March 2020 Newsletter

Dedicated to the art of woodworking since 1984.

Wayne Meglan with his hand-built canoe
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Next Meeting:

MARCH
MEETING
CANCELLED

Meeting Location:

Oasis Room
Moolah Shrine Facility
12545 Fee Fee Road
 St. Louis, MO  63146

Click here for Map to the Meeting Location

President’s Letter — March 2020

Cancelling the March meeting was a tough decision as it is one of the most popular meetings of the year.  We have decided to do so in an abundance of caution for all our members.  Many members have an option to attend or not but many have an obligation to be there to make the meeting happen.  We took all of their concerns into account when making that decision. 
 
The George Walker event was also cancelled due to the number of participants that would be closely together for two days.  Hopefully it can be rescheduled.
 
We left the shop’s open hours and smaller classes on the schedule because of the fewer people involved and shorter durations
 
As with all your activities, please don’t participate in them if you do not feel 100%.
 
It is the end of the fiscal year of the Guild and several activities will be postponed. The nomination of officers will take place at the next meeting and the following meeting will be the election of officers and approval of a budget.
 
Like all organizations, we will have to play it by ear as we go on.
 
Violet Oman has resigned as a Director of the Guild.  Violet is spending so much time in Kansas City she felt she could no longer do the job.  Dan Sudkamp has been named to replace her. 
 
Believe it or not, we are making advances in improving our shop space. We hope to clean out the most of the right side of the shop (as you walk in the door) to make more room for more benches and improve all the benches and vises in the shop.  This will be accomplished by putting a storage building on the asphalt parking lot at the maintenance facility.  Toys and toy supplies will also be stored there. 
 
A new miter gage is available for use on the table saw.  Thanks to Rockler for donating this item.  Rockler also donated a Kreg Miter gage that will be sold at silent auction or in the monthly tool sale.
 
We are also taking steps toward a larger shop facility.  These are very preliminary steps and we will pass on more information as this project progresses.
 
Watch your email inbox for more information on meeting and classes.  The newly scheduled Sketchup class date is moving and there will be more information coming soon.

As always, work safe,

Wayne Humphrey

SLWG Event Cancellations

The St. Louis Woodworkers Guild has cancelled the general meeting scheduled for March 19th to minimize health concerns for our members. 
 
We have also cancelled the April 18th and 19th George Walker seminar.  We will attempt to reschedule this event for later in the year.  Paid fees for this seminar may be refunded or transferred to the new date.  If you would like a refund, contact treasurer@slwg.org
 
We have not cancelled the open shop hours and other classes that are being offered as these are smaller groups.

Need a very interesting, strong, easy to cut joint for a bed frame or something similar?  This link will take you to a video that will show you how to build it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKJI_f44v0E&feature=youtu.be

Thanks to Vickie Berry for sharing this with us.

The Guild now has a YOUTUBE channel.  Two short videos have been uploaded to it so far.  This will allow us to use short videos for more things and allow live streaming of events. More information to follow.


Last Month’s Meeting


Building a Cedar Strip Canoe

Presented by  


Wayne Meglan

Wayne Meglan built this beautiful Redbird canoe based on a plan in Canoecraft by Ted Moores.  The canoe is 17-1/2′ long and weighs 55 lbs, so can be “easily” portaged by one person.  He noted that this is actually lighter than comparable Old Towne canoes.  It is constructed primarily of western red cedar and Wayne started out by buying four 8/4 cedar boards of length and ripping and planing them to obtain the strips necessary to complete the project.

Each of the strips were beaded and coved using a 1/2″ router bits.  Wayne noted that you need to use 1/2″ shank bits because on a project of this magnitude, a 1/4″ shank won’t hold up.

The dark, shorter pieces that show up like inserts on the sides are stained cherry and redwood accent pieces.  The decks fore and aft were made of walnut, redwood, and ash with splined joints for strength.  Wayne made the seat frames of walnut and acquired a new skill in doing his own caning for the seats.

This was a truly interesting presentation of a project which required the combination of many skills and innovative techniques to accomplish a successful end product.  Wayne noted that he has had several fun outings with the finished canoe and it works like it looks, beautifully!

The outer stem was grooved and set in place, then secured with a variety of band clamps.
Closing up the hull approaching the “football” area.
Wayne used 3/8″ particle board for the forms to build up the hull.
Lots of clamps necessary to use the “dragon tooth” jig on the gunwales.

SHOW AND TELL

Brian Ellision showed us his first case built 20 years ago that morphed into quite a useful cabinet
for his router bits and other tools.  It includes finger joint construction, etched glass, drawers and is hung on the wall with a French cleat hanger.
Dan Lender built “Rita the Dinosaur” for his 1 year old granddaughter.  He made it primarily of baltic birch plywood with the runners constructed of laminated hard maple.  
He made the center of the creature hollow to cut down on weight, but that meant that 52 pieces were required.

A few members asked Dan how he made the rocking dinosaur dowel ends so he sent us the instructions.  
Using a roundover router bit and table:
Drill a hole in a square piece for the dowel to fit snug.
Clamp this to the fence moderately close to the bit.

Place the dowel in the hole and then move fence to get dowel at the bit or at least in front of it. Twist the dowel carefully to get round by just barely touching bit. You will have to adjust fence to get optimum contact but I would start with the bit at the outside of the dowel.
DL

One of our favorite reasons for woodworking.
John Buehrer showed us an elven box with a tray insert.  The helical spiral fluted box was made of elm with a walnut finial.
Some really fancy turning to make this box!
Jerre Baynes made a chair to match a bar that he built.  He planned to make a set, but the first one has taken 5 years so it may be a while. 
He used leftover oak flooring for the sides and oak dowels for the seat and back.
Rich Sanders showed us a 13 layer basket that he scroll-sawed from one collapsed layer.
Rich noted that this type of project takes a lot of patience to do successfully.

Surplus Woodworking Equipment SALE
 
The St. Louis Woodworkers Guild is beginning the process of auctioning several pieces of surplus tools and machinery.  The auction will be in the silent format and open to Guild Members only.  

The items available for this month will be:

 

Homecraft Table Saw
 
Jet Dust Collector
 
Homecraft Lathe
 
Each month we will post additional items for auction on the Website and in the Guild Newsletter.  The website will have images and descriptions of each item. If you would like to inspect an item prior to bidding, please contact James Payne as noted below.  Items are located at Faust Park.

All items appear to be in working order.  However, no electricity is available where the items are being stored. Therefore, the Guild Board is offering a forty-five day warranty for refunds/returns.  Warranty period begins at award of winning bid.

Since this is a blind auction, only one bid per item should be submitted by an individual.  See website link above for minimum bid amounts for each item and other bidding details.

For any questions or to arrange to inspect an item, please contact James Payne at (314) 226-3924.  Bids should be emailed to:  auctions@slwg.org


COMMUNITY

St. Louis Woodworkers Guild contributions to the local community
 

Dan Lender at his new post at the Toy Table at the February Meeting.  Dan is the new Toy Committee Chair.

TOY DROP OFF

Since we will not be having a meeting at the Moolah temple in March, the Toy Committee will be collecting toys at the Faust Park Guild Shop Thursday, March 19 from 5-6 PM. 

If you prefer to hold your donation until the next month, that will work too.
 
Bill Schuchat & Dan Lender

YOU ASKED…
 
We’re often asked what kind of toys do you need?  Feedback from our Community Partners indicated toys with moving parts are always a hit with the children.  Items such as airplanes, trucks, cars, train engines and animals with moving legs and arms are favorites.  We’re in the process of conducting an extensive inventory of our existing supply of toys to ensure we have the right items.  We know we have plenty of cutout toys for the moment and encourage members to try their hand at toys with moving parts.

     Toy Committee Update

We’ve had a change of leadership at the committee and added a couple of new members.  Dan Lender has taken over as Toy Committee Chair and we’ve added a couple of new members – Paul Bailey and Rick Weitzman. We are also entertaining the addition of at least one and maybe two new Community Partners.  If you have any suggestions, please let one of us know.

St Charles Hardwoods Donation

St Charles Hardwoods has donated additional race car blanks to the Guild.  Our thanks to Edie Wilson at St. Charles Hardwoods and to Mark Koritz, Guild member, for making this happen.

 ROCKWOOD SCHOOLS TOY KITS
 

 Invited Back, but Delayed! 

The Rockwood School District Center for Learning has invited us back!  Once again members have prepared toy kits that students will assemble and return to the Guild for distribution with our toy program.  We have enough kits but are looking for one or two more Assembly Supervisors to work with the students, as needed. 

Due to school closings, the new dates are changing and we will update you as soon as we hear from the school.

If you are interested in helping when the new schedule is established, please contact Bill Schuchat at  314-406-1823  wschuchat@gmail.com.

Feedback from Ranken-Jordan on items provided by the SLWG
(See Dan Lender or Bill Schuchat to help with this request)

 


Good morning, Bill!
 
I hope you and the Guild are doing well!
 
I received a special project request from our therapy team that I want to share with you. In a recent toy delivery, we received a handful of toys that were in the shape of a body and others that were wands with hearts, stars and flowers on the end. These toys were incredibly popular!! We would like to special order 25-50 more body figurines and wands.
 
Would you and other friends at the Guild be able to build more of these for our kiddos?
 
Thanks so much, Bill! We just love everyone at the Guild!!
 
Blessings,
 
Lewis Berkwit, CFRE
Annual Giving Officer

Toy Tally

Collected
February — 1,114
YTD — 2,652

Delivered
YTD — 1,745

Since 1994 — 71,337!
 

2020 Toy Program Major Contributors

Over 500 Club
Wayne Humphrey – 722
Bill Meuth – 564

 

Over 100 Club
Rich Sanders – 254
Bob Baird – 154
Keith Lissant – 146
Bill Schuchat – 133
Vickie Berry – 124

FIRST-TIME CONTRIBUTORS

Anna Beutlemann
Ed Holt

2020 Target and Challenge

Progress towards our 2020 targets:

Target for Delivered Items:  7,138

21% ACHIEVED
A Good Start!

22% Member Participation Target

10% ACHIEVED
23 Members so far

Toy Pattern Library is Growing

 
Keep checking the website for new patterns throughout the year as well as the schedule for donating seasonal items.  We’ll continue to add new and interesting patterns for all levels of woodcrafters so check back often.
 
Find patterns at:  https://slwg.org/community-involvement/toy-program/

Organizations that we currently donate toys to include:

Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition
Mercy Children’s Hospital St. Louis
Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital
Shriners Hospitals for Children – St. Louis
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
St. Louis Children’s Hospital

Rockwood School District
 

WOOD PAYMENTS
Beginning January 1, 2020, the Toy Committee will Pay for Wood that members use to make donations. This will include toys and boxes donated for the area Hospitals and the Foster kids.  The committee will have a form for submitting expenses and payments to members will be made on a quarterly basis. Please keep the requests reasonable and proportional to the donations made.
 

Toy Committee

Dan Lender:  314-878-1015
Paul Bailey:  314-775-6695
Vickie Berry: 972-741-1944
Hal Donovan: 314-570-6563

Steve Mettes:  901-237-4483
Bill Schuchat:  314-406-1823
Rick Weitzman: 314-920-7867

Please contact us with comments, suggestions or if you need to arrange pickup or delivery of toys.

Dust Collector Donation

The Guild has donated a dust collector that was in our surplus inventory to Building Futures, a non-profit working with kids in St Louis City.

Bring Me A Book Team News

Thank you to the members who took book box kit(s) at the February meeting. All of the kits have been distributed. We started to pick up completed boxes on March 15 and will continue to do so throughout the month. Watch for an email for dates and times.

The BMAB Book Bus recently made visits to:

  • Paul Laurence Dunbar Elementary – 105 book boxes and 525 books
  • Lift for Life Academy Elementary School – 500 books
  • Hamilton Elementary – 500 books

They are currently rescheduling events because of recent school and community center closures. We’ll have a better idea in late April about their end of the school year schedule. 

Tom Tierney

Book Box Tally

As of January 31, 2020
 

Unassembled Box Kits ready for members to pick up      0

Book Boxes in process of assembly                                 12

Book Boxes in QC                                                             52

Book Boxes Completed and Delivered  to BMABStl    
    since beginning of program in April 2018                 1003

Book Box Program Major Contributors

We will be posting major contributors for 2020 as the program moves forward. 

Book Box Committee

Tom Tierney: (314) 412-1817
Jack McKay: (314) 435-2232

Charles Schrock: (314) 822-3709
 

Check out the Events Calendar on the SLWG website HERE.

SAVE THE DATE
(CANCELLED)

WEEKEND WOODWORKING SEMINAR

with

GEORGE WALKER,  Furniture Designer

April 17-19, 2020

George has written numerous articles for Popular Woodworking Magazine over the years.  Stay tuned for more information about this Spring weekend event.

Woodworking Classes

Held at Faust Park Workshop

Shop Safety Class

We received a very complimentary email from a member that recently took our shop safety class.  He was impressed with the quality of the content and Wayne Watson’s instruction.
 
Reminder: If you have previously taken the safety class, you are always welcome to attend any safety class at no charge to you.  Taking a refresher safety class is always a good idea to help keep you safe when working in the shop.

Upcoming Classes

To Be Announced by Email — Join the Guild to be on that list!!!
 

Payment for classes:
-Payment in advance is required to be registered
– By check, mailed to Guild’s PO Box
– Pay online Guild web page through PayPal
– Pay at the meeting to Eric Oman
 
Please note that registration closes by the 5th of the month in which the class is scheduled.  For example, for a class held in July, registration is due by July 5.

Registration or Questions?
Contact Eric Oman  at   eric.oman@yahoo.com   or     636-248-0069

Faust Park Workshop Information

  • To participate in the Workshop Safety Class or use the shop, you must have paid the current year Guild dues and have your current membership card with appropriate marking.
  • To use the Guild Workshop during open hours, you must have passed a Workshop Safety Class. 

April Shop Hours
Apr 7 & 8,       10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Apr 11 & 12,     9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Apr 14 & 15,   10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Apr 18 & 19,     9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Apr 25,             9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Make Checks for Safety Class payable to SLWG and attendees must bring their current Guild membership card.

Link to Safety Class Signup and Directions to the shop on the SLWG website HERE.

Next Shop Safety Class

When:
          Thursday, April 2
           6:30 PM    
Where:
           Faust Park Workshop
Duration:
           Plan for 3 Hours
Cost:
         $20 for Current Members

To attend Safety Class, must RSVP by March 31 to vicepresident@slwg.org
 

Join The Guild Today!

GUILD MEMBERSHIP

Annual Dues Renewals  for 2020 are NOW OPEN
 

Annual membership renewal is available online with PayPal (preferred, as this speeds up the check-in process at the meeting) or at the meeting when you sign in.  
If you are coming to the meeting and want to avoid a long line, put your funds in an envelope with your name on it and what you are paying for.  You can just drop it at the table and not have to wait in line.

Current membership status is required for use of the Faust Park Shop.

Annual Membership Dues:

Basic Membership            $40    (4 uses of the Guild Shop during 2020)
Full Shop Membership                $75    (Unlimited use of the Guild Shop during 2020)

A basic membership entitles the member to four uses of the Guild Shop during the year.  A shop membership entitles the member to unlimited use of the shop during open shop hours.

Member benefits also include:
 

                      > Discounts at Guild sponsors
                      > Access to Project Workshops 
                      > Access to a local community of woodworkers
                      > Access to the secure portion of the website

Just Complete & Return This Application!

Or, bring the completed form to the next meeting and Join right there!!!  Cash, checks, PayPal or credit cards accepted.

Click here to pay dues online

If you are a current or retired Boeing employee you can now contribute to the St. Louis Woodworker’s guild through the Boeing Gift Match program.  The guild is now an approved charitable organization with the Boeing program.  As an employee participant, your donation of $25.00 USD or more or the equivalent volunteer hours of 25 hours or more will be matched 1:1 by Boeing.  The maximum individual contribution is $6,000.00 or 6,000 volunteer hours.  Your contribution is tax deductible as long as you follow three simple steps:

Step 1:  Eligible Boeing employees or retirees first make a contribution directly to the guild

Step 2:  After making your donation go to Total Access and click on My Community Giving – GIVE – Gift Match on the Boeing Gift Match page.

Step 3:  Register your donation whether it’s monetary or volunteer hours and select The St. Louis Woodworker’s Guild and enter the total amount and the date of the contribution.

It’s that easy, you get a great tax break and it benefits the guild directly.  If you have any questions, please email Wayne Humphrey at president@slwg.org and if I don’t know the answer, I will try to find it for you.

The St. Louis Woodworker’s Guild is now listed with Amazon Smile.

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite woodworker’s guild every time you shop at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to the St. Louis Woodworker’s Guild. 

Simply go to smile.amazon.com and select the St. Louis Woodworker’s Guild as your organization that you want to receive donations from your eligible purchases.  The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases.  You don’t make the donation, Amazon Smile does.  It truly is at no cost to you.  Just make sure you go to smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com.  If you have any questions on how the program works, just send an email to Wayne Humphrey at president@slwg.org .

SLWG Officers, Board Members and Committee Leaders


President:
Wayne Humphrey – 314-440-2173

Vice President:
Wayne Watson – 314-541-3047


Secretary:
Tom Tupper – 636-236-3313

Treasurer:
Tom Tierney – 314-412-1817

Directors:
Grant Black (exp. 2020)
Vickie Berry (exp. 2021)
Dan Sudkamp (exp. 2022)
Don Turner (exp. 2023)

Immediate Past President:
Bob Brinkmann

Marketing & Membership Chair:
Wayne Watson

Membership Coordinator:
Michael Graber

Woodworking Show Coordinator:
Wayne Watson

Book Box Committee Chair:
Tom Tierney

Outreach Coordinator:
Open

Newsletter Editor:
Grady Vaughan

Librarian:
Al Carlson

Toy Committee Chair:
Dan Lender

Shop Manager:
Wayne Watson

Classes and Workshops Coordinator:
Eric Oman

Web Master:
David Zemon

Media Coordinator:
Bob Kastigar

Legal Counsel:
Bill Hobson


Our Sponsors

The St. Louis Woodworkers Guild relies heavily on sponsorship to execute on our mission statement of education, community service, and local development. Please support our sponsors. 











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Kohler City Hardwoods


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