July Highlights

Dual presentations from Peter Leavens & Tim Sabo

August 2012 Volume 25 Issue 8

WOODWORDS ON

THE BRANDYWINE

WOODWORKERS

GUILD OFFICERS FOR

2012

President: Peter Leavens

VP: George Hoffman

Treasurer: Jeremy Noblitt

Newsletter Editor:

Tim Sabo

Librarian: Tony Knisley

Raffle Manager:

Tony Knisley

Webmaster:

Richard Dell

Program Committee:

Jim Stevens

Charles Given

Pell Sherman

Jim Kirkbride

Peter Leavens

Shop usefulness for Finishing Pneumatic Nailers

Some of us might remember a few years back Chuck

Skelley gave a demonstration on pneumatic nail guns.

I believe he brought with him three different types of

nailers; framing, brad and finishing. Last month Peter

showed us his Hitachi finishing nailer he bought from

Lowes. One of the features that impressed Peter

into buying it was that it accepts 5/8” to 2” 18-gauge

nails. That’s equivalent to having both a brad & fin-

ishing nailer in one. The cost was reasonable and it

received pretty good reviews on-line.

To power the gun Peter uses a Hitachi 6-gallon 145

PSI air compressor, also obtained at Lowes. It’s a

small compressor, light weight, sized ok for the appli-

cation but somewhat loud. As with many other guns

it operates at 100 PSI.

Peter chose to demonstrate the gun by building one

of the wine bottle racks featured in last month’s

newsletter. He brought in precut pieces of redwood

and a couple of spacer jigs to help align everything

during assembling. Mistakes are easily fixed with a

nail gun. Just disassemble, remove the nail and reat-

tach. This is something Peter came across after being

distracted during his talk. 18-gauge brads leave a

barely visible hole when removed.

Thank you Peter for sharing.

Tim Sabo

Shop made jigs for sharpening blades and chisels

I thought it might be interesting to trial a couple of

those jigs typically featured in woodworking maga-

zines and books. I chose two simple , but useful

conceptual jigs to try. Both are jigs to help sharpen

chisels, plane blades and joiner blades. I wanted to

evaluate whether the critical points are discussed in

the articles and whether the cost (materials & labor)

make them worth making and keeping for many years

of service.

The first jig tried was featured in ShopNotes, issue 31,

“Low-Speed Grinding Jig”. This device uses a drill

press with some kind of stone chucked into the spin-

dle. The drill press is set on a low speed (I used 360

rpm) so as to not overheat the blade’s edge. The

article suggests a 60 grit stone. I was fortunate and

had access to a 250 grit flat diamond disk that I could

chuck into the drill press. I didn’t have to buy this

item. I spent about $15 in materials on this jig.

It is used by mounting a joiner blade onto a table that

gets pulled past the spinning stone by turning a

threaded rod. I found that a coarse threaded rod is

more desirable because it allows one to gently turn

the crank instead of rushing and jerking the crank

handle to keep the speed up. This jig has the ability to

make micro-adjustments to align the blade flat with

the stone. A good feature, but the jig is only as good

as the drill press and how true the shaft spins without

wobble. The final edge had a strong hook that needed

to be hone away. I was pleased with this jig and will

use it again.

The second jig comes from the Time Life Book Series,

Woodsmith Custom Woodworking: Shop-Built Jigs & Fix-

tures, “Bevel Grinding Jig”. It is used with a bench

grinder. It supports chisel blades, plane irons so that

they can be held against the stone at the correct angle.

With this jig you can easily check your progress then

return to sharpening without fussing with the align-

ment. Bench grinders cut very quickly, especially

those rotating at 3600 rpm. This jig helps control the

sharpening process to remove the blade from the

stone before it has a chance to get too hot. It has a

stop to keep from over grinding. I was also pleased

with this jig and plan on using it again and again.

photos on pages 2 & 3

The presentation time at last month’s meeting was split between Peter and myself. We randomly chose topics we

thought might arouse some interest.

Page 2 WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE

Page 3

2012 Meeting Schedule

Guild meetings are held on the third

Wednesday of each month. All interested persons are invited.

Our upcoming meeting is:

August 15th

JD McCormick will detail handsaw use and sharpening

7:00 PM Woodcraft

166 South DuPont Highway

New Castle, DE 19720

Page 4 WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE

166 South DuPont Highway

Treasurer’s Report 08/01/2012

Raffle Income $ 36.00

50/50 Income $ 4.00 Current balance $ 1119.04

Raffle Winner

Bob Stozek won the raffle prize

(Diamond Sharpening stone)

Bill Davison won $4 in the 50/50

Upcoming contest The topic for this contest will be “Toys”. This will include whirli-

gigs through checker boards. Entries will be due in December. Multiple entries are acceptable, however, one prize per individual.

Contest is open to all current members. Rules on how the judg-ing will take place will be distributed at a future meeting. The

judges will be selected by the program committee and will include only non-participants. If you don’t plan on having an entry and

would like to be a judge, please see any member of the program

committee.

September Meeting Update

The September meeting will be held at our regular time and

place. However, we will be sharing the floor with the First State Woodturners. They have arranged for a guest dem-

onstrator and wish to share the opportunity with us as

well.

Alan Carter is a nationally known artist who has been fea-

tured in magazines like: American Woodworker & Woodturn-ing Design. The June 2011 issue of Woodturning Design fea-

tures one of his pieces on the cover. There are number of galleries which have elected to show his work. He fre-

quently does well in juried shows and is a popular demon-strator at many symposiums and shows.

Visit his web site to learn more: www.alancarterstdio.com

Christmas tree ornaments needed We will participate in the Festival of Trees by decorating a 6’ tree

to be auctioned with proceeds going to the Hospice of Delaware.

Since the auction occurs before our regular meeting date in No-

vember all ornaments will be collected in October.

We would like a good mix of all styles and need approximately

100 to fill the tree.

Each year our tree has been very desirable and typically bring bids

near the $1000 mark. We are looking forward to another quality

effort. Please plan to participate.

Page 5 Volume 25 Issue 8

The classified section is open to any paid member. Have your classified information into Tim Sabo by the first of the month to be included in that month’s newsletter. Email your information to:

Classifieds

Jerry Sheeran has a mortising attachment Delta Model # 17-905 with bits barely used. $50.

Email Jerry at Pjsheer@aol.com or call (610) 268-3467

Dave & Anne's Sawmill

Dave Peregmon Custom Sawing, Hardwood lumber for sale

Hardwood Lumber for sale

33 Chestnut Street, Pennsville, NJ 08070

Phone: (856) 981-9483 (cell) or (215) 295-3758 (home)

Woodcarvers of Delaware club

The “Woodcarvers of Delaware” club meets every Monday night (6:30-8:30), while school is in session. We meet at

McKean High School in the old woodworking room. The meetings are informal. People bring and work on their projects at the meetings. Experienced woodcarvers are available to help you master the art of woodcarving. If you would like to add a new dimension to your wood working skills, come and check this club out. For additional infor-

mation contact Roger Earley (president) at 302-998-4855.

Jim Stevens has the following for sale: call (302) 545-6937

Rockler Clamp Storage Rack Asking $75.00

2 Walnut logs

A recent wind storm that went through the Middletown area downed a walnut tree.

For sale, 2 logs: 20” diameter, 7’ long - approximately 120 bft

1 log: 14” diameter, 9’ long

Or: the tree (with its branches) may be purchased for firewood

Phone: (410) 755-6158

Page 6 WOODWORDS ON THE BRANDYWINE

Show & Tell

Wayne Scholz

Roger Earley

Volume 25 Issue 8

Page 7 Volume 25 Issue 8

JD McCormick

David Webber

Woodworkers Guild of Delaware

38 Jay Drive

New Castle, DE. 19720

WE’RE ON THE WEB www.delawarewoodworkers.org

Open to all woodworkers novice to experts

Woodworkers Guild of Delaware

Benefactors of the Guild Please keep these friends in mind when you make purchases:

Woodcraft www.woodcraft.com Lee Valley www.leevalley.com Veritas www.veritastools.com