TENNESSEE VALLEY WOODWORKERS

JANUARY 1-18-2005

The Tennessee Valley Woodworkers monthly meeting was called to order by president Loyd Ackerman on Tuesday January 18, 2005 at 7:00 pm at the Duck River Building, Winchester, TN.

There were 67 people in attendance, including visitors.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The 2005 president, Loyd Ackerman, welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the new year.

The club membership dues are now payable. If you have not paid, please see Henry Davis at the next meeting.

Loyd announced that the Jim and Ellen Steadman have volunteered to make the coffee for the year.

Loyd discussed the proposed schedule of events for the year. They are as follows:

Dogwood Days Festival (Winchester) April 15, 16, & 17. Chairperson – Ken Gould
Turning Bee, tentative date is May 14. Chairperson – Tom Cowen
Annual Club Picnic, May 21 at Falls Mill. Chairperson – TBD
Coffee County Fair Activity, September 19 – 24. Chairperson – Doyle McConnell.
Fall Seminar, October timeframe. Suggested topic is furniture making. Chairperson – TBD
Holiday Party/ Celebration, December. Chairperson/coordinator – TBD

REPORTS PRESENTED:

Executive Committee meeting report was presented by Chuck Taylor. The meeting highlights were read. The full committee meeting minutes will be posted on the club website.
Treasurer’s report was presented by Henry Davis. The finances for the pervious year were reported and the 2005 projected working capital was noted as $3,200.

Tom Cowan announced an upcoming mini-symposium at The Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg. The “Annual Woodworker’s Weekend” will be held on February 18-20. Tom passed out flyers to those interested.

Bob Leonard announced the Manchester Rotary club was hosting an antique arts and craft show on February 18-19.

Ken Gould reminded everyone of the carver’s splinter group workshop to be held at Phil Bishop’s shop on Thursday January 20^th. The time is 6:30.

OLD BUSINESS:

Dogwood Days Festival: The Festival is scheduled for April 15,16 & 17, 3005. The activity chairperson, Ken Gould, announced that the club would not be charged, if we do demonstrations during Festival. The club will have a 20’ X 20’ space for demonstrations. More information will be presented as the event date approaches.

NEW BUSINESS:

20^th year Celebration. Loyd announced that this year marks the 20^th year of existence of our club. The executive committee discussed various ways to celebrate the occasion. The decision was to have a dinner to celebrate the anniversary. The dinner is presently scheduled to be at the Tullahoma American Legion Club on December 9. Additional information will be presented as the date approaches.

Grand door prizes: Woodcraft will again support the club and help with the door prizes. They will donate $100 and the club will put $200 toward 2 door prizes. The prizes will be gift certificates of $150 each. General Industrial Supply will be contacted to determine if they will provide door prizes again this year.

SHOW AND TELL:

Mary Ellen Lindsay displayed a relief carving in progress of “folded hands”. The carving is being done in poplar.

Harry May brought a large dolphin carved in box elder.

Newt Wright brought his finished drum made from segmented maple and walnut. His wife, Sharon, played the drum and demonstrated the various sounds of the drum.

Maurice Ryan brought a beautiful jewelry box made from oak, with a “leaded glass” insert on the top lid.

Ross Roepke brought a “modern design” mahogany headboard from a bed he made for a grandson. He discussed the details of manufacturing used on the headboard. He also displayed some 90-degree clamping fixtures that he uses in his shop.

Bill Duncan brought and discussed a 150-year-old chair. He discussed the difficulties he faced while replacing the chair bottom.

Jim Van Cleave brought a cherry bluebell relief carving he had just finished and a “linen fold” carving with a sassafras frame.

Bob Lowrance discussed how he used a 2-sides profile pattern and a bandsaw to remove most of the excess wood from a carving. He showed the finished product, a gold finch. Acrylic paint was used for the finish.

Dick Wollam brought and discussed a beautiful carving of snow geese. They were carved from 2 X 4 lumber and finished with white enamel. The carving was a result of a 3-week effort.

John Troxler showed a picture of a train table he built and discussed details of the table.

Henry Davis brought the “M & M” dispenser that he made for the Pinocchio exhibit.

Andy Weaver brought a “stacked ring” walnut bowl made from wood cut off the old “homplace”. He is making them for other members of the family. He also displayed a “primitive” knife, made by a friend. The blade was flint with a cow-bone handle and a rawhide holder.

PROGRAM:

Tom Vandervort, vice-president of Stones River Woodworkers in Murfreesboro, presented a program on the decorating of woodturnings. The main thrust of the presentation focused on spiral carvings on turned bowls. He discussed the method he initially used when creating the spirals. This method was with a router and template on a lathe. His latest method to create spirals is carving, utilizing a professional carving tool (Woodcarver HCT-30).

Tom displayed the hollow form tool used in making the vessels and the laser light technique to gage the wall thickness of the vessels. He turns the vessels wet and finishes the turning process before drying the wood.

Tom explained the layout detail used when beginning the spiral carving process. He went through each step in developing the complete layout.

He also displayed turnings that had been “blackened” with leather dye obtained from a shoe shop, creating an ebony type finish.

Tom brought many beautifully carved vessels to display. The finish he uses most is Danish oil.

The presentation was very informative and inspiring.

Refreshments:

Refreshments were provided by Juel and Doyle McConnell.