Southeast Michigan Woodworkers

Well, we had the second Galoot meeting dealing with the construction of the more hand tool oriented of the two benches last Thursday.  It was kind of an unusual meeting in that we accomplished quite a bit.  Stretcher tenons were finished, leg mortises were bored and a couple of tenons were fitted to their respective mortises.  Because of the nice, hot weather we were able to set up a couple of work stations outside the shop and keep everyone occupied.  Everyone had a chance to do a little boring, a little chiseling and some of us even had the pleasure of a little sawing.  The next meeting should see the last of the mortises bored, all of the tenons fitted and some assembly completed.  I think that we are right on schedule for demonstrations for the club’s August meeting. In one respect, getting some work done is gratifying, but because of that we didn’t spend as much time as usual discussing the myriad of woodworking topics that usually come up at these meetings.  It seems like Justin is at the top of the slippery slope and we should be doing a little more to grease his descent. We had a pretty good turnout with Bruce, Jamey, Jason, Justin, Matt and me.  Galoot meetings do not seem complete without Al, so Al if you are reading this, we hope to see you next time.  I know hand tool woodworking is not everybody’s idea of how the craft should be done, but if you are around Ann Arbor on the first Thursday of each month, stop by, I think you will enjoy yourself and maybe even learn something new. 

We had a meager turnout at the Galoot meeting Thursday night, Jamey, Bruce, Chris along with me met at Jamey’s shop to get started on Dave’s bench.  Actually, Chris, who arguably is the bench making expert of the SEMIWW,  just came to lend moral support and didn’t actualy participate in any bench construction. This bench will be a modified Nicholson style of bench.  It will have an open base with a shelf, front apron, leg vise and tail vise per the plans somewhere on the site.

Dave had milled some oak to Jamey’s specification as promised.  He provided 4 legs, 4 side stretchers and the 2 bottom stretchers for the front and back.  We decided to make 3/4″ X 2″ tenons and drawbore them during assembly.  We also discussed attaching the top.  Then we got down to business.  Working in a shop designed for one person is difficult when ther are three people eager to make some sawdust, but we made some good progress.  All of the side stretchers have tenons cut and Jamey bored the first mortise. 

With any luck, we should be able to finish the mortise and tenons at the next meeting and dry assemble the base.

Test post, now isnt this all cool?