You know that old saying that you can never get too much of a good thing? Well, it’s true! Last night’s meeting of the Atlantic Woodworkers Association featured Kevin Hurst from Lee Valley with his presentation on finishing and the variety of products available. Although I caught his ‘show’ at last month’s Nova Woodturners Guild meeting this one was appropriately adapted to woodworkers and their differing needs.

Kevin, in addition to being the Assistant Manager at Lee Valley and a home woodworker, was once a professional cabinet maker so the information that he imparts is based on his wide experience. His career as a cabinet maker allowed him the opportunity of working with finishing products on a commercial level, using equipment and products not readily available to the home woodworker. His employment with LV keeps him abreast of changing trends, new products and techniques, both from a corporate perspective and interacting with customers. Kevin says that real life results are the true test of a product and that by listening to woodworkers about their trials, tribulations and successes gives him an abundance of information beyond his own personal experiences. He, in turn, is freely able to share this information whether at the store or in presentations like this.

Kevin began his presentation with a short talk on safety (move over, Norm!) and the available safety products. This was a great beginning. We often overlook this important part of woodworking, especially with finishes and we can never be reminded enough. From here he continued through the Lee Valley product line, interjecting with recommendations and application suggestions.

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With a couple of members bringing in their latest projects and a great introduction to a bunch of new tools, this month’s meeting of the Atlantic Woodworkers Association was a great way to start the year off right! The meeting was held in our home base, a local Home Depot.

Our guest speaker was our own AWA member Graham McCulloch who brought in and reviewed about a dozen new tools for us. Tools included a variety of hammers, a Milwaukee 12-volt drill/driver, a Milwaukee reciprocating saw, the Dremel Multi-Max multi-purpose tool, the A-Line-It Deluxe alignment system, Dremel’s 75th Anniversary Motor Tool Kit, the DeWalt DC608 18v cordless Brad Nailer and the Norton Multi-Oilstone.

Graham has over 60 years experience as a woodworker and has written four top selling books on woodworking including the recently released, “The Woodworker’s Illustrated Encyclopedia“. He has had feature articles in Canadian Woodworking and Canadian Contractor magazines and you can find some of his shop tips in the Family Handyman magazine. As well, Graham writes a weekly online article called Short Cuts where he reviews new tools and books. (Sign up for his newsletter, it’s an invaluable resource!)

This was a great presentation with Graham giving us his experienced, and professional, insight into these tools. He focused on what features and benefits each tool offered, or what it didn’t offer, to the home woodworker. Thanks, Graham!

For Show and Tell a couple of members brought in some examples of their fine woodworking. Here are a couple of photos:

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This month’s meeting of the Atlantic Woodworkers’ Association was the annual toy drive and Christmas party. It was held at our local Lee Valley location and as always proved to be one of the most popular meetings of the year.

The meeting began a bit earlier that normal in order to include all the festivities planned. It started with announcements of various upcoming activities and events and then went on to a lengthy question and answer period regarding dust collection and extraction systems.

This was followed by an auction for an official Canadian football cap and a DeWalt jacket. Information was also given for an upcoming raffle sponsored by the AWA of which the winning prize will be a Ridgid Job Site Radio! We were also told of an upcoming membership drive contest where the one who brings in the most new members will win a cordless tool yet to be determined. Looks like the new year will be another exciting one!

The high point of the evening, well, actually just one of them, was the Toy Show and Tell where the members who brought in toys told about their trials and tribulations in the creation of such. Let me tell you, there were a few laughs for some of these stories!

This year, as in the past, there was an excellent collection of toys brought in. These will be given to the Salvation Army for distribution. Here are a few photos of these great projects:

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Our meeting of the Atlantic Woodworkers Association tonight was certainly an educational and entertaining one! We were treated to the scroll saw wizardry of Bill Luther.

Bill is manager of our local Busy Bee Tools as well as president of the Nova Woodturners Guild (yes, the one and the same!). In between these responsibilities he has found time to scroll saw, a hobby he says he finds relaxing and rewarding.

Bill began scroll sawing after his brother-in-law lent him an old scroll saw. After cleaning it up and getting it working he found that he really enjoyed scrolling. Over the years he has honed his skills and now creates a wide variety of professional quality pieces from puzzles, ornaments, plaques and more in both one dimension and the harder three dimensional types. He uses pine, variety hardwoods and Baltic birch plywood for his projects. Here are a few photos of his work:

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