MIWG Newsletter – May 19, 2019

Hello fellow Woodworkers!

With apologies, this Newsletter is way past due! I will try to summarize events of the past 6 weeks – without tying up too much of your reading time!

Our May meeting was, once again, well-attended with over half of our membership present to see the latest “challenge” – a box. However, since I was unaware of the “challenge” stipulations, I brought a “tool” – one month out of date! Oh well, apparently we could do a box or a tool.

Our presenters for the evening were three members who were given 1/2 hour each to show off  projects that they had worked on. Ed Tremblay had a slide presentation and brought equipment as well as the results for his pen-turning skills. (See last Newsletter for a picture of an award he made.) 

Next, Mike Donnelly showed slides of the evolution of the Roubo workbench, and showed us the results of the building of his own Roubo workbench. 

This was followed by Tom Hedekar’s slide show which walked us through his techniques for roughing out a bowl and turning green wood into bowls. 

As usual, the presentations by home-grown talent were extremely well-received and much enjoyed. This meeting was another valuable demonstration of having a Woodworkers’ Guild for folks to enjoy each other’s successes and to learn from their experiences.

Gord Shoquist organized another shop tour which was held on May 4. Here is his report of that day’s events:

“The spring shop tour was a great success based on participation and our shop destinations. Twenty-one members joined in for stops at:

  • Paul McCuish’s shop in Yellow Point. In addition to an excellent tour the gang was greeted with fresh coffee and cookies. Our next stop was;
  • “Yonderwood”, Bill Thompson’s beautiful shop. Along with a shop tour outlining all the items that Bill creates, we enjoyed two tool demonstrations of Bill’s pin router/ copier and his spindle lathe machine that can duplicate spindles very quickly. Before the lunch break we stopped at;
  • the Ladysmith Maritime Museum where Brian McLaurin gave us a tour of the projects they are putting new life into. The membership of the Museum have two boats that are receiving the love and care to bring them back to life and a new purpose. All the members tip their hats to those who work so hard on these old and treasured boats;
  • Lunch at the Fox and Hounds was very nice with traditional English fare and lots of pleasant conversations. After our lunch we headed to;
  • Brian McLaurin’s shop south of Ladysmith and were wowed by the way he set up his shop and some of the projects he’s done in his home. Next stop; 
  • Steve Neil’s shop in Saltair. It was fantastic to see where Steve creates all his fantastic projects along with descriptions on how some features were actually done. Very interesting. The day was coming to an end but before we finished up, we stopped at;
  • Terry Robinson’s new shop that is currently being built. Terry is going to have a marvellous space to play when he gets it complete. 

Sincere thanks to all the fellows that allowed us into their shops and were so generous with their knowledge, and thanks to all the members who joined in to make this a fun day. I’ll be organizing another shop tour in the fall so stay tuned.”

Paul McCuish’s Workshop:

Bill Thompson’s Yonderwood Workshop:

Ladysmith Marine Museum:

Brian McLaurin’s Workshop:

Steve Neil’s Workshop:

On Saturday, May 11, I participated with 6 lucky members who had their names drawn for attending Steve Neil’s workshop on hand-cutting dovetails. Gord Shoquist hosted this session at his workshop. Steve did an excellent job of providing instruction for cutting both dovetails, and half-blind dovetails, using a jig for which he provided plans. (And speaking of “half-blind” I guess that I was half-blind myself when I read the plan for constructing the jig prior to the class! I glued one of the ends on the wrong way!)

Ed Tremblay’s Wood Recovery crew has been very busy recently with the collections of a walnut log and a cedar log from Parksville. Yesterday, the volunteers assisted in cutting the wood out at Frost Fields. The need for a larger drying shed has increased, and so plans are now afoot for doubling the length of our drying space as well as adding a bit to the expanse of the roof. We have lots of available wood – including some alder and maple that are fully dry and ready for use. Ed has asked me to remind everyone that our next wood sale will be on Saturday May, 26 commencing at 10 a.m. There will also be a garage sale whereby members can sell and/or exchange equipment or hardware with others. (Ed will be sending out an email to members requesting assistance with the wood sale.)

Glen Smith has received confirmation from Arnim Rodeck of Shamawood that he will be our guest speaker for June 12th. It would be great if we can get a good turn out for him. Please have a look at his website at: www.shamawood.com. Also Glen reminds us that our challenge for this coming month is:

  • 2 board foot maximum – any species. Challenge yourselves to incorporate two concepts while making it:
    1. do it inexpensively;
    2. try using hand tools where you may typically do a process with power tools.

All in all, this has been a busy Spring Time, and I will trust that woodworking keeps us all very busy and happy, if not rich! I hope that you all enjoy the holiday tomorrow!

p.s. Try getting to visit others’ workshops on your own. I just had a wonderful visit to Chris Mannall’s shop last week and was able to see some of the beautiful pieces of work that he has created.

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