Meeting Minutes – March 4, 2023

Meeting Location: David Ringuette’s Shop, 26530 John L. Lane, Denham Springs

• Fellowship before meeting
• Collection of dues (Rick Albrecht) and selling of shirts and caps (Richard Robles)

Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance – Harold Choate

Welcome and Introduction of Guests– New member- Mike Copeland

Officer Reports:

• Vice-President – George Campagna- There is a new revised list of meeting locations. You can access it online if you don’t get one this morning. Regarding the field trip to Gator Mill Works on April 26, 10 am, I have received responses from 18 people saying they want to attend. Please let me know if you haven’t already. Gator Mill Works has asked us to send them a list of those who plan to attend so they can make nametags for us. We will probably have time for lunch after the tour for anyone who would like to do that.
• Secretary – Harold Choate- We had 27 people attend the February meeting, 4 of them were visitors. There has been a lot of activity on the FaceBook page. 196 people have viewed the page. Please send me any pictures you would like to have posted. That will make the page much more interesting.
• Treasurer – Rick Albrecht- contact Rick for details.
• Webmaster – Open
• Community Service – Lee Owens- Please report on your progress in making chest drawers for O’Brien House. Lee Owens and Jack Carmena have finished theirs. Harold Choate and Clarence Freeman will deliver theirs next week. George Campagna and Rick Albrecht have theirs assembled and are beginning the finishing. Jackie Parker has just started his. Cody Henderson is absent. Brian Stauss has the parts cut out ready for assembly. Hal Canning and Ken Brown have a delay due to an injury Hal experienced. Jim Landry and Keith Bryan are absent. The club logos that were provided are going to be glued on the back to identify BRWW as the maker. Harold Choate did a presentation on how to install full extension drawer guides using the holes located in the U shaped sections of the drawer guide. Using these holes allows minor adjustments to be made for differences in the width of the carcase and makes the drawer guides run smoother. This features allows you to make the drawers a bit smaller than the opening and then adjusting the drawer guides to fit the drawer. Lee reported on some other inquiries we’ve had for a variety of items. All these are in the planning stage so more will come when decisions are made by the client.

• Education Outreach – Open

New and Ongoing Club Business

• Bird House Business- Art Miller asked the club to look at a birdhouse that used common nails instead of finish nails to assemble it. The construction will be sturdier and the nails will be easier for the kids to drive in were the reasons he gave for making the change. He also suggested that the donut holes be glued on when the parts are made to avoid having to do it at the Swamp Fest. This will eliminate the donut hole splitting as many do when the nails are driven into them. Harold Choate volunteered to make 4 each pads for the shorter kids to stand on. They will be made of a 2 x 4 frame on edge with a piece of 3/4″ plywood nailed on top.
• Project Design- Lee Owens has asked for the club to arrange for knowledgeable people to assist he and George Cenac in designing the projects the club engages in. Richard Robles endorsed the request. Brian Stauss volunteered. Jackie Parker was suggested by Harold Choate. He accepted this opportunity.
• Scrap Wood- Richard Robles suggested we bring our scrap wood to the club meetings to give the members first opportunity to use it. If club members don’t want it, St. Tammany said they will take it for their boat building project.

Members Questions/Concerns

Safety Topic– Use push sticks! Brian Stauss brought up using face masks to avoid breathing toxic dust from various types of wood. Others shared their experience with this kind of hazard. It seems to be a pretty common occurrence that woodworkers should be aware of. Warren Dufrene told the club about a breathing hood that uses an electrically driven pump to provide fresh filtered air while working in the shop.

Skill Topic: Crown Molding – Lee Soileaux

Show-and-Tell

Adjourn

Please bring the following items to the meeting: