Greetings

I apologize for the newsletter being late this month. It’s hard to believe the third Tuesday is here so soon. Maybe it has something to do with the time change. I don’t ever recall springing forward a whole week though. It’s the 2^nd Monday as I start composing this, but tomorrow is 3^rd Tuesday. Go figure.

We’d better get started with SPLINTERS.

February 2022 Meeting

Club member Sam Clark gave an outstanding program on machine tool maintenance with a plethora of tips and tricks. The presentation slides are located on the club website. 

March 2022 Meeting

We will have our next meeting on Tuesday, February 15^th from 6:30-8:30.  Jack Kincella will present Building a River Table using Epoxy. Jack has constructed several epoxy/wood projects and will share his experiences with us.

BTW, Jack’s Feb 19^th seminar on refinishing can be seen on our YouTube channel. Thanks to Loyd Ackerman for videoing the event and editing the video.

February 2022 Show & Tell

Here are the items that were shown in last month’s Zoom/Live meeting.

Matt Brothers showed a craftsman style night stand he made for his daughter to match her bed. It is made of oak and has a single drawer with dovetail joints. It is finished with Danish Oil and lacquer.

Matt showed a 4’ x 12’ walnut table that he modified to strengthen the top. The table was built by his customer. The top’s only support was the table’s apron. As a result, the table top sagged ½ to ¾” in the middle of the table. To help flatten the top, Matt placed 3 stringers perpendicular to the length of the table and clamped the table top and the stringers. Matt then took angle iron bracing and mounted it to the table apron and secured the stringers to the angle iron. The table top deflection is less than ¼” over the 4’ width!

Matt also built a kitchen cart out of the hickory island top “sink cutout” of the island top he presented in November. The cart is finished with Danish Oil and lacquer.

Tony Murphy attended two 1-week classes, each week separated by 3 months, at Marc Adams’ Woodworking School to build a Michael Fortune #1 Steam Bent Chair. The chair is made of solid walnut and had many steam bent features. He noted that only one piece in the chair was straight! He finished the chair with yellow die, pecan gel stain and oil-varnish.

Bryan Gordon made two custom “chimney picture” lamps for his wife. He turned the lamp base out of pecan wood. He used lamp shades from a ceiling fan and bought led fixtures and glass sleeves that held personal photos and slid over the lamp base. He finished the lamps with oil and wax.

Peter Hunter turned a nested bowl set for eating pistachios and “catching” the shells. The pistachios rest in the top/inside bowl. Once the pistachio is freed from the shells, the spent shells are put in the bottom/outside bowl via three large slots. The inside bowl was made of European beech and the bottom bowl from soft maple. Both were finished with Shellawax.

Rodney Holder went to a one week wood-turning class at John C Campbell Folk School. He turned a variety of segmented pieces including a wine-stopper, pepper mill, ice cream scoop and rolling pin. They all turned out beautifully!

Jim Jolliffe carved a cottonwood bark house “in the round”. He jointed two pieces of bark and them lightly glued the jointed backs with water-soluble Elmer’s School Glue and a page of magazine paper to allow easier separation. He carved all the outside details, then split the two halves. He hollowed out the halves so one could see through the windows. Once hollowed, he fully glued the two halves together and cleaned up the outer details. He sprayed the carving with two coats of satin rattle-can lacquer and then applied a single coat of Watco’s Natural Colored Liquid wax. After 10 minutes of liquid wax application, he wiped off the excess and buffed the remaining wax with a rotary brush. (Pic2)

Internet Links of Interest

This month I have an article from Fine Woodworking about the use of an L fence on the table saw.

Carver’s Corner

The Splinter Carvers continue to meet first and third Saturdays of the month from 8:30 am to 10:30 am (whether Jim’s there or not).  The shop is located at 201 Jolliffe Acres Ln, Tullahoma. Tools and wood are available at the meetings, just bring yourself and try your hand at carving!

Sweeping Up

I don’t know if these trees really like each other, or maybe there’s a couple Tennessee Valley Woodworkers close by! Thanks to Ross Roepke.

Two signs that have to do with the current economy.

Watch out for SPLINTERS!

Submissions to the newsletter are more than welcomed. Send funnies, tips, or other content that may be of interest and you may see it in a future edition of SPLINTERS.