NORTH STAR SCROLLERS www.northstarscrollers.org Saturday, April 2, 2011 Meet the 1st Saturday of each month at 9:30 – 11:30 am (NO meetings in June, July or August) Meetings held at Swede Bengtson’s Home Workshop 2520 W. 112th St. Bloomington, Mn 612-723-4346 - ALWAYS Bring your questions & items for Show & Tell - BUSINESS • OFFICER ELECTIONS: The officers for 2011 were elected as follows: o President: John Engler 952-445-3021 jengler66@yahoo.com o Vice-President: Marvin Grimm 952-448-9465 evmargrimm@comcast.net o Program Chair: Swede Bengtson 612-723-4346 swedishgeppetto@comcast.net o Secretary-Treasurer: Donna Zibley 952-469-2786 donna.zibley@gmail.com o Newsletter Editor: Katie McBride 612-825-7569 kmcb2006@comcast.net o Webmaster: Reed Carpenter 952-831-4149 Reed.Carpenter@gmail.com WEARING APPAREL: o A few sizes of $15 Scroller T-shirts are still available for purchase. Khaki colored caps for $12. WEBSITE: o Please send Reed electronic photos of your work at Reed.Carpenter@gmail.com and he’ll provide you with your own photo gallery. Also, include a blurb about yourself to be with your gallery. 2011 CLUB PICNIC: o Reserve Saturday July 30th for the combined North Star Scroller/Viking Woodcarvers summer picnic at Moir Park in Bloomington. CLUB ROSTER UPDATE: Roster changes since originally handed out are: o CHANGE existing member info § Marvin Grimm’s e-mail address to evmargrimm@comcast.com § Matt Zarling’s phone number to 507-421-1201 § Dave Donaldson’s e-mail address to wb7dru@usfamily.net o ADD new members 4150 Hanrehan Trl Savage, MN 55378 952-440-5223 larry.bennett@mchsi.com 4004 Inglewood Edina, MN 55416 952-929-8449 Juddperson@aol.com 2343 12th Ave NW Rochester, MN 55901 507-289-8327 nick@poleschukstudios.com 500 Kristin Dr NW Rochester, MN 55901 507-292-9650 mikespuzzles@gmail.com NEXT MEETING is SATURDAY, May 7th: o The May 7th meeting is the last club meeting until September – (except for the picnic on July 30th). o Marv Gess will be the featured speaker for the May meeting. Marv’s hobbies include fishing and making basswood lures. He tells us that “If you haven’t fished with one of my lures, you ain’t fished”. CLUB FINANCIAL INFORMATION: o Secretary-Treasurer Donna Zibley reports that as of April’s meeting, we had 46 folks on our roster. o Prior to today’s intake of money for dues and apparel, we had $1031.12 in our coffers. o This morning we took in an additional $160 in Dues and $42 for Apparel. o Seven members still need to pay their yearly $20 club dues (single or couple). o We had 3 new members join the club today – WELCOME! COMPUTER GENERATED PATTERN CLASS UPDATE: o Janet Pauly’s Advanced Computer Generated Pattern class will be held sometime this fall. UPCOMING CLASS: o WOODBURNING…..Saturday, April 9, 2011, 9am – 4pm at Swede’s workshop, 2510 West 112th Street, Bloomington, MN 55431…. Nancy Dardis will be teaching and providing snacks, wood, and lunch for (we think) $50. Come learn from our awesome local woodburning expert! o CARVING --- Denny Schuster says that if anyone wants to stay after the May meeting for a woodcarving lesson, he’d be glad to lead it. After the meeting, go get a quick lunch and return to Swede’s. Bring your carving knives if you have any. Denny supplies the wood and the expertise. Not sure of the cost - $30? § Contact Denny with questions: 952-250-0326 dasSchu@gmail.com ROCKLER GUILD DAY: o A HUGE thank you to Charlie, John and Reed for representing our club at Rockler’s the other week. There were an overwhelming number of folks in the store that day and the guys were busy non-stop from 9am to 2pm showing scrolled items, demonstrating scrolling, and talking about our craft and our club. You guys are AWESOME!!! TODAY’S PRESENTATION – John Krantz: John Krantz is so informed, experienced and in tune with all things wood – that one might almost wonder if it’s actually sap that runs through his veins? With a lifetime of training and work in the Forestry field, John is seriously one of the most knowledgeable guys around when it comes to wood. After leaving the Forestry Division of the State of Minnesota, John started his own business harvesting Minnesota’s best trees to make blocks/blanks for wood carving. His blocks of wood are of the finest basswood and butternut that he sells anywhere from 25 cents to $75. NOTHING is wasted in the processing of timber for John’s customers – even the shavings are sold for horse bedding. John’s company specializes in making the square and rectangular blocks that carvers desire. They also produce bark rimmed ovals, rounds and rectangles; as well as diamond willow blanks for gorgeous walking sticks. One thing they do that no one else does is laminate 3”-5” strips of wood into beautiful, wide wood blanks pieces for relief or chip carvers. John says that Titebond “Original” glue is the glue of choice for laminating as is doesn’t show the glue line when dried. Laminating is the only way to produce a wide board than won’t cup. At 76, John is inching his way to retirement – and who could blame him? He works an incredible 12-14 hours a day, 6 days a week. With more orders than he can handle, (shipping more than 20,000 pieces of wood each year) it’s amazing that his company flourishes like this without a website or advertising. Orders are shipped via FedEx to every state except Alaska. The Canadians come across the border to pick up carving wood when John has a show nearby. In addition, a friend takes wood to Norway and missionaries take it with them all over the world. The finest basswood carving blanks in the world come from the Northern Minnesota Basswood trees. Their slow growth makes this basswood softer for carving and the nicest, clearest, whitest wood around. The key to getting the best possible blanks out of wood has to do with harvesting and sawing it at the perfect time. John tells us that all trees should be harvested in winter, when the trees are dormant, and sawn into boards by early Spring. If not cut and sawn at the right time, it will stain. For those who want bark on their blanks, it is especially important to follow that timeline. We learned a ton about Minnesota’s trees; how bird’s pecking on them causes flaws in the future boards, how there’s a certain and specific best method for drying the lumber, the grain direction that works best when planning boards, and tons of other items that few folks would know about. We are grateful for John taking the time to share his vast knowledge with us and wish him the best as he works his way towards a very well earned 2nd retirement. Minutes Respectfully Submitted by Donna Zibley/Northstar Scrollers’ Secretary-Treasurer North Star Scrollers Meeting Minutes_#19 April 2, 2011.doc |
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