Feburary

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Just a short reminder that it's time to pay our dues. Our Treasurer reports that 25% of our members have paid their 2005 dues. If you cannot make the meetings and want to mail your dues sent them to Henry Davis, 247 Delight Lane, Tullahoma, Tn. 37388. The dues are $10.00 for singles memberships and $15.00 for family memberships.

CLOSE UP

As a way to get acquainted with our elected club officers, SPLINTERS will carry a short biography on each over the next few issues. This issue will spotlight our president, Henry Davis. Henry obtains the capital to finance his woodworking hobby by working as the Supervisor of N.C. Maintenance at Cleveland Pneumatics. He’s been with CPC for over 16 years and three owners— he has a lot of staying power! Originally from Shelbyville, Tn., Henry now lives in Winchester Springs with his wife Judy and son Henry.

While he’s been interested in woodworking for a number of years, Henry’s enthusiasm was bounded by the basement area he claimed as a workshop. Soon his ambitions outgrew the. basement and he built his own shop from the bottom up! The slab was “subbed—out”, but from there on Henry was his own prime contractor, electrician, carpenter, wallboard and ceiling installer and window framer. The result is a very functional 30x16 ‘foot shop building which houses a great variety of woodworking tools. Henry enjoys Woodsmith magazine, but like many of us, gets a lot of ideas from Hands on (no he doesn’t own a Shopsmith either). His products are highly crafted and finished carefully. He takes great delight in making jigs and tools to speed him over some tough spots.

Henry had talked up an area woodworking club for a couple of years and finally decided that if it was ever to become a reality, he would have to get it kicked off. He gathered a few people, like himself, who saw the advantages of an area wide club. He was elected as the interim president during the time the club was drawing up a charter & by laws and was later elected our first president. Thanks to his vision and determination the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers are a reality.

Double-duty duo

Barrel makers got extra work from these tools

Tools that purport to perform more than one task frequently do none of them particularly well. But sometimes a combination works so well it seems a natural. The ordinary claw hammer falls into that category, along with these less familiar tools.

Coopers relied on a number of unique tools when building staved wooden barrels. Most of those tools handled one specific chore. But the cooper's adze, left in the photo, and the bung borer, right, each combined two functions.

An adze with drive

An adze is essentially an axe with its blade at a right angle to the handle. Used for anything from heavy stock removal to fitting and shaping, the adze, in one form or another, was standard equipment in almost every woodworking trade in the 1800s.

The cooper's adze evolved into a short-handled implement with a narrow, curved blade. But its most distinctive feature is the extended poll forming a square or rectangular hammer head.

Coopers used this adze to cut a bevel (called the chime) on the inside top face of the assembled staves. The deeply curved blade and short handle allowed the cooper to swing the adze inside the mouth of the barrel. For ease of sharpening, the handle could be removed simply by undoing a nut at the end.

The tool also served as a hammer. Though coopers used heavier hammers for riveting hoops and driving them on, the adze's hammer head came in handy for many tasks where a heavier hammer would have been overkill, particularly in repairing barrels.

A whole hole with one tool
Wooden barrels that would contain liquids (called tight barrels) usually had two tapered holes for filling and emptying--a bunghole in the side near the middle of the barrel and a tap hole through one head (end) near the rim.

Boring these ordinarily called for drilling pilot holes, then sizing them with a tapered reamer. The American-style cylindrical bung borer shown here streamlined the task by performing both steps.

After drilling through the stave or head with the auger bit at the tip, the cooper would simply push the tool's body on into the hole. As he continued to turn the tool, the cutting edges formed by a slot in the side of the tapered hollow body reamed the hole.

Cooper's tools weren't common-place, but many have survived because the skilled tradesmen who used them usually took good care of them. They're not highly sought after, so moderate prices prevail. One dealer recently listed a bung borer like the one shown for $35 and cooper's adzes at $65 and $75. And we found a bung borer and adze in a flea-market booth, priced at $85 for both.

Photograph: Hetherington Photography
Written by: Larry Johnson
Tools from the collection of Paul Gorham, Indianola, Iowa

My name is Monte Marshall and I found your email online. I own a small company in Birmingham, AL called Brontay Millworks who specialize in large woodturnings. I am in the process of selling my equipment and pursuing a job I have been offered. I thought you or someone in your guild may be interested. The equipment is in excellent condition with minimal hours of operation. All equipment was purchased new after December of 2000. The equipment is as follows:

1. Floor model Vega woodturning lathe - Heavy Duty (400lbs) with 42 inches between centers and turning capacity of over 12 inches in diameter with optional outboard turning. The lathe has paint splatter from painting while turning, but the motor is in excellent condition.$1000.00

2. Vega duplicator with knife - also comes with router attachment for routing beads, coves, and spirals horizontally -comes with indexing head and router bits. Sorry, no picture at this time.$600.00

3. Centauro Hydraulic Copy Lathe - Have to see this in person- three knives cutting at the same time - Can duplicate baseball bats, table legs, stair spindles, etc. with push of button in a matter of minutes with one pass - comes with vacuum attachment, knife grinder, 2 cases of tools, 2 pair of knife gouges ($400 value), and drilled and un-drilled bushings. $9750.00

4. Woodmaster 4 in 1 machine (floor model) - planer/sander/gang saw rip (2 blades)/molder (several molding bits included)/vacuum attachment 2 motors - one is variable so you control the speed of the feed. $1200.00

If you know someone interested in any of the machines, please have them call me at 205-849-8027 or 205-908-6851 or email: monte@brontaymillworks.com.

The Club has had Business Cards printed. The propose of the cards is give our members a convenient way to pass on information about the club. The cards are designed so you can sign your name if you choose. They will be available at our February meeting and we request that you limit the number you take to ten so that every member can have some cards. More cards will be available later if needed.

Our program presenter for Feb. will be Matt Willard who is product line manager with the Delta Corp. He will be showing a couple of product developments that have not yet been introduced. He will be asking for our comments as woodworkers. Willard promised some giveaways and said he would make it a fun program.