The following people have agreed to serve as contacts for their particular skills.  If you have questions, suggestions for activities, or other comments relating to these skills, please call these folks.  Their interest is to help the club better serve their area of expertise.  Your participation with them will help them achieve that goal.

             Design:        Tom Cowan    967-4835                            Finishing:      Phil Bishop          967-4626
            Turning:        Tom Church   967-4460                           Carving:        Harry May           962-0215
            Sharpening:    Bob Reese     728-7974                            Joinery:        Ross Roepke       455-9140

The May program will be presented by Loyd Ackerman, supported by Henry Davis and Richard Gulley. The program will be addressing the use of two very important tools that you have at your disposal, the Library and the club website.  Clips from videos in the club's library will be shown, along with instructions on how to benefit from the growing titles to be found there.  A short tour and tutorial on the club's website at www.tnvalleywoodclub.org will follow.  This is intended to be an informative and interactive program.

The Tennessee Valley Woodworker's Web Site is constantly being updated with the latest club news and happenings. If you want to know the latest club news, be sure to take a look and check it out!!!!!!!
 

Click "here" to view all the latest information concerning "TVW Upcoming Events" or "here" to view upcoming programs on our Web Site.

May 29 – 31: Carving Workshop, Carla Wright’s shop. Presenter - Randy Walters (registration closed).  Carving tools are required for this workshop. If enough interest is expressed, a second workshop will be scheduled later.  See Tom Cowan to express interest.  .

June 6: Annual Club Picnic, Falls Mill, 5:30 PM, Chairperson - Felix Rees.

June 20: Turning Bee, Tom Cowan's shop. Chairperson - Paul Fulks.

September 13 – 19:  Coffee County Fair Demonstrations, Chairperson - Doyle McConnell.

October 24: (tentative): Fall Workshop, Presenter – TBD, Chairperson - Johnny Brown.

December 4:  Annual Christmas Party, Decherd Nazarene Church, Chairperson -  LaDoris Ackerman.

Shop Tours: Schedule will be developed as the year progresses. Chairperson – Doyle McConnell.

Polly Crockett Festival: September 19 – 20, Cowan, TN
Web School Art and Craft Festival:October 17 & 18, Bell Buckle, TN

The "In the Spirit of Fine Woodworking" Exhibition is now history and was, by all accounts, very successful.  The number of signatures in the Guestbook was 756 for the event. The crowd there for the opening reception on May 3 was over 200 and there was a steady flow of traffic all week.  Our goal to "expose the community to the Club's fine woodwork" was surely met.

Thanks to Karen Browning, we had two receptions, one each Sunday.  They were greatly appreciated by both guests and staff.

Loyd Ackerman, Exhibition Steering Committee Chairman, says; “Thanks to all of the 62 people who supported the exhibition in one way or another.  It was your effort that made it such a fine event for the Club”.

Henry Davis, the “Exhibit Set-up and Tear-Down Teams” leader, expresses appreciation to each exhibitor who brought and then picked up their items on schedule and in an orderly manner. We had a GREAT Exhibition and nothing was damaged or misplaced.

A special thanks goes to the Loyd Ackerman, chairman of the Steering Committee, and the committee members for a "job well done".

Also, thanks to those who provided the "door prizes" for the exhibition. This list of those winning door prizes is as follows:

To view all the Exhibition photos, click here, which will take you to the TVW home page. Select "Photo Gallery" and then select the folder named "2009-05-3 to 11 Exhibition".

The carvers participated in the Dogwood Festival, held in Winchester on May 1-3. The “normal” bad weather forced them to close their tent on Saturday afternoon.

Master Carver, Randy Walters, will be teaching a deep relief carving workshop May 29-31. The workshop will be held at Carla Wright’s shop in Lynchburg. The registration for the May workshop is filled. A second workshop may be scheduled later. Contact Tom Cowan, if you are interested in attending a second workshop.

The next meeting of the carvers will be announced at the monthly club meeting.
 
 

If you have trouble with your gouges or chisels cutting properly, this is your great opportunity. If you want to know more about sharpening techniques, especially turning gouges, contact Bob Reese. Bob will give you one-on-one training. All you have to do is call and set up a time for your “learning experience”. You can contact Bob by phone (931-728-7974) or by email (reesecup@bellsouth.net).

The Lovetts have an ever-growing maintenance issue with the works at Falls Mill. This is a project worthy of help from TVW members. One of the areas where Club members could help is in the repair of the many windows at the mill. Jane and John have been Club members for many years and host the Club's annual picnic on their grounds. If we could get a crew together to help with the repairs, it would be a great help to the Lovetts and a good project on which TVW members could hone their skills. Those interested in participating in this project should contact Ross Roepke at 931-455-9140 or send him an email at rgroepke@bellsouth.net
Ross will have more information at the next club meeting.

DIGITAL LIBRARY NEWS

Don’t forget to take advantage of the vast amount of material that is available in the Club library. Also, if you have woodworking related VHS tapes or DVDs that you not longer want we hope you will consider donating them to the Club’s Digital Library. For a complete list of all items in the Digital Library, see Henry Davis at the next club meeting, email him at hdavis37@charter.net or call him at 393-3191 and leave a message.

To view the complete list of all items in the Digital Library on-line, please click here .

Joe Kuhn discussed his radius jig for routing large pieces.

Matt Brothers showed a table with quarter-sawn air dried oak veneer top and dovetail drawers.

Dick Wollam displayed a cherry relief carving of a griffin.

Tom Cowan displayed a cherry bowl, which will become one of the Exhibition door prizes.

Susan Church showed a maple box which is also one of the Exhibition door prizes.

Ross Roepke brought a box made from butternut and walnut.

Doyle McConnell showed a spalted maple vase, which will be given as a wedding present.

Chuck Taylor showed a crab-apple vase, another of the Exhibition door prizes.

Felix Rees displayed a dovetail joint that he made during Tom’s workshop.  He also discussed restoring a dresser drawer and using a table saw for cutting the dovetail.  He displayed a thread holder, a turned lamp , a small walnut box and a jig for making box joints.

Harry May brought a relief carving of basswood leaves with box elder butterflies.

Will Gaetjens displayed a marlin spike thread puller which he made using a drill press and hand turned lathe.

Ralph Hand displayed one of his wooden bowed-top chests.

Jim Van Cleave displayed two relief carvings.
 
 

If you would like to list woodworking equipment for sale or would like to purchase wookworking items, please contact Chuck Taylor with the item information and it will be posted in the Newsletter. You can contact Chuck at taylorcw@bellsouth.net or call at 931-728-7086.
 
 

Everyone loves FREE woodworking plans. And to give woodworkers more of exactly what they are looking for, WOOD magazine has created a free downloadable plans section within the WOOD Store with nine detailed plans. Current offerings include plans for a tambour bookcase, three lumber storage projects, planter, swinging dragon toy, salt and pepper shakers, turned floral display, and scroll saw and intarsia projects. To download these free plans simply click on the following link.

Also, check out the Wood magazine free video section on various woodworking techniques. You can access the videos by clicking here. Try them out. They change each month.

WOOD magazine invites you to visit WOOD Online’s newest forum, Shop Showplace http://www.woodmagazine.com/shopforum , dedicated to shop lovers and their shops. Post questions on shop flooring, lighting, cabinetry, workbenches, organizers, tool chests, and other questions you may have to better outfit your workspace. And, we’re not limiting this to woodworking shops. Whether you’re a woodworker, mechanic, or a hobbyist who enjoys a shop, we invite you to participate. Not only is this forum for the asking and replying to shop-related questions, it is a place to show off your workspace through the posting of images. We look forward to learning and seeing what your shop is all about.

You can’t beat free, and you can’t beat the informative (and free) woodworking videos at woodmagazine.com/woodtube. This section on WOOD Magazine’s online site contains 75 videos, with more added on a near daily basis. You can spend hours viewing the plethora of videos or create your own and add it for other woodworkers from around the world to view. From machining half-blind dovetails to the Big Island Woodworkers Show, the editors of WOOD and their online user have created a woodworking video library worth your visit. Pease click here to go directly to the videos.

For the past several months, we’ve been working to bring you top-notch woodworking videos that you can download to your computer. We’re proud to tell you that WOOD Magazine’s “Better Woodworking” Video Center has just launched. At “Better Woodworking,” you can shop for skill-building woodworking videos, typically between an hour to two hours long, by master woodworkers such as Marc Adams, Paul Schurch, Gary Rogowski, The Wood Whisperer, and many more. The videos are mostly priced at under $20.

This is an interesting web site for all you "do-it-yourselfers". The site has nothing to do with woodworking, but can tell you a lot about trouble-shooting and repairing your appliances. The main feature is the "Ask the Repair Guru" section. If you have a repair problem, click here to find the answer to your problem.

We are trying to start a new service for club members. Your VP, Anthony Watts, has requested that we add some key local suppliers to the website to help members find items needed in the shop; for example: belts and pulleys.

To accomplish this, we've changed the table of contents at the left and top of the home page from LINKS to LINKS AND CONTACTS.  We will, from time to time, add information on the Links and Contacts page based on members inputs.  If you find a place to purchase something pertaining to woodworking and would like to share that information with others, send an email to Loyd Ackerman with the details for inclusion.  We're not trying to replace the Yellow Pages; this is just for those special items and special contacts.
Information needed is:  Name, address, phone #, and website (if they have one) of the business and what you found them.

We strive to always keep the club membership roster listing up-to-date. If you have address, email or phone number changes, please contact Chuck Taylor (931-728-7086) or Jim Steadman (931-962-2940) so that your information can be updated in our membership listings. We are making a concentrated effort to keep our membership information current.