Last Wednesday was the first time I had been there in roughly 3 years. I was happy to see some of the same members that had been the re three years earlier. Its an interesting mix of woodworking hobbiests and professional  people. Its a club of 175 members at this point and their  common goal is to create wooden items some for fun and others for profit.

This months meeting was a round robin format where professional people got up on the stage and were asked random questions from the group members in the audience. (The seats were all full). When a question was asked the microphone was passed to the person with the most experience in the field pertaining to the question. this weeks topics were on wood finishing of furniture and quite a bit of conversation was dedicated to woodworking tools. One of the members Peter Profetta was the panel expert on power tools. He worked at Woodworkers Warehouse ( a now defunct company) when he joined the club but now works at a company called Ace tool where he spends his work day fixing and performing maintenance on there customers power tools. His advice f the night? Buy a Milwaukee cordless drill as they are now using the same motors in there tools as festool ( a high end woodworking tool manufacturer based in Germany).

Many of the other Q and A discussions were about which glue to use when ( You would be amazed at the many options and reasons for choosing one over the other).  How to apply wood finishes like polyurethane, lacquer, or danish oils was discussed.

They discussed there local toys for tots drive where wood is donated and toys are made and picked up by the United States Marine Corp. for delivery to children over seas. This club is a rare, true, non profit organization. they even have an accountant whose a tax prep guy by day and a woodworking enthusiast by night. He apparently is there treasurer.

I’m really glad I went and paid my $35 for a yearly membership. I was a woodworker amongst woodworkers and it felt good.

William OConnell

William@woodworkers.us

One thing was still working, albeit barely was the shop I had built for custom cabinetry, mouldings, woodwork, and refinishing. At 1600 square feet it is a model of efficiency for just about any size job we take on. All of the tools are paid for ( and there are many) and the space is working. What once was a small part of our business has now become a place where other general contractors, and interior decorators call to have work done for their clients. I’m glad I built it.  Our overhead is minimal so we can compete with anyone on Long Island and NYC.