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