into the shop as
we set up production for the toy run. David cuts and does glue up. Elyse
applies finish. Teal makes blankets and also provides glue up hands or sands.
Remember, you are not required to bring a toy to come to the holiday party.
Whether you come simply for the fellowship, bring one toy or twenty. All
are welcome. I am always amazed at the variety of toys and the level of workmanship
displayed. It is fun to look at them and pick up ideas for next year.
Committee Chairs:
Publications Leila Crandall-Frink has graciously accepted the position of
the Publication Director and chair of the Publications Committee. Si Farmer
is stepping down from leading the Publications Committee. He has been a great
help to me, on the board, as the new president got “broken in” over the last
year. He has served the role as the “elder statesman” unobtrusively providing
guidance and a historical perspective as we test new ideas for the guild.
Publicity: Don Berger is stepping down as Publicity Chair and Exhibits Director.
He has served the guild exceedingly well for many years. Finding a replacement
for him is a pressing concern as the Woodworking Show is coming up in February.
He has agreed to help the new chairperson in the transition, but we need a
new person to coordinate the event. The woodworking show is our biggest publicity
and membership generating event of the year. For the incoming chairperson,
this should be a easy learning year overall as we do not have a major exhibit,
such as the Wisconsin Lutheran College event of this past year. Toys: Ron
Hinderman is stepping down as Toy Committee Chairman this year. Ron has put
a lot of effort into building up the toy drive over the years. Whether encouraging
people to build, selling plans, bringing in samples, collecting wheels, dolls,
procuring lumber donations or other toy parts, he has done it all (and built
more than a few toys as well) Given the amount of effort Ron has put in, we
may want to split up some of the duties. I really think that this should be
a committee project with many of the tasks split up. Think of what you might
like to do, either leading the group or providing some of the ongoing functions.
Without some new effort in this area, our sources for free toy parts and
lumber will likely dry up. The donated materials really make a big difference
in keeping down the cost of the toy making
In the shop:
This has been a busy month in the shop. I finished the four night stands
and they are now distributed around the house. Several little projects are
underway as well. Using the wedge shaped off-cuts from the tapered legs of
the night stands I tried out a new cutting board design with the wedge shaped
pieces in it creating an interesting optical illusion.
Much of the time has been taken up with machinery (re)building. My old home
built wood lathe was a bit too wiggly As seen in the shop tour video, I had
some large aluminum extrusions I had salvaged from work. This makes up the
frame of the new lathe. Since I always wanted a variable speed drive, I robbed
the 1.5 HP DC motor that was in my shaper and added a variable speed motor
drive ($40 from surplus center.com). The head and tail stocks were retained
from the old lathe and were modified to fit the new bed. It is now running,
and has 2 speed ranges. These range from just barely turning to about 3000
rpm. It is much more fun to apply finish to a piece turning very slowly and
not worried about getting a vertical splatter stripe! Performance is at about
80% of what I want. Some more fine tuning of the pulley system to remove residual
vibration is needed. It is still a huge improvement over the old one.
The current machine project is refurbishing a monstrous 16 in. jointer.
A local cabinet shop was selling off some excess machinery and my wife said
“go for it” before she realized just how big this thing is. We were able to
knock it down into manageable pieces to move. The base still took 4 people
to lift on and off of the truck. Estimated total weight is about 1000 lbs.
So far, it looks very promising. We tore it down and are undoing a number
of modifications that were added over the years. The cutter head has also
been raised to narrow the gap between it and the beds. The gap, as I first
saw it, was 1-2 in. on each side - far too wide for my taste. Now, the head
just barely clears the edges of the top. This should be much safer. The tables
are realigned and parallel to the cutter head within a couple of thousandths
of an inch. There is still a lot of work to do, but I need to get to work
on the cradles. So much for my hope of getting it spinning by the second evening.
Board Briefs
Si Farmer
President:
Mark Bronkalla reported that no nominations were received at the last Guild
meeting for Woodworker of the Year, so the board will determine the recipient.
A sympathy card for Jim Paulbeck family was signed by the board members. and
will be brought to the Holiday Season Dinner Party for others to sign. Don
Berger has been acting as both Exhibit Director and Publicity Chairman. Mark
will approach an identified replacement about taking the job. He will also
approach a potential replacement for Publications Director
Vice-president:
Dick Yezek distributed reports showing the band saw box workshop is full
at ten with one on the wait list. Registration for the holiday party stands
at 49. Two volunteers were found for meeting refreshments, but none for the
other openings.
Secretary: Minutes of the October 9th board meeting were accepted as revised.
Jeff Nebel reported that the Guilds honorary membership in the American Heritage
Society (A.H.S.) provides a newsletter only. Guild members must still pay
to attend events in the Art Museum. The A.H.S. sent a packet of membership
forms, which he will offer to the Guild at the January meeting. The raffle
licenses are up for renewal
Treasurer:
Liz Rohde reported the treasury balance at $5,496.02 on 11/13/03, but she
has approximately $4,500.00 in checks to be deposited
Programs/Workshops:
Mary Anderson reported income from the Logfest was $2,045.00, but expenses
had not yet been totaled. Should this event be held again next year or every
two years? Matt Bohlmann’s shop is being moved. Ken Bahr reported three new
members for the Program Committee. Only three months are still open for 2004
programs. Bill Hull will be in March for a veneering program and workshop.
Exhibits:
Don Berger distributed a press release being sent to ten newspapers and
TV stations regarding the holiday party and toy donations
Publications:
Si.Farmer will write up the first three workshops shown in the November
meeting video; Dick Yezek will write up the last two. Si read a letter from
Jeffrey Kress offering to help with Programs/Workshops/Officer. Si needs
a report on the January meeting topic from Ken. There will not be a Publications
Committee meeting in December
Toys:
Ron Hinderman is resigning as Toy Chairman. A replacement will not be sought
until January.
Program
December Program
Holiday Party
Wednesday, December 3, 2003, 5:30 till????
Mykonos Restaurant
8201 W Greenfield Avenue
West Allis, WI
Reflections
Video Shop Tours
Si Farmer and Dick Yezek
It evening started off with a tour of the home of Scott Stanwyck. We viewed
the many fine pieces of furniture that he has made and the woodworking remodeling
of his house.
He is not hesitant about tackling the difficult. On some of the objects
he embellished a carving that he was introduced to by Gene Landon some years
ago. Scott has wonderful shop in which to work. It is the top flood of a rather
large barn. It’s roomy, well stocked with every conceivable type of sawdust
making machinery/equipment and also stocked with a prize wood selection. Many
of the Guild members are familiar with Scott’s workshop inasmuch as he has
hosted a variety of workshops for the Guild. Some of his heftier equipment
is heavy “experienced” commercial machinery, which he puts to good use.
Our next visit took us to the “studio” of Mark Bronkalla, our president.
Mark’s shop is smaller than some of the member’s but a bit larger than most.
He utilized his space well and has turned out some remarkable products; a
boat, beds, chests of drawers, desks, etc. We toured the house and viewed
some of his creations. We can truthfully say, “You can’t get that kind of
furniture in the stores, anymore”. We were impressed with Mark’s philosophy
that every wood creation should be designed so as to justify at least one
new tool!
Bruce Bogust was the next stop on our video parade. He too has made many
exceptionally nice furniture products. We toured his home to view them and
were duly impressed with his fine workmanship. Bruce showed us creative ways
to utilize the space, that one has available, to the best advantage. Most
of his shop tools/equipment is in his basement shop, but he has his big planer
in the garage. I’m sure that many of the viewers got several ideas that they
could put into their own workshop.
Just after our break the camera made a stop at Ken Rasch’s workshop. Ken
first took us on a short tour of his home, pointing out several of his completed
woodworking projects. Ken pointed out several toys, room decorations, and
small shadow boxes designed for his children but a large shadow box built
specifically for his wife’s prized items was his favorite. All these items
were built in Ken’s compact basement shop fitted out with basic power and
hand tools. Ken showed all that while his available shop space limits his
table saw’s rip capacity to 48 inches he can still build many projects from
a large supply of various wood species he keeps in a shed. A stunning swaying
purple dinosaur toy atop his workbench demonstrated further that woodworkers
don’t require a great amount of space or expensive tooling to do fine woodworking.
Ken bid us adieu with a view of his woodshed decorated with a tree-patterned
board from our Logfest event.
Ken Bahr, Member 579, decked out in his shop apron, lead us into his moderate
sized, brightly lit basement workshop, which proved to be a model of organization.
Ken showed us home built shop cabinets and drawers stocked with literally
hundreds of tools and shop items. One drawer in particular was fitted out
with a hardboard rack, which held round plastic containers for small parts.
Another ingenious idea was a moveable clamp rack with swing out bays for small
clamps, tape, glue, and other items used for fitting up cabinets.
Another really great home built shop accessory was Ken’s rollaway router
table complete with an extra large removable fence with dust port. Ken demonstrated
his fence system and explained that he mounts his routers offset in his router
table to permit him to route wide stock on one side, narrow stock on the other.
Near the end of the tour Ken approached a wide steel cabinet with many heavy-duty
drawers. He explained that the cabinet was actually a cast off library filing
cabinet. He said it took two men to lift it - without the drawers in it.
The drawers operated smooth as silk even when filled with heavy tools. It
was obvious that Ken was treasured that blue steel cabinet. Several of us
would have purchased that blue steel cabinet in a minute - but it’s not for
sale.
Every tour this evening was different. The videos of these shop tours provided
the necessary balance and interest to hold the audience right to the last
frame! All of the tours were well narrated. Our special thanks to our capable
and willing videographer, Jerry Smaglik. Thank you one and all.
Raffle Column
CLASSIFIED
For Sale
Delta Floor Drill Press $195, Grizzly Knife Grinder $90, Maple Work Bench
$150, two L-N planes; Scroll Saw, clamps, saw blades, motors, 60Ó parallel
slide for drafting table, plus misc. Items at: Antiquity, 719 Genesee St.,
Delafield (from I-94 exit Hwy. C, mile north), W-Sat. 10-5pm, Sun. 12-5pm.
Dennis Bork
Dust Collector, Small Cyclone Type, with 1 hp Dayton Model 4C108 Blower
with controls. $350 (new price)
Dale Lagerman
Delta 16" bandsaw with extra blades and accessories. $275 Brian Halligan