Greg Klassen made a definite career path change several years ago when he switched from theology to fine woodworking. When he did, he went all out by studying at the School of the Redwoods and with two furniture masters in Sweden. He now creates one of a kind pieces under commission from his shop in Lynden. His work has won awards, been featured in several national magazines including Fine Woodworking, and was included at the 2013 Smithsonian Craft Show where he was interviewed and praised by Martha Stewart on national TV. Greg will demonstrate one of his techniques for inlaying custom non-uniform butterfly keys using a router and chisels. He will also bring several of his recent pieces to show and talk about. His website is gregklassen.com

NCWA member Rick Anderson, who is also a member of the Northwest Washington Woodturners, will present a woodturning demonstration on two kinds of turning related to furniture building. He recently made several spindles for a repair project and he will show us how to make multiple like items. He also plans to demonstrate making Shaker style knobs. Rick has been in NCWA for a number of years and has served as President for both NCWA and NWWWT. Don’t be surprised if he tries to convince you to become a member of the turners! Many of our members already are.

We will do a carpool from the Bellingham area to the boat festival on Saturday, September 6th. Members in other areas should also consider this special event. We’ll talk about the details at our September 2nd meeting and see who wants to join us. In the meantime, please call (360) 255-1984 or email me at sofa01@hotmail.com if you want to go from Bellingham. We will meet at the Fairhaven Parkway/I-5 Park n Ride at 8:45am and catch the 10:15am ferry as foot passengers. Cost is $3.25 each way for adults and $1.60 each way for seniors. Entry to the boat festival for one day is $15 for adults and $10 for seniors or military. We will plan on the 5:15pm or 6:45pm ferry to come home. Some of the highlights at the Woodworking Stage include:

• 11:30 Sharpening by Garrett Hack
• 12:30 Hand Plane Demo by Jim Tolpin
• 1:30 Curved Lamination by Garrett Hack
• 2:30 Vacuum Bag Veneering

And there’s more! Try out hand planes by Lee Valley or Lie-Nielsen, win a $100 gift card from Lee Valley, and just drool over all the beautiful boats. You can find more information here.

On Saturday, August 16, we’ll be gathering at Val and Laura Matthews’ place from 1-5 PM for the annual picnic and silent tool auction. This is our traditional combined Northwest Corner Woodworkers Association (NCWA) and Northwest Washington Woodturners (NWWWT) event and takes the place of our normal monthly meeting for August. This year it’s our turn to cook, and Charley Drake and John Bellinger have volunteered to cook. The club provides burgers, brats, dogs, sodas, water, paper plates, and all the fixings. Please bring a potluck salad, desert, or other side dish. Also, bring your own lawn chairs and if you have a folding table that can be used for the silent auction, please bring that as well. See the August newsletter for directions.

SILENT AUCTION

For those of you who have never participated in a silent auction, the rules are pretty simple. The seller displays the item for sale with a sales sheet listing the item, a short description of the item condition (e.g. new, works good, needs repair, etc), seller’s name, and minimum acceptable bid if the seller wishes to state one. Anyone interested in the item simply enters a bid and their name. Anyone else interested in the same item enters a higher bid on the next line. Normally, bids should advance by at least 10% over the previous bid. Check back often to see if you are still the highest bidder. When the cutoff time is announced, the highest bidder wins the item provided their bid exceeds the stated minimum bid. The bidder then pays the seller, so don’t forget to bring money or your checkbook! You never know what might show up for sale! The form that you need to fill out and bring for any silent auction items is included in this month’s newsletter.