There was a bunch (~6″ to 10″) of light fluffy powder on city streets this morning as 13 members and two guests met at the Club for Boys Shop in Rapid City for another Toy Workshop and a make-up session for the postponed Nov 2014 General Meeting of the Rapid City Woodworkers Association.
The temperature at game time was a whopping 8 degrees, so trips carrying boxes of completed toys to Rick’s truck required parkas and hats and gloves! Nevertheless, all the basketball games, caterpillars, and cradles were finished, packed, labeled, and loaded into Rick’s truck today.
All 2013 Toy Recipients were notified this week; updates for 2014 were requested. A final tally of toys requested will be available by next weekend.
Attendees (13) today included: Julian Wigen, Darwin Buus, Al Oines, Ben Shatraw, Rick Weisbeck, Grant Coffin, Frank DiCesare, Ed Pike, Wes Murphy, Steve Larson, Gary Graves, Kathie and Bob Buchanan. Guests from the Northern Hills Woodworking Guild included Corky Witt and Wayne Jeffrey.
Tasks today included completion of Basketball Games, Cradles, Blocks, and Caterpillars.
The last of the basketball games were milled, sanded and assembled by Larry Borg last Saturday at Larry’s shop by he and his wife Barbara. Then on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, before the deep freeze arrived in the Black Hills, Kathie sealed them and sanded them in our garage. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Bob assembled the hoop sub-assembly to the base sub-assembly in the comfort of the warm kitchen. On Thursday and Friday, Bob heated up the shop and sprayed the final finish coat of lacquer on them.
| Matched basketball game sub-assemblies |
| Sealing the basketball parts using fixtures made at the morning toy workshop |
| Applying the universal shellac sealer to the basketball game sub-assemblies |
| Sealer drying on basketball game parts and caterpillars |
| Assembling the Hoop Sub-assemblies to the Base Sub-assemblies using handscrews |
| Spray booth in the shop |
At the workshop today, a crew of stringers added the string/ball sub-assemblies to the basketball games. The location of the ball in the bowl of the Wendy’s spoon is critical to a successful basketball game. Julian, Al, Ben and Darwin carried out the tedious alignment procedures and completed all 100 games. Then Kathie packed each game with two Wendy’s spoons (launchers) into 10 boxes for moving to the store room.
| Sharp basketball alignment crew |
| Adding two Wendy’s spoons, and then packing the completed basketball games |
Click on the link below to learn more about the Rapid City Woodworkers Association activities on the main page of the website:

