San Fernando Valley Woodworkers since 1988Monthly MeetingsOur meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of each month

at 7 PM, at the Balboa Park Sports Complex, Gym Build-ing, at 17015 Burbank Blvd, Encino.

Volume 26, Issue #10 October 2016

http://sfvw.org/

Our President says...Albert Jimenez

Last month’s Jigs & Fixtures meeting was awesome! It was a great turnout! I think it is one of the better nights we have throughout the year, right behind the toy challenge of course. Each person’s approach of handling a build with his or her Jig or Fixture was very interesting and insightful. Thank you to all who brought in something to share with us!OK everyone it’s October! I hate to sound like a broken

record but I’m going to get right to the point and make this short. These next couple of months have typically been the most enjoyable time of the year for me with the SFVWood-workers (spelled how you’d find our group on Facebook http://tinyurl.com/zu24sbu -Thanks Ginger!). The Box Challenge is this month! Don’t be shy about bringing in a box. I think it’s interesting to see the diverse, clever and crafty processes we all go about making something. This is especially true with boxes. There is an infinite number of ways to put one together. I’m especially interested in seeing

some very cool boxes from you guys! Once again, we’re going to have five winners. Everyone will vote on the boxes! So this should be a lot of fun! Make a Box!Depending on when this newsletter goes out. The

annual Toy Build at El Camino High School is this weekend October 15th and 16th. It’s going to be a lot

of fun! Be There!The toy build is my favorite night of the year! It feels like an early Christmas to me! Like a boy, I am very excited! The toys I’ve seen in this challenge have been impressive and very

October Meeting:Kevin Kelley

Kevin Kelley of Valencia Lumber will talk on the tree to lumber processes.

October ChallengeOctober is the Box

challenge. Make a box, and if you like, donate it for the toy donations in December.

Meeting Minutesby Jim Kelly

Minutes of the San Fernando Valley Woodworkers’ meet-ing, Thursday, September 15, 2016President Albert Jimenez called the meeting to order at

7:07 PM. We had four visitors, all beginning woodworkers checking to see what we have to offer. They were: Dan; Jes-sica, who wishes to pick our brains; Cliff, who has recently retired; and, Samuel.

Announcements/ReportsEitan Ginsburg offered a final reminder of Saturday’s

tours of the Petersen’s regular exhibit and vault and offered a final opportunity to sign up. About 20 members, spouses, and friends attended and all had a terrific time.Craig Rogers offered a reminder of a special Louis XIV

exhibit at the Getty, for those interested in furniture of that period.Jeff Bremer reminded us all that this would be

our last meeting before our build weekend at El Camino High School located at 5440 Valley Circle Blvd. in Woodland Hills. Each day’s activities will run from about 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, with an appropriate lunch break for those needing such. Jeff asked that all who have them, bring along 18- and 23-ga. pin nail-ers, air hoses, air hose splitters, random orbit sand-ers, and extension cords.

See “Minutes” on page 2

See “President” on page 2

Who We AreThe club was formed in 1988 for the purpose of en-

hancing skills, providing information and sharing the joys of working with wood. The membership reflects a cross section of woodworking interests and skill lev-els - both hobbyist and professionals. Annual dues are $35. Full-time student dues are $15.

Club OfficersPresident: Albert Jimenez (818) 448-1439

albert@mannabody.comVice President: Marc Collins (310) 902-7005

marc_collins@hotmail.comSecretary: Jim Kelly (323) 254-0837

jimkelly@earthlink.netTreasurer: Chuck Nickerson (818) 635-1175 chuckn@srar.comPhotographer Chuck Nickerson (818) 635-1175

chuckn@srar.comPublisher: Gary Coyne (626) 799-4196

gary@thecoynes.comLibrarian: Open (626) 666-6666

needone@needy.comProgram Chair: Marc Collins (310) 902-7005

marc_collins@hotmail.comWeb Master: Ed Sheanin (818) 346-6732 ed@sheanin.com Toy Chair: Jeff Bremer (310) 740-6892 jabremer@msn.comToy Distribution: Jan Somers (818) 881-8847 jan3som@yahoo.comRefreshments: Nina Dusedau (201) 913-6151

wood@bark.com

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Chuck Nickerson announced that he would be hosting a hand mirror finish-ing party at his shop on Sunday, Oct. 2. Also, there will be a vote at the October meeting to select the site for our an-nual dinner. Koko’s on Van Owen St. and Corky’s on Van Nuys Blvd. are

among the contenders.Grant Christensen is seeking redwood 2 by and 4 by

material suitable for making a foot bridge by one of the members of his scout troop whose Eagle Scout project is to build a footbridge for Descanso Gardens to re-place one that is in dis-repair.Jan Somers announced

that if any of the turn-ers in the group wanted to make pens for the holiday gift giving, they would be readily accept-ed.

Program ReportThis month’s program

is member’s jigs and fix-

“Minutes” from page 1

tures, October’s will be a talk by Kevin Kelley of Valencia Lumber on the tree to lumber processes, November will be the toy competition in the 1 - 4 and 5+ categories, and December will be our annual dinner.

Treasurer’s ReportChuck Nickerson re-

ported that we are sol-vent.

QuestionsCalvin Sov had a tool

he obtained and was trying to identify. It was identified as a file for manually sharpening chain saw blades.Eitan Ginsburg is getting ready to make a till to hold his

hand planes. He plans to build it on an angle and have it hinged at the top so he can access the space behind for storage. His question was how to offset the accumulated weight of his planes to facilitate opening. The suggestion

inspirational! So if you haven’t thought of a toy for No-vember’s Toy Challenge, right now is a good time to start that tinkering process. There is still plenty of time to build prototypes of any toys you may be thinking about. If you’re having a tough time thinking of what to make, take a look on Google or Etsy. There are countless wood toys waiting for us to build them! Ok guys! Get out in your shops and make something, and

take part in these upcoming fun months!Albert

“President” from page 1

See “Minutes” on page 3

members to share jigs and fixtures they have made and use for projects in their shops.

Steffan Dusedau led off, showing a fixture he uses on his drill press to firmly hold pen blanks in place while boring them.Jim Carr showed us some

stocking holders he has made with a large ball that sits on the mantel piece and a “J” shaped wooden hook that holds the stock-ing. He then showed a fix-ture he made of two pieces of plywood to hold the ball while boring a hole to accept the “J” hook.

Gary Coyne showed us one of his crosscut sleds on which he installed two gate handles to facilitate picking it up from its usual storage place. The handles are on the outside of the front and rear fence and, when folded have a small enough profile for the smaller crosscut sled to store inside the larger sled; both sleds have identical folding handles. This makes it much easier to pick up than pinching the end of the sled between the fingers and thumb. Plus you can also easily carry the sled with one hand using these handles.Mark Ashley showed

us a fixture he made to hold pieces of a kumiko or Japanese latticework for final trimming to ensure a proper press fit. The fixture both holds the part and guides him in trim-ming at a correct 45º angle.Ed Sheanin showed us a jig he made to help Elise Rosen-

thal cut hinge pins to the correct length using his older scroll saw that has a rectangular table. The jig is a small sled, with guides that slide along the two sides of the table and a stop that limits the travel to just beyond the blade. It has a variable stop so dowels may be cut to different lengths, as determined by the box being built. Ed also showed us a jig that Jack Robbins made for holding the tops for the treasure chests we build while the glue sets up and while

Balboa Recreation Center LocationMap curtesy of Google Maps

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was a pulley system with a weight similar to systems found on casement win-dows.

Show & Tell Ralph Johnson showed

us a tray he had made in high school shop class de-cades ago that inspired his younger sister to sign up for wood shop the follow-ing year. Mark Newton showed us

a box he had made for a magician friend. The top is padded and upholstered and the bottom is solid wood with a small ridge surrounding it to prevent objects sliding off. The in-terior of the box is accessed via two drawers.Grant Christensen

showed us some pencil extenders he had made with small turnings and brass ferrules for con-necting the pencil to the turning. He said the ex-pense wasn’t worth it for regular graphite pencils, but it did for drawing charcoal pencils that cost $2 – 3 each.

Program This evening’s program

was an opportunity for

“Minutes” from page 2

See “Minutes” on page 4

On the WebHere is some handy reference data on fastenershttps://www.quickscrews.com/fastener-guide

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Upcoming and Current events in the LA area

Thanks to Jim KellyPasadena Heritage Trust will be presenting their annu-

al Craftsman Weekend Nov 11-13, more info at: http://www.pasadenaheritage.org.The Maloof Centennial continues with California Wood

Artists Oct 2 – Feb 11 and the Sculpture in the Garden, through Oct 29.An exhibit “Sit By Me” at the Riverside Art Museum Oct

28 – Jan 29 featuring chairs by Sam Maloof, Mike John-son, and other California craftsmen.

they are being rout-ed for the rabbet to accept the end caps. He said they had found that Tite-bond I and III had an open time that is too long and slowed down production, but Titebond II was just right.Eitan Ginsburg

showed us a sled he made to cut accu-rate 45º angles on picture frames. The design uses two alu-minum rulers and

shop made hold-downs and came from the March/April 2005 issue of Fine Wo o dwork i ng , #176.Mark Newton

showed us jigs he had made cut-ting and gluing the drawer sides for the magician’s box he showed in Show and Tell.Glenn Dresser

showed us the Portalign drill guide he has used for decades to en-sure the holes he drills are perpen-dicular to the surface.

Jeff Bremer showed us a dual-purpose jig he made for cutting slots for splines in the mi-tered corners of rect-angular and hexagonal boxes. He also showed us a clamp-on fence he made for use with his table saw to allow fine tuning the width of rabbets he cuts us-ing his dado stack. The fence is sacrificial and is positioned to expose

“Minutes” from page 3 Habitat For Humanity ReStoreby Ed Sheanin

The Habitat SF/SCV ReStore is a discount home im-provement and furniture store that creates a self-sustaining funding source for the building of affordable, decent, safe and stable homes. It is a treasure trove of material for the “Ultimate DIYer”. The ReStore carries everything you need for your next project, such as tools, tile, doors, windows, plumbing, electrical items, and more. All of these items are priced at 40-70% off retail. Even better is that by shop-ping at, and donating to, the ReStore, you are helping build homes for low-income Veterans, and their families, without even lifting a hammer. The 18,000 sq. ft., air conditioned store, located at 9606 De Soto Avenue • Chatsworth, CA 91311 • (818) 341-9928, has new and gently used items for all of your project needs. It is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday from 10-6 and Thursday and Friday 10-8.Habitat for Humanity SF/SCV specializes in building

the Enriched Neighborhood® communities in collabora-tion with Homes for Families, which we are currently building for low-income veterans, in collaboration with the California Department of Veterans Affairs. We are cur-rently in construction on Phase 3 on a 78-home Enriched Neighborhood® in Santa Clarita, and will soon begin on a 56-home Enriched Neighborhood® in Palmdale. Shop-ping at, and donating to, the ReStore will help fund both of these projects! In addition, you would be welcomed as a volunteer at the ReStore, or at the build sites. Your support of Habitat for Humanity, and the ReStore, will make a dif-ference in the lives of our local Veterans.

Ed’s Box Joint JigHere is the link for the box joint jig that Ed Sheanin pre-

sented at our Jigs & Fixtures meeting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYxDXHGRRrk

New Tormek Cambering Plane Blade Sharpening Support

by Gary CoyneTormek has recently created a new chisel and plane blade

sharpening support holder (SE-77) and it solves two prob-lems: The first is that past versions could easily support your chisel in a fashion that caused the tip to be ground at an angle. The issue was that if one screw holding the chisel was too tight, you had to unscrew it a tad and then tighten the other one and then test to see if you resolved the prob-lem or not. This was probably the biggest annoyance of the Tormek system. The other issues was if you wanted a plane blade to have a slight camber so as to not have your plane introduce sharp cuts into your piece from the square edges of the plane blade, sorry, couldn’t be done.

This new holder solves both problems. Once I saw this new holder, I ordered it and tried it out as soon as I received the unit. Admittedly I’ve been too busy to try the camber process on a plane blade but I did try the chisel sharpening issue and it works fantastic. There are two screws that you loosen one and tighten the other and you can SEE the chis-el’s angle change. Yes you do still have to test this angle but since you can now see your chisel rotate and the amount of rotation, it’s a much faster and easier process. I am looking forward to testing the camber sharpening very soon.https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Tormek-Square-

Edge-Jig-P702C101.aspxhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCV1EkboiGo

the desired width of the dado stack.

“Minutes” from page 4

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Review: “Woodworkers’ Essentials” & “MORE Woodworkers’ Essentials”

By Gary CoyneI cannot recommend one of these books. I can only rec-

ommend both of these books. And to be more specific I cannot recommend both of these books enough.

The whole thing started when I was trying to find some expanded information on Torsion Boxes. Specifically I was trying to find out how thick I had to make the box to get the least amount of deflection when the ends were about 80 inches apart. There’s a LOT

of information on the web (of course) and I can recom-mend the Wood Whisperer’s two-part video on mak-ing a Torsion Box. [Part I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Hbsou6cWo and Part II https://www.you-tube.com/watch?v=cPDXKbbHENQ]. I also recom-mend this article http://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/aw-extra-7413-how-to-build-a-torsion-box But neither of these go anywhere near what I was looking for.Then I saw a reference to the Woodworkers’ Essential

Facts, Formulas, and Short Cuts. To make a long story short, albeit with some confusion, I went ahead and or-dered the Woodworker’s Essential from Amazon and, thanks to Prime, I had the book in a couple of days. I went to page 2011 that was supposed to have had the informa-tion I was looking for but alas, it wasn’t there. Upon further investigation I discovered there are two books: I ordered the first of the series, the other one, “MORE Woodwork-ers’ Essential” had the information I wanted.To make things a bit more confusing, turns out the first

book is still in print while the 2nd book, the one that has the information about Torsion Boxes, is not. Fortunately the newer, 2nd book is easily available around the web as a used book. My book came in several days later and it looks as good as new.So what’s so good about these books? Let’s say you want

to make a shelf but are not too sure about how wide you can make the shelf before it starts to sag. What happens

if you only want to place on heavy item in the middle as opposed to a bunch of books across the entire width (al-though the weight would be the same either way)? How thick should the shelf be if you were wedded to a specific length? How much different sagging would different kinds of wood generate? How much extra support would a face strip of wood help in the front and/or back of the shelf?As far as what I purchased these books for in the first

place, the design of Torsion Boxes, the information is all there, calcu-lations and all. Because I have some very spe-cific dynam-ics to work around, my calculations are quite a bit more complicated than just a standard T o r s i o n Box. But at some 21 pages devot-ed to Tor-sion boxes to dig through, there’s a lot of information to parse out and work with. The author, Ken Horner, is a retired organic chemist, a

veteran woodworker, and a member of the South Bay Woodworkers Association.Nonetheless, between these two books, there is an in-

credible amount of information to work with. Below is an incomplete list of names from the various chapters from the books. Note that I am purposely not identifying which book what came from because in reality if you want one of these, you really really want them both. Trust me.The angles for Compound Butt Joints. Bowls and Baskets

from Boards. Off-center turning. Twists and Spirals (how to calculate them). Rust – Cause and Prevention. Elec-trolysis and Rust Removal. Wood movement and Building with wood movement. Slats & Spaces. Converting num-bers. Motors and 3-phase Electricity. Electricity & 120 volts vr 240 volts. Pulley’s and Speed. RPM & Speed. Dust Collection Systems. Clamps Pressure & Joints. Standard Furniture Dimensions. Taps & Threads.Suffice it to say, when the first book arrived, even though

it was not the one I thought I wanted, I spent the rest of the day pouring though it’s contents. These are extremely well written PRACTICAL books. If you want more, there is also the book “Essential Guide to the Steel Square” that is probably equal to these books.

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