Organizational Meeting.

The KCWWG Hand Tool SIG was formed on July 26, 2009 with an organizational meeting.  Notes were taken by John Beal and are provided below.

Thirteen persons attended the first meeting of the Hand Tool Special Interest Group of the Kansas City Woodworkers Guild on July 26, 2009, at the guild’s headquarters. William Johnston chaired the meeting.

He began by defining Special Interest Groups:

A Special Interest Group may consist of a small group (usually) of members who share a particular machine, or area of endeavor such as Using Hand Tools, who would like to get together, talk shop, and further their special interest.  Attending a SIG is also a fast track way to learn from fellow members who bring their experiences to share.

An ideal group consists of several members, some of whom would like to learn more about and share their special interest, some who are beginners, and hopefully a mentor with expertise in the special interest. 

This SIG will consist of people with an interest in acquiring, making, using, tuning and sharpening hand tools. Members agreed they were more interested in acquiring tools for use, rather than as part of a collection.

 The group’s focus on acquiring tools might include:

 Tools that the group might like to make includes:

Members agreed they would likely make tools for the satisfaction, to save the cost of special-purpose tools that might be too expensive otherwise, and to obtain tools of higher quality than are generally available. A benefit of making tools, members agreed, is that one often learns much more about the tool’s characteristics and capabilities if one makes it from scratch.

Although most said they might do simple metalworking, most members said they were not interesting in acquiring sophisticated metalworking tools.

Stressed was the importance of bringing tools to the meetings as a basis for discussion.

Structure of the Meetings

1. Tool “Show and Tell.”
2. Discussion.
3. Demonstration.
4. Program (either by members of the SIG, someone from the Guild, or someone else).

 Possible projects that might be undertaken during meetings included:

Members agreed to meet initially from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on the fourth Sunday of each month. Later, additional meetings may be held for projects, work sessions or workshops.

 The topic of the next meeting, August 23, will cover bench planes and block planes. Each member is to bring at least one example of one or the other. Planes in a variety of condition would be appreciated.

 A possible road trip might be to the semi-annual flea market at White Cloud, Kan., August 28-30.

Future topics discussed include:

John W. Beal's notes has some editing by William Johnston.  Please submit any recommendations for additional edits to William Johnston.

Present at the first meeting were:  Louis Armstrong, John Beal, Clifford Bell, Pat Campbell, Dave Clark, Ken Grainger, Bill Johnston, Jason Newland, Diana Rickel, Chuck Sanders, Dan Soliday, Robert Young, and John Hobbs.

Robert Young presented a short program on making wooden handplanes in the Krenov style.  He also assessed interest in a workshop to make wooden handplanes.  Available books on the subject include:  Wooden Planes and How to Make Them by David G. Perch and Robert S. Lee, Making and Mastering Wooden Planes by David Finck, A Cabinetmaker's Notebook by James Krenov (who started it all), and Making & Modifying Woodworking Tools by Jim Kingshott (modern father of the movement in making brass dovetailed infill planes).

William Johnston
webmaster@kcwoodworkersguild.org

johnston@everestkc.net
913-492-6942