August Toy Makers in the Spotlight

Both Danny and Marion say that the camaraderie with their fellow toy makers is one of the many benefits of showing up every Tuesday to build airplanes. But, it is not all fellowship. There may be just a little competitive edge regarding who can build the bigger biplane. All competition aside, they agree that what is really important is the joy that they receive knowing their planes will brighten the day of a child. Without Marion and Danny we would not have built over 8,000 toys since January of 2017.

AWG toys are distributed to Children’s Hospitals in Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, and Greenville, SC. Children in homeless and domestic violence shelters and community programs in the greater Birmingham area benefit from our toys, too.

2016 Annual Christmas Party

The annual Guild Christmas Party was held Thursday evening, December 1, 2016 at the Riverchase Methodist Church. We had a great turn out with approximately 80 people in attendance. The tables of food were overflowing and the desserts were delicious. Ray Ziegler and Patrick Murphy provided a little history to the Guild along with a 2016 year in review presentation. Afterwards Pat Bush played Santa and passed out the door prizes.

H4H Trestle Table Class – Session 2

H4H Class 2 Summary

On Thursday September 22nd, the class made good progress toward getting the leg assemblies done for the table base. During the first class we got all of the material cut to rough dimensions and stickered, then left to acclimate to the shop's atmosphere on the top of the project rack for two weeks until the next class. In this class we finished milled the material for the leg assemblies S6S (square 6 sides). We cut the mortises into the bases and the undercarriages using the hollow chisel mortiser. And we cut the tenons on the columns to fit into the mortises in the bases and the undercarriages using a tenon jig on the table saw. Next class we will finish the details on the leg assemblies and start working on the top.

 

September 17th Pre-meeting

Mentor Mike Key gave us a demonstration on how to use the finger joint jig. This jig was built by Bill Newman and donated to the guild. It is currently set up to cut a 1/4 inch wide finger and slot. Thanks, Mike! Check out this You Tube Video for making a finger joint fixture.

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Dining Table Class for H4H Holiday House

This year we are adding another class for the H4H Holiday House. The 40″ x 72″ trestle is a Paul Sellers design.  The Thursday evening Hand Tool Class is making this same table and six chairs using tools. The table was on display at the August meeting. The maximum class size is six. there are four already signed up for the class leaving two openings. The table will be made of red oak and we will learn selection and stock preparation using the joiner and the thickness planer and Trestle-Dining-Tabletable saw. There will be a large table top glue up, we will make mortices using the hollow chisel morticing machine and we will cut tenons on the table saw. There is also dovetails cut in the table apron.

The class will be on Thursdays from 9:00am until 3:30 pm. The schedule is 9/8/16, 9/22/16, 10/6/16, 10/20/16, and 11/3/16 if necessary.

The class fee is $85 and you must be a member to attend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New drive to the WEC!!

Old drive, 8/11/2016.

Old drive, 8/11/2016.


What a transformation. The drive to the WEC was nothing but potholes on Thursday.

Then on Friday, two loads of gravel were delivered.

Now Saturday morning we have a great looking drive.

Two loads of gravel for the drive, 8/12/2016.

Two loads of gravel for the drive, 8/12/2016.

New drive, 8/13/2016.

New drive, 8/13/2016.

A big Thank You to Dunn Construction for their gravel donation, and to Franklin Enterprises for spreading the gravel.

Meeting

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Great Guild meeting today at City Hardwoods. David Traylor and John Graves gave us a tour of the shop and answered lots of questions about their selection of hardwoods and services they plan to offer their customers. After all that, they even fed us lunch. Thank you CH for being such fine hosts.