As I sit at my desk to write this month's tome, I'm struck by the fact that the first day of summer is nearly upon us (remember, I'm writing this in mid-June). It would probably feel more like summer if we weren't still in the depths of June Gloom. So, what does that have to do with anything? Summer marks the beginning of the state and county fair season with particular emphasis on our own personal favorite, the Orange County Fair. Our Association has been a supporter and participant in the fair since long before I became a member. Our participation has gradually increased to the point where we are a significant presence with our live woodworking demonstrations in addition to sponsoring of one of the finest exhibitions of woodworking that you are going to see anywhere. You might ask, "It's a lot of work. What's the point?" Granted, it is a fair amount of work, even more for a few, but the upside is tremendous. In order for our Association to do the things that we identify ourselves with, like making toys for underprivileged kids, it takes money. The principle source of money in our organization is

dues paying members. Our experience over many years is that many new members first heard about the OCWA by talking to us at the fair. Without that influx of new members, the charitable work we are doing, particularly the toy program, would begin to suffer. So, it is to all of our bene-fit and particularly the continued well-being of the OCWA to actively support our presence at the fair. Elsewhere in this newsletter, Ed Straub will provide more information about what you can personally do. I thought the Fixtures and Jigs Show & Tell at the June meeting was great. All of the examples showed off your abilities as problem solvers and innovators. Like many things in our lives, simpler is often better. With that thought in mind, the group selected the jigs brought by Ed Smet as the ones you would like to make and have in your shops. Ed brought a miter jig and a bandsaw resaw fence and feels both and perhaps even a third jig can be made during a one day workshop. It looks like it will be the latter part of the summer before we will have a facility to hold the workshop. We'll get the schedule and other details posted as soon as they are final. In the near future, we will have the signup for the David Marks Two-Day Woodworking Seminar available on line. We will also continue to take reservations and payments at meetings. As a reminder, the seminar will be held on Octo-ber 23 & 24 at Laguna Tools from 9 AM to 4PM. There will be different subjects featured each day. The pricing options for single day or both days are:

OCWA Members: Single Day $45, Both Days $80 Non Members: Single Day $50, Both Days $90

This promises to be one of the seminal events hosted by OCWA in recent history. It will only be as good as your participation makes it. So in closing for this month: GET THEE TO THE FAIR!

From the Editor: Just came back from AAW Symposium and saw some of David Marks work and attended a couple of his seminars. All I can say is WOW!!! You won’t want to miss this one! I’m certainly looking forward to it. He does fabulous work and is an excellent com-municator. Here is a sample and by the way, this piece is featured on the back cover of Fine Woodworking this month. I got to see it up close and let me say that the picture does not do it justice.

Sawdust & Sawdust & Sawdust & Shavings Shavings Shavings Volume 27 Issue 7 July 2010

President’s Message Craig Chambers

IN THIS ISSUE

President’s Message 1

Fairgrounds 2

Woodturner Shavings 3

Show and Tell 4

Fairgrounds 5

AAW Symposium 6

OC Fair 2010 7

Meeting Dates 8

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 | After an hours-long public hearing Tuesday night, a visibly tired, frustrated and emotional Costa Mesa City Council agreed to what they largely described as a forced partnership with a Newport Beach firm to buy the Orange County Fairgrounds from the state for $96 million. Council members, who over the course of the evening held several closed, parking lot, and public sessions, described the take-it-or-leave-it offer from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger thusly: Buy this property tonight as a partner with Facilities Man-agement West for $96 million or tomorrow morning it's on the auction block. In a 4-1 vote, the council took the governor's deal. Earlier in the evening, the council voted to lay off 24 city workers in order to pass its 2010-11 budget. The vote on the Fairgrounds is the culmination of several months of quiet and tense negotiations between council mem-bers, the state and several private sector suitors all vying for control of the historic swath of land between the 55 and 405 freeways and just south of South Coast Plaza. While the deal does offer Costa Mesa some sort of local control over the 150-acre property, it is essen-tially turning it over to the private investor group. After more than a year battling the state and local fair board over a lack of transparency in governing the Fairgrounds, council members have essentially now agreed to not have any formal role in the administration of the prop-erty. Talks with Facilities Management West had reportedly broken down Friday. Apparently, at one point words got so heated between the group's lawyers and city officials that Mayor Alan Mansoor criticized the group publicly on Tuesday night before joining three of his col-leagues -- Wendy Leece, Gary Monahan and Eric Bever -- in supporting the purchase. While Councilwoman Katrina Foley said the fi-nances on the deal weren't necessarily bad for local taxpayers, she ultimately opposed the deal saying the newly formed joint powers authority didn't give local residents -- or city officials -- any say in the day-to-day dealings of the Fairgrounds. Activists who fought the fair-grounds sale for more than a year were mortified as they read the fresh agreements streaming out from the council. Most couldn't under-stand the language but had a bad feeling all night. "I've heard a lot of talk about money," said equestrian activist Greg Ridge. "The one thing I think is we've thrown the baby out with the bathwater. We wanted to have public input and oversight. Having a voice on how our fairgrounds are treated. And I don't see that." City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow began describing the deal points on the purchase memo-randum of understanding with the price, saying, "We were told what the purchase price would be $96 million." Other deal points include: City general funds are not at risk: The purchase agreement would not obligate the general funds of the city and would not require the city to make any payments to the state. An LLC that Facilities West Management proposes to form would finance and operate the property under a 55-year term. The property would be officially owned by the newly formed OC Fairgrounds Joint Powers Authority which would hold a deed of trust. That means the only remedy the state would have against the JPA in case of a loan default is foreclosing on the property. The purchase agreement covers all personal property associated with the fairgrounds, the equipment, the names and trademarks. The transitioning of fair employees has been left to the state. Ground rent covers debt service but also provides a revenue source to JPA. But the ground rent is subject to change if land use changes, or if a portion of the property is parceled out. The annual fair will continue, along with Centennial Farms and the Youth Expo. Equestrian uses will remain, "although there may be a change in location." There is an 18-month transition for the OC marketplace in case of a lease termination. According to the deal points distributed Tuesday night, the city's JPA will meet once a year -- as opposed to monthly meetings of the OC Fair Board -- where they can forward suggestions. However, Facilities Management West won't be obligated to listen. "For a few dollars, we've lost everything we fought to preserve," Ridge said. "The real losers here are the people." Most council members struggled with the lack of transparency on the governance structure but said they had no choice but to authorize the deal. "It all boils down to yes or no," Mansoor said. There's no "maybe" or "I need more time" button. However, the deal is nowhere near finished. A final agreement still has to come back to the City Council for approval, and the state Legislature is also expected to have to weigh in to authorize a transition. Please contact Norberto Santana, Jr., directly at nsantana@voiceofoc.org and follow him on Twitter:twitter.com/norbertosanatna. And add your voice with a letter to the editor.

News about the Fairgrounds

Board of Directors

President Craig Chambers (714) 761-9245 chamcj@pacbell.net

Treasurer Ralph Crowther (949) 588-2922

Vice President Drew Schellenbarger (714) 450-2365

Secretary Ed Straub (714) 536-4568

Woodturners President Victor Cohn (562) 252-2580 victor@cohnmail.net

Public Affairs Chairman/Newsletter Don Scott (714) 533-7883

Director at Large Bill Rogers 714) 637-2912

2nd Director at Large Ralph Alder (714) 544-3328

Past President James Santhon (949) 481-2821

Committees

Badges Len Musgrave (714) 532-4778

Toy Program Bill Rogers (714) 637-2912

Library Ollie Vaughan (949) 278-5939

Nominations & Elections Bill Rogers (714) 637-2912

Refreshments Glenna Whitlock (951) 245-6342

Welcome /Membership Art Dunbar (949) 830-3569

Mentor Chairman James Santhon (949) 481-2821

Resources George Plummer (714) 540-4527

OC Fair Ed Straub (714) 536-4568

Webmaster Larry Marley (949) 412-6710

Web Database Aaron Fleischer (949) 279-3586

If I were asked where would I have rather been on Thursday night, June 17, 2010, at Staples Center watching the Lakers win the 2010 NBA Championship, or at the Tustin Senior Center watching the demonstration by David Tilson, the choice was easy. David Tilson, David Tilson, David Tilson.

Yes, the group was a little smaller than usual, maybe 60 members or so, but David had every-one’s attention with his fantastic PowerPoint presentation followed with a live demonstration on how to make a pen that sell’s for $250, or more. Of interest to me was David telling how he had spent 12 years going to college and was making pens to earn a living. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with making pens, but as good as he is at pens is probably how great he would be following his first love, the theater. When break time came, several members asked if the demo would go on after the break was over. That may be a first. I would like, sometime in the future, to have David do a 1 day workshop for the mem-bers. I know it would be really well attended. Thanks again David for the great presentation. Pen Lady, Ruthie Ingram, was still in Phoenix waiting to have a baby, so I filled in for her and announced that in the future, those people who turned in 10 or more pens to Ruthie at our meetings would also be given a ticket for the chance to win $25 cash in the ‘Just for Entering’ drawing at each of our meetings.

Al Whitcomb and Robert Bilevich sold 50/50 tickets and raised $104 dollars, $52 of which was won by Len Musgrave who then donated the money to the Free-dom Pen Project. Don’t we just have the greatest members in our club? Al W. also set up the refreshments and did such a great job that I am nominating him to be the new refreshment setter upper. After the break, it was on to the monthly challenge, making a pen out of some-thing really extraordinary. Len Musgrave won the Masters class with judging by Bruce Lewellyn, with a pen made with the automotive body putty, Bondo. Les Rogers was the judge for the Apprentice Class. Chuck Phillips won 3rd place,

$15, Jerry Nininger won 2nd place, $20, and Linda Bruins won 1st place, $25 for her pen made from Deer Antler. There were only 3 entries in the Apprentice Class, and every per-son who entered won some cash. Next time, if you enter, you could go home with some cash, too. Ed Straub and I both talked about the upcoming 2010 OC Fair. We really do need your help to make this work. Please, Please, Please signup to demonstrate. Next months demonstrator will be the OLE GUY himself, Ross Gilroy. Ross promises to come clean and tell all of us how he does IT. I just can’t wait, can you? Also, if you don’t understand what the July Monthly Challenge project is, drop the Ole Guy an email, rowagi@earthlink.net and see if he can explain it to you. And maybe you can ask him to explain it to me. Don’t forget, Please, Please, Please Signup to demonstrate at the 2010 OC Fair. If you do, I will be very, very happy. If you don’t, I might take away the Snickers candy bars for the next 3 OCWoodTurners meetings.

Shavings President’s Message Vic Cohn

Turner Committees

Outside Programs Dick foreman (714) 637-6175

Pen Projects Ruthe Ingram (714) 536-3624

Workshops Vic Cohn (562) 252-2580

Wood supplies Jeanette Gonzales (562) 417-7750

Refreshments

Video/Sound Ralph Alder (714) 544-3328

Challenge

50/50 Drawing Bill Rogers (714) 637-2912

AAW Membership Victor Cohn (562) 252-2580

Logo / Shirts Harold Hardy (562) 429-1671

Nominating

Special Projects Jerry Nininger (949) 631-7530

Show & Tell Photos OCWA

Since I recently retired and plan to do a lot more traveling, it will be more and more difficult to continue as the Editor of your newsletter, so I am submitting my resignation as Editor effective at the end of the year. By then, I will have been the Editor for about 3 and a half years. It has been a fun and educational tenure, so it is with a heavy heart that I ask for someone else to step up to the plate and take over as Editor of this newsletter. I would still be available to help the new person as much as possible and in any way that I can, so the sooner we identify a candidate, the sooner I can start training and helping. In fact, it doesn’t have to be a person, it could be two or more that can work together. Everything has its benefits and this is not an exception. You also get to sit on the board and have a voice in how the club is run. You also get to feel the pulse of everything the club is doing. So, think about it and ask me any questions you want. But remember, January will be here before you know it! Think about it, give me a call

Pictures from the Fair

Important Notice from the Editor

The AAW Hartford Symposium was represented by our club with only 3 members in attendance, Don Scott, Ken Cowell and Bill Haskell.

I felt that the quality of work and presentations was 100% better than last year at Albuquerque. As anyone that has been to a Symposium would know, there are 11 rotations through the three days and you can select from 15 different presentations for each rotation. That makes 165 presenta-tions to choose from. Now the difficulty comes in choosing which ones to at-tend (because you can only at-tend eleven). They are all so good that it makes the selection

process extremely difficult.

I have become interested in piercing and I found three different rotations on that subject. Each of the presenters had studied under Bihn Pho (and I even

got to meet Bihn at a restaurant the day the Symposium closed). This shows that whatever interest you have, there is a presentation for that. What better way to im-prove your turning skills than to get closer to the masters.

They also have what they call the Instant Gallery where anyone can

bring up to 3 pieces to enter. You get to see what other turners from around the world are doing (and there was some fabulous pieces entered). I only took

one piece and then volunteered to have it critiqued. When I went to the critique, guess who was doing the critique? David Ellsworth! And I am pleased that he had some good things to say about my entry.

I have found the way to improve anything that you do is get involved with someone that is better than you. For woodturning, it starts with our club (where we have some outstanding talent) but doesn’t stop there. The next step up are the AAW Symposiums. Between the AAW Symposium and the Pro Demonstrators we invite to our club, we have some unique opportunities to improve our skills. Imagine how fortunate we are to be this close to the best turners in the world.

Speaking of Pro Demonstrators, I attended two rotations with David Marks where he showed how to do gilding and then create unique patinas on the gild. He was a fabulous

demonstrator and an excellent communica-tor. I can’t wait to try some of that type of work. By the way, David will be coming to our club in October for two whole days. You won’t want to miss that!

The Symposium may have been a bit far away this year, but it was outstanding none-theless. Next year will be the 25th Anniver-sary for AAW and the Symposium will be in St. Paul, Minnesota. And then in 2012, it will be in our back yard in San Jose. If you want

to improve your turning skills and generate new ideas for your work, you need to get in-volved in this.

AAW Symposium in Hartford Don Scott

This was done by a 12 year old girl

Fine Arts Woodworking Competition Ed Straub As you all know by now, the FAW competition is being relocated this year from Building 15, where we were located for the 2008 and 2009 competi-tions, to Building 16. We will be located more directly in the center of the main features of the Fair. The Photography, Paintings, Sculpture, Jewelry, Ce-ramics, and Home Arts will be all around the Woodworking exhibits. The only bad thing might be that the deep fried Twinkes will be located about a block and a half away from the front door to building 16. The Fair's management was pleased with the wall display cabinets the OCWA designed, built, and in-stalled in Building 15 we were requested to design and build a set of free standing display cabinets for the FAW competition in Building 16. We accepted and those new cabinets are under construction at this writing. The basic set of 12 to 14 cabinets will have a foot print of 24 inches by 18 inches and stand 96 inches tall. They will be used to display about 40 to 45 of the turnings, carvings, and the other smaller entries. The face frames were cut by Laguna Tools using one of their CNC machines from ½ inch Red Oak cabinet

grade plywood supplied by Anderson International Trading. The side panels and other major components are also of ½ inch Red Oak and were milled to size on the panel saw at Orange Coast College by Tim Peters and Michael Rafferty. The viewing window is Acrylic. The set of cabinets will form a wall between the Woodworking area and the Home Arts area.

The work of assembling the cabinets is being done in a tent at the fair grounds. Ken Roberts and Kirk Pickler from the fair staff have been doing the ma-jor assembly work. As the available time to work on the cabinets gets short a call was put out at the Turners meeting for help. Ollie Vaughn, Bill and Linda Bruins and Len Musgrave have come to our aid. With their help we will have a set of unique display cabinets for the show.

WHERE? Tustin Senior Center

200 S. C Street Tustin, CA 92680

WHEN?

Woodworker’s Meeting Thursday July 1st, 7:00 pm

Woodturner’s Meeting

Thursday July 15th, 6:30 pm

Board Meeting Thursday July 1st, 6:00 pm

P.O. Box 1038 Fullerton CA 92836-8038

Friends of OCWA — Please Support Our Sponsors

Anderson International Trading

(800) 454-6270 Deft, Inc

Laguna Tools (800) 234-1976

Rockler Woodworking & Hardwoods (714) 282-1157

Austin Hardwood & Hardware

(714) 953-4000

Exotic Woods USA (631) 651-8651

Reel Lumber Service (714) 632-1988

Festool

Craft Supplies, USA (800)551-8876

Industrial Blade & Products Co.

Renaissance Door & Window

(888) 283-0722

Woodcraft Supply (714) 899-1422

Sawdust and

Shavings

Monthly Newsletter of

The Orange County Woodworkers

Association

Visit us at the Web at: ocwoodworkers.com

The OCWA newsletter is sent out on the Saturday be-fore the Woodworkers Meet-ing . . . At the latest. Any articles you wish to sub-mit must be in my hands by the Saturday after the Turner’s meeting. Editor: poppyocwa@scottseagle.com