We have now completed all tracing of toys planned for 2014.  We traced tractor parts, tugboat hulls, 4WD Pickups, paddle games, and animals for critter bags.  As we noted last time, there are still lots of toys to build, but the tracing effort is pretty much behind us.

The effort to complete 400 race cars for the Club for Boys (CFB Cars – 4 configurations of Racers) continued as we cut the vehicles previously traced on long 2x4s into smaller pieces; and then boxed them up in preparation for cutting them on the bandsaw and scrollsaws into the rough form for the boys.  Later this year, the boys will complete the finishing and personalizing touches to their own race cars.

 The total number of toys traced during today’s workshop was 252 toys, bringing the total number of toys in work since our first workshop on January 11th to 1,681 toys.  This is very good for this time of the year!

Details of efforts:
Rick, Richard, and Larry formed the team that was working on the CFB cars.  Frank, Julian, Greg and Levi drilled holes in the Hills Alive cars.  Bel traced the new 4 Wheel Drive pickups, and helped Darwin drill axle holes in the crayon vans and Hills Alive cars.  Greg and Levi were assigned the tedious effort of tracing the tractors bodies and axle parts for the tractor.  Kathie and Barbara traced tugboat hulls and critters for the animal bags.  Lon traced the paddle patterns on the pre-finished birch stock.  Rollie demonstrated a rolling acrobat, as a preview for the woodworking show in May.

Work Completed at Home Shops since last workshop.

Julian Wigen worked on the cars we will be giving to kids during the Hills Alive – A Day in the Park activities planned for July 19^th, 2014.  He finished cutting and rounding over the edges on all 225 cars last month.  He brought them to the workshop, where we drilled holes for windows and holes for axles.  Frank took the cars home to roundover the edges of the windows.  The cars will be decorated by the kids and we will add wheels during the event in July. 

Rick Weisbeck drilled the centers for the two boxes of Turtle Banks and brought them in to the workshop for the next step of cutting the outside loop.  He also planned the tractor build effort and prepared the patterns used for the tracing effort here at the workshop today.

Gary and Trish Graves are working on a new product for this year – chalk boards.  We will have some photos of the boards soon.

Darwin brought in a good supply of large dowels donated by Magnum Enterprises this past week.  The 1″ dowels will be used for tugboat stacks, ring toss games, and for soon-to-be-planned log trucks.

Lon Gose and Rollie Lynde both brought in two full boxes of toys to the workshop that are ready for the final sanding, sealing, and finishing process, as soon as summer (warm weather) arrives.  Rollie picked up more boxes of toys to cut, and Lon took the Paddle Games home to machine.