January 2010 last meeting

December is the month of the annual dessert and hors d'oeuvres feast. Expecting an array of enticements, members began arriving much earlier than usual. The tables were fairly groaning with delicacies of many kinds. From shrimp and meatballs to cakes and cookies of various and sundry kinds. As usual, the tables were so loaded that the experienced BAWA'ers had brought house jacks to prop the tables up. Fred Reicher once again set the dessert bar at an almost unobtainable height with his chocolate covered butter cookies. John Blackmore was not willing to concede this year and brought in some homemade Hello Dolly, or sometimes called Magic bars. At the end of the night, Fred won, his bars were gone and John had to take his home to his son who was obviously elated. It again appears that Per Madsen's Cook Book for Woodworkers had been heavily used. For excerpts see Fine Woodworking & Cooking magazine from April 1915.

BAWA Security using whips pushed everyone away from the food tables so that the meeting could start around 7pm.

The BAWA Annual Special Meeting was called to order by Vice President Jay Perrine. The election of officers was the order of business. Ballots were handed out with a slate of officers who volunteered to run. There was room to substitute another name for each of the positions. The unanimous choice of the membership was of the slate of officers as follows:

President: Frank Ramsay
Newsletter Editor: Steve Rosenblum
Vice President: Jay Perrine
Program Director: Per Madsen
Secretary: John Blackmore
Membership Director: Fred Reicher
Treasurer: Mark Rand

Stan Booker volunteered again to be our Rafflemeister as well as help the Membership and Program Directors. Mike Cooper volunteered to take on the library. Harold Patterson for the Toy Workshop (if that continues, see the item in the newsletter). The Board will also ask members to volunteer for other non-elected positions such as Refreshments Coordinator, Shows Coordinator, Education Chair, Mentor Program, Silent Auction Coordinator, and Rebuilding Together and Outreach Projects.

Announcements were next.

BAWA is giving away all of its VHS tapes in the club library since this format has fallen out of use. There were treasures for the eager few: the Felder 6-31, router basics and other woodworking esoterica.

Per Madsen reviewed the schedule of upcoming meetings:

Jan --- —Vacuum kiln drying with Josh Salesin
Feb --- —My experience at the College of the Redwoods by Claude Godcharles
Mar --- —Router Demonstration, Mike Cooper
Apr --- —Windsor Chair Making with John McCormack

Stan Booker talked briefly about his efforts to support vocational training programs, principally woodworking, in East Africa. Cash and old tool donations can be made to the Asante Networks. Contact Stan for details as to how to donate at 510-522-7879 or sbooker07@alamedanet.net

Frank Taylor donated a wagon full of old hand saws.\

Harold Patterson described the Toy Workshop efforts this year. There were fewer and may be none next year because of stringent Federal legislation requiring extensive testing of wooden toys; great for the big toy companies, but bad for the craftsman and small businesses, and yet another barrier to entry. Let's hear it for our thoughtful elected representative and all the trial lawyers. A PLEA-Our Toy Making program has helped disadvantaged children for years. We do not use a finish of any kind on our wooden toys. So, why are we and others punished? EMAIL YOUR CONGRESS PERSON AND ASK THEM TO EXCLUDE WOODEN TOYS THAT HAVE NO FINISH ON THEM. Contact your congress person using the following web site https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

In other matters:

Jay asked if there were any guests. Jim Bishop from Alameda introduced himself. He was so overwhelmed with all the food that he became a member. We did have to tell a little fib that this type of food spread was common at every meeting.

Stan Booker has returned and so has the raffle and door prize event. John Blackmore won the raffle prize—four Walnut boards. Thanks Stan. Arnie Champagne won the leather apron in the door prize drawing.

In the Silent Auction, Frank Taylor has donated several large blanks of wood for turning and a passage lock. Also there is a 16 foot strip of red oak veneer.

Mark Rand began collecting club dues for the next year. Members paying early may receive accolades in the next issue of the newsletter. Members not paying on time will be chastised. The dues for 2010 are the same as for 2009: $30 for an individual membership and $35 for a family. Make checks out to BAWA and mail to Mark Rand 665 27th St. San Francisco CA 94131.

The Favorite Tool Event

Boy, did we have some strange and unusual favorite tools presented. Harold Patterson showed off the decimal dial calipers he uses, accurate to .001". Neil Didriksen dragged his wife through several antique shops in the United Kingdom in search of old wooden planes. He found several, then snuck them into his wife's luggage so she had to carry them home. Arnie Champagne found a multitool similar to the Fein at Harbor Freight for $39. He is still searching for uses and is willing to travel to your location just to use the new tool. Jay Perrine could not find an explosion proof fan so that he could spray paint in his own shop. He wound up renting booth time in a paint shop. Stan Booker found an electric car winch for $90 and modified it to run his lathe at slow (60 rpm) speed. It even has a forward and reverse. Where are you going Stan? Mark Rand bought himself a Christmas present, a Wixsey magnetic base with digital readout for measuring blade heights and angles. Several members described how it can be used to measure saw table flatness as well. Now all he has to do is buy a blade for his table saw.

Christmas Ornament Contest

The contest was rigged this year, even more so than in years past. Mark Rand who runs the contest accepted only one entry, his own. Guess it's no surprise who won. Actually, hidden in Ed Marinaro's tray were two napkin rings made out of scraps of wood. They qualified as ornaments. Mark immediately withdrew his bought made by Indians in Iceland ornament. Ed was the clear winner.

Show & Tell

Ed Marinaro made a Cherry serving tray and several turned and patterned napkin rings. The tray was made with 3/16" stock and joined with mini biscuits using the Porter Cable biscuit joiner. It was finished with 10 coats of spray lacquer, composed of 1/3 tung oil, 1/3 mineral spirits and 1/3 varnish.

Arnie Champagne showed the wall mirror he made with scrap vertical grain Douglas Fir. It is 6 feet tall and about 18" wide. He left the wood in the sun light to color it. He described the mirror as an exercise in offset, lap joints and mortise and tenon joinery. He has made several of the mirrors for his friends.

Per Madsen brought in his newly finished drop leaf table made of Red Oak and strips of exotic hardwoods from scrap given to him by John Blackmore. The table legs and leg aprons are splayed out at 3 ½ degrees from vertical. He used dowels and Conformat fasteners to do the joinery. The table is finished with Watco Danish oil and wax. He used his wide belt sander to flatten the tabletop.

Tom made a Walnut and Butternut bench for the school auction where his daughter attends. It sold for $1400. Nice going Tom. The bench legs incorporated the schools logo, showing figures representing the parent-teacher-child relationship. He hand carved the figures after first rough cutting them on a scroll saw. The bench itself is composed of two pieces of hand planed Walnut, slightly concave in shape and beveled around the edges. Legs are attached to the spreader with mortise and tenon joinery, the bench top attached with pocket hole screws.