Today's class was a whirlwind tour of the shops of 5 members from the comfort of the classroom. A couple of years ago we discovered that it was better in countless ways to take pictures and/or videos of a member's shop and project them in the classroom with narration by the owner.  Each audience member got to hear many of the historic developments causing the shop to be what it is today.  They also got to see that other members also had multiple inteerest areas  like Marcus' collection of 1940 Fords and Steve's night job as a drummer in a band.

This week's class was a shop picnic held in and around the back yard shop of member Rob Austin's 1800 square foot wood shop/man cave.  The weather improved dramatically for the start of the picnic where about 50 members and their families enjoyed grilled burgers, tube steaks, and sausages.  The attendees got ample opportunity to fellowship and learn from each other with the props of Rob's shop at hand.

Ken Kline showed today's class several of the techniques he uses to add significant wow factor to the projects he produces.   He showed several of the tools he uses to cut tiny dados into table legs into which he presses in stringing to createe a federal style effect.  He then showed how he creates a relief cut to inlay a bell flower typically found on federal style tables. 

This weeks class was a contest format using bird feeders as a theme.  A dozen entries complised the field of entries.  First place was taken by Steve Carmichael with an imaginitive avian saloon complete with bar stools for perches in front of a bar top adorned with miniature purple heart beer bottles.  As with most of Steve's projects, it came complete with a humorous YouTube video documenting the development of the project.  Second place was taken by Bob Brokaw with a large overhang fly-thru feeder with an intarsia style tree face applied to each end.  Third place was taken by George North with a hollowed out log for a bird shelter.

Ricky Alexander treated the audience to a multi media demonstration of flat work design and assembly.  Using his laptop computer, he first showed a number of examples of mub benches and then showed some models available in the Sketchup 3D warehouse.  He then went through the process of how he made numerous design changes to the model he started with.  He then unveiled his partially completed mud bench and completed the assembly of the bench.

Gwinnett Woodworkers demonstrated their skills for three days in a 600 sq ft booth at The Woodworking Show this week-end. On hand were scrollers, turners, chip carvers, and docents explaining the wood working projects on display. 

Bill Wood used a small shelf unit that he is building for his shop as an example for how and when to use a biscuit joiner.  For a small simple shelf unit there are a host of ways for the hobbyist in a small shop to construct it.  Bill's alternative to cutting dadoes on the table saw or with a router was to use the biscuit joiner.  In the class, he showed how to layout mark the shelf locations and biscuit hole locations.  He stressed clamping the pieces together and to the work surface before plunging the 10,000 rpm blade of the cutter into the ends and sides of the shelf unit.  The spinning  blade will cause things to move as was evidenced in the demo.  Biscuits are useful for locating two surfaces together while the glue dries.  They often act as an extra set of hands in the one man shops that so many of us operate in.  Bill completed locating all of the biscuits necessary to dry fit all of the parts for the shelf unit and concluded that it was ready for glue and clamps that would happen back at his shop.

For this class date, GWA took a field trip to the facilities of Greenville Woodworker's Guild (Greenville, SC). GWG is one of a very few woodworking clubs that has their own building and shop.  Several of our members have had an on going curiosity about this large club (550 members) 2 hours "up the road."  Their club is located in 28,000 sq ft building that was once a retail consignment shop.  Upon entry to the facility you are standing in an atrium style lobby with an auditorium on the right (where monthly meetings are held) with work rooms behind that. To the left, is a long hall flanked by offices, small classrooms, a board room, and the entry to the shop at the end of the hall.  The shop is replete with the necessary equipment to support the activities of the several dozen members that may be present on any given day of their 6 day per week operation.

We had presentations and discussion from 6 of the board members.  It rapidly became apparent that GWG is closely resembles a corporate enterprise.  They own their own building along with all of the expenses and responsibilities that come with that.  In that building, they operate a woodworking shop for the benefit of the members and the surrounding community.  With a 6 day per week operation, they have a huge responsibility for safety around all of the machinery they own.  They have handled all of these responsibilities by creating an organization that resembles corporate America except it is an all volunteer force.

The best way to sum up the field trip is WOW!

Wayne began the class by describing the history of the Nantucket basket (or purse).  He showed examples of Nantucket baskets as well as replicas from this country and abroad.  Wayne then showed the materials and tools that are most commonly used to construct the baskets.  He demonstrated some of the techniques he uses to weave the reeds and finish off the edges.  In the end, his baskets are difficult to differentiate from the authentic basket.

Bob Brokaw, Jum Kunzweller, and Gerry Jones each explained their methods of producing boxes.  Bob Brokaw showed how he performs all of the machining to the board that became the sides of a keepsake box, finished the sides, top, and bottom completely, and then used a sled to miter the plank into sides.  The last step was to cut the top off of the bottom to reveal that the 2 parts interlocked.  Jim explained several techniques that he uses to create hidden hinges.  He went on to show a method to produce micro finger joints and a number of other methods of box joinery.  Gerry followed with several other methods of joining the sides of boxes.  He explained the use of dovetail jigs and box joint blades among other methods of joining box sides.  He even dared to explain the adrenalin rush when cutting box joints into 3/4 inch stock.