NCWA membership was saddened by the loss of Roy Little. Roy was ill for some time and died while in the hospital. The popular Sedro Woolley woodworker was active in NCWA activities for several years and taught classes in shop layout. Roy’s life in a wheelchair did not discourage him from woodworking tasks and he became quite adept at adapting his machines and their floor locations to his own use. His ingenuity and sense of humor will be missed.

On April 2nd we return to Greg Aånes’s shop in Bellingham, whom we visited four years ago. Greg has been making furniture commercially in the Northwest since 1981. He’s mostly self-taught, and has developed a style that blends work similar to Thomas Moser, Sam Maloof and James Krenov. He has about four employees and uses specialized jigs and machines to make the business profitable (although, he is the first to acknowledge that this economy has made that very difficult.) His showroom is packed with excellent examples of his work. He has specialized in chairs, rockers and bar stools, but has recently added many other furniture items and also does custom work. Seating in Greg’s shop is limited, so you might want to bring a chair. Greg’s website is gregaanesfurniture.com.

Our March meeting will give us a chance to see the differences between at least two types of vacuum presses. Jim Torrence recently bought a system that uses a hand pump, and will bring his latest project that he used it on – a hall table with a bent wood lamination curved front. Tom Dolese has a VacuPress system that he uses for Jennifer’s beautiful marquetry and for veneering. There are at least two other club members with systems in their shops, so we should have a good discussion and hopefully a demonstration or two. It will be interesting to compare the low-tech system to the professional system.

Our February meeting program will consist of three parts (note the date change to Monday Feb 11th and the location change to the Burlington Library.) First, don’t forget to bring your latest President’s Challenge projects to share; any item for the kitchen (but not the kitchen sink! It has to be made of wood!) Second, what did you get in the way of tools for Christmas? Share your latest cool tools with the rest of us. And finally, have you ever made a WOODWORKING MISTAKE? This month, we will provide a panel of “experts” to look at project mistakes, make recommendations for how to correct the problems and lead a membership discussion on fixes to the problems. We all make mistakes, and these can actually help us improve our woodworking. Have you ever heard the term “design opportunity?” Bring that mistake to the meeting, or if you’ve already burned it, just describe it to us.