What's In The Newsletter?

• Presidents Report
• Building A Sam Maloof Rocking Chair Part III
• 2022 Elections
• Community Project - Marriage Crosses
• Vendor Discounts
• Guild Projects
• This Month's Program

Presidents Report ...

Three years ago I was fortunate to be voted into the position of president for our guild.  I gladly accepted this honor and started my tenure with aspirations of continuing what had been set as a standard by the previous presidents.  But little did I know that a thing called COVID would change our world and affect how we would function as a guild.  At least for a period of time.  Thanks to the members who could connect us through the Internet, we could stay in touch. We did emerge from this strange time and came back strong.  Our members returned to in-person meetings and actually increased in membership. Our guild remains a strong and beneficial organization that is comprised of extremely skilled and talented woodworkers.  

As a final note, I want to thank everyone for what they have done to keep us the premier woodworking group in the area.  Take care and always keep it with the grain!

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Fran Foster

President TWWWG

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Building A Sam Maloof Rocking Chair Part III

Sorry I missed last month’s newsletter.  It got put out before I knew it.  Anyway, progress has been made, but a bit slower than I would have liked as I did get a little distracted.  My wife’s birthday is this month and I had a project that I had to finish first.   Just to show you what I was working on, below is a picture of a garden arbor I built for my wife’s birthday.  This was something she saw while at a garden show we attended on Mackinac Island, MI back in August.  I made it out of cedar which I have to tell you was extremely expensive.  Even with the 10% discount we get from Yukon, the wood was over $100.

Garden Arbor I Built For My Wife's Birthday

OK, enough about that…so where are we with the rocker?  Well below is a picture of where I am at.  Still a lot of shaping going on, particularly where the legs join the seat and arms.  Still got quite a ways to go.  But I am taking it a bit slow as it is easier to take wood off then to add back.

Chair Assembly To Date

As you can see, I have the legs attached (temporarily).  You may recall I had trouble getting the rear legs attached as the humidity had swollen what was already a tight joint even tighter to the point that I couldn’t get them attached.  But now we are back in business. 

As you can see I still have work to do in blending the rear legs to the arms and seat.  I am pretty much done with the front leg transitions between the seat and arms.  May need a little more refinement, but the shaping is pretty much done here.

In the next picture I want you to notice how the rear legs tend to splay out slightly towards the top.  When Sam made his rocker he incorporated a 5 degree angle or splay in the rear legs.  He did this by having custom router bits made which incorporated this 5 degree angle in them.  Though I used basically the same joint, which is basically a bridle joint, I don’t have custom made router bits with a 5 degree angle.  So to compensate for this an adder block was added at the point where the rear leg attaches to the seat.  This adder block is cut with a 5 degree taper so as to mimic the 5 degree angle Maloof used when cutting the joint.  So this is one difference between this version and his.

Rear Legs Splay Out 5 Degrees From Bottom To Top

Here is where the adder block is on the rear legs which has partially been shaped into the seat.  Below is a close up the adder blocks before attaching to the seat.

Adder Block Addition - Bottom Part Where Seat Fits

While I continue to work on shaping the legs and their transition to the seat and arms, there is still quite the list of things that I still need to work on before I can do a full assembly.

I need to work on shaping the head rest.  In order for me to finish the spindles, I need the headrest in place so I can fit the spindles to their respective holes in the headrest and seat.  The bottom of the spindles are pretty much done being shaped and the tenon cut to fit into the seat.  However, the top section of the spindles is unfinished, meaning they need shaping and a tenon cut on the top end to fit into the headrest holes.

At this point it will look like a chair and we will move forward with the sleds.  For me, I think this will be the most challenging part of the build.  But we still have a ways to go.  See you next month.

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2022 Elections          

Elections for the new slate of officers for the Tide Water Wood Workers Guild will happen in November.  As required in the TWWWG By-Laws, a list of candidates for the 2023 year must be published.  Jim Francis and Bret Lancaster have been working hard on getting volunteers to lead the guild in the next year.  Below is the list of candidates that they have put forward for 2023.  Nominations will also be accepted from the floor.

Ballots will be available for voting at the November meeting.  For those of you that are paid members but will not be able to make the meeting I will do an e-mail blast later this week with the attached ballot.  Fill it out and send Fran an e-mail with the attached ballot.  Fran will tabulate the remote votes for the guild.  His e-mail address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2023 TWWWG Candidates

Greg Guertin – President

I am retired from Norfolk Naval Shipyard where I worked in the Engineering and Planning Department for 37-1/2 years. I have enjoyed woodworking for longer than I can remember. My father introduced me the joys of woodworking as a very young apprentice. I have been a member of the TWWWG since about August 2014. I was elected treasurer in November 2016 and later that year around August I was asked to take over duties of membership director as well. In 2019 I was elected Vice President and has been a wonderful ride to serve the membership.  It was probably the most fulfilling endeavor job to be able find the speakers we had come in and talk to us and share their knowledge. Some of those speakers include Jeff Lefkowitz from Strasburg, VA and most recently Ray Journigan of Virginia Beach.  I recommend all try it. With my background and experience I want to be your next President under one condition and that is you the members tell me what you want from the Guild and my team and I will work to make it happen.

Terry Nienaber – President

Terry Nienaber has been working with wood for the past 40 years, starting at the age of nine with his father, making crafts and furniture with simple power tools on their farm in Nebraska.  Terry’s home workshop, which is dubbed by his family and friends as the “Nienaverse,” has a full range of wood and metal working equipment.  In addition to working with tools, Terry enjoys understanding how the tools are made, and takes on repairs, upgrades, and custom jigs with enthusiasm.  His latest addition to his shop includes a 36” x 70” CNC router, which he converted from an industrial photo mat cutter sold in a surplus equipment shop.  He’s been a TWWWG member since 2017 and recently joined the Tidewater Turners of Virginia club.  During the pandemic, Terry helped the guild stand up the capability to conduct virtual meetings that continues to allow members to stay engaged when they can’t be at meetings in person.  He volunteers as a mentor in high school robotics programs and other science and technology outreach programs.  At work and in the shop, he is a strong advocate for mentorship and lesson-sharing between practitioners.  He has a policy of trying something new and learning something on every piece he makes.

Chris Zuchristian – Vice President

I was born and raised in Illinois. Graduated Barrington High School in 1985.  I joined the Marine Corps reserves in 1987, commissioned in 1991, and retired in 1 Sept 2010.  My Wife Wendy, our three children and I moved to Virginia Beach in Sept 2010 and I started working at Marine Forces Command in Norfolk.  I am currently a regional planner for Marine Forces North.  I have an MBA from the Naval Postgraduate School. 

I got interested in woodworking about 16 years ago when I started building shadow boxes for people retiring from the Marine Corps and civil service.  Since than I have expanded into all aspects of woodworking except turning.  I have recently added CNC to my collection of woodworking tools.  I joined the TWWWG to learn from more experienced woodworkers and to meet people with similar interests as myself.    I have been filling the Treasurer position for the last three years and a member of the program committee for the last 15 months.  If elected, I will continue my efforts to plan a first rate program for the members of the Guild.

Cheryl Davis – Treasurer

-NAPW: President of the National Association of Professional Women for 4 years (2011-2015) as well as the recording secretary and treasurer the first year while starting up the chapter.

-NCMA: Naval Civilian Managers Association Recording Secretary 2012 - 2014

-WNAC: President of the Tidewater District Women Active for Christ-2018 to present, Treasurer 2016-2018 and then Mission and Prayer chair 2014 - 2016.

-WAC: Vice President for the Virginia State Women Active for Christ 2018 to 2022 and Mission and prayer chair 2016 - 2018.

Oceanair Elementary School: PTA Treasurer 1979/80

I have a bachelor’s degree in business leadership development, served 31 years in the federal government in the fields of electrician, information technology development, test and deployment, nuclear engineering and six sigma process expert for the Navy ship industry and Marine Corps. Post retirement I taught GED prep and now teach upper elementary math.

John Tirey – Secretary

John retired from the Navy in January 1977 and joined Allied Towing in Norfolk, VA.  Allied Towing is a sea going tug and barge company.  He retired from there in July 2004 after 27 and a half years. He is serving as book keeper for two nonprofit organizations.  His hobbies are woodworking, golf and enjoying this grand-kids and one great grandson.  He really enjoys the entire group of Tidewater Woodworkers Guild and is looking forward to serving as your secretary for 2023.

Community Project - Marriage Crosses

Guild members have teamed up with the Marriage Center in Chesapeake to build crosses.  The Marriage Center mission is to: “The mission of the Marriage Center is to partner with Christian couples and the Church to provide Christian marital and premarital counseling in accordance with sound biblical principles and integrate these principles with evidence-based techniques.  The guild was asked to make about 50 of these small crosses measuring about 3 ½” x 5” and possibly engrave their logo on the cross.

As of press time many guild members including Terry Nienaber, Chris Zuchristian, Harlen Capen, Bob Smith and more had completed more than 120 crosses with their logo CNC engraved on Terry’s CNC machine!  What a fine gift from the guild to the center.

Crosses Made By Various Members Of The Guild

CNC Engraving Machine

 Gary

Vendor Discounts

Greg has been actively looking for vendors that will provide a discount to guild members for various supplies.  A basic listing of the vendor will be published in each months newsletter.  To keep this from getting too complicated for this newsletter the list will only contain the most basic information on the vendors.  To get to the real meat of the vendor discounts you will have to go to the TWWWG web site www.twwwg.com and click on the tab marked "Member Information".  Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Previous icon.  Once on the second page click on the previous link one more time.  This should take you to the article called TWWWG Vendor Discounts.

• Lowes of Norfolk
• Lowes of Portsmouth
• Lowes of West Chesapeake
• Costal Hardware Inc.
• Wurth Wood Group
• Sure Set Saw
• Yukon Lumber 

Guild Projects

Our first project comes from Terry Nienaber displaying his fender bar collection.

I'm getting around to writing something up to show a couple items I've made for a friend.  This is the first piece, which was actually done about 4 years ago from the oak slabs we cut up in around 2016.  This fall, I delivered a similar, but more involved complement to this piece.  Terry will provide a detailed write up of his second fender bar in the January 2023 newsletter.  

Terry's First Fender Bar (Left) And His Second Fender Bar (Right)

Our next project comes from Don Krum and his Moby Dick carving lesson.

I recently finished carving a sperm whale, Moby Dick. I took a 3D carving class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, IN a year ago. What was neat about doing this is that it started by chain sawing a billet for carving right out of a green basswood log. 

Any kind of carving has always been hard to wrap my head around. I had some dimensions from a book that got me started. I was amazed as it took shape. The whole thing is out of one piece of wood, meaning the fins and fluke were not glued on or reattached. I was surprised they did not break off while carving! I did eventually cut away the lower jaw to add teeth. Carving green wood made it a lot easier to carve. I am really pleased with the finished product which is 24” long.

Rough Cut View Of Moby Dick After Chain Saw (Left)   Dan Rough Carving Moby Dick (Right)

Moby Dick In Various Stages Of Creation

Moby Dick, Finished Project.  Note Detail Of The Teeth In The Photo On The Left

Our last project comes from Scott Fell.

Here is a box I made as a wedding present for my brother.  It is made of bird’s eye maple.  The carving is basswood.  It is a Celtic Knot in a heart pattern.  I cut a veneer of BE maple for the visible underside of the lid.   

I made a aniline dye stain of 25% 8 parts yellow : 1 part red.  I used the stain on the box.  I took the same stain mixed with umber Mixol Tint for the basswood carving to match the rest of the box.  I sprayed 2-3 coats of shellac on the box afterwards. 

Scott's Bird's Eye Maple Box Given As Wedding Present

Interior View Of The Bird's Eye Maple Wedding Box

This Month's Program

As a follow-up to Ray Journigan's October's presentation, this month's program will focus on chopping mortises and cutting tenons.  Note:  This will be both demonstration and hands-on training.   So if you have the tools (marking gauges, saws, chisels, mallets) associated with these tasks, feel free to bring them.  These are very important tasks to master.   If you understand the process and feel comfortable performing these tasks,  all other hand and machine work will benefit.  For questions before the meeting, feel free to contact Brett or Jim.

Jim Francis