July 6, 2023

Number of Attendees: 19

 

Notes:

  1. Mark opened the meeting at 7:12 PM

  2. Dominic Avateli is the new manager (Chris got the chance to go to a music retailer, so he left Rockler to pursue his dream)

    • Woodworking his entire life

    • Currently a “side gig” mostly concentrating on turning & lathe work

    • Worked a store since it opened

    • Wants to know what we can do to help each other out (supporting guild and Rockler)

  3. Discussion of discount policy – 10% on most items, but does not count for motorized product (Festool, DeWalt, SawStop, etc) or already marked sales items

  4. Rockler during summer, cutting back start time to 6pm, from Memorial Day to Labor day (or October). Requested that guild might consider coming in earlier – like 6 PM start, rather than 7 PM

    • Mark’s workaround for August – field trip to Saw Mill in Collingswood, 7 PM – dusk

    • August 3rd

    • Mark will provide meeting location and point-of-contact

  5. Salman will send the list of all current email recipients to Brad

  6. Dominic described Kansas City Woodworker’s guild

    • Large building

    • Each person had their own wall

    • Working at non-profit, with maker space (machines, benches, etc.)

    • Meetings were show & tell

    • Attendance 100+ people

  7. Question on the Wharton Esherick tour

    • Person on site suggested better to do it in the Fall

    • Mark thinking of November for site visit

  8. Tool Library

    • Some items that guild has include slow speed grinder, track saw, duo dowel jointer (similar to a biscuit jointer, but drills dowel holes)

    • A lot of the books, CDs, etc., are in the workbench at the Church

    • Some discussion on purchasing new tools (such as a vacuum bag system or CNC machine)

  9. Person in New York, with missing carvings 6” x 12” something like twelve of them. If interested in doing the work, text or email Mark.

  10. New folks at meeting?

    • Steve, wife & he just moved here from PA

                                          i.    Wants to learn woodworking (what to buy, how to make, etc.)

                                         ii.    Made niece a bookshelf, starting doing simple things

                                        iii.    Member of Philadelphia Woodworks, so got to use their tools and learn

    • Bill Stoudt from Cherry Hill. Joined guild right before panemic

                                          i.    Mostly gifts in woodworking

    • Deborah and Brian

                                          i.    Refinished furniture

                                         ii.    Interested in restoring furniture (fix, refinish, etc)

11. Mark demonstrated his Bridgewood jointer/planer blade sharpener

    • Mark volunteered to sharpen everyone’s jointer/planer blades in 15 minutes

    • Haven’t used it yet. Went through manual for repair & setup, so everything works

    • Sharpen two at a time, then take one off & leave the other one on as a template for the remaining ones

    • Color blade with black marker, bring it in to cut center of blade. It will then sharpen a hollow ground bevel

 12. Brian Menold (published author) discussed how he does his puzzle boxes

    • Showed sample of various puzzle boxes he created

    • A typical one has eleven (11) moves to open

    • Has designers around the world sending him designs. He builds them and pays them for the design (though usually its just a copy of the puzzle)

    • Has 72 different species of wood

    • Produce a 6-12 different puzzles, 20-30 each, total of 200-300 puzzles a period (often 4-8 weeks) so over a thousand a year

    • Copies of the book available on Amazon or Fine Woodworking

    • Showed his three piece pyramid puzzle

    • Don’t import or export the woods on “do not ship” or endangered list – so no issue with shipping

    • Variety of jigs, small tablesaw, various special designed machines used to make items to the exact size

13. Salman discussed his purchase (from Brian Menold) of the Shelix helical head blades for his DeWalt 735 planer

  • Installed the helical head in his planer. 40 total carbide cutters.

  • Instead of having to replace a whole blade, you can rotate individual cutters. If you need to replace it, you just need to change out one small cutter, not the whole blade

  • Brian was originally spending $hundreds a year to replace the old planer blades, replacing them every month. Didn’t have to change them for a almost two years after he made the switch

  • Brian noted that you will want to change out the old bearings when doing his, unless they come with the new helical head

  • A lot of YouTube videos on how to do it, including a 59 minute one, and a 15 minute one. The recommendation is to watch the long one once and to use the short one as a reference while actually doing the work

14. September event is the 2x4 challenge (what can you make out of a 2x4); details on the front page of the site

15. Sharpening event for October meeting

    • Folks demo various ways to sharpen, and people can try them out

    • Mark soliciting who wants to demo and what they will demo (saw sharpening, card scraper, etc.)

16. Mark closed the meeting at 8:56 PM