Upcoming Schedule

May 21: Turning, demonstrations with Devon Thibeault at his shop in Medford.

June 4 and 5: Plane making with Peter Wilcox in Boylston.

June 18: Annual meeting and Guild elections along with another topic to be determined at Chris Kovacs’ shop in Groton.

Guild Survey

This past week, I met with the executive committee at Steve Olesin’s house in Acton. Steve has been nominated by the committee to be the next President of the Guild. At this meeting we discussed the future direction of the Guild and I am pleased to say that it will be an exciting year to come. Steve has many great ideas for the Guild and I am pleased that someone passionate about the Guild is taking over. I do not want to go into details now except to say that we all felt the first step was to send out a survey to the members. It is important to fill out the survey and get it back to Steve as soon as possible. I hope there is a very high response rate and really need your input to help guide the future of the Guild. Steve will present the results of the survey at either the May 21 meeting or the June 18 meeting.

I would also like to announce the other nominations:

Vice President- Bill Karp

Secretary- Peter Wilcox

Treasurer- Frank Woolley

If you would like to be a part of the Guild leadership, please take the time to talk with Steve Olesin. In addition to the officer positions, there are two appointed positions on the executive committee. This is just one of many opportunities you will have to volunteer for the Guild.

-Chris Kovacs

Next meeting

On Saturday May 21 at 9:00 am, Devon Thibeault will be hosting a meeting at his shop in Medford. Devon is a member of the Association of Revolutionary Turners and will be giving a demonstration at his lathe. For those not familiar with turning, Devon will cover topics ranging from wood selection, tools, and techniques and finishing on the lathe. Please bring along your turning questions and your safety glasses since there will be shavings flying.

Directions to Devon’s shop:

574 Boston Ave.

Medford, MA

(617)-308-3241

From the south:

Take I93 north to exit 29 (Rt. 38 & 28). At the end of the ramp, go straight and merge with Mystic Park Ave. Go straight for three lights. Just before the third light, there will be a Dunkin’ Donuts on the right. Turn left at the light.

Go straight through two lights. You will pass under a railroad bridge (this time it really is there). Just after the bridge and before the third light, turn right into the parking lot. My shop is on the first floor towards the end of the hall.

From the north:

Take I93 south to exit 31 (Rt. 16). Merge to the right and take a right at the end of the ramp at the light.

Get into the center lane and go straight through three lights. You will pass under a railroad bridge (this time it really is there). Just after the bridge and before the fourth light, turn right into the parking lot. My shop is on the first floor towards the end of the hall.

From the Boston area:

It’s easiest to follow the directions “From the south.”

Plane Making Workshop

Once again we are please to have Peter Wilcox run a plane making workshop on June 4 and 5. Peter did this same workshop last year and the response was excellent. Everyone enjoyed learning how to make a plane and several of us left Peter’s with a fully functioning plane. These planes are not only good looking they work very well. I for one have a Lie Nielsen #4 gathering dust on my shelf because I much prefer to use a plane that I made. It not only works just as well as a Lie Nielsen, but gives me a great deal of satisfaction knowing that I made this tool.

If you would like to make a plane this year, please sign up soon. There will be space for only six participants in this two-day workshop. The cost is $75 and includes the plane iron and jatoba wood for the plane body. The workshop will run from about 9am to 3pm each day. Please bring your lunch.

Sign up by sending an email to Chris Kovacs (cdkovacs@charter.net) or calling me at 978-448-2567. If you have specific questions about the workshop you can call Peter at 508-869-6180.

Annual Elections

At the June 18 meeting we will hold our annual elections. This usually takes place at the September meeting, but the executive committee has decided to move the elections to June in order to give the next President a couple of months to plan for the following year. In order to actually move the elections, we will have to have a two-thirds vote by the members present at the June 18 meeting. Assuming we have the needed votes, the President, vice president, secretary and treasurer will be elected. We will also spend part of the meeting in a general discussion about the future direction of the Guild. I will have some wood related demonstration planned as well. Please make this meeting a priority and I look forward to seeing everyone there. This will be the last meeting I will host as the President of the Guild and it will be at my shop in Groton. Directions will be sent out in early June.

Outdoor woods

Well, it is that time of year. Spring is upon us and I am sure many of you are thinking of taking your woodworking out of doors either building a new deck or furniture for your decks and patios. When it comes to outdoor furniture, there are many circumstances that must be addressed that are not important with in door furniture. The sun and rain are only two of the many obstacles to making long lasting outdoor furnishings. Decisions about wood selection, fasteners, adhesives and design must take the weather into consideration.

Let’s start with the wood. The easiest to get and least expensive material is pressure treated pine. The downside of PT lumber is that it really doesn’t hold up well in the long term. Splintering and cracking are two problems with pressure treated material. Although PT lumber no longer contains arsenic, there is a high copper content which increases the corrosive nature of the material putting all but stainless steel fasteners at risk. It is also heavy, wet and often full of knots.

When it comes to outdoor furniture, teak (Tectona grandis) is by far the leader in looks, rot resistances and stability. It is very expensive, but considering your time investment, teak may be a good choice. Much less expensive are woods such as Spanish cedar (Cedrela spp.), cypress (Taxodium distichum) and Meranti (Shorea spp.).

Cypress is in the same family as redwood with similar decay resistant properties. Cypress is readily available whereas redwood is difficult to come by in the Northeast. Spanish cedar has a very strong, almost noxious odor, and is most well known for its use in cigar humidors. It is not actually a cedar; rather a member of the mahogany family giving is great out door properties. Like cypress, Spanish cedar is very soft and dents easily. They are both lightweight, easy to mill and take stain well. Meranti is commonly sold as decking material and often mislabeled as mahogany. Meranti is a member of the family Dipterocarpacea and includes the wood lauan found as door skin. Meraniti is often used as the core material for hardwood plywood. It does have very good exterior properties but should not be confused with mahogany. Meraniti is very hard and makes good decking and because most lumber yards stock it, it is readily available in many different dimensions.

Other excellent choices for out door woods are white oak, western redcedar, redwood, and mahogany. The latest newcomer to the market place is ipe. Ipe is very dense, hard and difficult to mill. Commonly sold as decking, it usually carries a 50-year warranty. Ipe originally made its mark as the wood of choice for dock pilings because of its rot resistance. Ipe does tend to check and probably is not the best choice for furniture but makes great decking. Because of its hardness, all fasteners must be predrilled and stain does not penetrate and adhere well.

Outdoor furniture is often made with simpler joinery than is common in fine furniture however, there is no reason not to use mortise and tenons and dovetails. Butt joints and screws are often found in outdoor furniture. I recommend using stainless steel fasteners. Even galvanized fasteners can corrode over time. The added expense of stainless steel is well worth it. When possible, I will predrill and plug all screw holes. Be sure to choose appropriate fasteners for the hardness of the material you are using. Softer woods, cypress and redcedar for instance, require coarse screw threads while mahogany and white oak need fine threads. I have found that ipe is so hard, that screws have difficulty cutting threads and often strip out the hole. If you are using brads or other nails, make sure they are stainless steel. With galvanized brads, the impact of the hammer or the piston on the nail can damage the galvanized coating leading to rust stains; never a pretty sight on an otherwise nice piece of deck furniture. Unless you are counter sinking and plugging screw and nail holes, try to leave the fastener flush with the surface of the wood. On horizontal surfaces, any depressions left by screws and nails will hold water increasing the chance of water damage to the surrounding wood.

When it comes to adhesives, I prefer epoxy. It is the clear choice in the marine industry and is worth using in your outdoor furniture. Clean up any epoxy quickly with acetone or wait till it hardens and sand, scrape or chisel it off. On table legs and chair legs, I coat the bottoms of the leg with epoxy. This prevents the end grain from absorbing water and keeps the leg from getting damaged if the chair is slid across a deck for instance. Polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue) is another excellent outdoor choice. It bonds almost any two materials together and has excellent water and UV resistance.

There are several design considerations as well. For table tops, gluing up boards and expecting them to stay flat is a disaster waiting to happen. Water sitting on the surface will cause the top to warp as will the constant heat of the sun. Slats are best for tabletops. Also, I have found miters to be difficult in outdoor furniture. There are constant changes in humidity and the wood is always moving. Keeping a miter closed is very difficult. To help shed water, any horizontal surface should be sloped ever so slightly. This will keep water from pooling on the surface.

Finishing outdoor furniture is in many ways much easier than indoor furniture. Since polyurethane does not stand up to the elements, most out door furniture is either stained with a deck stain or left natural to age gracefully. If you stain, find a brand that has UV blockers such as Cabot Timber Oil or Sikkens Cetol stain. I have had good luck with both of these finishes. Regardless, reapplying stain yearly is almost a requirement with any product. If this maintenance is not for you, letting nature and the sun take its toll may be best. Most woods turn silver gray with time and if you have selected a species highly resistant to water damage you can expect to enjoy your outdoor furniture for years to come. Here is where teak earns its keep. It is very expensive up front, but has virtually no up keep requirements.

Good luck with your outdoor projects and remember to bring them indoors or store them in a sheltered place during the winter months. Limiting the amount of sun and rain will go a long way to protecting your stain and increasing the longevity of you project.

-Chris Kovacs