April 2020 Newsletter

Dedicated to the art of woodworking since 1984.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email






*|MC:SUBJECT|*




Next Meeting:

NO MEETING IN APRIL

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 — April 2020

Not much to say this month given the current lockdowns on travel and just being able to get out of the house.  I hope you have plenty of supplies to keep you going in the shop.  If you get down to scraps, consider building items for “Toys for Tots” since we are well stocked on items for the local hospitals.
 
Unfortunately, we continue to have all events and shop hours cancelled for the foreseeable future.  Hopefully we can get back to a normal meeting and class schedule in the next few months.
 
Stay safe in all you do.

Wayne Humphrey

Report on the Election of Officers- 2020
 
As of April 9, 2020, there were no nominations received from the membership for officers of the organization.  Therefore, effective April 17, 2020, the following will be officers of the St Louis Woodworkers Guild:
 
President —  Wayne Humphrey
Vice-President —  Bill Schuchat
Treasurer —  Tom Tierney
Secretary —   Adam Conners
 
Past President —  Bob Brinkman
 
Director —  Vickie Berry
Director —  Don Turner
Director —  Jay Noffsinger
Director —  Dan Sudkamp
 
On behalf of the entire membership of the Guild, I would like to thank Grant Black, Wayne Watson and Tom Tupper for the years they spent on the board as directors and officers and all their effort put forth to make the Guild what it is today.

WH

New Membership Chairman

David Schindler has assumed responsibility for membership.  If you have any issues with your membership, you may contact him at membership@slwg.org

Tired of the sound of machines?  You might be interested in Handworks 2020

 https://www.handworks.co/

For the fourth time, join modern woodworking hand tool makers and fellow enthusiasts for a weekend immersion in all things handwork.

Unplug from the world of machines, dust and noise while listening to the crisp sounds of the hand plane, chisel and saw in a restored timber-frame dairy barn in the traditional, historic German village of Amana.

Ask the makers about their tools and learn first hand how hand tools make woodworking more precise, easier, more enjoyable, and more meaningful.

SHOW AND TELL

Editor’s Note:
This month we are doing virtual SHOW and TELL with Members submitting photos and comments on the projects that have kept them busy during this Stay at Home time.  We received more than the ones shown below which will be posted in the May issue.
GV

Cecil Dean sent in this photo of a coffee table he made for his wife.  It is a walnut slab with black epoxy and finished with Osmo Polyx – oil.

Dennis Wilder’s current project is a rolling island, coffee wood base with a cherry top, not yet completed.

Tony O’Driscoll’s spice box is inspired by Steve Latta’s article in Fine Woodworking and a similar design from Glen Huey in Popular Woodworking.

So far, I’ve gotten the case and partitions made with a lot more to do.  Except for the dimensioning of the wood, it will be a completely unplugged project.  The only exception to that may be the crown and lower molding.  I’ve never done much more than beading and other small profiles with scratch stock before.   I may have to go to the router table if I can’t make it work.  
 
I plan on finishing it with tung oil to bring out the color and then padded shellac.  It will keep me busy for a while.  

Dan Lender sent in a couple pics of items he made from cut-offs.

I call this object “Wood art”.  My wife has it displayed on her kitchen countertop.  It is approx. 1 ½ x 10 x 10 in size.  It is made from cherry and hard maple.

I made a bottle caddy for my youngest son.  The handle, dividers and dowels are cherry.  The sides and bottom are made from hard maple.

Bob Meyer’s latest project is making an Entry Bench for his daughter in Houston, using some old church pew ends that his grandfather got from St Peter and Paul’s Church in St Louis, many years ago.

He figures that the pews are about 125 years old or older. He has had them for about 40 years, his grandfather had them for a time previous to that. His daughter wanted the variety of wood colors that they came up with for the project.
 
Denatured alcohol was used to clean off the old lacquer, then some light sanding to keep the dents, nicks and old square nail holes for some character.
The pew ends are solid walnut, very tight grain, white oak for the seat, and walnut for the back.

He finished it off with Polyurethane as it will get a lot of daily use.

Dan Vize sent in this picture of an end grain, 3d cutting board made from plans in the March 2020 issue of Wood Magazine. Plans were modified using Ipe instead of Walnut, with Cherry and Maple. Added feet on it as well.

This project was intended for a charity auction later this month but that has been rescheduled for October, so I intend on improving on this my first attempt at a board like this, and making another. Thinking Padauk, Maple, and Purpleheart. 

Below are some projects Don Turner has been working on with business temporarily closed.

The washer/dryer lift matches an open laundry room sink cabinet that he built a few years ago.
 
The next two projects were built from the wood scrap pile to try different things on his CNC machine.  Just playing around learning new techniques.  The plaque is an inlay on maple plywood with the walnut tree and boarder with cherry lettering.  The fish is a 3D carving made out of a two sided relief.  The fish is from wood cutoffs from the flower pot “mat” on the deck – the last photo.

Wayne Humphrey built the ice cream bars for Ranken Jordan to help children improve their hand eye coordination.  The holes in the base are a sloppy fit to make it easier to set the bars into the base.
 
Mark Koritz’s fantastic shop was featured in Woodcraft Magazine a few years ago.  Lots of good ideas!!
Click on this LINK to read it on our website.

Bill Meuth writes:
As some of you may know, in addition to making toys for the Guild’s Toy Program, I have made doll furniture for both
Santa’s Helpers and the Toys for Tots programs at Christmas.   So, when I saw the notice suspending the Toy Program I needed something to do.

As you can see in the pictures, I have had some help with this project.  Note that my helpers are maintaining the proper social distancing rule.

They haven’t provided much other help than kibitzing in the background and exclaiming “OH NOOO!!!” when I screw up.
The Adirondack chairs are made of 3/4″ by 1/2″ strips. and are approximately 1/4 scale to the real thing.  I add a small stuffed animal or doll to each one when they are donated.

Larry Alvarez made some Christmas ornaments, tea light holders, bowls, pen holders and cutting boards.  See more pictures of Larry’s projects on the SLWG website at this LINK.

Mark Bierman has been spending his sheltering at home time painting his spare bedroom for visits from his grandson.

The first picture is chalkboard paint and the second is after I installed a frame and tray for the chalkboard. The rest are the other walls we painted with different colors. I removed the closet doors and will build a desk and toy box to fit in the space.

 
Mark also shared a picture of a toy train he made with his 3 year old grandson, their first project together.

Bill Love has been working outdoors and built these planters last weekend with his daughter.

The boxes are 2 feet wide, 4 feet long and 1 foot deep.  They are 38 inches high to the top of the box.  (A good working height so I don’t have to bend over!)
 
Materials:
4 sheets of exterior sheathing plywood.  I had Home Depot rip 2 strips, lengthwise, 1 foot wide.  Left 23 3/4 wide piece of each board.  I cut 3 sheets worth in half.  That gave me 6 sets of sides and bottoms.  I used the 4th sheets to cut the ends.
 
21 2x4x8s – cut these for the legs (38 inches), side supports (48 inches) and cross supports (20 3/4 inches)
 
18 bags of potting soil/compost mix – 3 bags per box
 
1 roll 30# tar paper – used to line the boxes to keep the moisture away from the plywood.

Took us about a day and a half to complete and get planted.  With the materials and potting soil I spent about $450 for the project but hope to get many years of service from them.

Hal Donovan has been making improvements to his router table.

The leveling screws for the mounting plate on my Kreg router table were accessed from below.  When I upgraded, I added a dust collection box under the table that made it even harder to adjust, and a JessEm Rout R Lift II.  The lift had 10 leveling screws available from the top, but

was unusable since there was nothing below to support the screws.  I added some 1/2″ aluminum angle pieces to support the leveling screws.  I kept the four Kreg corner pieces for use with the corner mounting screws on the lift. I can finally make adjustments from above without twisting myself into a pretzel.

David Brown submitted two photos of a bowl that he completed last fall.

I have had two zebra wood boards for a long time and wanted to make a segmented turning from them.  I also wanted to make a segmented bowl as large as I could, but there was not enough zebra wood to do that.  So I made the 14.5 inch diameter bowl from cherry, walnut, and zebra wood. The finish is General Finishes Salad Bowl Finish.  I used Titebond III to glue the end grain of the segments to make the rings which were clamped with a daisy chain of hose clamps.  Then I used epoxy to glue the rings together.  I turned the bowl to each level before I even cut the segments for the next ring.

Bill Schuchat has been working on a few projects while staying at home:

I built and painted a Fancy Birdhouse for my wife.
This was one of the projects that Vickie and I discussed with the Rockwood teacher but it did not fit in with the teacher’s program and was not accepted for the school project.
I had made 10 or 15 skip loader kits and fork truck kits for the Rockwood School project before it was put on HOLD.  So I have continued these models as completed toys for the hospitals.
 
The fork truck has a cable system (string) to move the fork up-down. I “strung” several fork trucks that I had not strung earlier.  See stringing photo.  Requires tweezers to do.  Each fork truck has 56 parts.
I also made a fleet of skip loaders for the hospitals.  Each loader has 42 parts.

Craig Noel: Here are four pictures of items I’ve built for my shop since this all started.  All these items, except the Auxiliary Workbench, are from plans which I would be happy to share if anyone is interested.  
Rotating Benchtop Tool Table w/ Storage

This table has really opened up floor space and is just plain cool.  The cabinet is 40” square with a 34” diameter lazy susan for the floor where power hand tools are stored. The top, at 42” diameter rotates and holds a tool sharpening grinder, bench grinder, 1” x 42” belt sander and scroll saw. It features four drawers for accessories and four corner slots for other small items. 

The top and bottom rotate on eleven and seven 1” roller bearings from Menards (cheapest price I could find). I got the plan from a book that featured plans for the small shop. It’s made mostly of plywood of differing types the drawer fronts are pine, the sides, backs and bottoms are any combination of ply, hardboard and pine.  The feet are adjustable but I can’t use them because the perimeter of my basement has a 1’ deep by 5” high step. I don’t know why it’s there but I have to raise anything up that 5” or I loose that floor space.

Auxiliary Workbench
This workbench compliments my main bench and gives me two deep drawers and open storage on the bottom shelf.  I installed inside side panels and three shelves to keep tapes and glues handy. Nothing really special about this except,

like the rotating table, 90% of material used is from stuff I already had in the shop.  This was an added bonus since I cleaned out and used a lot of wood.

Drill Press Table

I’ve looked at purchasing a store bought table but could not justify the expense.  This is from an unused old counter top, I cut it to size and ripped the fence off.  I can do most drilling now without clamps and wish I would have made this years ago.

Pen Blank Vise

This vise replaced a self-centering store bought vise.  This works much smoother and is half the weight.  It also allows for easy drilling of round stock on the horizontal.  I had a scrap piece of 2”x4”x12” (actual) hard maple and used that plastic material (HDPE?) that slides very well for the sliding dovetail runners or guides.

Surplus Woodworking Equipment SALE
 
The SLWG Surplus Woodworking Equipment Auctions have been temporarily suspended.   Keep an eye on this spot for when we will restart the program.


COMMUNITY

St. Louis Woodworkers Guild contributions to the local community
 

Some of our toy builders are really prolific!!!

YOU ASKED…
 We know we have many creative woodworkers who design their own toys – as such, we’d love it if you’d share your creativity.  It’s now possible for members (from the Members Only section of the website) to upload their own patterns. To ensure consistency in instructions and patterns, detailed instructions were developed and are on the website.
 

     Toy Committee Update

A reminder to those Guild members who want to provide toys to our partnering hospitals and agencies during these uncertain times, they continue to not accept toys.  In line with this information, the Toy Committee will not be collecting toys until further notice.  We do appreciate what you have done and look forward to providing them again.
 

Toy Tally

Collected
March — 881
YTD — 3,533

Delivered
YTD — 1,475

Since 1994 — 71,337!*
*No Deliveries in March

2020 Toy Program Major Contributors

Over 1000 Club
Wayne Humphrey -1,142

Over 750 Club
Bill Meuth – 801

Over 100 Club
Rich Sanders – 254
Vickie Berry – 208
Keith Lissant – 166
Bob Baird – 154
Bill Schuchat – 141

FIRST-TIME CONTRIBUTORS

None this month

2020 Target and Challenge

Progress towards our 2020 targets:

Target for Delivered Items:  7,138

21% ACHIEVED
A Good Start!

22% Member Participation Target

11% ACHIEVED
24 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
 

Toy Committee

Dan Lender
Paul Bailey
Vickie Berry
Hal Donovan

Steve Mettes
Bill Schuchat
Rick Weitzman

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

Bring Me A Book Team News

Forty-two completed book boxes were picked up in March before collections were suspended due to Covid19. Thank you to the members who built boxes. The remaining book boxes will be picked up at a later date. Please watch your email information for that information. We are holding the forty-two boxes in our inventory until we can deliver them to BMABStL.
 
BMABStL has suspended operations until further notice. We will have a better idea in late April or May as to when they will restart their programs for 2020. 
 
The Guild made a $500 donation to BMABStL in March to help offset the cost of materials for the last batch of boxes produced. The cost of material for each box is about $10. Prior to this donation, BMABStL has purchased the plywood.
 

Tom Tierney

Book Box Tally

As of March 31, 2020
 

Unassembled Box Kits ready for members to pick up      0

Undistributed Book Boxes on Hand                                 22

Book Boxes Collected and in QC                                      42

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.

Woodworking Classes

Held at Faust Park Workshop

Upcoming Classes

To Be Announced by Email — Join the Guild to be  able to take classes!!!
 

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. 

Shop Hours
SHOP IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED

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:
          To Be Announced
Where:
           Faust Park Workshop
Duration:
           Plan for 3 Hours
Cost:
         $20 for Current Members

To attend Safety Class, must RSVP by Monday prior 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:
Bill Schuchat – 314-406-1823

Secretary:
Adam Connors – 314-495-1772

Treasurer:
Tom Tierney – 314-412-1817

Directors:
Jay Noffsinger  (exp. 2024)
Vickie Berry (exp. 2021)
Dan Sudkamp (exp. 2022)
Don Turner (exp. 2023)

Immediate Past President:
Bob Brinkmann

Marketing & Membership Chair:
Wayne Watson

Membership Coordinator:
David Schindler

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. 











(In-store only)








Kohler City Hardwoods


This email was sent to *|EMAIL|*

why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

*|LIST:ADDRESSLINE|*

*|REWARDS|*

Leave a Reply