Copyright 2019
Tidewater Woodworking GuildSite by LittleBizWebs.comPresident:Jim FrancisVice President: Scott FellTreasurer:Greg Guertin
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Welcome to a new year of woodworking |
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| Web Links | At the Meeting | Last Meeting Notes | Tip of the Month | Editors Notes |
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| Tips Product Reviews |
What's In The Newsletter
This is your newsletter and your input is greatly appreciated. If you have some ideas that you would like to see in your newsletter I am open to suggestions. These may include format, pictures, industry news, local happenings, etc. Your suggestions or thoughts can be sent to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Gary Stephens |
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The Holiday GatheringLooking back about 45 days ago the guild held its annual Christmas party at Logan’s Steak House in Norfolk, VA. Many thanks to all who came out and especially to Andy Steinberg for arranging the details. Photos of the event are shown.
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From the PresidentWelcome to January! Hope that you've got lots of woodworking excitement planned. For me it's a catch up year to complete way overdue projects. However, the wrinkle is that I'm already a month behind. Ah well, just like the shipyard! This month's program will be a nice smorgasbord of projects. Gary's going to kick off a gift box challenge, Ron Nixon's going to show/tell his recently completed Chippendale chair, and I'll do a short show/tell of a spice box with the discussion concentrating on fitting drawers. If you've recently completed a project, bring it in and join the discussion. We'll also get your desires for the February and March programs. Gary's taken over as newsletter editor, and needs your help by providing articles - short discussions on products, techniques and projects. Editorial support will gladly be provided, so join the fun. See you at the meeting, Jim Francis |
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2019 DuesIt’s time to pay the piper for 2019. The annual dues fee of $20.00 is due starting at the January meeting and must be paid by the 4th Monday of February to keep your status marked as “Active”. |
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Upcoming Trade ShowsInterested in a trade show in our area? There are two show coming up in our region at the beginning of February and the end of March. If you are interested in building your own log cabin consider the Log & Timber Show in Pittsburgh, PA. It’s February 8 - 10, 2019. You can meet leading log and timber frame home manufacturers and dealers, expand your knowledge about the home-building process and attend seminars and demonstrations focused on your needs and interests. For more information click on the link http://www.thelogandtimbershow.com/events/895/. The Woodworking Shows are coming to the Dulles Convention center from March 22 – 24, 2019. This 3 day event is worth attending. There are 3 days of various seminars, both free and paid plus about 50 exhibitors with various products to sell and demonstrate. For more information click on the link http://www.thewoodworkingshows.com/chantilly.html.
Further down the line this summer is the American Association of Woodturners in Raleigh, NC. This show, for the turners in the guild, will be held July 11 – 14, 2019 in the Raleigh Convention Center. For more information click on the link https://www.woodturner.org/page/2019RaleighMain. |
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Product Review - Rust Oleum FLEXiDIP I came across this product while during my medical rehab last summer and had to get a can of it when I got out. My problem in my shop is that I am always pulling my shop vac and cyclone separator around by the vac hose and it always pulls out of the vac at the most inopportune time. Enter Rust-Oleum Flexidip. This is a spray can of a removable rubber coating that I sprayed on the ends of the vac hoses to keep them from pulling out when I am exerting too much pull on the vac hose. It works a lot better than tape and when you have decided that you no longer want it on the hose it can be rubbed off. One suggestion when using this product for this application is to cover the area you do not want spray painted with a plastic bag. Other than that it is a great product for this application. |
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Industry News I don’t know if you have been following the recent industry news of the Stanley – Black & Decker Corporation buying up rights to the Sears Craftsman brand or not but it could have many consequences to owners of Craftsman tools. I was going to start this industry news with the history of The Stanley Tool Corporation and a lot of great tools that they have produced over the years such as their fabled hand planes. Later on in history Stanley Tools purchased the Black & Decker Company to become a big behemoth in the tool industry. In early 2017 Stanley - Black & Decker purchased the Craftsman brand from Sears Holdings Corporation for a value of approximately $900 million in cash. This gave Stanley - Black & Decker the right to develop, manufacture and sell Craftsman branded products outside the Sears Holdings and Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores distribution channels. A lot has happened to the Sears branded Craftsman tools in 2018. On October 15, 2018 Sears filed for bankruptcy and closed 142 stores by the end of the 2018. Currently the only Sears store open in this area is in Newport News. Sears is still in trouble and could liquidate all of their stores as of this writing. So what does this mean for us woodworkers? It depends on your CRAFTSMAN warranty for your hand tools and for a lot of us, battery packs for our drills, shop vacs and other devices. This is where it gets confusing. During the Christmas holidays I went over to the local Lowes store because Lowes, through Stanley – Black & Decker, has bought heavily into selling the CRAFTSMAN line of products. I had some CRAFTSMAN screwdrivers that were getting old and needing replacement. What I discovered was that the CRAFTSMAN screwdriver sold by Sears did not look like the CRAFTSMAN screwdriver from Lowes. While they both carry the CRAFTSMAN label, one is manufactured by Sears Holdings and the other by Stanley – Black & Decker. According to Stanley – Black & Decker they are going to continue the lifetime warranty on most of the hand tools carrying the CRAFTSMAN label. I then asked the sales associate at Lowes about the warranty exchange he told me that he was aware of the agreement about the lifetime warranty but Lowes had not worked out the details of how it is to happen. I also discovered while looking at their battery powered drills their battery packs were not the same as the ones that I have in my shop even though both are labeled CRAFTSMAN. So where do you go from here if you have an investment in CRAFTSMAN tools that you purchased through Sears? If you need a 19.2 volt battery pack for your drill you can currently get them from Amazon.com. You should also be able to get them from Sears Hometown stores via e-mail shopping but I have found that they do not want to ship any to our local zip codes. Kmart may also have the battery packs but I have not visited their store to confirm if this is possible. If Sears liquidates then Kmart is also shut down. Sears owned the shop vac business and sold more than all of the other manufactured shop vacs combined. If you need a replacement filter for a CRAFTSMAN shop vac you are in luck. I find the CRAFTSMAN shop vac filters are available from Amazon.com, Kmart, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes and hardware stores that carry Stanley – Black and Decker product line. More on this story in the February issue. |
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Gift Box Challenge Remember the 6-Pack Challenge from last year? We have come up with a new challenge for 2019 called the “Wooden Gift Box Challenge”. Kreg Tool publishes gift ideas like this wooden gift box and others under their banner www.buildsomething.com. These wooden gift boxes are easy to build and your newsletter editor ended up making 6 of them as Christmas gifts. The challenge for this contest will be on creativity of using different woods to enhance the wooden box. Details of the challenge will be provided at the January meeting but if you are interested in looking ahead at the plans and construction please click this link.
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