DESERT WOODCRAFTERS JANUARY 2009 NEWSLETTER

Financial report by Terry Glover, Treasurer:

Beginning balance: $1,182.86

Income:                            251.00

Expenses:                          43.38

Ending Balance:       $1,390.48.

Meeting Minutes – Desert Woodcrafters Association – January 10, 2009

Alan Crosby, President, called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. at the Raytheon Woodchippers clubhouse.  23 members and 12 guests  - were in attendance.  There were actually four true guests (Connie, John and Randy Omdahl, and Erhan Erdam), the rest were SAZWA members thinking their meeting was on today.

Minutes  for December 6, 2008 were approved as published. Motion by Sam Scalzo, seconded by Bill Merodias.  Passed. 

The 50/50 ($43.00) was won by Ivan Hanna.

The Bring Back,   Jim Keown won the bring-back, a turned Christmas decoration made by George Lewis.

 Show & Tell -   14 members participated and Paul Swane won the drawing.   

l  Alan Crosby – Stack-cut designs with scroll saw; press tool for turned pens.

l  Wally Dickerman – Beautiful turned bowls, one having carving done with dental tool and one with burned designs.

l  Dennis Fischer - Turned bowls.

l  Terry Glover – Turned bowl.

l  George Lewis – Turned bowl; keepsake box.

l  Clem McLay – Turned bowl.

l  Dennis Minikel – Wood carvings using basswood.

l  Denise Omdahl – Carving; Pens in progress, using unidentified wood.  Members were invited to scratch and sniff the wood to help identify it.

l  Frank Pickett – Sharpening Jig for grinder.

l  Stan Ries – Rose cutting tool which he made.

l  George Sample - Keepsake box.

l  Sam Scalzo – Keepsake box of olive; bottle stopper.

l  Paul Swane – Christmas ornaments.

l  Ken Tower – Pattern maker's plane; flat-bottomed plane; cove cutting planes.

 Woodworking challenges and solutions:

Shopsmith oiling?  There was discussion regarding where one lubricates a Shopsmith.  Consensus was there are two locations to be oiled twice a year.

For Sale:

·         Sam Scalzo has a 13 line spindle machine for line boring $600.00.

·         Terry Glover – Grizzly lathe $600.00.

·         Jim Miller – Pedal powered saw.

Old business: 

·         Frank Pickett gave a report on our Christmas toy project.  The club gave 1,990 toys and Santa (Alan) and his elf (Gene) had a great time.

·         Our election of officers for 2009 was finally held and the following people volunteered and were elected:  Clem McLay is the President; Denise Omdahl is Vice President; Terry Glover is Treasurer; Cathy Addison is Secretary and Ken Tower is responsible for the demos.

·         2009 dues are now due.

New business:

Stan Ries moved to have club buy a DVD course by Rosenthal on router use for $150.00.  Terry Glover seconded.  Motion carried.

Wayne Norman read a newspaper article dealing with the Consumer Product Safety Board’s new law requiring safety certification of toys.  The question now is whether it applies to our Christmas toy project.

A reminder: The 2X4 contest will be held at the March meeting.  Check the web site for rules.  Basically you are invited to make something out of a 16 inch length of 2X4.  No paint allowed but burning is ok.  No sack of sawdust or chips allowed.  Two categories: Turned and not turned with three prizes in each.

The meeting adjourned at 10:35.

Demo – Ken Tower showed us how to sell your projects on the internet; at least how he does it.

Ken started with a description of how Ebay works: 

Ebay charges 20 cents per item plus more for each picture plus a percentage for each sale.  Since Ebay is an auction you can only set a minimum price so you don’t know what it will actually sell for.

Etsy.com, which Ken uses, is set up for hand-crafted items only.  They charge 20 cents per item put on line.  This expires after 4 months or when the item sells.  They get 3.5% of the sale price, which you determine. 

With Etsy,

·         First decide on a product. Remember you are selling one at a time. You must have a computer and email address, a digital camera, and knowledge of shipping rates OR a real good friend who will do this stuff for you.

·         Take a picture - or multiple pictures if necessary - to adequately present your product.  Set your price.  Remember that too low a price can sometimes hinder sales.  Ken uses flat rate USPS boxes, selected based on the size of the item.  You need to be able to tell the buyer what shipping will cost so keep it simple.  Parcel Post is cheaper but takes longer, which is ok if the buyer is willing to wait.  Ken uses Pay Pal to handle the transaction since they provide instant payment into the bank account you designate, and handle disputes.  They charge up to 3.5% per transaction.  Internet sales do not involve sales tax.  Your items on Etsy will stay there until sold, or for 4 months if not.

This is my last newsletter but I will continue to maintain the Desert Woodcrafter website.  Now maybe I’ll have more time to participate in Show and Tell.  Cathy Addison is the new secretary.

Wayne Norman, outgoing Secretary.

NEXT MEETING SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7, 2009 AT THE RAYTHEON WOODCHIPPERS CLUBHOUSE