Florida Woodworkers History
These posts were salvaged from our previous website before it went dark and in general were the work of Gene Mathis. Please note the software complains about half-way down and the pictures will not come in–I’ll try again later.
April – June, 2012
(Last update )
These pictures progress from top to bottom
APRIL PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
We had a very good meeting in March with great attendance. All enjoyed the presentation “Carving by Tony Minio. It is hard to believe it is April all ready. Our next meeting is April 11. The presentation will be “relief carving” by Rick Vannan. Rick has shown some of his work at a previous meeting and his presentation will be a good one that you will not want to miss.
Our “spring picnic” is May 6 at Twin Lakes. Come to the meeting and sign up to attend or call Susan Darovec @ 752-1760. I hope everyone is working on their 2 x 4 project to enter at the picnic. Please adhere by the rules for the contest.
Our membership is getting close to normal. I encourage every club member to bring in a new member. Our club is one of the best with some of the most talented woodworkers around. Anyone that works with wood would find our programs of interest.
Thanks to Mike Swart for all the work he did in running our participation at the Tampa Wood Show.
There are a number of club members that have not been to are meetings this year. Please plan to attend as there is so much information you can get at our meetings.
Terry Bair
April 11 – Main Meeting
Main Program
 President Terry Bair called the meeting to order with 24 members present. |
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| The main program was by our member Rick Vannan. Rick’s specialty is early American reproduction furniture. | His demonstration was on the relief carving that goes into his furniture and he showed how the carved objects are raised from the background. |
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| Rick showed how a rosette is laid out to carve. | And how the carving is done. |
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| All of the work he does is with the same hand tools that were used to do the original furniture. No power tools are used. | This leg style blacksmith’s vice is his favorite holding device |
Show & Tell
| John Slezak showed pictures of the progress on the Cyprus wood ceiling. | Denny Wetter brought in the turned goblets that were done at the March turners meeting. |
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| Mike Swart showed the box joint jig and boxes he had at his shop meet for everyone to work with. | Joe Mathis brought in an incredible scroll sawn French pattern basket in Red Oak. There were over 1000 inside cuts and Joe estimates it took about 60 hours to complete. |
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John Philips has been busy in his shop. He showed pictures of an antique chair repair, turned Rosewood bowls, Norfolk Island pine bowl, and relief carving samples.
Larry Simmons has been doing some re-saw work on his band saw and found a great blade for it.
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| David White brought in a couple neat little boxes that were copies of grease boxes used by early British furniture makers. |
Prize Winners
The raffle winner was Barry Taylor. He took home a set of plywood sized router bits. |
The door prize winners were Terry Bair, Marty Dwyer, Denny Wetter, Felix Troiano, and Ed  Goldberg. |
April 16 – Turner’s Meet
 Nine members gathered at Denny Wetter’s shop for the April turners meet. |
 The project for the evening was a segmented bowl that Denny had glued up. It had a mahogany inside and a maple outside with a stripped bottom and rim. |
It w as mounted to a face plate slightly off center and the tailstock was brought up to help support it. |
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| The outside was turned first. Since it was mounted off center, the maple was turned through exposing the mahogany on one side. | Next the inside was turned and the mahogany was turned through on one side exposing maple. |
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| The inside of the bottom was finished and the piece was sanded. | A wipe on lacquer finish was applied inside and out. |
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| The bowl was reversed and the bottom finished. | The finished bowl showing the transition from maple to mahogany. |
MAY PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
I can tell from attendance at the April meeting that our northern friends are on their way home. It was great to have such great attendance over the winter. This gives us locals a chance to spend more of our time on our favorite wood working projects. I finally got around to some woodworking this month and it was good to make some saw dust.
Our presentation for the May meeting is on “wood glue” by Floyd Yoder and John Philips. This will be a good program as there are so many glues out there today that it becomes confusing.
Many thanks to Rick Vannan for his presentation on relief carving at the April meeting, not only is Rick very talented, but he is a wealth of knowledge on 18th century furniture, relief carving, old wood planes and tools.
We had a very good attendance (15 people) at John Petti’s shop meet, good demonstrations and good food.
Do not forget our spring picnic and 2×4 contest on May 6, at Twin Lakes. If you have not signed-up contact me or Susan Darovec.
Our shop next meet on May, 21 will be hosted by Larry Simmons.
Terry Bair
May 6 – Summer Picnic & 2X4 Contest
| The picnic, as all good picnics do, started with a lot of great food. | Only one call to dinner was needed and everyone tried to see how much they could pile on one plate. |
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| It didn’t take long to empty the plates. Then came a bit of social time and we were on to the 2X4 contest. | The arraignments for the picnic were handled by Vice President Sue Darovec and her husband John. They also organized the 2X4 contest. |
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| Woody Trefrey made a model of 17th century tug boat and barge that was used in east coast canals. Nice carving and details. | Denny Wetter turned a coin funnel with his 2X4. Everyone enjoyed watching the coins run down it. |
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| Sue Darovec made a set of five centerpieces with her 2X4. Names were drawn and they were given away after the picnic. | Mike Swart made a floor lamp in twisted design. He cut the board up into about a hundred pieces and then put it back together using a ratio of one 2X4 to one gallon of glue. |
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| Gordon Cook made a set of turned open segment candle holders. They were finished in black lacquer. | Marty Dwyer made racks for his pipe clamps. They looked like they belonged in a very high class workshop. |
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| John Philips did a nice looking clothes tree out of his board. | The contest winners, Denny Wetter, Woody Trefrey, and Mike Swart display their checks. |
May 9 – Main Meeting
There were 22 members and one guest at the May meeting. |
The meeting was called to order by President Terry Bair. |
Main Program
| The main program was conducted by our own John Philips and Floyd Yoder. They gave us a lot of good information on wood glues and how to use them. | John explained uses and Floyd showed some samples that were used to test grab times drip strength. |
| And then we all got a sample bottle of glue from our friends at Gorilla Glue. |
Prize Winners
 The first quarter show and tell award went to Mike Swart. He took home a quarter sheet finish sander. |
 The door prizes went to John Darovec, Floyd Yoder, and Marty Dwyer. |
Show & Tell
 Denny Wetter brought in the April turning demo project; a maple and mahogany bowl that was turned off center to cause a color change. He also showed his two by four project. |
 John Slezak developed a food and drink holder to be used at the ballpark from a wheelchair. |
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| John Petti has been working on a glass fusing technic that he wants to use on windows in his house. He showed us the bending forms he is using to bend the glass rods. | Our guest, Ed Fraser, showed a antique patent model of a lock that had been submitted for a patent. |
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| Mike Swart brought in his two by four contest entry, a twisted floor lamp. He claimed it was supposed to be twisted like that. He also claimed it worked but no one actually saw any light come out of it. |
May 14 – Turner’s Meet
 There were 9 members at the turners meet. |
 The meeting was on advanced segment turning and several samples were displayed and discussed. |
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| Different methods to cut segments were discussed | Construction of cutting sleds was covered. |
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| Laying out and gluing segments was discussed in detail. | Alignment and orientation options were displayed. |
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| Cutting, gluing, and aligning segments rings was demonstrated. |
May 21st – Shop Meet
| Twelve members attended the shop meet at Larry Simmons. All had a good time and enjoyed the snacks that Larry and Annette provided. | Larry has a large shop that is well equipped for his cabinet business. |
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| We checked out the specialized and heavy duty equipment he has. | Many of the tools were built or modified by Larry and he explained how they are used. |
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He also showed us one of his largest projects; his house which he built along with the shop building. This is a view of the balcony above the great room. |
Check out the Southern Yellow plank flooring and coffee table made from a liberty ship door. |
JUNE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Here we are in June already and we are still having very good turn outs for meetings. John Philips and Floyd Yoder did a great job with their “Wood Glue” presentation. We all have a lot of interest in this subject. I have always said we have some of the best woodworking talent around in our club. This was the main reason I joined this club.
You do not want to miss our next meeting the presenter is “Parker Converse” on making “Custom Rocking Chairs”. I have seen his work and it is beautiful.
Many thanks to Susan Darovec for the great job she did on our “Spring Picnic”. We had 30 people attend. The food was great and plenty of it. We even had a little left. Also thanks to all the other cooks that brought in pot luck dishes, everything was great.
I attended my first turners meet this May. I was very impressed. This was a real training program and I found it very interesting and educational. If you want to learn about wood turning, attend one of the turner meets. Denny Wetter does a great job. Thanks Denny for your work and dedication, I know it takes a lot of preparation.
Check out the turners meet, June 18th and our next shop meet at Steve Kandel’s on June 25th. Our next Club meeting is June 13, at Bee Ridge Park.
Terry Bair
June 13 – Main Meeting
President Terry Bair called the June meeting to order with 24 members and 2 guests in attendance. |
Main Program
The main program was by Parker Converse on his sculpted rocking chairs. They are beautifully shaped out of exotic and unusual woods. |
The chairs are custom made to fit the owner and made from a wood that looks good in their home. |
The joints are cut and carefully fitted until they are perfect. |
After the frame is assembled, the sculpting begins. |
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| The rockers and the back slats are bent laminations. Parker’s favorite glue for this is Titebond II. | The back slats are designed to flex and rotate to conform to the shape of the back. |
| The completed chairs sell for $10,000 to $30,000 each. He has completed 65 chairs to date and can cut and assembly one in about a week. | Several members tried the sample chair he brought and all agreed that they are very comfortable. |
Show & Tell
| Denny Wetter showed a small Rosewood Vase and a feature ring that will be part of the turning meet presentation. | John Slezak brought two nice presentation boxes made of Purple Heart and Gabon Ebony. He was able to grain match the sides and the top. |
| Joe Mathis had a very well done intarsia piece of a cardinal and Dogwood flowers. The woods used were Red Heart, Yellow Heart, Aspin, Ash, and Ipe. | Larry Simmons bought an antique tool at a flee market and found that it was a tenon cutter. He was able to adjust it and get it to work. |
| David White brought pictures of the mission style library table he has completed | John Philips was out for a drive and came across a grandfather clock someone had discarded. He took it home and cleaned it up and got it working. |
| Ed Fraser made a profile of his dog that he puts next to hid drive way to slow down speeding traffic. | Terry Bair’s scroll sawn owl cut in 3/4” Oak |
Our Guests
| Our Guests were Parker Converse and Ed Colombo. Ed lives in Venice and likes to make period reproduction furniture. |
Prize Winners
| Raffle winners were Tony D’Aberto and Steve Kandel. | Door prizes went to John Slezak, Felix Troiano, Paul Anderson, Terry Bair, and Gene Mathes. |
June 18 – Turner’s Meet
| Seven members were present for the June Turners meet held in Denny Wetter’s shop. The focus of the meeting was on segmented turnings. | Floyd Yoder brought a vacuum holding jig he made to cut small pieces to use in feature rings. |
| Denny had a brick and mortar style bowl with a zig zag feature ring he was working on. | A method for building the zig zag ring was shown. |
| This is the jig used to cut the zig zag segments on the table saw. | Assembling the brick and mortar rings was explained. |
| The bowl was put on the lathe and prepared for the next ring. | Another bowl blank was chucked on the lathe to show a way to turn a feature ring to highlight the grain pattern of the wood. |
| The turned bowl was finished with walnut oil to bring out the grain. |