John's Jaunt

John Johnson

This past month I learned something new. At the October workshop, I cut dovetails for the first time, both by hand and by machine. It was interesting to go through the full process from layout to cutting to fitting and seeing the end result. Surprisingly, at least to me, my hand cut dovetails turned out better than the machine cut dovetails. I also found it interesting that in both of the methods taught, there is a lot of leeway in the layout of the first board and the importance of matching the second part of the joint to the first. To me, this is one of the things the Woodworker's guild is all about, learning new skills.
I would also like to take this opportunity to inform you of a few actions that the board is taking to improve the Wisconsin Woodworker's Guild. First, we have begun reviewing lists of newly published books for purchase for the guild library. Second, an order has been placed for lights and stands to better illuminate presentations. This is a long time in coming, but hopefully it will be a positive addition. Third, we are putting together a layout to aid the people that take care of our meeting setup to make the process smoother. And finally, we have approached a few people regarding the Secretary and Program/Workshop positions. Hopefully this will be successful and we will have some announcements for the November meeting.
One last note: the December Christmas party is rapidly approaching. Please consider attending regardless of whether you are making toys or not. Toys are not a requirement to attend, and it is an enjoyable evening.

Program
  

November Workshop

Date	Saturday November 5, 2005
Event	Workshop
Topic	Rustic Furniture
Presenter	Tor Faegre
Location	Bill Godfrey's shop S53 W26445 Fox Vale Road Waukesha Map and directions will be available at the meeting.
Time	8:00 a.m.
Enrollment	Maximum Enrollment: 12 - 14
Sponsor	Bill Smeaton
Fee	$25.00
Comments	Materials: Slab wood and branches will be available at the workshop. What To Bring: A comfortable chair! Hammer Battery operated drill Assortment of small drill bits Assortment of 2" to 3" drywall screws Workmate if you want – not essential. In the workshop you will be learning (hands-on) techniques for rustic style furniture. You will be making a small piece, either a table or plant stand, possibly completed that day. You will also do a short walk thru the woods (weather permitting) so that Tor can demonstrate what types of wood to look for at you go through the woods. This furniture is made with green wood, so all of the materials are "fresh".

Photos from October Meeting and Workshop

Reflections

Liz Rohde

After a brief history, Jeff discussed the some of the important aspects of a bed frame. He also brought a slide presentation.
He stated that a bed must be able to be put together and taken apart easily. Can you image a king size bed being pulled up a narrow hallway with a 90 degree bend. Sounds like a Laurel and Hardy movie to me.
Next he discussed the importance of mortise and tenon joints for the headboard and footboard. Jeff then talked about the many fasteners available which connect the rails to the headboard and footboard. He said people have come up with some "bizarre" fasteners but as long as they hold the bed together itÕs OK. He mentioned that Rockler carries a fastener that is used for workbenches but works well for beds. If bolts are used then the boltholes must be covered. There are a variety of covers on the market made of brass, cooper or wood.
The woods Jeff uses are cherry, walnut, maple and mahogany. The head and footboard wood must be 6/4" thick for sturdiness.
Jeff runs a cleat along the rails so slats 4"X3/4" can sit on them and support the mattress or box spring. Some times dowels equally spaced are set into the cleats so the slats are sandwiched in between. That solves the problem of moving slats. The frame is built " over size. But this could still be a problem. Mattresses are not standardized. They used to be 7" thick. Now they can be 15" to 20" thick with pillow tops.

Dovetail Workshop

Dick Butula

On a beautiful fall day, ten of our Guild members opted to stay inside Jerry Tackes studio to learn how to make hand cut dovetails as taught by Jeff Miller. Obviously there was a lot of interest in this workshop, since there was a waiting list in case anyone dropped out.
The beauty of the joint is that it provides more glue surface area than a simple butt joint and makes a physical connection so it is much stronger. It consists of pins and tails.
The first step is to mark the end of each board to the thickness of the boards to be joined. This can be done with either a regular or a wheel marking gauge. (The wheel type does not tear the grain of the wood, as does the regular style).
The second step is to layout the tails on end of one board. Each side of the board should be marked for half the width of one tail. The number of tails should be evenly spaced along the end and marked. The bevel of the tail should have a 1 to 8 bevel for hardwoods and 1 to 6 for soft. At the point where the bevel meets the edge of the board, a line is squared across the end. The waste area (to be cut away) should be marked. Jeff demonstrated first and then we did the same.
The third step is to cut away the waste. Using a dovetail or Japanese saw, we cut next to the lines on the waste side down to the line marked in step one, leaving the beveled line. The waste area is then chiseled away. Jeff suggested various techniques for each of these procedures and also recommended that we should practice to perfect these techniques.
The fourth step involved marking the tail edges outline on the second board. Using any right angle surface, i.e. a jointer fence, the board to be marked is laid flat on the table with the previously cut one vertical against the fence. The small side of the tail should be against the fence. It is best to clamp each board in place. Using an awl, the edge of each tail is marked on the flat board. A pencil then highlights these lines. The waste area is marked similar to the second step and is then sawed and chiseled away. Jeff again suggested various techniques for each of these procedures.
If each of steps were done precisely, the two boards should fit together perfectly. Some guys had better fits than others. Mine fit together better when I used a bigger hammer to join them.
After all of the hand cutting, Jeff showed us how to cut tails using a special (but easy to make) jig on a table saw. Pins were then cut on a band saw following the marking procedure as in step four. Then each of the guys made their own tails and pins this way. Hooray for power tools.
This was a very informative and worthwhile workshop and I am glad I signed up early. Let his be a lesson; sign up for any workshop early to make sure you get in on the one you really want.

Glen Huey Saturday workshop

Walt Hadcock

Link to .pdf of longer version

About 20 WWG members met at Scott Stanwyck's shop (barn) for a demonstration of stringing and inlay techniques presented by Glen Huey of Middletown, Ohio. Glen has published two books and several DVD's and can be contacted at:

The Woodworker's Edge
6895 Dutchland Boulevard
Middletown, Ohio 45044
(513) 675-2803
Glen@WoodworkersEdge.com

A "spice box" is a smaller object that mimics the casework of much larger pieces of furniture. Spice boxes involve a number of small drawers in a carcass and were originally used to hold spices. The design evolved to the point that a spice box was often exhibited in the parlor of a fine home rather than in the kitchen. Spice boxes differ over time and geography - the details of the design and the types of wood used differ in differing locations at differing times. Spice boxes may contain secret compartments and other indications of finer construction. The specific topic of this workshop was the used of inlay and stringing to adorn the door of a spice box.
The design of the patterns for the fancy door involved several separate components:

• A square or rectangular band around and inside the perimeter of the door
  
• A circular band inside the perimeter band
  
• Various stringing, each in the form of an arc formed as a portion of a circle
  
• Various "berries", each formed in clusters of three differing wood species
  

A door to be inlayed should be cut oversized, inlayed, and then fit to the box. Glen allows an extra 1 inches on each of the four sides. He uses screws or clamps to hold his door blank to the fabrication jig - he feels double-sided tape will allow small movements that will detract from the final accuracy needed.
Glen uses a "top-bearing "pattern bit" in his small trim router to cut the initial band around the inside perimeter of the door. The depth of the groove or slot cut in the door is about 3/32". The materials placed in the slot (inlay or stringing) are a bit thicker or "heavier". The idea is to finally sand the inlay down to the door void sanding the (larger) door down to meet the inlay. Glen reminds us to pay attention to the actual dimension of the router bits - some bits sold to match the nominal thickness of commercial plywood may be slightly undersized. Not all bits are the same size Also, note the rotation of the bit in the common plunge router results in a clockwise pattern for cutting around the inside of the router jig.
The 1st milestone in this process is the creation of the wide banding around the inside perimeter of the door. He created a jig specifically to aid in the cutting of the band. He used two scraps of plywood from which is cut a "hollow rectangle" that serves as the router guide. The plywood jig was screwed to the oversized portion of the door. The dimensions all depend on the specifics of the project. Glen fabricated each of the four sides of the router guide using the fence on a table saw and carefully raising the blade through the plywood each time. The inside dimension of the jig supports the bearing of the pattern bit while the router is making the desired band around the perimeter of the door. The outer dimension of the router guide is about 1" or 2" wider - in other words, the plywood might be 15 x 18 with a 13 x 13 hole for a door that is 14 x 17 and a "bit".
Most spice box inlay designs are symmetrical within a square, so the jig has a rectangular outside (to match the door) and a square inside (to support the design). Glen was distracted and created a rectangle within a rectangle, which resulted in an asymmetrical final pattern.
The 2nd milestone is the creation of the 1" wide banding that is inside the rectangular band. (This banding is a form of inlay). Note the eye seems to consider the "outside rectilinear band equal to the 1" internal circular band. He located the center of the outside band by connecting opposite corners. He drilled a 3/16" diameter hole, which will later be covered by inlay as part of the final pattern. Glen then made the cut using a long flat base for the router and a 3/16" diameter dowel. Note: Glen used two differing mounting points on the extended router base (resulting in two differing radii for the cut) so he could create a 1" wide groove with two passes of the " bit".
Glen prefers a plunge router for these operations, although he used a standard trim router in his demonstrations. As a side benefit, he illustrated the distractions caused by intermittent electrical connections in equipment used to do close work. He feels it is not necessary to clean up the burrs resulting on the circular or rectilinear bands as they will be addressed when the banding is installed.
The 3rd major step in preparing the door blank is to create the grooves for the stringing. Glen used two different templates made from " MDF and Baltic birch plywood to guide the router in these cuts.
He registered one set of templates to lines that were extended from the inside and outside of the outside band.
He registered the other set of templates to groove cut by the first templates and the radius of the circular band.
The specific shape of the templates is the result of a lot of experimentation (or trial and error). Suggestions on developing our own templates included obtaining good photographs or drawings of antiques, scanning the image into a computer, enlarging the image as desired, and then tracing the final design to cut the template. Glen uses a bushing and a 1/16" straight router bit when cutting the grooves for the stringing. Differing alternatives for template, bushing, and bit will naturally yield differing results.
The group discussed several alternative approaches to developing templates for this work; the most important ideas were:
Consider the symmetry of the design and the possibility of using various "berries" as the centers for a router jig based upon a circle cut. In fact the current design and the probably techniques of the masters (pre-routers) suggest this may have been the common technique when the antiques were made.
Consider larger templates for the entire door rather than smaller templates for each specific cut as a means to reduce manual alignment errors for each cut. There are differing strategies to use when the stringing is finally inserted in the grooves:
Glen seems to prefer cutting all the stringing grooves; then installing the "longest" string; and then working towards the smaller string segments. This requires careful cutting of smaller and smaller segments to exact length to nest against the existing segments.
An alternative is to cut the stringing grooves one by one, inserting the stringing as each groove is completed. This results in most string segments being "longer" as the router makes the cuts as needed into existing segments.
The 4th major step is to create the banding used for perimeter. (Note: a variety of patterns are possible; some can be purchased pre-made from various sources). Glen uses cherry, maple, and walnut in his work, although other species can be used. Authentic spice boxes typically used wood found in the local area. The banding is composed of four parts:

• A 1/16" outer string
  
• Two separate 5/16" diamonds (chevrons)
  
• A 1/16" inner string
  

The banding is made in several steps:
A number of 9/16" sticks of equal width and thickness are prepared from two contrasting species
The sticks are edge-glued in a form similar to a "finger board" An initial cut is made at 45 degrees Subsequent cuts are made with a 5/16" spacing between the table saw blade and the fence. The banding is then cut into thin strips on the band saw.
The 5th major step is to create the 1" banding used for the circle. The 1" banding is composed of four parts:

• A 1/16" outer string
  
• Two separate 7/16" diamonds (chevrons)
  
• A 1/16" inner string
  

This banding is prepared in segments of 120 degrees (or 1/3 of the full circle). The banding is then cut into thin strips on the band saw.
The 6th major step is to plan the locations for the "berries". These are clusters of three or more differing wood species. The best approach seems to be to cut and install all of each species - e.g., all the cherry, then all the maple, etc. Each berry is installed as a full dowel; subsequent species / berries are added by an overlapping cut. (Note that a plug cutter is used to create the wood for the berries from face grain - end grain will not have a suitable final appearance).
The final step is to place all banding and stringing into the proper grooves, glue, sand, and finish.

The Guild Roundtable
Dick Yezek

I thought it worthwhile to review the policies of the Wisconsin Woodworker's Guild regarding registration for seminars and workshops offered by our Guild. First, let's define terms. A seminar allows no hands on participation, regardless of the fact that the seminar might be held in a fully equipped workshop. A seminar is required when the number of attendees far exceeds the capacity of any workshop or when the presenter will conduct only a seminar. A workshop implies each participant will use some type of woodworking tool to perform recognized woodworking tasks. Although students usually "make sawdust" in a workshop, that is not universally true as a workshop might be on a related aspect of woodworking such as sharpening, tool tune up, or other topics like shop electricity which do not involve cutting wood.
Normally the board approves all seminars and workshops far in advance of the event's date so as to give all members at least 3 months notice but exceptions have occurred due to a last minute cancellation with a substitution. During the approval process two key decisions are made: what will be the maximum enrollment for the event and what will be the fee for each attendee. The maximum enrollment is contingent not only on the physical space available at the workshop location but also, for workshops, on the number of workstations available at the event location. For example, a band saw workshop might have a maximum of 6 attendees if only one band saw is available, even though 25 people can easily fit in the workshop.
The registration committee (Dick & Kathie Yezek) handles registration and payment for Guild sponsored seminars and workshops. Payment can be made either in person at regular meetings or by mail. Registrants are ordered in a database by date of payment. Members who wish to register without payment can do so but such registrants are automatically placed in wait list status until payment is received. As long as openings are available, any registrant who makes payment is registered for the event ahead of anyone on the wait list.
If there are no more openings for an event members can still register, with or without payment, and be placed in wait list status in anticipation of cancellations by one or more members already accepted for the event. Wait listed members who have paid are ordered in the wait list by payment date above those who have not paid. If cancellations occur the wait list is cleared in order of payment date; payment is refunded if there are no cancellations. The treasurer, not the registration committee, handles refunds because financial reports generated by the registration committee would be invalidated otherwise.
A late cancellation is any cancellation made after the last date to register for the seminar or workshop. The last date to register for an event is always on the registration form and is usually the date of the last regular meeting before the event. This date is important because an event can be canceled due to low enrollment up to that date without causing a financial burden on either the Guild or the members registered up to that time. However, once the last registration date has passed, the Guild commits to the event based on the enrollment at that time. The guest instructor will be paid the agreed upon fee and supplies will be purchased for the enrolled participants regardless of the number of actual attendees.
If a member cancels late, the event fee will be automatically refunded if a wait listed member (if any) agrees to enroll. If no member agrees to fill the enrollment then the event fee will be refunded only upon application to the board to do so because the fees collected have already been spent as described earlier.
At present workshops offered by the Wisconsin Woodworkers Guild are normally limited to 10 to 12 attendees based on the number of workstations available in participating workshops. This has not limited participation in the past because our members have different interests but it does mean that the cost of any single Guild workshop can be significantly higher than similar events sponsored by other organizations that can accommodate 40 or more attendees at a single workshop.
Finally, It is worth noting that occasionally a guest instructor has "surprised" us with unusually high fees for transportation, food, or lodging which resulted in a "premium" tacked on to the original fee for the event.

Raffle Column

Year End Raffle Prize:
The year end raffle prize is the quiet running Jet AFS-1000B Air Filtration System with remote control. This 3-speed unit will effectively filter the air in your shop using 1 micron and 5 micron filters. Tickets will be available for $5 each at the October and November meetings as well as at the Holiday Season Party. Good Luck!