March 2024 Newsletter

Dedicated to the art of woodworking since 1984.

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Next Meeting:

This Thursday

March 21st

Meeting Start:

6:45 PM

Meeting Location:

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

OR

Youtube LiveStream Link HERE for online starting at 6:45 PM

President’s Letter

As usual, a lot has happened since my last letter.

  • We hurriedly made arrangements to have a booth for the St Louis Woodworkers Show held in O’Fallon, Illinois from February 23 – 25, 2024. Many thanks to Andrea Lyons for being in charge of arranging members to work at our booth for the multiple time slots needed over the 3 days! I think things went well from our perspective with a total gain of about 5 members for our guild. We need to have a better system to be able to complete the sign-ups at the show! Next year’s show will probably be held in February again at the Belleville, Illinois fairground building.

 

  • Under the leadership of Dan Lender, we had an incredibly successful Superstar Presentation with nearly 50 members enjoying an outstanding program by Logan Wittmer!! I am happy to announce that Dan Lender has agreed to be the leader for next year’s Superstar weekend again!

 

  • We are moving forward in collecting data to be used to develop a plan and time frame for considering the feasibility of a new shop. This included a site visit to Quinn Saw who has about 4800 square feet available for lease. Bob Kastigar also visited the Maker’s Space site to see if some kind of cooperative arrangement could be worked out to share space and equipment between our 2 groups. We will soon get preliminary information from the architect we are working with to explore building in another area of Faust Park – perhaps a building with maybe 2500 square feet that could later be expanded to 5,000 square feet as our needs grow and our financial situation allows.

 

  • It is expected that our new double drum sander will be operational soon!

 

  • At the upcoming meeting I will discuss the possibility of ordering shop aprons and caps with the Guild insignias for interested members to purchase or to be given to members who have completed the fundamentals class or have volunteered for significant tasks in the Guild.

 

  • We do have members who have agreed to accept positions of president and vice president  for the next Guild fiscal year beginning after the April meeting. The slate will be announced at this month’s meeting and voted on at the April Meeting.

Stay safe in the shop,

Jay Noffsinger


When choosing lumber, be it domestic or exotic hardwood, Visit Andrew and the team at U-Pick Hardwoods in St. Charles Mo.
U Pick hardwoods offers guild members a 10% Discount with your current membership card.

THIS MONTH’S PROGRAM
(In Person Presentation and Livestream)

Double Bevel Marquetry with Shop Sawn Veneer
with

Brad Bernhard

LINK TO THIS MONTH’S MEETING

LAST MONTH’S PROGRAM

Habitat for Humanity

with

Tony Bradbury

Tony Bradbury of the St. Charles area Habitat for Humanity talked about how Habitat works in the community.

 See the entire presentation on the Link below.

Link to Last Month’s Meeting Recording

SUPERSTAR WEEKEND

A Great Success

Logan Wittmer – Master woodworker

Sawyer, Popular Woodworking’s Editor-in-Chief

Dan Lender, Master of Ceremonies for Superstar Weekend, introduced Logan, setting the stage for an exceptionally informative session.

Hal Donovan, Camera Master, utilized the Guild’s remotely operated cameras to zoom in on and magnify the tasks Logan was executing, allowing everyone to view the details on the large display screen.

Jay Noffsinger, Guild President, welcomed Logan to the event.

Hal’s camera work shows in the background, with the magnification of the drilling operation.

Here, Logan demonstrated the drawbore method for mortise-and-tenon joints.

The splayed tapered leg side table prototype was actually used as a plant stand in Logan’s home.

The event, attended by nearly 50 Members, offered something appealing to all. Logan was a captivating and informed speaker who skillfully handled questions while working, without skipping a beat.

Vickie Berry brought chocolate cake and other treats to celebrate the near completion of the nominations committee’s work for the year. The committee will announce their selections at the March meeting, which will then be voted on during the April meeting.
Donate to the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild HERE

SHOW AND TELL

Bill Schuchat brought in a shop-made featherboard for tall pieces which locks into the miter slot.

Alan Brown built two tables for the HSH program: a sofa end table and a dining room table.

Lance Markus crafted a side table featuring a drawer and a veneered top surface, which he created for his Fundamentals Class project.

TOOL RECALLS
and Other Videos

Here is a link to a site that lists safety recall notices for woodworking tools. LINK 

COMMUNITY

St. Louis Woodworkers Guild contributions to the local community
 

Toy Committee Chair Rich Weitzman awaits toy donations at every monthly meeting and has toy parts if you let him know in advance of the meeting.

  Toy Committee Update
 

Toy production moves along, but we need more.  We had a good selection of toys collected at the February meeting, but our hospital partners are starting to increase their requests and our inventory of toys in the shed is starting to go down.

Current needs:  Airplanes and Helicopters – Plans available

All woodworkers should be aware that we are donating these toys for children and that all toy donations must be fully sanded with NO splinters or sharp edges — ready for a final finish by the children. 

Call me if you need toy parts and I will bring them to the meeting for pickup.

Thank you to all who have built toys and contributed to this important program.
 

Rich Weitzman

 

Toy Committee Chair
314-920-7867

2024 Toy Report

Toy Tally

****Editor’s Note for March – Toy Tally not updated this month*****

Collected
February — 204
YTD — 204

Delivered
February — 218
YTD — 218

Since 1994 — 87,478

2024 Toy Program Major Contributors

Over 50 Club
Bill Meuth — 67

Wayne Humphrey — 62

NEW CONTRIBUTORS

Bill Meuth
Wayne Humphrey

2024 Target and Challenge

Target for Delivered Items:  4,000

5.4% ACHIEVED
 
 

10% Member Participation Target

1.1% ACHIEVED
4 Members

Organizations that we currently donate toys to include:

BJC Children’s Hospital
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition
Hawthorn Children’s Psych. Hosp.
LifeWise STL
Mercy Hospital

Peace Pantry Cedar Hill
RankenJordan Ped. Bridge Hospital
Rockwood School District
Shriners Hospitals for Children
Toys for Tots

Toy Committee

Rich Weitzman, Chair
Paul Bailey
Vickie Berry
Hal Donovan
Steve Mettes

Charles Schrock
Bill Schuchat
Grady Vaughan

Please contact us with comments, suggestions or if you need to arrange pickup or delivery of toys. Individual contact info can be found on the Members Only section of the SLWG website.

HSH Table Build Community Outreach

 
Are you looking for a small project?
 
We are eleven months into our second year of building and donating small tables to HomeSweetHome (HSH). The demand is high for the small dinning, end, coffee tables and nightstands we supply to HSH. The size and quality of Guild-built tables are very popular with the HSH Clientele.

Information about HSH and the table build program and sample table dimensioned drawings can be found on our website under the Community Service tab, HomeSweetHome, LINK HERE.
 
Under this program Members build small tables using Guild-supplied wood.  Members are also free to use a mix of Guild supplied wood and other scraps of wood(s) they have on hand. If you want, you are encouraged to use your own design(s) as-long-as your finished piece conforms to the dimensions shown on our website.

 

Tables Built and Donated by Type
Current Year
                                        Dining                       12
                                   End and Sofa Servers   84
                                       Coffee                        1
                                       Nightstands                1
 
Current Year Total             98  (Our goal is 110)               
Program Total to date      200                             
 
As you can see, we need Coffee and Nightstand builders.

  
Please contact me at the meeting or by call, text, or email if you are interested in building a table(s). Or, reach out to any Board Member (look for a red lanyard) or talk to a table builder if you have any questions.

Thank you to all of our Members who participate in this program by donating their time and talent to build tables for HomeSweetHome Clients.

Tom Tierney
(314) 412-1817
tmtierney@gmail.com

Tom WILL NOT have wood available at this week’s meeting.

 

Processing Wood for the HSH Table Projects

On February 19th and 20th Member Volunteers worked in the Guild Shop to process donated 5/4 rough sawn Red Oak lumber into S4S boards. We had a strong turnout with twelve Members joined us over the course of three days. Approximately 250 bf of lumber were milled to rough dimensions then sawed, drilled, glued and router into the various parts needed for the half lap end table. The pieces were then assembled into 18 kits for distribution to Members for final assembly and finishing.

Our Work Day Participants were:

Craig Altman
Alan Brown
Bob Danner
Marc Davidson
Fran Field
Joe Fossick
Dan Hoyniak

Wayne Humphrey
Greg Kunklinski
Jack McKay
Steve Mikola
Bob Ryan
Charles Shrock

UPCOMING MEETING PRESENTATIONS

March 21          Brad Bernhard                        Marquetry
April 20             Guild Election                         No Presentation
May 18              Dan Lender                            Bedroom Set Build — Mission Style Inspired

Woodworking Classes

Held at Faust Park Workshop

Upcoming Classes

See the Schedule on the SLWG Website HERE.
                                                
Date                     Teacher                  Subject

March 24, 2023 Humphrey Beginner Scroll Sawing
April 6, 2024 SchuchatDannerMorton Fundamentals 2024A-6
April 14, 2023 Turner Spray Finishing: Laquer & Shellac
April 28, 2023 SchuchatDannerMorton Fundamentals 2024A-7
May 4, 2024 Morton Thru & 1/2 Blind Dovetails
May 12, 2023 SchuchatDannerMorton Fundamentals 2024A-8
May 26, 2023 Schuchat Danner Beginners Woodworking Class
June 1, 2024 SchuchatDannerMorton Fundamentals 2024A-9
June 9, 2024 Schuchat Mortise & Tenon
June 23, 2024 SchuchatDannerMorton Fundamentals 2024A-10
June 30, 2024 SchuchatDannerMorton Fundamentals 2024B-1
June 29, 2024 Kastigar Build a Small Box
July 6, 2024 Botkin Carving Intro

   
Short classes for new members (and old members who want to attend) are being offered ahead of Open Shop hours on specific Saturdays.  One hour classes for Band Saw, Planer/Jointer, Hand Plane, Table Saw & Drill Press will be scheduled.  See the website calendar for dates and times.

Check out the Events Calendar on the SLWG website HERE.

Faust Park Workshop Information

Important Notice from the SLWG Board regarding the Faust Park Shop

The Faust Park Shop is open only to SLWG members who have completed their Safety Training.  Minimum age for membership in the Guild is 16 years old.  Children less than 16 cannot be Members and therefore are not allowed in the shop under any circumstances.  Shop Monitors are authorized to enforce this major safety and liability issue.

  • 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 “Open Shop” Hours
April 7                        9 am – 5 pm

April 9 & 10               10 am – 2 pm

April 13                     9 am – 5 pm

April 16 & 17           10 am – 2 pm

April 20 & 21             9 am – 5 pm

April 27                    9 am – 5 pm

Next Shop Safety Class
When:
   Thursday, April 4th, 6:30 pm
       
Where:
           Faust Park Workshop

Duration:
           Plan for 3 Hours

Cost:
         $20 for Current Members

Safety Class attendees must register online and bring their current Guild membership card.
 Limit of 10 per class.
Visit the SLWG website for Safety Class Signup HERE.

Directions: Plug the following address into your GPS or phone: 
1135 Henry Jackson Rd. Chesterfield, MO

Join or Renew your Guild

Membership Today!

Annual Dues Renewals
 

Remember that letting your membership lapse will result in having to retake the Safety Class ($20) prior to using the Open Shop at Faust Park.

 

Annual membership renewal is available online (click on button below) with PayPal or any major credit card, or mail a check for the appropriate amount with member’s name in the memo line to 
St. Louis Woodworkers Guild
P.O. Box 411766
St. Louis, MO 63141-9998

 
Current membership status is required for use of the Faust Park Shop.
 
Annual Membership Dues:

 

Basic Membership            $40
Full Shop Membership      $75
 
A Basic Membership entitles the member to four (4) uses of the Guild Shop during the membership 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

See the SLWG Website for signing up!

Click here to pay dues online

WELCOME to NEW MEMBERS

Gerry Andert

Ron Brantley

Sean Brown

Kurt Buchholz

Evan Dickerson-Rusan

Paul Hellenbrand

Allison Jackson

Max Jackson

Muhammad Kang

Kim Potts

Aurianna Salem Turvold

Joshua Toye

Steven Wells

Daniel Zepeda

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 Jay Noffsinger at president@slwg.org and if I don’t know the answer, I will try to find it for you.

SLWG Officers, Board Members and Committee Leaders

President:
Jay Noffsinger – 618-530-7114
president@slwg.org

Vice President:
Bill Schuchat – 314-406-1823
vicepresident@slwg.org

Secretary:
Adam Conners – 314-495-1772
secretary@slwg.org

Treasurer:
Joe Turner – 314-495-5938
treasurer@slwg.org

Directors:
Bob Kastigar  (exp. 2024)
Dan Lender  (exp. 2025)
Hal Donovan (exp. 2026)
Jason Sankovitch (exp. 2027)

Immediate Past President:
Brian Ellison

Membership Coordinator:
Matt Stacker – membership@slwg.org

Donations and Commissioned Projects Coordinator:
Todd Martin – donations@slwg.org

Woodworking Show Coordinator:
Andrea Lyons – lyonsandreae@gmail.com

IT Administrator:
Doug Johnson – it@slwg.org

Webmasters
Aaron Johnson / Jim Becher – webmaster@slwg.org
 

Newsletter Editor:
Grady Vaughan
newsletter@slwg.org

Librarians:
Al Carlson
Sarah Porter

Toy Committee Chair:
Rich Weitzman

Shop Manager:
David Gronefeld

Classes and Workshops Coordinator:
Bill Schuchat – 314-406-1823

Media Coordinator:
Bob Ryan

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 Patronize our sponsors who support the guild and our mission to encourage and educate members and non-members to enjoy and enrich their woodworking skills and experiences.

Walnut Level sponsor.  Guild members will receive a 10% discount on many items at Rockler.


Cherry Level Sponsor.  Guild members will receive a 10% discount on saw sharpening at Quinn Saw.

Image Credits:
 


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