This month’s presentation will be given by our resident finishing expert, Phil Choquette, who happens to be one of our club’s founding members. Phil joined the guild in 1984 about when it was formed by a small group of local woodworkers. Phil retired from the US Navy in 1978 where he served as an air traffic controller for most of his 26 years in the service. His woodworking career goes much farther back and included a cabinet shop in Florida. Restoring and refinishing furniture eventually became his area of expertise and still is today, although he occasionally takes on other woodworking commissions. Phil plans to discuss some of the history and misconceptions of shellac and share many of his trade secrets for great finishing. We’ll even be treated to a short demonstration and get the chance to watch shellac dry!

Well it’s time for one of our old-time favorites again. This is your opportunity to show off your latest jig invention, shop fixture, or one of your favorite tools. It never ceases to amaze me how much talent (and how many different tools) our club members have. Every time we hold this event, there are new creations, and new tools that we didn’t know we needed! So, whatever you’ve built to solve one of your own woodworking problems, bring it in. And if you’ve discovered a new tool or an antique tool that you found at a garage sale and restored, we really want to see it! Maybe you got something nice for the shop for Christmas. This is your opportunity to share all those fun things with the rest of us. If you have a jig that you created yourself, please bring copies of plans for anyone who might want to build the same jig. Thanks, and Happy New Year!

The program for our Dec 3rd meeting will feature our first Holiday Potluck Dinner, a Toys-4-Tots Benefit Raffle, our 2×4 Woodworking Challenge and presentation of our annual Spirit Award. A social hour will begin at 6:00 with dinner being served at 7:00. NCWA elves Jim Bucknell, Ed Pysher, and Al Ashley have come up with some great raffle items for the evening and tickets will be sold during the social hour. The club will provide the main dinner courses and drinks. Please bring a side-dish, salad, or dessert. Can’t bring a potluck item? Please come anyway. You can always throw a few dollars into the Toys-4-Tots donation bucket as a contribution to the evening. For this meeting please use the main entrance on the west side of Hillcrest Lodge. See you there!

On November 5th, our guest is a retired junior-high social-studies teacher, turned carver. Dick Weber fell in love with carving in 1970 when he saw the world’s tallest totem pole in Alaska. He decided that was what he really wanted to do, so over the years, he took classes from expert carvers and developed his skills. Initially, he concentrated on Northwest Indian style carving, and then learned other carving styles. Currently, he teaches carving classes in Oak Harbor and Anacortes, but he still takes occasional classes himself. Birds and faces are part of his specialties now. Dick plans to demonstrate his skill in carving faces at our meeting, and will also bring several examples of his work for display. He has also offered to donate some of his work for raffle during this meeting! Proceeds will go to our Toys for Tots program.