A Club for Carvers, Scrollers and Woodworkers |
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Woodworkers Chapter News September 2023 Woodworkers Club Officers: President: Sandy McKinnis, Vice President: Jim Powell; Secretary open, Board Members: Larry Holman, Bob Lackey, Greg Lyall, Alan Peck, Bill Poole and Kaeli Stangl. |
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September Monthly Meeting: We will resume classes and monthly meetings in September. Our first monthly meeting will be on September 12th at 7 p.m. with a presentation by Dave Junge. Dave will share his hand-made musical instruments from around the world that he has made over the years. He will be bringing some with him and MAY even play us a song! Come see some truly beautiful and incredible instruments and hear how they have been constructed. We will continue to meet in the training center room at the Alaska Industrial Hardware (AIH) on Dimond and the Old Seward Hwy until our new shop space is done. Please enter by the side door near the Duluth Trading Company. The main portion of our monthly meetings feature guest speakers as well as members who share their expertise. Past topics have included design and construction techniques, project presentations, tool tune-ups, jig demonstrations, and bending. Anyone who has an interest in presenting, please contact Sandy McKinnis at (907) 562-3994. |
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New Workshop Space Update: Construction on our new shop space at the Commercial Drive AIH location continues with the electrical completed and the wall separating the shop from the store being finished. The next step is painting the space then installing the air filtration systems. The work has proceeded quickly and we anticipate that we may be in the new space sometime this October. Stay tuned for the Grand Opening Event! We are being given approximately 1800 square feet of space in their store. We will have our own entrance and will be able to meet during and after store hours for classes and meetings. This new space will enable us to have bigger classes, more storage, and hopefully more tools. Again: MANY, MANY THANKS TO AIH!!!!!!!! |
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Workshop Maintenance Day: In preparation of resuming our fall and winter programs, several members spent Saturday, August 26 at our midtown workshop checking and tuning the equipment along with cleaning and organizing. Thank you to Bob Lackey, Lisa Lackey, Sandy McKinnis, Alan Peck, and Jim Powell! |
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Open Shop Woodworking Saturday: After our summer hiatus, the Open Shop program returns on September 2 at our current shop space located at AIH in midtown. The Open Shop Program is offered the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Larry, Holman, Jim Powell, Alan Peck and Sandy Mckinnis have volunteered to staff our shop area during this time to help folks with projects. If you would like to serve as a shop monitor, please call Sandy Mckinnis at (907) 562-3994. We welcome your help. Please Note: If you want to use the shop, you need to sign up on the website as we can only have a maximum of 4 students in the shop on each date (https://www.alaskacreativewoodworkersassociation.org/book-online). You will need to indicate what you are planning to build, what kind of help you need and the time you will be there. |
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Fall Classes: The following classes will be offered. More to follow: Sandy Mckinnis will be again teaching a bandsaw jewelry box class on September 9th and 10th. Marc Brown will teach a class making a C-shaped couch table on September 23rd and 24th. Rhonda Hayhurst will be teaching a class on September 30th making a really awesome scroll saw clock with a student selected design or the eagle design she used for a recent gift to SBS. Lisa Lackey and Sandy Mckinnis will offer a planter with CNC router designs chosen by students on October 14th, 15th, and 28th (if needed). Larry Holman will teach a cutting board class on October 21st and 22nd. Greg Lyall will be teaching a hall table class on November 11th, 12th, 18th, and 19th. John Lime will again teach his Christmas tree ornament scroll saw class on November 25th. Marc Brown is offering a votive candle/Menorah class on December 9th. Jim Powell is again offering his kitchen trivet class on December 16th.
Check our website for class descriptions (https://www.alaskacreativewoodworkersassociation.org/classes) and to register (https://www.alaskacreativewoodworkersassociation.org/book-online?category=7e325206-ec7f-4acd-86d1-ec9e6e4b5660). |
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Meet a Member Feature: Sandy McKinnis This month I asked Sandy McKinnis to share with us a bit of her woodworking experience. Sandy is the President of the Woodworkers Chapter. From Sandy: How I joined the club and why I am still a member 38 years later! It’s 1985 and I’m the department manager of pediatrics at the Alaska Treatment Center. The sibling of one of our patients came to me and told me that our waiting room was boring. It actually was boring! Siblings often had to come once or more times a week so I took his criticism seriously. I had the idea of building a castle front across one end of the room with doors and windows that the kids could crawl through but wasn’t confident enough of my woodworking skills to build it safely. What to do?? A little while later, I happened to see a small ad in the ADN that advertised a monthly meeting of a local woodworking club. Bingo! I thought maybe they could advise me so I called the number in the ad and explained what I needed to the guy on the phone, John Magee. He invited me to speak at their next monthly meeting and share what I needed. I did and they said they would get back to me. Well……I got a call and learned that 2 members, Jim Crum and Tom Gamble, had volunteered to build what I needed. They came and measured and said they would call me when it was done. I of course thanked them and waited. A few weeks later I got a call that the castle was finished!! I arranged to meet these members at the treatment center the following Sat. Well let me tell you the castle was absolutely the neatest, most amazing thing I could have imagined. It was over 12 feet long and had 4 turrets with flags! There were several round windows and an arched door with a huge platform behind it that the kids could play on. The entire castle was covered with handmade stone shaped pieces of wood and was painted just like a castle. I wish I had a video of the excitement in the kid’s voices when they came the next week. Needless to say the castle was a huge hit. I decided that I had met some really special folks and joined the club and have been a member since. I’ve taken many classes over the years and have learned so much from my woodworking friends. What a great organization and such a positive presence in our community. Below are a couple of things I’ve built with the skills I’ve learned from the classes I’ve taken. |
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| | Made at the Feb. 2023 AWCA class with instructor Bob Lackey and assistant Alan Peck |
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| | 128 mortise and tenon joints! |
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Book Recommendation: We received from a member this recommendation of a good read that you may find of interest. It is titled Building: A Carpenter’s Notes on Life and the Art of Good Work by Mark Ellison. Here’s a good quote from the book: “Doing anything from beginning to end brings understanding that no finished product can provide.” |
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The Treasure Chest: Bob French has lots of older Fine Woodworking and Fine House building magazines he wants to give away. If anyone is interested, they can contact him at Bgkfrench@gmail.com or (907) 240-1744. |
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Please visit ACWA’s wonderful business supporters (Alaska Industrial Hardware, Hardware Specialties, and Spenard Builders Supply). One of the advantages of your ACWA membership are discounts on some of the products sold by these businesses. |
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Mission Statement: The Alaska Creative Woodworkers Chapter is dedicated to the promotion of skill, craft, and excellence in the woodworking community through education, information, and fellowship. |
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Woodworking: the act, process, or occupation of working wood into a beautiful, useful, and desired form |
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From the Scrollers: Looks like summer is coming to an end and fall is just around the corner. The scroll club will resume on Saturday, September 16th at Spendar’s in Wasilla from 10-2. The club will be meeting third Saturday of the month. This is a change from last year. This change in meeting day will allow us to meet in November and December. We’d like to congratulate Rhonda Hayhurst on her division champion ribbon along with six first place ribbons. Hopefully next year we will have more ribbons of club members. Happy scrolling! Meeting dates: September 16, 2023 October 21, 2023 November 18, 2023 December 16, 2023 January 20, 2024 February 17, 2024 March 16, 2024 April 20, 2024 May 18, 2024 |
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From the Carvers: Hello! This Saturday will be the 1st woodcarvers meeting of the season. We meet the 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month Sept-May. Please come join us. We meet from 10am till about 1 or 2pm. The meeting is at AIh 8801 Old Seward Hwy, Anchorage, AK 99515. Please park and come in the side door by Duluth. I want to give a big thank you for everyone that volunteered at the State Fair this year. We had an awesome time. It was fun to see everyone come together and demonstrate to the public with amazing talent. |
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Last Frontier Woodcarving Schedule for 2023-2024 Location AIH Alaska Industrial Hardware Inc, 8801 Old Seward Hwy, Anchorage, AK 99515, USA Schedule 2023 September 9, 10am September 23, 10am October 14, 10am October 28, 10am October 31st Hallowwen November 11, 10am November 23 Thanksgiving November 25, 10am December 9, 10am December 23, 10am December 25 Christmas Schedule 2024 January 13, 10am January 27, 10am February 10, 10am February 17 - March 10 - ARTISTRY IN WOOD March 10, 10am March 31 Easter Sunday April 13, 10am April 27, 10am May 11, 10am May 25, 10am August - State Fair September 14, 10am September 28, 10am October 26, 10am October 31 Halloween November 9, 10am November 23, 10am November 28 Thanksgiving December 14, 10am December 25 Christmas December 28, 10am |
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Classifieds Stan Olchowski is selling a Shop Smith Mark 3. $200 located in Peters Creek. 907-441-7858 |
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Application for Membership Alaska Creative Woodworkers Association P. O. Box 201796, Anchorage, AK 99520-1796 Date: ________________ Family/Individual membership, $40 per year. Please make checks payable to ACWA. Name/s: ____________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________ City: _______________________________________________________ State: __________________________ Zip:________________________ Telephone (Home/cell): ________________________________________ E- mail: ____________________________________________________ Benefits of membership in the Alaska Creative Woodworkers Association include: 1. Entry into all woodworking, carving, and scrolling classes offered by the club for one year following payment of dues. There may be additional material, instructor or shop fees for some classes. 2. Discounts at Alaska Industrial Hardware stores, Hardware Specialties, and Spenard Builders Supply. 3. Monthly informational meetings. 4. Beginning to expert classes in carving, woodworking and scrolling. 5. Periodic classes offered by nationally recognized instructors from out of state. 6. All tools and materials provided for most classes. |
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