Eastern Massachusetts Guild of Woodworkers

Eastern Massachussetts Guild of Woodworkers

Upcoming Guild Events

Annual Guild Social Meeting: News, Election, Show & Tell, Lunch: Please Register by June 10

June 14, 2025 10:00 AM • Tim Holiner’s home in Dover (address will be provided in registration confirmation email)

September Guild Meeting - Matt Wajda on Shaping Parts for Traditional Chair Making

September 13, 2025 9:00 AM • Lowell Makes, Lowell MA and virtual on Zoom

May 10 EMGW Auction

The annual EMGW auction hit an historic level at the May10 meeting. The camaraderie and entertaining aspect were just as enjoyable as in the past, but the gross amount, as per our stand-in account manager Don Cole, collected from about 30 bidders reached a new all-time high. The fundraiser reaped a gross amount of $2022, which included $27 in donations. Along with Don, thanks go to the folks who set up the event and Tom Shirley, Dan Sichel, Don Frye, Ken Zoller, and auctioneer Jim Tartaglia.

EMGW Tours and Field Trips

The June 5, 2025 guided tour at Reader’s Hardwood Supply, 250 Cape Hwy Unit 9, East Taunton, MA 02718 has been completed. Navigate to or hover over the ABOUT US tab, where you will find the dropdown list item Tours & Field Trips. It's a new feature to document the guild's recent tours and field trips.

Upcoming Non-Guild Events

Sept 12 Cutting Out Cancer Fundraiser for Woodworkers -- Register by May 31

March 31, 2025 • Anheuser-Busch Biergarten. 221 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, NH

North Bennet St School Annual Exhibition "Meaningful Work"

May 02, 2025 • NBSS 150 North Street, Boston MA 02109

Map of Member Locations

For in-person meetings, the possibility to carpool to monthly and FIG meetings, and other group gatherings may be of use to you. Tom Shirley has updated the Member Map as of December, 2024 that displays members' locations on a Google map. This is private information, so to access the map you must be logged in. To interact with the map, simply click the map above. You can also click Member Map from the Member Map dropdown list. Once there you can pan, zoom in and out, and click a pin to see the member's name and location.

TWIG Has Its Own Archive - New

With the popular TWIG meetings being recorded on Zoom, the guild will archive selected sessions on this website as a member-only feature. Wyatt Mills, who has has taken on the video editing work from Mike Roughan, and Vincent Valvo (website and internet connectivity) have teamed up to make them available under the GUILD VIDEO LIBRARY tab on the HOME page. Navigate the website to GUILD VIDEO LIBRARY to see the addition. There are three recent TWIG sessions available:

The February session on Cutting Rabbets Using Various Planes (Skewed, fillister, block, Stanley 78, shoulder, and others)
The March session is a Show and Tell of attendees' newest hand tools.
The April session is unavailable.
The May session covers Hand Plane Restoration and Tuning

Election of EMGW Board of Directors 2025-2026

As per Jeff Clunie, Chairman of the EMGW Nomination Committee, the results of the nomination period for the 2025 - 2026 program year are stated below.

Pursuant to the by-laws of the Guild, the Nominating Committee has performed the requirements for conducting a nomination process for the four offices to be voted on by all active members of the Guild. The nomination process was officially closed on May 20, 2025 and the following individuals were nominated for the offices to be filled:

For President:

Robert Carver, Incumbent, Program Committee, Measure Twice, Cut Once writer, Feature Piece of the Month contributor

For Vice President:

Andrew Davis, Incumbent, Bevel Cut writer, Feature Piece of the Month contributor, Guidebook for Novices

For Secretary:

Tom Shirley, Incumbent, Co-Website Admin, Feature Piece of the Month contributor

For Treasurer:

John LeJeune, Incumbent, Program Committee

The election will be conducted at the next Guild meeting scheduled for June 14, 2025. In order to cast a vote, a Guild member must be in attendance at the June 14, 2025 meeting. The results of the election will be announced at said meeting and posted on the EMGW website.

Slideshow of Recent Monthly Meetings with Presentation

Tour of Reader Harwood
Reader Hardwood Supply
East Taunton MA
June 5, 2025

Credits Tom Shirley

2025 EMGW Auction
Hosted by Needham Furniture Makers
Featuring Auctioneer Jim Tartaglia
May 12, 2025

Credits Tom Shirley

Kerfs and Tambours

Mickey Callahan

April 12, 2025

Credits Tom Shirley

Bevel Cut

Cuttong Boards

by Andrew Davis

Perhaps the title should be Unusual Cutting Boards. Andrew takes you on ride showing some of his wild cutting boards. The article is not a how-to make, for example, an end grain chaos cutting board. You can find that on YouTube. Instead, Andrew provides lots of advice for you to better prepare for making your own cutting board.

An advantage for Andrew making several cutting boards is using his scrap cuts. I have a wood fired pizza oven which is fired by my hardwood scraps. But reading this article I'm inclined to reserve a pile for my own chaos cutting board.

Check out Cutting Boards and your pile of scraps.

Andrew welcomes your feedback.

Measure Twice, Cut Once - Wisdom From the Shop

Maintain Your Equipment

by Rob Carver

We woodworkers view efficiency as an important attribute when performing the tasks to design and build the pieces we strive to produce. In the workshop we would like sharp blades, clear workbenches, sufficient drawer space, helpful jigs and fixtures, doing work right the first time, proper ventilation and lighting. We appreciate top performance of our tools and logical work space. It all takes care. How about yourself? Read Maintain Your Equipment.

You can reach Rob by clicking Rob Carver.

Cape Cod Subgroup

Six of the eleven members of EMGW's Cape Cod subgroup met July 25 2024 at the home/workshop of Josh Shapiro in Chatham. We got a tour of Josh’s well-equipped shop which he assembled over the past 8 months, starting with an empty room. Josh buys used equipment exclusively and shared with the group his tips for buying equipment on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and other venues. Contact Andrew if you are in or near the Cape Cod area. - Andrew Davis

Pictured from left to right are Steven Contin, Walter Henry, Andrew Davis, Josh Shapiro, Mike Walter, Rob Aronson.

Featured Piece of the Month

The Clock

by James Goodwin

James Goodwin is on woodworking fire. This is James' third Feature Piece since January 2024. James writes a terrific approach to building his self-designed clock. But on the way if you don't succeed at first, try again. And James' rework of the design was the key to moving forward. Still, not out of the woods, some scary cuts had to be made and tricky positioning was required to ensure the clock mechanism was aligned properly.

The Clock reads like a recipe down to the grit of the sandpaper. There are some ups and downs but as you can see from the picture, James did a masterful job.

Click James Goodwin to send your comments.

We are always looking to fill the Featured Piece queue. Please consider submitting an article. Remember this column is not necessarily dedicated to furniture pieces. Tools, jigs, processes, and other woodworking related themes are also relevant.

The Woodworkers' Bookshelf

Book Review: Early American Furniture Makers, a Social and Biographical Study by Thomas Ormsbee, 1936

Book Review by Dan Sichel

June 2025

Before discussing a short review this month, Dan raises a challenge to members. No one has yet sent in a short review of a woodworking resource they found useful in print or online. The hope is that this space in the newsletter becomes a place where we can share cool woodworking resources we find that would be useful for other Guild members. Short—as in a paragraph—contributions would be welcome. So, a dare is extended to Guild member to be the first to submit a brief review or comment on something interesting you’ve seen! It's easy to submit – just email Dan Sichel.

Take a look at Dan's brief review of Early American Furniture Makers, a Social and Biographical Study by Thomas Ormsbee. This may interest you to download a free copy of the book, which covers America's early furniture and clock makers, You will find a stockpile of amusing revelations and curious facts about the makers, some you will be surprised to find, and their woodworking times.

Mentoring in EMGW

Mentoring in the Guild takes many forms. Everything from a brief conversation or email on a particular technique to a full-blown cooperative effort to build an entire piece. Most mentoring occurs informally among members. However, the Mentor Program provides an easy way, especially for new members, to get involved in mentoring. Members listed on the Mentor Program page of this website have expressed a willingness to help other members in a variety of ways.

To read more about the Mentor Program, click here or navigate to About Us then Mentor Program. To see the list of Mentor members with their interests and contact information, click here or navigate to Members then Mentors.

Starting out in Woodworking? EMGW Members Compiled a Guidebook for You

Considering getting into woodworking? A team of members of EMGW has written a guidebook targeted for new woodworkers and a refresher for other woodworkers.

The guidebook is complimentary. It can be viewed and downloaded for your reading pleasure. We hope that reading the guidebook will engender interest in woodworking and membership in our guild. Click here for a priceless copy.

Considerable work has already gone into renewing older and securing new discounts from various sources. To review the list on the website you must first login then click Members and then Special Membership Discounts.