Preparation for Next Week's TOY Packing and Distribution Day Dec 3, 2022 at the WOOD Shop

Next Big Deal:

We will start the preliminary setup for the Toy Packing and Distribution Day at 8:30 am on Saturday Dec 3, 2022.  It will take a little time for preliminary things like moving tools out of the store room, moving the boxes of toys from the store room to the shop area, setting up all the toys in order, and taking photos of "one-each" of all the toys on a table, and then putting those toys back.    So we will start the "toy picking and box filling" probably about 9:30 am.  We will be packing up about 165 boxes.

So plan accordingly.   If you are one of the 28 recipient organizations, and are coming to pickup up toys, we expect to have them all boxed and ready to go no later than 11:30 am.  Thanks for a super year!  Hope to see you next week on Saturday Dec 3, 2022!  Bob B

Pictures from 2021:

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For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.

RCWA

Toy Workshop (TWS2022-24) 11.19.2022

We held our 24th Toy Workshop (TWS) and final workshop for 2022 on Saturday November 19, 2022, from 9 to 11:30 am.  This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City.  The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.  This is the last workshop for 2022, and all toys are now complete.  This means that we have completed out 2022 Toy Marathon!  Congratulations to all who participated and enjoyed this race!

The attendees at today's workshop (19) included John, Bob, Kathie, Mary G,  Jerry, Patsy, Rick, Grant, Rollie, Lon, Norma, Ken, Al, Gary G, Kevin, Julian, Darwin, Lauree and Don. 

Here was the plan for the day:  

1. Finish building Basketball Games (64):   (1). Add ball/strings to basketball games.   (2). Attach 2 spoons to each Basketball game with Rubber bands.  (3).  Pack and Inventory Basketball games
2. Install Wheels on 21 - 1969 Volkswagen toys
3. Put Felt in one last jewelry box
4. Pack and Inventory Large Cradles (26).
5. Pack and Inventory Rocking Chairs (40).
6. Pack and Inventory rectangular Jewelry Boxes
7. Pack and Inventory 1969 Volkswagons (21).
8. Pack and Inventory some miscellaneous toys with wheels.
9. Trace at least 200 Love Bugs for 2023.
10. Prepare the shop for Toy Packing/Distribution Day coming up on Dec 3, 2022.

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Lon milled some wood from about ten pallets this past week and brought it in to the Wood Shop today.  Some of it will be used for critters and some will be used for wheeled toys.

The wheel guys put wheels on some 1969 Volkswagen bugs today.  (The last wheel installs for 2022!).  Today's crew was John, Julian, and Don.  

Then the wheel guys were joined by the Hand Sanders who picked up pencils and awls and traced out more than 200 Love Bugs using 2" wood brought in by Lon today and other 2" wood brought in by Paul Douglas a couple of weeks ago.

Keith Brink visited the Workshop today.  Keith joined our group this spring and has been working on toys from his home shop.  Keith returned a large box of Love Bugs needing their final protective spray coat.  We gave him a tour of the shop and discussed more techniques of toy making.  He was asking for Home Work, so we gave him a few assignments.  After tracing the Love Bugs, we boxed about half of them up and loaded them into Keith's van for working on in his shop.  We also loaded him up with poplar cutoffs.  We are working on several toy patterns to use for 2023, so we gave Keith a new pattern to use to make a gaggle of new toys.

The Basketball crew finished putting strings in 68 games, and attached two spoons to each of the games.  Lauree and Rick packed them in boxes and moved them to inventory.

Lauree packed up the rocking chairs, the larger cradles, the Volkswagens, and a few miscellaneous ICU survivors, and moved them to inventory.

Wheel Crew / Tracers

New design

Keith and Al

Jerry and his new designs

Kitchen chair repairs

Stats for Today:

Summary for today:

Stats:  Toys to inventory today:  211 total toys

Toys in inventory to date:  3,124 (new) + 520 (leftover) = 3,644

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At the end of the workshop, we set the stage for the next event:  the culmination of 24 Toy Workshops:  the Toy Packing / Toy Distribution Day.

We cleaned the shop, set up more tables, prepared the carts, and did a walk thru type dress rehearsal for the big day!

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For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.

RCWA

Prep for Next Workshop (Week of 11.13.2022)

 

Winter Wonderland - in mid-November 2022

Rocking Chairs

The Rocking Chairs have four parts:  backs, seats, and two sides.  The sides are cut from 1/2" baltic birch plywood on Rick's CNC Router.  The backs and seats are cut using a scrollsaw.  Last week, the parts of the Rocking Chairs were sealed with a shellac/lacquer thinner mixture.  This seals the pores in the wood, and raises the grain.  The parts were taken to the Toy Workshop on 11-12-2022 and hand-sanded by the "Hand Sanders Team" in preparation for a final finish coat of Wipe-On Poly Wood Finish (polyurethane) - also known as Polyrub.  On Monday, Kathie applied a finish coat of Polyrub with a rag to add a protective coat to the wood.  This was allowed to dry for a couple of days, then the parts were transported to Rick's shop for assembly.  Each rocking chair is assembled with glue and screws.

It's drying time again...

Assemble the Rocking Chairs (42)

Rick assembled the chairs on Wednesday afternoon.  Except for a shortage of screws in the middle of the afternoon, the effort went very smoothly.  By 5 pm, all rocking chairs were assembled and ready for show time.

Cradle

The cradles have 12 parts each.  The cradle ends were cut on CNC machines by Rick and by Stu using 1/2" Birch Plywood.  Frank cut and sanded the rest of the parts in his shop (cradle beds (1), rails (4), and posts (6)).  Note for next time - countersink holes on cradle ends before assembly.

Frank finished assembling the cradles and brought them to the Workshop on 11.12.2022.  Kathie applied a polyrub finish to the cradles on Monday and Tuesday.  After allowing them to dry for at least 24 hours, they were brought inside for adding the jewelry.  Handmade quilts and a doll (from Target) were secured in the cradles with a fancy ribbon.  The dolls are referred to on the Target website as:  "Perfectly Cute My Lil' 8" Baby Girl Doll."

If

Add Quilts/Dolls

Wheeled Vehicles

One group of Volkswagen beetles was ready for the last step of applying a protective finish coat.  Rather than fire up the air compressor, pull out the sprayer and apply the finish, and then clean the gun, I opted to use a can of gloss spray lacquer to apply the final finish coat.  Because the shop was not warm/comfortable, this was the best option.

New toys using 1" poplar

Jerry is working up a prototype of a simple helo for our 2023 line of toys.  We want to use the 1" poplar for the toy, as that will be our go-to wood for a few years.

We received a large supply of poplar from Magnum Enterprises back in May.

Wood Acqusition and Preparation 

Lon milled some wood from about ten pallets this past week;  he will bring it in to the Wood Shop on Saturday.  Some of it will be used for critters (5/8" Thick) and some (2" Thick) will be used for wheeled toys.  The pallets were made from some type of hardwood.

Pick lists

Bob is working up the pick lists for the upcoming Toy Packing/Distribution Day coming up on Dec 3,m 2022.  This is the day we pack up the toys requested by several organizations (27) working with kids.  The tool used for the generation of the PICK LIST is a spread sheet.  The same spread sheet is used as the record of the toys traced and finished thru out the year.  The toy count is used as the starting point for the Distribution Matrix which pairs up the organization with the full complement of 22 toy categories.   Once all toys are completed, the final tallies for each Pick List can be refined.

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For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.

RCWA

November 2022 General Meeting 11.14.2022

The November 2022 General Meeting of the Rapid City Woodworkers Association (RCWA) was held on Monday Nov 14, 2022.  Due to snow in the Northern Hills - north of Rapid City - in the early afternoon, several members stayed safe and were unable to attend the meeting.

Attendees:  15 (Jerry, Patsy, Grant, Tony, Al, Lon, Kathie, Bob, Mary G, Rollie,  Russ, Jim Brown, Darwin, Stu, John)

Agenda:

Meeting Minutes:

The meeting started at 7:05 pm.  Harley and Rick were not present, so Al Oines took notes as the temporary Secretary.  Agenda above was followed.  Decisions made at the meeting are as follows:

Discussions about rising costs of supplies led to a motion made by Grant Coffin that the RCWA will pay for supplies used by members.  The motion was seconded by Patsy Hood.  The motion carried by a unanimous vote.  Tony requested that receipts be given to the Treasurer (Tony) to facilitate the reimbursements.

Details of the Toy Packing and Distribution Day coming up on Dec 3, 2022 were discussed.  

Due to the prediction of more snow and the lack of Show and Tell items, the meeting was ended early at 8:15 pm.   

Minutes by Al Oines and Bob Buchanan

Sign-Up Sheet for the Christmas Potluck on Dec 10, 2022 at 11:30 am at Nemo Community Center was circulated:

 

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For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.

RCWA

Toy Workshop (TWS2022-23) 11.12.2022

 

We held our 23rd Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2022 on Saturday November 12, 2022, from 9 to noon.  This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City.  The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

The attendees at today's workshop (23) included Harley, John, Bob, Jerry, Patsy, Stu, Rick, Grant, Mary Jo, Nick, Rollie, Lon, Norma, Maggie Brown, Jim Burk, Ken, Russ, Al, Gary G, Frank, Tony and Don. 

Patsy and Jerry provided coffee and cookies today!

Here was the plan for the day:  TASKS FOR TOY WORKSHOP 

1.  Wheels on toys (5 boxes).

2.  Hand sand rocking chair parts.

3.  Hand sand a box of toys.

4.  Build 40 basketball games (hoops added to bases.)

5.  Add ball/strings to basketball games.(100).

6.  Add 2 spoons to each Basketball game with Rubber bands.  Pack and inventory.

7.  Finish up Caravans and bag them.

8.  Pair up jewelry boxes with tops and Rubber band together.

9.  Pack up and inventory all finished items.

Photos from today's workshop:

Summary for today:

Stats:  Toys to inventory to day:  407 total toys

                                      (included 71 Love Bugs for the Love Bug Project)

Toys in inventory to date:  2,913 (new) + 519 (leftover) = 3,432

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For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.

RCWA