Calendar of Events January 4 General Meeting Yacht Club 7:15 p.m. Program: Member Tom

Borloglou on construction of a craft made canoe January 20 Board Meeting Sloan’s Hardware 8:15 a.m. All members welcome. January 23 Wood Cutting Two locations (details to follow) February 1 General Meeting Yacht Club 7:15 p.m. Program: Al Hudson

discussing some of his “Recent Projects”

Volume 22 No.1 January, 2018

Editor: Tom Ringenbach Email: tommamier@gmail.com

President - Don Schmid Vice President - Bob Brown Secretary - Barry Brandt Treasurer - Ron Cirincione

Website: www.tvwoodworkers.com

Toys for Tots

On December 7, the Tellico Village Woodworkers Club hosted its annual celebration of the spirit of caring and giving at this wonderful Christmas season, as exemplified by its members. This is the 27th year for Sheriff Tim Guider’s Toys for Tots program, and the 21st year that the TVWC has supported him with shop made wooden toys, plus organizing the support of Tellico Villagers who donate store bought toys or cash. This year, some seventy members stepped up to produce a whopping 675 toys with a wonderful diversity of size, shape, and function, and all of which reflected the common denominator of great craftmanship and care in their construction. The Village community donated over 650 toys, as well as $820 in cash, which will be used by the Sheriff to purchase gifts for some of the older children. Toys for Tots Vice Chair Jack Ernst presents Sheriff Guider with a ceremonial check, which represented donations by many Tellico Village residents. This year’s guests included not only Sheriff Guider and his assistant and TFT organizer, Debbie Hines, but two additional special guests. Loudon County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw was in attendance, at the invitation of the Sheriff, as was Pastor Charlie Barnard of the Tellico Village Baptist Church, who opened the program with an invocation.

The following morning, a group of members loaded up all the toys and delivered them to the sheriff’s distribution center. More than a few of them, no doubt, returned home thinking about what they might build for next year! Club President Don Schmid (top) opened the program with a welcome and introductions. Pastor Barnard (middle) gave an invocation, and TFT Chair Bob Ware provided some background on the club members’ efforts this year.

Marsha Kowalski arranging some of the 100 dolls and stuffed animals she refurbished.

Brightly painted airplanes crafted by member David Jones.

.More great toys…

Tools and Tips Sanding Block To help sand large surfaces, I built the sanding block you see in the photo. It accepts a small sanding belt and is great for flattening a workpiece. As you can see in the drawing, the belt just slips over the block and a tension bar holds it in place. To determine the length of the block, I measured the belt while it was folded and then reduced the length by about 1/ 2 ". One end of the block is rounded over and the other end has a V-shaped notch cut in it. The notch holds a square tension bar. I also routed finger holds in the sides for a better grip. To use the sanding block, slip it in a belt and slide the tension bar in the notch on the end.

The notch is easy to make at the table saw. After setting the blade to 45°, I made the cuts you see here in the drawing and in the detail.

Source: Woodsmith.com