WAVERLEY WOODWORKERS INC.

Clubrooms: 2 Windsor Ave.,

Mount Waverley, Vic 3149

Telephone: 9807 9648

Website: www.waverleywoodworkers.org.au (Note new website)

E-mail: phug8047@bigpond.net.au

 

NEWSLETTER MARCH, 2005

               

Volume 12     Office bearers 2004/2005         Issue 2

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT  

 

Our web site is bringing in new members! Welcome aboard to any new members however you have come to join us, we hope you have a safe and productive time at the club. If any new members haven’t been given a copy of our Operating Procedures please see whoever is on duty next time you are in the clubrooms and they will give you a copy to take home and digest.

I’m glad our new saw is getting such a favourable response and you may have noticed that the jigs are reappearing courtesy of John McCarty and Tony McLachlan. If you need help to use them please ask.

 

The shed was recently inundated with MDF, chipboard, plywood and some timber from another kind person (Theo). As well he gave us lots of nails, screws etc. for members to use. Thanks Tom for supplying (your truck?) for the collection. I would ask that members remember to leave the shed tidy after you have sorted through the loot for whatever you require.

Geoff Allen.

 

 

Discounts Available from the following:

 

The following companies offer discounts to members of the Waverley Woodworkers. Note: Discounts are only available on presentation of your current membership card.

 

Australian Wood Panels, 40-42 Winterton Rd., Clayton                                 9543 5033

 

Baileys Toolbank. Unit 4 Rowen Crt. Box Hill                                 9897 1911

Blackwoods, 9-19 Lionel Rd., Mount Waverley (ask for Cyril)                                 9518 2222

 

Carba-Tec. 521 Mountain Highway, Bayswater                                 9427 8444

Note: New address: Opposite the end of Stud Rd.

 

Dixon’s Hardware. 304 Stephensons Rd., Mount Waverley                                 9888 1813

 

Flatman’s Timber & Hardware. High Street Road. Syndal                                 9802 9211

 

A. Lewis & Co. 302 Jasper Rd., Ormond                                 9578 6218

 

Malvern Paint & Timber Finishes. 1933 Malvern Rd., Malvern East                                 9885 2883

 

Magnetic Abrasives. 286 Neerim Rd., Carnegie                                 9571 6811

 

Mathews Timbers. 125 Rooks Rd., Vermont                                 9874 1666

 

Moorabbin Timber. 230 Wickham Rd., Moorabbin                                 9553 0155

 

Sachy’s Industries. 43 Browning Drive, Glen Waverley                                 9803 2370

 

Shiver me Timbers. 217 Kororoit Creek Rd. Williamstown                                 9397 5993

 

Woodworking Warehouse. 11 Citrus St. Braeside                                 9587 3999

 

If you know of any other source for discounts for members, then please give me a ring on

9560 5752 with the details.

Similarly, if you have difficulty obtaining a discount from any of the above, please give me a ring.

 Peter Hughes

 

 

 

COPYRIGHT:

Except where otherwise stated, other woodworking clubs may use items from our Newsletter. We do ask that such be without alterations, and that the source be acknowledged.

 

CLUB NIGHT 9 MARCH, 2005 at 7:30 pm

 

Did you know you can print on timber?

Do you want to see how it is done?

Then come along on the above night and be informed and entertained by Bruce Hartland who could write a book about it.

 

We might also have time to finally demonstrate the lathe as well.

Geoff Allen

 

CLUB NIGHT 9 FEBRUARY, 2005

 

Gavin took us through the idiosyncrasies of the new saw and thanks to Barry Exton we know how easy it is to take the side cover off to find tools etc. that one might drop down the chute.

Following the saw demonstration we were entertained by Cam’s presentation of the website. So now there is no excuse for the members present if they can’t answer questions about it. Thank you to both Gavin and Cam.

 

Show & Tell included Toys by John McGarry and the Monday Morning Group and some turned items from Bob Morrison and Harold Pinto. Bob treated us to 3 lidded containers that were about to fly off to Germany and Harold had turned bowls from Boree and Red Mallee Burl.

 

JUST TURNING

 

Monday 7 February –

Alec Morey presented a beautiful segmented bowl with small pieces of Ebony featured. This bowl comprised 32 pieces of timber – some of which were Black-Hearted Sassafras, Sheoak, Tulip wood and others from Alec’s scrap bin.

Ron Jones brought along six pens, all multi-coloured with the following timbers:-

New Guinea Rosewood, Gidgee, Poplar, Silver Oak, Paduak, Merbau, and Silky Oak. Ron thanked Alec for his help over the Christmas break.

Bill David made many gifts from timber for Christmas, even turning 2 pens on the day as gifts for two overseas guests.

Geoff Allen brought along a turned bowl from the root of a Callistemon (Bottle Brush) finished with Danish Oil. The second bowl was a most unusual timber from a street tree with streaks of a very bright pink. The third bowl was from Casuarina. Geoff stained the interior with Jarrah and this made a nice contrast.

Helene produced a small bowl of Purple Heart to which she added 8 wire legs (made by Laurie Stuart) to give the effect of a spider. The lid is the head of the spider.

Helene Longton.


Turners Group meetings early February.

Well if I could find the notes I took I could share them with you however I have no idea what I did with them. However, the meetings were quite memorable because we looked at some turnings, talked all over the topic and fixed the new lathe.

Geoff Allen

 

Monday 21 February – 9 members present

Geoff Allen brought a plate of Silky Oak timber, finished with 2 coats of melamine lacquer and wax.

Geoff’s deep bowl was coloured with Jarrah stain on the outside; 3 coats of Danish Oil finished the inside. The timber was Casuarina.

Helene Longton brought along two table lamps of Pine with Spotted Gum bases and Cherry feet.  Helene also showed a pair of Maple candlesticks.

Ron Jones brought along two pens of various timbers. One was made from Black Mango and the other of Paduak, making four pens in all.

 

 

 

 

 

Please Note: the closing date for input to the April, 2005 Newsletter is 24 March, 2005

 

A TOUCH OF HUMOUR

 

Paddy Murphy was lying in his bed. He was very ill and he reckoned the end was near. But then he was sure he caught the aroma of his favourite biscuits cooking downstairs. He gathered all of his remaining strength and somehow got himself out of bed. Leaning against the wall he edged his way out of the bedroom to the top of the stairs and grabbing the balustrade with both hands he somehow managed to struggle down the stairs and breathing heavily finally got himself to the kitchen door. He saw dozens of his all time favourite biscuits spread out on the kitchen table. Was he already in heaven or was this a final act of love from his devoted wife of sixty years making sure that he left this world a happy man?

Mustering one final effort he threw himself toward the table landing on his knees and reached for a biscuit that was close to the table’s edge. Suddenly his trembling hand was smacked by a spatula wielded by his wife. “Get out” she said “They’re for the funeral”.

 

STRESS FOR FATHER CHRISTMAS

One particular Christmas, a long time ago, Santa was getting ready for his annual trip. Alas, there were problems everywhere. Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee elves just weren’t producing the toys as fast as the regular ones. Poor Santa was beginning to feel the pressure behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus announced that her mum was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more. When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where, more stress.

Furthermore, when he began to load the sleigh, one of the boards cracked, and the toy bag fell to the ground scattering toys everywhere. Frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hidden the liquor, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider pot, and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw end off the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritable Santa trudged to the door.

He opened the door, and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, “Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn’t it a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to ‘put it’?? And thus began the tradition of the little angel always being on the top of the Christmas tree.

WOODWORKING TIPS from

“FINE WOODWORKING”

(Published with the express permission of Taunton Press, publishers of “Fine Woodworking”. Such permission is restricted to Waverley Woodworkers Inc,)

 

This is part 2 of a series of articles on the topic “A Primer on Sanding”

 

Methods for sanding efficiently:

 

Sanding a rough surface smooth in preparation for a finish seems a pretty straightforward proposition. For a board fresh out of the planer, woodworkers know to start with a coarse paper, perhaps 100-grit, and progress incrementally without skipping a grade up to the finer grits. At each step, you simply erase the scratches you made previously with finer and smaller scratches until, at 180 – 220-grit, the scratches are too small to see or feel. But there are a fair number of opinions on how to do this most efficiently.  (Ed.) There are also many woodworkers who sand to a much finer grit before finishing.)

Don’t skip grits, usually -- Skipping a grit to save time and sandpaper is a common temptation, but not a good idea when working with hardwoods. You can remove the scratches left by 120-grit sandpaper with 180-grit, but it will take you far more work than if you use 150-grit first You will also wear out more 180-grit sandpaper, so you don’t save any materials. When sanding maple, for instance, skipping two grits between 80 and 180 will probably double the total sanding time. This, however, is not as true with woods such as pine. Soft woods take much less work overall to sand smooth. Skipping a grit will increase the work negligibly and may save you some materials.

 

Sand bare wood to 180- or 220-grit – for sanding bare wood, 180-grit will generally give you a surface that looks and feels perfectly smooth and is ready for a finish of some kind. Sanding the surface with a finer grit is only necessary if you’re going to use a water-based finish. These finishes will pick up and telegraph the smallest scratches. Sanding the wood to 220-grit or finer will prepare the surface better. However, it’s not always wise to sand to a finer grit. You will waste your time if you can’t tell the difference, and you may create problems in finishing. Maple sanded to 400-grit will not take a pigmented stain, for example. Pigments work by lodging themselves into nooks and crannies on the surface; without them, they will have no place to stick.

(Ed. I think that this would be a topic for conversation by various members of our Club and other skilled woodworkers and woodturners.)

 

Sand faster across the grain – How many times have you been told never to sand across the grain? True enough. The scratches are much more obvious, look terrible and are hard to remove with the next finer grit. But what holds true for planning wood is also true for sanding. You will plane and sand faster and more easily when the direction of your cuts is between 45o and 60o to the grain, because the wood-fibre bundles offer the least resistance to the cutting edges. Cross-grain scratches are harder to remove simply because they are deeper.

Use a combination of cross-grain and with-grain sanding to get the smoothest surface in the fastest manner. First make passes at 45o to 60o to both the left and the right, making an X-pattern on the work piece. Then, with same grit, sand with the grain to remove the cross-grain scratches. Do this with each grit when belt-sanding and hand-sanding00        0oOoOO     0    

. The non-linear sanding action of random-orbit and orbital sanders can’t take advantage of the wood’s grain properties. When I use my orbital, I just sand with the grain.

 

Choosing from the four abrasive minerals – Four common abrasive minerals are aluminium oxide, silicon carbide, ceramics and garnet. Except for garnet, they are all manufactured, designed if you will, for different cutting properties. Harder and sharper minerals cut deeper scratches and, consequently, sand the wood faster. But these deep scratches leave a coarse finish, whether you sand with or across the grain.

Softer minerals with the same grit size will cut far more slowly but leave a smoother finish. For example, if you sand a board on one side with a 120-grit ceramic, the hardest abrasive material, and the other side with 120-grit garnet, the softest you will be able to feel a distinct difference between the surfaces. It will seem as if you sanded the two sides with different grit sizes.

It’s easy to rate each minerals hardness and sharpness, but it’s not as simple to prescribe specific uses beyond generalizations. There are many other factors that influence the appropriateness of sandpaper for a job.

 

(Part Three of this article will be in the April Newsletter)

WIMMERA WOODTURNER’S GUILD

 

On Sunday 29 May, 2005 The Wimmera Woodturners Guild will hold their Annual Wood and Craft Show at the Horsham Town Hall.

 

All are invited to attend and see the quality work of our country friends.

 

 

TRIP TO WHOOP WHOOP !

 

The Knox and District Woodworkers Inc. are having a trip to the above on 2 April, 2005. They have invited any of our members and partners who would like to go.

The bus will leave the Knox Club at 8:00 am (be there by 7:30 am)

45 Glenfern Rd., Ferntree Gully

Cost is $34 per person which includes morning and afternoon tea, lunch and entry into Whoop Whoop’s Australiana Film Show.

Lunch will be in the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens.

There will be time for a walk around Castlemaine.

 

Anyone interested should contact the Knox Club 9579 4829 and let them know how many will be coming

 

 

AUSTRALIAN WOODTURNING EXHIBITION

 

This exhibition will be held this year from 17 – 19 June, 2005, at the Whitehorse Centre, Nunawading. For those who have been able to visit this annual exhibition will certainly be aware that it is a premier event in the field of woodturning.

So all you turners in our club had better get going on those exhibits that you have been planning to enter.

Further information to follow.

 

WODWORKING TIPS FROM “WOODSMITH”

Copyright of August Home Publishing Co. Publishers of the “Woodsmith”, “Shopnotes” and Workbench” magazines. All worth the read. Used by Waverley Woodworkers Inc. by permission)

 

1.Studded Knobs –

Adding a studded knob to a jig makes it easier to use. But longer length studded knobs aren’t available, so I make my own with a regular plastic knob handle, a carriage bolt, and a couple of nuts.

Here’s how: - Just thread two nuts onto the bolt. Then screw on the knob and lock it in place with one of the nuts. Now cut off the head of the carriage bolt and remove the second nut to clean up the threads at the end.

Larry Heinonem

Union City, Michigan

 

2.Cutting Leather to Fit in a Box.

I built a small accessory box about the size of a jewellery box. But when it came time to cut the leather to fit in the bottom of the box, I used a new technique to ensure that the leather was cut to size without stretching.

Before cutting the leather to size, I glued it to a piece of poster board with spray adhesive (available at art stores). It helps to first scuff the poster board with sandpaper to give the adhesive something to garb.

With the leather fixed to the poster board, I was able to cut it to exact size without worrying about it stretching. Then I just glued the leather and poster board down in the bottom of the box.

Peter Sellon

Hudson, Massachusetts

 

3.Keep Router Bits Tight

When changing bits, one thing you want to avoid is inserting the bit too far into the collet – the radius (fillet) at the point where the cutting head meets the shank may prevent the collet from gripping the shank tightly.

But it’s hard to hold the bit and tighten the collet at the same time. So I slip a common rubber O-ring around the shank of the bit, see photo. It holds the bit at the correct height.

Author unknown.