I don’t know if you’ve noticed, or not, that the focus of my articles this year has been on safety. It’s a subject that we don’t seem to focus much attention on until we have an acci-dent ourselves. Maybe I’m trying to remind myself that after more than forty years working professionally as a woodworker that I am not immune to having an accident. I think that I have to be even more cognizant of the fact that after all these years it’s very easy to assume that the rules don’t apply to me, because I have so much experience. Wrrrooonnnngggg!

I have a reminder on my left index finger of the time I was trying to remove a piece of edge banding that got hung up in a roller on the edge banding machine. Now, mind you, there were notices posted all over the machine stating that when performing any kind of adjustment one should always turn off the machine, but oooohhhh noooo, that doesn’t apply to the ol’ Pro. He doesn’t have to follow the instructions. Not me!

Well, I was yanking so hard on the damn piece of banding that it came loose all of a sudden, thrusting my finger into one of the cutting heads on the machine, and if I had hit the blade just tiny fraction harder my nose picking capabilities would have been severely hampered forever. The moral of this story is that no one is immune from doing something very dumb on a machine. Every machine comes with a set of instructions, which we promptly put in a drawer never to be seen again. It doesn’t hurt to read them. In fact, it might hurt a lot less. It also doesn’t hurt to heed the warning signs. In fact, it might hurt a lot less. The most important thing to remember is that a machine does not think, it only performs the task that it was designed for, and nothing else. You’re the one responsible for the

thinking part.

Web Site Hopefully, by the time you read this our new web site will be up and running. I have been riding Jonathan Cosmos hard on this project, forcing him to work day and night without food, or drink, so we’ll see if all this badgering has paid off, or not. Remember what happened to Captain Bligh.

Passing It is my sad duty to announce the passing of one of our long time members, and for-mer President of the OCWA, Doug Nowlin. To know Doug, was to love him. He will surely be missed. (Please see his obituary on page 2)

Sawdust & Sawdust & Sawdust & Shavings Shavings Shavings Volume 26 Issue 45 May 2009

President’s Message James Santhon

IN THIS ISSUE

President’s Message 1

Woodworker’s Sawdust 2

Woodturner Shavings 3

Show and Tell 4

Coming Attractions 5

Toy Program 5

Drawings 6

Freedom Pens 7

OC Fair 2009 8

Meeting Dates 10

In Memoriam Raymond Douglas Nowlin

Former President of the OCWA 1930—2009

We regret to note the passing of a longtime member, and former Presi-dent of the Orange County Woodworkers Association, Raymond Douglas Nowlin, or Doug, as we knew him. He was an accomplished woodworker, and an avid OCWA supporter. He served the OCWA in a number of capacities, first as Newsletter Editor for a number of years before serving as Vice President/Program Chair for two years in 2003, and 2004. He was elected President of the association in 2004, and served one term for the year 2005. He was also very active in the OCWA Christmas Toy Program, and could almost always be seen at the Toy Workshops.

Doug was active in the community as well. He volunteered his woodworking services to help CAST, a local agency help-ing the victims of child abuse, by creating a child friendly environment for the children waiting to be helped by this group. Doug was a good and kind man who was always of service to his community, his association, and his family, and he will be missed. Doug was born on February 10, 1930 and passed away from a heart attack on Tuesday, March 31, 2009. We would like to express our deepest condolences to his family.

First of all, I would like to thank David Burchett for the very informative and enter-taining meeting he gave us last month. I thought that I would share what he said him-self. “Thank you and Drew as well, for the invite to talk about my passion. I had a really great time of it, and liked the group very much. I think some will even come up to my groups gathering in Pasa-

dena on the third Sunday of this month to learn more, maybe to build a bow.”

Our May 7th meeting will be by Frank Irving who is a very accomplished woodworker from Laguna Woods. Frank had been able to use the workshop at Laguna Woods to turn out some great pieces which he will share with us. Frank is one of those fortunate woodworkers who worked with the famous Sam Maloof.

We are in the process of arranging a speaker for the June meeting. I will keep you informed.

Woodworker Sawdust Chester Maharaj

Final Meeting

Shavings President’s Message Vic Cohn

What is member Jim Anderson’s secret that he looks like he’s in his 60’s when he is celebrating his 80th birth-day? Maybe it’s the formaldehyde in plywood that Jim sells, the same plywood the government claims is not good for us. After all, doesn’t formaldehyde preserve things? How about selling your fellow members some of that stuff Jim? And does anyone know why Ralph Alder had to bring a lathe to the club to do his complicated and informative demonstration at the last meeting? And he transported the lathe in a custom built trailer he made just for our club. Ralph, you never cease to amaze. And what about a certain judge, who critiqued a certain turner’s entry in the March challenge as being ordinary and then that same turner went on to win 1st prize? Does that certain turner have a split per-

sonality? Congratulations Ross on another 1st place. The things that go on at our OCWoodTurners meetings that make the evenings such a big success seem to be endless. What I’m trying to share with you, our members, is that our meetings are great because everyone makes an effort and takes the time to attend. The monthly challenges are bigger than ever, the show and tells have lots more offerings. And, oh yes, we all come to the meetings WILLING TO HAVE FUN. The first 3 months of my presidency have come and gone and our club is growing beyond the size of the room we gather in. Past president Dick Foreman is trying to create a list of the other past presidents of the OCWoodTurn-ers and that reminds me that we, you and I, have all of those people to thank for getting our club to where it is to-day. The OCWA, Orange County Woodworkers Association, of which we are a SIG, Special Interest Group, is begin-ning to work on this years “2009 Super OC Fair.” I recently had an informal meeting with Ed Straub, our group Fair Chairmen, to talk about all the challenges we face this year. Our group had a spectacular success at last years fair. I think that makes it im-portant for us to double our effort this year to shine even brighter. What will make this year the best year ever, is for ALL OF US to be as much a part of this year’s fair as we have been a part of our meetings. Let’s make the effort to attend and take the time to volunteer. We need lots and lots of entries in the com-petition, we need people to setup the booths, we need people to demonstrate our crafts, and we need people to explain what we do as the public visits our displays. With YOU helping, we will continue to be the greatest group of woodworking peo-ple in Orange County. I am very proud to be the president of our group and for the wonderful support you show me. Now it’s time to put our full group behind the OCWA and make the ‘2009 Fair’ an event to remember. We’re going to have a great time if YOU help. And if I can to anything about it, we’re going to HAVE A LOT OF FUN.

Turner Committees

Outside Programs Craig Chambers (714) 761-9245

Pen Projects Ruthe Ingram (714) 536-3624

Workshops Vic Cohn (562) 252-2580

Wood supplies Jeanette Gonzales (562) 417-7750

Refreshments Chester Maharaj (714) 832-6203

Video/Sound Ralph Alder (714) 544-3328

Challenge Denise Paley (949) 830-0730

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

AAW Membership Victor Cohn (562) 252-2580

Logo / Shirts Harold Hardy (562) 429-1671

Nominating Craig Chambers (714) 761-9245 Art Fitzpatrick (562) 421-6992

Special Projects Jerry Nininger (949) 631-7530

Show & Tell Photos OCWA

We had our monthly toy work shop at Roger Ballings place last month. He did a great job getting everything organized. He made jigs to drill all the parts for his flip top cell phones. We had 18 people show up to help. The weather was perfect, with lots of sunshine. It's amazing that we always have clear weather on the day of our work shops.

Roger had parts for about 400 cell phones, so there was lots of work to be done. Some drilled, while others used the power sanders, and of course there was plenty of hand sand-ing. We did some finish sanding on Ed Smit's keepsake boxes before applying DEFT sanding sealer. We will finish the boxes at

our next work shop. Burt Underwood brought a bunch of the props for his helicopter and he got help sanding them. Roger Balling also had about 50 Elephant crayon holders,which he had cut out, and we routed the edges and marked where the holes need to be drilled. If there are

some people reading this that have never been to one of our toy making workshops, you are really missing out on a great op-portunity to get to know your fellow woodworkers and perhaps learn some new skills. Our next toy work shop will be on Saturday, May 9th at my house. I'll have a sign up sheet at our next meeting on Thursday May 7th. We have about 500 finished toys in our warehouse. If you need some help finishing up some toys give me a call at 714.637.2912.

Coming Attractions OCWA Events Location Dates

Utah Symposium Provo Utah May 14 — 16

San Diego Fair Del Mar June 12 — July 15

AAW Symposium Albuquerque June 26 — 28

OC Fair Costa Mesa July 10 — August 9

Demonstrations Host Date Cost Location

Frank Irving Finishing OCWA May 7 Free Tustin Senior

Center

Pro Demonstrator Stuart Batty OCWT August 9 TBD Tustin Senior

Center

Toy Program Bill Rogers

Christmas Party

This last month we did very well, THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH. We made a little over $120.00. The club thanks you and I thank you for your support. We couldn’t make this club the great place that it is without all of you. And I think we really have a good thing here. I really enjoy being in the club, though my schedule limits me a bit. And participating in the OC Fair is always a big treat. I enjoy it more so because I get to talk to everyone instead of being in the corner the whole time I’m there. I enjoy all of you as friends. It always makes me sad to hear when someone is ill. My heart goes out to each of you and your families when things don’t go so well. I’m hoping Jim Ballestreri can feel well enough to make it back, he has been out so long. And I want to give a big THANK YOU to all of our sponsors, Guy at Rockler, Ingko at Woodcraft, the guys from Laguna tools who have been generous and fun to join in with us, Jim Anderson at Anderson’s for all the help in so many areas - especially with Ruthe, and Festool - who donated to our Christmas party. And so many individual members who have been so good to help Ralph’s boy in the Scouts. Those tables he made were really nice, I wonder how much of that was Daddy’s help. And others who donate from time to time, like Western Tools and Ganahl. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out.

For this month I am going to try to get some nice things, one or two, for the raffle and I DO HOPE you also will like them. Sometimes I just don’t always know what will appeal to you. I personally like everything I see, you know how girls can get. Shopping is so much fun. But as you may recall from previous raffles, the things I like don’t always appeal to you. I try hard. Would you like to see some kind of kit, like a pattern, hardware and a gift card for wood all rolled into one package? Or maybe all the sandpaper you would need in a lifetime? (Just kidding). Maybe you would like to see a nice bundle of walnut? Or some of those new Rockler jigs they’ve been coming out with. Or maybe you would just be happy with a nice large bundle of plywood to make jigs from Jim Anderson’s? Or a small to medium sized electric tool, like a router or the like? You can really feel free to tell me. But I don’t think we’ll be offering any Carribean Cruises, so it needs to be related to wood working!! Maybe a nice set of router bits for making paneled doors? You need to let me know because I may end up getting a kit for making little chess pieces

instead. In case you are new these are the prices for raffle tickets: $1 buys 1 ticket $5 buys 6 tickets $10 buys 13 tickets and plus bonus ticket (free)

I will still try to have a $100 bonus card from time to time, depending on how things go with our sponsors, but if I don’t you haven’t lost anything. And I am still open to suggestions, for items ranging in price from $90.00-$150.00 give or take. We will investigate this and see if we can pull it off for you. PLEASE, do let me know what you would like to see, or just drop a line and let me know what you think. Do you have an even better idea? Send your suggestion to: cherilee@softprogs.com SUBJECT: OCWA Raffle Very important: include OCWA RAFFLE in the subject. I have made an email filter to find mes-sages with OCWA in the subject and separate them from my spam. I wont get it unless you do and I don’t want to miss hearing from you. I have gotten only one email about a month and a half ago. So if you emailed me since then, double check your subject line and make sure it says OCWA somewhere. My spam has doubled in just the last month and there is no way I can go through EVERY little one of 500 emails a day. So you will get missed if you don’t.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: TREES in the condo complex where I live in Yorba Linda: the girl working on the issue has made her walk with the landscape people and I’m hoping in the next month or so to have a list and a map to locate trees. Even if some of you wanted to just be entrepreneurs and take wood to sell for firewood, that would be better than letting it go to the dump. And it’s free for you, all you need to do is be there to pick it up. I hate to see all that wood go to waste. At least they will be coming down slowly so you don’t need to be in a rush. I hope you are enjoying this HOT weather, 100 degrees today. See you at the next meeting, it should be a little cooler by then, I hope!

Monthly Drawings Cheri Durthaler

Board of Directors

President James Santhon (949) 481-2821

Treasurer Ralph Crowther (949) 588-2922

Vice President Chester Maharaj (949) 422-4522

Secretary Ed Straub (714) 536-4568

Woodturners President Victor Cohn (562) 252-2580

Public Affairs Chairman Don Scott (714) 533-7883

Director at Large Bill Rogers 714) 637-2912

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

Newsletter Don Scott (714) 533-7883

Committees

Badges Lew 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 Pam Lane (714) 774-4497

Welcome /Membership Art Dunbar (949) 830-3569

Mentor Chairman David Wade (714) 771-3248

Resources George Plummer (714) 540-4527

OC Fair Ed Straub (714) 536-4568

Drawing Cheri Durthaler (714) 936-9188

Webmaster John Cosmos (909) 393-4241

Nationwide = 94,811 (Total) 2009 = 2,972 OCWA = 12,174 (Total) = 12 1/2% of total 2009 = 1,547 = 58% We are gradually increasing our nationwide percentage of pens shipped to our men and women who are making the sacrifices for the safety of all of us here at home. I just shipped another 150 pens to the fourth deployed Camp Pendelton company and we now only have 250 more pens to make and that will complete the requests for the five deployed units. For the new members who would like to join our Freedom Pen Project please see me at the meetings or give me a call. If you need help making your 1st pen I can show you how this is done in a short time. I would like to share the most recent emails with all of you and this photo of our Special Forces in Africa who were thrilled to receive a box of our Freedom Pens. #1: Dear Ms Ingram: Hi, I just returned from an extended mission for 2 months back to base camp and am now in proud possession of one of your beautiful Free-dom pens. It was sent to us through the Soldiers Angels organization who have been our major supporters for our rotation here. I am the Moral and Welfare offi-cer for the Joint Special Operations unit here in Africa. We truly appreciate your support, generosity and gifts.

Thank you once again for your support and wonderful work. Many of us are ama-teur woodworkers and we can see the fine craftsmanship in the Freedom pens and are fortunate that you have donated this beautify piece of art to us. Sincerely , Mike

#2 Dear Ruthe: Thank you very much for writing back so quickly. The Freedom Pens are quite the gift and conversation piece. I used to surf at Huntington Beach when my cousin was a professional surfer there back in the good ole days and now everything has gotten so crowded and congested, I don't even recognize it and where one town stops and the other one starts. I live in San Mateo now just south of San Francisco so it isn't much better up there. As for the photos, it will be hard since our identities need to be protected, that is why I am the only liaison between our elite group and the rest of the angels. I have attached a photo of me jumping earlier this year from 12,000 feet chasing after the French Foreign Legion parachutists. I am head down in the sterile Navy tan BDUs. I will try to get more action photos of our guys you can show in your newsletter. Thanks again for all of your wonderful work and for the Freedom Pens. Cheers, Mike

I have ordered another 450 pens kits so please join us in making pens for our troops. Also, please re-member to be generous to the helmet as all of the pens kits are from donated funds. Last Friday I was invited to a retirement party for Sgt Major Barbara Titus and I wish you all could have been there with me as Sgt Major Titus thank me and wanted me to pass on her appreciation to all of you who are making pens and financially supporting our troops and how important our project is to our men and women serving our country. It was a very special moment for me! I have all of you to thank for so many of my special moments at Camp Pendelton. Thank you all so much for your continued support! Hugs, Ruthe

Freedom Pen Project Ruthe Ingram

Bahret Bill 30

Bilevich, Robert 10

Bonta, Charlie 159

Brinkley, Brodie 8

Foreman, Dick 20

Gibbs, Bob 100

Ingram, Ruthe 187

Lewellyn, Bruce 20

Musgrave, Len 30

Potter, Bruce 100

Rogers, Bill (LHSOC) 194

Rogers, Les 50

Smet,Ed 10

Tilson, David 10

Tillotson, Don 20

Whiton, Bob 10

Wilmont, Fred 10

OC Fair 2009 Ed Straub The entry forms have started arriving via the web at the Orange County Fair website http://www.ocfair.com/competitions for the Fine Art Woodworking competition. We don't have a land slide going yet, but my fingers are crossed. We need all of those three hundred entry forms in by May

20th at 5:00 PM. There were 186 entries in 2008. Our goal for 2009 is 300. We want to totally fill Building 15. Our plans for the demonstration booths will optimize their foot print to make the room necessary for 300 items. All items, including tables and chairs, are scheduled to be placed on risers or in the display cabinets the OCWA build team constructed last year in the Wine wall. There are 18, 2' by 4' closed and lighted red oak display cases built into a sixty foot red oak paneled wall. Small items and musical instruments are shown here so that they can not be handled. We will be adding more glass shelves to these cases for better displays of your entries. We have larger display cases available for larger entries.

Our first four entries are an Outdoor Rocking Chair, a Grizzly Bear, a Golden Eagle with an 8 foot wing span, and an intarsia Sunflower Welcoming sign. We will have room for 296 more entries. Remember that two Division Classes, one for Apprentice's Boxes and one for Master's Boxes, have been added this year. A key point to keep in mind is that "Apprentices compete with Apprentices" and "Masters compete with Masters". If you have not won a 1st prize in the Appren-tice category at the Orange County Fair's Fine Art Woodworking competition and you do not consider yourself to be a "Master" woodworker you should enter as an "Apprentice". Again, the last moment for submitting your entry forms and photographs is 5:00 PM Wednesday May 20th, 2009.

Don’t forget that Sunday, May 10’th is Mother’s Day!

Don’t forget Mom, without her you wouldn’t be here. Remember that Moms are very special people. Let’s take the time to show all the moms in your life (your mom, your wife, your sister, your daughters, your aunts, etc) how much you love them. Moms don’t always need much in the way of gifts but they do need to know that you love them and are thinking of them.

Sunday May 10th—Mother’s Day

A hands-on workshop was held in Dick Foreman’s shop on April 2-3, 2009. Those attending were Chet Brisco, Craig Chambers, Jerry Nin-inger and Dick Foreman with instructor Don Derry. Don is world re-nowned for his forms and use of color. The first day was spent discuss-ing and turning some of the basic forms; sphere, egg, pear, preg (pregnant pear) and a football. Don was fully prepared, wasted no time, and is an excellent instructor. None of us will forget his pet saying, “Where’s the high spot”. And five lathes running at a time can sure make lots of shavings. The second day was spent learning to hollow out a vessel, using basic forms, with Don’s methods and captured tools of his design. This also was an excellent demonstration and tutorial. We were able to partially turn and hollow out a vessel through a 7/8” hole to a 1/8” wall thickness from an 8” block of Sycamore on our first try. All of us were impressed enough to purchase the tools for future fun. These workshops are very informative and hands-on with a quality demonstrator is fantastic; try one! A special thanks to Marge Foreman for coffee, bagels, donuts, lunches, clean up and a great attitude.

Then on Saturday, Don put on a demonstration for a much larger group (around 40 attended). Again, he covered the basic shapes that we all need to master and gave us a great insight on how shape will separate a so-so piece

from a great piece. He also instructed us to always turn a little faster than we are accustomed to by “bumping up the speed” a little each time and taught us how the piece on the lathe always looks longer than it really is. Must be an optical conclusion, but that knowledge allows us to take it into account when developing the form of our piece. We will never look at a piece on the lathe again without asking, “Where’s the high spot (spot, area, region, etc).” Another trick is to always turn our weak side first because it is easier to match that when we get to our strong side and it helps us to develop our skills. As you develop your piece, always practice making the curve that you are working towards instead of just removing wood.

He then went into a demonstration of several hollowing techniques. Turn the top of the form first for stability and keep the foot around 1/3 of the major diameter as a basic rule. He showed us a better way to sharpen our shear scrapers to get a better finish and have them last longer. Drill your access hole a little shy of your finished dimension so that you can fine tune it later. Good shape and form are more impor-tant than size and slightly less than perfect is more interesting than per-fect. Learn to create a larger foot that still looks small by accelerating the curve which makes a larger shadow line.

He then finished the day on an in-depth discussion on finishing and coloring. You can see samples of his fantastic work in the picture. We learned that a project is usually 1/5 turning and 4/5 finishing, but form is still more im-portant than finish. If you are going to color your piece, use transparent/translucent dyes because they do not cover the grain. Otherwise, just use paint. Thanks, Don for a great day!

Don Derry Workshop

WHERE? Tustin Senior Center

200 S. C Street Tustin, CA 92680

WHEN?

Woodworker’s Meeting Thursday May 7th 7:00 pm

Woodturner’s Meeting

Thursday May 21st 6:30 pm

Board Meeting Thursday May 7th 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 Forrest Blades 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