March 2011 Guild Meeting hosted by Tim Carney

Our March Guild meeting will be hosted by Tim Carney on Monday, March 7th at Helena Hardwoods. Our meetings begin at 5:30 and usually go til about 8 pm or 8:30.

Tim is providing grilled gourmet sausages with buns and all the fixins. Bring a side dish, salad or beverage if you'd like.

Tim has arranged for a special guest, professional photographer, Tom Ferris, to present the program on Monday night. Tom works for the state as a photographer. He also has his own photography business. He has graciously helped Tim decide on the type of studio photography equipment to purchase for the Helena Woodworkers Guild. This equipment will be kept in Dave's office at Helena Hardwoods so it is available to any Guild member to use during Dave's working hours.

Tom will give us beginners some pointers on how to photograph our woodworking with the Guild's new lighting kit and backdrop. Bring your cameras if you'd like him to tell you how to use your particular type of camera for your furniture or small item photography.

We'll use a table from Chris, and some of the chairs made by local woodworkers that Dave has in his office, as example pieces for the demonstration.

Hope to see you there!

Here is a map to Helena Hardwoods. It's on the North side of Highway 12, about 1/2 mile east of Walmart.

January Guild Meeting

Our January Guild Meeting will be hosted by Dan McCardle at his shop.

Dan hasn't totally decided what specifically to share with us, but he will have one of his carved beds under construction (see photo left.) He says, "Bring your carving questions or projects and we can talk carving. Maybe I'll dust off some of my motorized carving tools in case anyone is curious and wants to try them out."

As usual, our host will provide a hot main dish and a salad. Members are welcome to bring sides and beverages.

Directions to Dan's shop: (click the link, left, for a Google Map)

The address is 626 Monroe Ave, between Gilbert and Power. Head west up Gilbert St. about 5 blocks past Dearborn, Madison, Harrison...then make a left on Monroe. Dan's house is yellow, 2nd on the right. Park on Monroe. Walk down the alley next to his house. His shop is around back. Its a cedar shingled garage.

Dan will try to get some sand on the alley so nobody hurts themselves.

March Guild Meeting: Top Secret Horizontal Router Setup

Our March meeting will be hosted by Chris Yahvah (those are photos of his shop, left.) The meeting will be at 5:30 pm on Monday March 1st.

Chris will share his knowledge of the horizontal router and his top secret and much used router setup.

Guild members, please note, Chris Yahvah has a new email address: cyahvah(at)gmail(dot)com

MEETING DETAILS:

Date: Monday, March 1, 2010

Time: 5:30 pm til or 8 or 8:30 pm

Place: 6153 Lazyman Gulch at Chris Yahvah Cabinets

Food: Chris will provide a spaghetti main dish. Members, please bring a side dish and something to drink.

Directions: To get there take Highway 12 heading west out of town, take a left at Colorado Gulch (to the south), go about 2 1/2 miles up the gulch. On the right will be 3 big black mail boxes and the Lazyman Gulch sign. Take a right there and an immediate left. If you do not have 4-wheel drive park here and walk up the rest (watch out for ice.) if you do have 4-wheel drive, drive on up to 6153.

See you there!

January Guild Meeting: Sharpen Your Mind & Your Tools

Our January meeting will be hosted by Tim Carney. The meeting will be Monday January 18 at 5:30 pm.

We will watch a video, Sharpening Simplified on the basics of sharpening hand tools.

Everett Ellenwood says of the dvd, "Having trouble getting your carving tools razor sharp? In Sharpening Simplified, I show you simple proven method to get your carving tools properly contoured and sharp, each time you sharpen them."

Tim will also show us a few of the projects available for us to help with the trolley restoration project we visited at our last meeting.

Date: Monday, January 18, 2010
Time: 5:30 pm til or 8 or 8:30 pm
Place: 3025 East Bozeman Avenue at Timothy's Fine Woodworkng
Food: Tim will provide the main dish -- most likely a big pot of homemade soup that'll go warm us up in this cold weather. Members, please bring a side dish and something to drink.

Directions: To get to Tim's shop, take Highway 12 East to Carter Drive (just east of Walmart) Turn north on Carter Drive. Go over the railroad tracks and take a right on Bozeman. His shop is less than 1/4 mile from Carter Drive -- it's on the southwest corner of the tan building.

December Guild Meeting: Trolley Car #3 Restoration

Our December meeting will be hosted by the Lewis and Clark County Historical Restoration Committee. Not only will be have an opportunity to view the Trolley Car #3 preservation project, but dinner will be provided by the committee, so please join your fellow woodworkers and our host, Rich Palmer, Monday evening.



Rich will give a talk about an ongoing committee project, the restoration of trolley car #3; then we'll go by bus to see the trolley preservation project and be bused back to the Great Northern Town Center.

Date: Monday, December 7th
Time: 5:30 pm til or 8 or 8:30 pm
Place: 845 Great Northern Boulevard
Food: the Lewis and Clark Historical Preservation Committee is providing dinner. All you have to bring is yourself and your curiosity. Can't pass this up!

Photos are from the Lewis&Clark Historical Preservation Committee website here.

September Guild Meeting: Sharpening a Handsaw

Our September meeting will be held September 22nd at Will Rex's shop. This is our first meeting since our summer hiatus and we hope all of our guild members take the time out from your busy schedules to get together at Wills.

Please join your fellow woodworkers as Will shows us how to sharpen a hand saw and gives us a tour of his shop.

We will also discuss the upcoming Fall Art Walk and our 5th Annual Art of Wood Exhibit. We would love to see everyone there to start our year off with lots of great energy.

Date: Tuesday, September the 22nd
Time: 5:30pm til about 7:30 or 8 pm
Food: Will is providing pizza -- yay! Please bring a side dish and something to drink. Since its getting much harder to recycle glass we suggest you bring beverages in cans rather than bottles. Moose Drool and Kettle House (from Missoula) have good beers available in cans now. There's also the usual pop and tea in cans or water in plastic bottles (these can be recycled too.)

Also, parking is limited at Will's so please carpool if you can. Thanks!

Directions: Take I-15 south to the Montana City Exit. Follow frontage road south approximately 4 miles until it snakes left crossing Prickly Pear Creek and continuing under the interstate. Continue south for 1/2 mile more, look for the large green sign indicating Gruber Estates on the left. Turn left and head up Hanging Tree Gulch for 1/4 mile. Will's is the green house on the right, tucked off the road.


Click Here for a larger map


Remember, our meeting will be on a Tuesday instead of our usual Monday.

Photo above is from Will's website, Golden Stone Carpentry ... kitchen cabinets by Will Rex

March Guild Meeting: Becoming Guild-Website-Literate

Our March guild meeting is scheduled for 5:15 pm, Monday, March 16 at the Lewis and Clark Library. As we did for our February meeting, we have the computer lab scheduled from 6-8 for our evening's presentation, and we'll have dinner in that large conference room from 5:15 to 6:00 pm.

The Guild is providing the entire meal, including beverages. We'll eat in the large conference room off of the library's new lobby. Again, please do not bring your own beverages this time -- the library does not allow alcohol on the premises. The meal is on us!

Our February meeting was fantastic -- Bill Daigle did a great job of teaching us the basics of a simple, free CAD-like program, Sketchup. Maureen was scheduled to show us how to get around on Facebook and our guild website, but she was stricken with a nasty flu and wasn't able to make it. She'll be here at our March meeting to try it again.

Maureen will give us hands-on practice using the Guild's websites and Facebook network (left)

Basics to be covered by Maureen will include setting up online photo storage, uploading photos, setting up simple websites for members who do not have an online presence, and registering for your own Facebook page so that you can participate in the Guild's Facebook activities and announcements. Please consider checking this out even if you don't think you'll spend much time on Facebook or the guild's website. There are many ways you can make use of the Guild's online offerings, not only for participating in Guild activities, or to promote your woodworking hobbies or businesses. With your own web site or Facebook page, you can share your woodworking with your friends and families.

Please come -- we'd like to see a great turn-out. If you're not a member but want to know what we do, or how to use the internet to further your woodworking interests, you are welcome to attend.

LINKS:

• Lewis & Clark Library, Helena, Montana
• Flickr -- to set up your own FREE online photo storage account
  

February Guild Meeting: Sketchup & Making Use of our Websites

Our February guild meeting will be held late in the month this time -- we are scheduled for Monday, February 23 at the Lewis and Clark Library. We have the large conference room scheduled from 5:30-8:30pm and the computer lab scheduled from 6-8 so we'll be in both rooms after our social time and meal.

The Guild is providing the entire meal, including beverages. We'll eat in the large conference room off of the library's new lobby. Please do not bring your own beverages this time -- the library does not allow alcohol on the premises. The meal is on us!

Bill Daigle will demonstrate the basics of Sketchup, which he uses to design his woodworking projects. The library will have the software loaded onto computers in the lab, so we can follow along with Bill on the overhead monitor.

There are 10 student stations in the lab, so plenty of computers for us to share. Even if you don't know how to use a computer, you might like to see what can be done with computer-aided-drafting/drawing and design.

Maureen will have at least two computers set up in the conference room, to give us hands-on practice using the Guild's websites and Facebook network (left)

Basics to be covered by Maureen will include setting up online photo storage, uploading photos, setting up simple websites for members who do not have an online presence, and registering for your own Facebook page so that you can participate in the Guild's Facebook activities and announcements. Please consider checking this out even if you don't think you'll spend much time on Facebook or the guild's website. There are many ways you can make use of the Guild's online offerings, not only for participating in Guild activities, or to promote your woodworking hobbies or businesses. With your own web site or Facebook page, you can share your woodworking with your friends and families.

Another simple SketchUp sketch with the final product below:

LINKS:

• Sketchup Graphics showing workbench and exploded view of tv cabinet © Design Click Build
• Fireplace Sketchup Rendering and Photo © by Wizum
• Lewis & Clark Library, Helena, Montana
  

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January Guild Meeting: the 32mm System for Cabinetry

Our January Guild meeting will be held at Tim Carney's shop at 3025 East Bozeman Avenue on Monday, Jan. 19th at 5:30 pm. Tim will provide a main dish.

Members, please bring a side dish (salads, garlic bread, dessert) or something to drink.

Tim will demonstrate the 32mm system (European system for cabinet making.)

He also has a table for members to view and critique. The table will be featured in the upcoming Live Auction benefiting the Florence Crittenton Home at it's annual black-tie fundraiser, Pink.

Directions to Tim's shop: Heading east on Highway 12, pass Walmart and turn left (north) on Carter Drive. Go over the RR tracks, turn right (east) on Bozeman Avenue. Tim's shop is 3025 East Bozeman Avenue. You'll see all the trucks unless you're the first one there.

December Guild Meeting: Sharpening Demo

Our December Woodoworkers Guild meeting will be held at Mike Flanagan's shop at 2925 Castle Rock Rd, on December 15th at 5:30. Mike will provide a spaghetti main dish. Members, please bring a side dish (salads, garlic bread, dessert) or something to drink.

Mike will be giving a sharpening demo.

Directions to Mike's: Head east on Canyon Ferry Roadd from Costco about 4 miles to Wylie Drive. Ttake a left heading north 1-1/4 miles to Castle Rock Road. Take a left and an immediate left again, heading back to the shop. The shop is a large green building with a white roof.

To see a map of Mike's address, double-click on the Google Calendar in the sidebar (right) on the Dec. 15th square and it should take you to our Guild's calendar where you can see and print a map.

Just a quick update on our November event -- the Art of Wood Guild Exhibit during the Downtown Helena ArtWalk was the hit of the evening. Held in the Placer building which is being remodeled as condos and an elegant lobby with fireplace, soaring ceilings and balconies and tile floors, we had a huge crowd coming in off of the walking mall. Our legendary refreshments and wine were nearly gone after the first hour. And the woodworking exhibited in the show was exceptional. Our exhibit just keeps getting better and better. Maybe we should consider doing it twice a year -- the Spring ArtWalk is always fun ... :-)

Here are a couple of shots from the exhibit evening. I'll try to post an article with more photos as soon as I have time. Thank you to everyone who participated and helped.

October Guild Meeting at Tom Doland's Shop

The October Helena Woodworkers Guild meeting will be held at Tom Doland's shop at 140 Fairway Dr. on October 13th at 5:30. Tom will provide a main dish so bring a side dish or something to drink.

Tom has some projects he is working on to show us, and we will be talking about the final details of our upcoming show.

The show will be just the night of the Art Walk (Nov 14th)and will be in the Placer Building on the walking mall. Please bring your entry form to the meeting.

Directions to Tom's

Heading north on Benton take a left on to Meadow. Take the 1st right which is Fairway. Tom's house is 140 Fairway Drive. Phone: 443-2387

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Helena Woodworkers Last Meeting til Fall

Hey, everyone -- that was a great meeting to wrap up the season! Here are just a sampling of the photos I took at the Barbagello's shop on the 19th -- please check our flickr Meetings Album for more photos and for updated photos. I will be adding more pics as I get them processed. One thing I have to say is you are all so photogenic, it's easy taking good shots at our meetings!

Helena Woodworkers Guild May Meeting

Our next Woodworkers Guild meeting will be held Monday May 19th. We will meet at John Barbagello's shop this time. This will probably be the last meeting before summer, although I have heard rumors we might have one more meeting in June (they're such fun, heh!)

Joshua, Jonathan and John Barbagello will be showing us mortise and tenon joinery. This will be the last meeting until September, so we need to talk about the Myrna show this fall and any other topics the members may wish to bring up.


Jonathan and Joshua at April's Meeting

Anyway, we hope you all can make it to this meeting -- don't be shy, even if you are not an official member, please come and meet a bunch of great folks.

Date: Monday, May 19th
Time: 5:30 pm til 8:30 or whenever
Place: Barbagello's shop at 840 Silverette Street on the west side of Helena
Agenda: After everyone has a chance to visit and chow down on the potluck dinner, our evening program will begin. Joshua, Jonathan and John Barbagello will be showing us mortise and tenon joinery. Again, this will probably be the last meeting until September, so we need to talk about the Myrna show this fall and any other topics the members may wish to bring up.

Please bring a side dish, appetizer or something to drink -- or, just show up. There is always plenty to eat! Our host will provide a main dish.


Mike Flanagan at April's Meeting

How to get to our May Meeting: John Barbagello's shop is located at 840 Silverette (turn left at the far west end of Hauser Blvd - head south to 840) Here's a map:

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click here for details on the meeting:

all photos in this post © Maureen Shaughnessy. These were taken at the Guild's April meeting at Gary Duval's shop.

Helena Woodworkers Guild April Meeting

Is there such a thing as a woodworker's uniform?

Our next Woodworkers Guild meeting will be held Monday April 14th. I guess we're on a roll with second-Monday meetings instead of first-Mondays. We will meet at Gary Duval's shop this time. This will be the next to last meeting before the summer break so we hope you all can make it!

Date: Monday, April 14th
Time: 5:30 pm til 8:30 or whenever
Place: Gary Duval's shop at 117 Elmwood Lane in Helena
Agenda: In addition to our usual jawboning and eating, Gary will show us his lathe turnings including his intricate ornaments (see photo below and Gary's gallery) Hopefully we'll have time for a demonstration of Gary's techniques too. We'll hear subcommittee updates and take care of some business about the Myrna Art of Wood Exhibit and about our future meetings,


Gary Duval's wood ornaments and kaleidoscopes

Please bring a side dish, appetizer or something to drink -- or, just show up. There is always plenty to eat! Our host will provide a main dish.

Lance Seaman showed us how he made the curved, laminated wood
mantel at our March Guild Meeting

How to get to our April Meeting: Gary's house is located in Sunhaven subdivision. If you are heading north on Benton Avenue, Elmwood Lane is the last left before Custer Avenue and Gary's is the 5th house on the left.

Map:


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click here for details on the meeting:

all photos in this post © Maureen Shaughnessy. These were taken at the Guild's March meeting at the new home Lance Seaman is building for his family.

Helena Woodworkers Guild March Meeting

Hi everyone, here's the scoop on our March Guild meeting. Although we generally meet on the first Monday of each month, this month we're meeting on the second Monday.

Date: Monday, March 10th
Time: 5:30 pm til 8:30 or whenever
Place: Lance Seaman's new house at 3052 Early Bird in Helena
Agenda: In addition to our usual jawboning and eating, we'll have a look at a mantle and entry door made by Lance. Also, Tim Carney will lead a discussion on upcoming meetings.
Please bring a side dish or something to drink -- or, just show up. There is always plenty to eat! Our host will provide a main dish.

How to get there: Lance's house is located in the Sunrise Subdivision near Nob Hill. From Helena, take Saddle Drive south and turn right on Morning Glory. Drive to the intersection of Morning Glory and Early Bird.

If you are coming from south of town, take the new interchange exit for South Helena. Exit the round-about on Saddle Drive, go west a bit, then turn left on Morning Glory. Lance's house is at 3052 Early Bird. Call Lance at 442-8459 if you get lost (but you won't ...)

Here's a map


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all photos in this post © Maureen Shaughnessy. These were taken at the Guild's December meeting at Mike and Priscilla Bode's shop.

Woodworking shop for two

Every once in awhile a body needs to just kick back and have fun.
To heck with meetings, eh?

Well, that's what we did at our December woodworkers' guild meeting: we had way too much delicious food to eat (which caused the more stuffed of us to kick back. uhuh) and -- we all enjoyed visiting with the other woodworkers and a few family members.

Mike and Priscilla Bode hosted the party (oops - I mean, the meeting) at their shop, just off of the alley. With high ceilings, skylights and white walls, the shop is bright and seemingly just large enough for their business, which specializes in furniture. I shot a few photos before I had a couple glasses of wine ... even these are a bit fuzzed, given that I was more interested in partying than covering my usual role of guild documentarian. Well, here's a few shots from our December (ahem!) meeting:

Woodworkers' Guild December Meeting in Helena, Montana

Our December meeting will be a party!


Hi all, this month we'll meet on Friday, Dec. 14th at Mike and Priscilla Bode's house and shop. The best parking is behind the Bode's house.

Spouses and significant others are most definitely invited. Please bring an appetizer/hors d'oeuvres to share (check out the incredible spread we came up with for our exhibit opening night -- think we can top that?)


The main program is Fun, with a few bits of guild business thrown in just so we can say we had a meeting. On the fun agenda:

• Fine Woodworking Magazine has asked our members to submit photos of our best, woodworking for their print and/or online readers' gallery. We'll talk about ways to photograph your work to show it off effectively as well as formats for sending your photographs to Fine Woodworking and other woodworking journals
• Recap of the past year: what we've accomplished as a guild for our members and for the Helena community
• Ideas and discussion on how we can make our website better
• A chance for new members and folks interested in becoming members to visit with all of us in a social setting. Don't be shy -- if you are interested in joining the guild, please come - we'd like to meet you.
  

Date: December 14, 2007
Place: 811 8th Avenue
Time: 5:30 pm til whenever
Agenda: 2007 guild recap; photographing your work; socializing & fun
More Info: call Lance Seaman (442-4143) or the Bodes (495-9672) or email helenawoodworkers(at)gmail.com

October Guild Meeting

Since our usual Monday meeting day falls on a holiday weekend, we are holding our October meeting on Thursday instead. Please come Thursday, October 11 at 5:30 pm.

Dave Ashley is hosting this month's meeting at his shop, Helena Hardwoods (3290 Centennial Drive just off of Highway 12 on the way to East Helena.) Dave usually provides something from his grill, so come prepared for deliciousness. Please bring a snack and/or beverage to share.

Dave Ashley is giving a talk on kiln-dried wood -- our main topic of the evening. Also on the agenda is a bit of planning for our annual woodworking exhibit at the Myrna Loy.

We will be asking who is going to contribute their work for the exhibit, and how many pieces. New members, we also need your bios and a photo of yourself for the exhibit. All members participating in the exhibit must give Maureen the information on each piece by October 18th. That would include titles, description and price (if the item is for sale.) This information will be printed on title-cards to accompany each piece.

We are also printing up 4x6 postcards as invitations to the show. Each participating guild member will have from 30 to 50 postcards to mail as you wish. The remaining postcards will be available at the exhibit reception for visitors to take home with them.

Our website will be featured on the back of these postcards, so if you would like to have photos of your woodworking included in your member "gallery" and slideshow, please get the photos to Maureen by October 18th. That gives her time to format and upload your photos to the Guild website.

You can drop your stuff by Tim's house at 721 Broadway, or email your information and photos to Maureen: maureenshaughnessy (@) gmail (dot) com
(that's code so the web "bots" don't find her and deluge her with spam)
You can also call Tim Carney if you have any questions or trouble getting your info to Maureen. Thanks!

September Guild Meeting

I don't know about you other guild members, but the smoky air and heat made it feel like summer was never going to end, and now that the weather is cooling, I'm wondering why it was so short!

I'm looking forward to starting our monthly get togethers again -- our first meeting of fall will be on September 10th around 5:30 pm ... until we're done.

We will talk about our upcoming 3rd Annual Show at the Myrna Loy. The show is coming up November 9th, so if you are interested in exhibiting your work, plan to attend this meeting.

When: September 10, 2007
What time: 5:30 pm until we're done, usually around 7:30pm
Where: Timothy's Fine Woodworking, 3025 East Bozeman
Map: click here

Will there be food? Of course! What's a Guild meeting without refreshments? Tim will bring a big pot of Maureen's homemade soup. (we'll provide bowls and spoons, too) Everyone else is invited to bring something else to snack on and/or something to drink.

Also on the Agenda:

• how guild members can work with the Helena College of Technology
• Helena Public Art Committee
  
• Tim will demonstrate the "Domino" machine from Festool

See you there!

Guild Meeting April 10

Gummi Bears having a meeting .... waiting for Kevin to show them his new stuff.








There will be a Helena Woodworkers Guild meeting at All Wood Design on Tuesday, April 10th at 5:30 pm. All Wood is located at 1310 Boulder Avenue. Kevin has some new equipment for us to see and there will be snacks, so bring something to drink.

If you missed the last meeting, we have a new Guild website courtesy of Maureen Shaughnessy (Tim's wife.) You can find our website titled, Sawdust & Shavings, at www.helenawoodworkers.com with the email for sending in articles, photos or announcements is helenawoodworkers@gmail.com. Take a look and let us know what you think. (editor's note: if you're reading this online, you're probably already at the Guild's new website.)

See you at the meeting.
-- Lance Seaman

Thanks to Elisa Koor for her gummi bear photo ... Maureen thinks they add a light note to our meeting announcement.