RCWA BLOG POSTS (2025)

Recent blog posts are listed below. To locate any blog written since 2008, use the search box below by entering a key word or date.

INDEX TO RCWA BLOG POSTS:

RCWA CHRISTMAS FAMILY POTLUCK 12-13-2025

Attendees (28): Jim and Maggie Brown, Bob and Kathie Buchanan, Grant and Mary Coffin, Lon and Vicky Gose, Jerry and Patsy Hood, Stu and Mary Kellogg, Tony and Carri Verchio, Cori Weisbeck, Josh, Rick Weisbeck, Al and Jeri Oines, Lauree and Darwin Buus, Marty Bartholomew, Jim Burk, Ron Fisher, Ed Pike, Bill Gedrose, Sue Jorgensen, and John Wolf.

Twenty-eight hardy souls traveled out to the recently upgraded Doty Fire Station on Nemo Road on Saturday Dec 13, 2025, for our annual RCWA Christmas Family Potluck luncheon. The temperature was a balmy 10 degrees. Hosts Jim and Maggie set up tables and chairs. Patsy, Kathie, Rick, Jeri, and Mary put on tablecloths and decorated the tables. Kathie and Bob brought a Turkey, Patsy and Jerry brought a ham. Lots of salads, breads, and desserts filled out the rest of the spread. We started eating about 1 pm. Kathie shared a Yule Log for the first time. Maggie brought a sausage/beef dressing. Some other items I remember include gingerbread men cookies, mashed potatoes/gravy, roasted potatoes, dinner rolls, a carrot/celery/tomato vegetable plate, potato cheese casserole, chocolate peanut clusters, frozen fruit salad, a 7-layer salad, pecan pie, apple pie, red velvet cake, candies, carrot cake, orange/almond bread, banana breads, mixed nuts, taffy, and cheesecake.

We started the meal with Chaplain Maggie giving thanks for all the blessings of the past year, followed by lots of eating and visiting. Near the end of the meal, Bob gave an update on the Toy Program and highlighted some of the memorable events of 2025. He also read a Thank You Note from Youth and Family Services (YFS).

Nemo Road was nicely sanded and the gathering concluded by 2:30 pm, so everyone was home long before dark. It was a beautiful drive thru the frosted Pine Trees! Thanks Maggie and Jim and the Doty Fire Department for making the event so enjoyable. And thanks to all attending. Congratulations on an amazing year of toy making!

Thank you note from Youth and Family Services

Photos from the Potluck

TOY PACKING / DISTRIBUTION DAY 12.6.2025

A small subset of members came to the Wood Shop on Friday Dec 5, 2025, at 1 pm to setup for the Packing and Distribution Day on Dec 6, 2025. This included Rick, Al, Maggie, Jim, Bob and Kathie. Their mission was to move all rolling tools out of the storeroom, moving the finished boxes of toys from the Inventory storeroom to the Picking area in the shop, set up all the toys in toy pickup order, and to take photos of all the toys groups that were built for 2025. All inventoried boxes were arranged in Toy Number Order and box lids removed to be ready for picking.

On Saturday Dec 6 2025, we started “toy picking and box filling” about 9:00 am and finished with most all Toy Pick Lists by 10:30 am. We packed 137 boxes total.

The recipient organizations/designated sponsor members began loading up toys after 10:30 am. All toys were out the door by 11:45 am. Thanks to all who helped make all of this happen!

Attendees (31): Jim Brown, Maggie Brown, Bob Buchanan, Kathie Buchanan, Jim Burk, Grant Coffin, Frank DiCesare, Cleon Diers, Roy Erickson, Lon Gose, Gary Graves, Jerry Hood, Patsy Hood, Stu Kellogg, Ken Maron, Al Oines, Ed Pike, Tony Verchio, Cori Weisbeck, Josh, Rick Weisbeck, John Wolf, Marty Bartholomew, Ron Hauck, Scott Bottolfsen and son, Lezlee Newbie, Bill, Teresa Kaiser, Dorla Brink, and Sue Jorgensen.

CENTRAL STATION

TOY PICKERS

PACKING CREW

HOLDING AREA

LOADING ZONE

GROUP PHOTO

Organizations receiving Wooden Toys for Christmas include:

2025 TOY LINE UP – 12.6.2025

TOYMAKING MILESTONE PASSED ON SATURDAY 12.6.2025

For the 18th year in a row, the Rapid City Woodworkers Association (RCWA) will be donating handmade wooden toys to local groups who work with children in South Dakota.

The Toymakers in the Rapid City Woodworking Association (RCWA) have been working all year to finish the toys in time for Christmas giving. This year, this group of more than 40 active toymakers finished 4,692 handcrafted wooden toys. Many toys were given to children at special events during the year, but 3,477 toys will be delivered to local charitable organizations who work with children in South Dakota and beyond, this week.

The toys for Christmas giving will be packed for delivery on Saturday morning Dec 6, 2025, in the Wood Shop in the basement of the annex to the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City, SD. They will be delivered (at no cost) to over 30 groups in South Dakota and beyond. Most of the toys will be delivered that same day.

Lebron James started his basketball career in 2006. In April 2025, he reached a milestone is his career by making his 50,000th point. The RCWA started making toys in 2008. We will be reaching a toymaking milestone this Saturday by giving away our 50,000th toy! So this Saturday, as we give away our toys for 2025, we will surpass the total number of 50,000 toys given to kids! Congratulations TOYMAKERS!!!

PRESS RELEASE: TOYS READY FOR CHRISTMAS GIVING 12.6.2025

2025 Press Release Toy Deliveries 12-6-2025 r2 Download

NEXT GATHERING: TOY PACKING DAY IS DEC 6, 2025

Our TWENTY-THIRD Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday NOV 15, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was our last workshop for 2025, as we have now finished all toys planned for 2025. We are now ready for packing and delivering toys to kids on Dec 6, 2025.
Our next get together will be on Dec 6, 2025. This is our Toy Packing and Distribution Day for 2025. We will start at 9 am and plan to have all boxes packed and ready for pickup by 11 am. Recipients will be notified next week of pickup times. Members will deliver many of the toys, while some recipients will be dropping by to pickup their toys.

As of today, there are 3,477 toys in inventory.

SS SIG 11-20-2025

The Scrollsaw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) met at Rick’s shop in Black Hawk today from 1 pm to 3pm.

Attending today: Rick, Al, Darwin, Bob and Kathie

Today’s discussions included general scroll sawing discussions about basket makinmg on the scrollsaw. Rick shared some patterns, and detailed explanations related to the baskets.

Bob brought in some parts for a slinky snake. Rick wants to figure out the wheel offsets needed to make the snake move up and down as it is pulled.

Al brought in his completed homework of angels table decorations/napkin holders.

Rick showed his latest CNC creation – the sea horse on the end of the walnut cradle.

Photos from the event:

CHEYENNE RIVER YOUTH PROJECT – EYE ON KELOLAND 11.18.2025

We have been giving toys to this project for many years. Several people that have picked up the toys on TOY DISTRIBUTION DAYS are featured in this video.

Here’s a link to the story from Keloland News today:

https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/inside-the-cheyenne-river-youth-projects-work/

TWS (TWS2025-23) 11-15-2025

Our TWENTY-THIRD Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday NOV 15, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the TENTH workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. This is our last workshop for 2025, as today we will finish all toys planned for 2025. We are now ready for packing and delivering toys to kids on Dec 6, 2025.

It was a beautiful day today, reaching the lower 60’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (18) included Rick, Ken, Al, Bobbi, Denni, Grant, Tony, Lauree, Darwin, Don, Ron H, Roy E, Lon, Bob, Kathie, Gary G, Scott, and Cleon.

Activities today included installation of Wheels on a large number of cars and preparation of the workshop for Toy Packing Day on Dec 6, 2025. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree and Bob.

Al and Ken did a sweep of the workshop floor work tables picking up loose wood scraps and miscellaneous wood pieces. Rick and Tony setup a few plywood sheets around the shop in preparation for the Toy Packing line we will be needing for our next get together on Dec 6, 2025.

Critter Bags and Cradles were prepared during the week, so were recorded and placed into Inventory.

One last Tugboat was put into inventory today bringing the total for this year to 106.

Ralph and Bert Brethauer returned two boxes of toys completed in their Home and now ready for Inventory.

The first line of wheel installers included Grant, Darwin, and Cleon. There were no toys to hand-sand today, so the hand sanders set up a second line doing wheel installs. Ron H and Roy E set up a third line of wheel installations. Lon and Ken set up a fourth line of wheel installers.

The wheel guys and gals put wheels on 274 toys. The wheeled toys were added to our Storeroom Inventory today. Toys included Hedgehogs, Soccer Vans, Mini Vans, Station Wagons, Flatbed Trucks, Off Road Toys, Kid Cars, Elephant Push Toys, Koala Push Toys, and two styles of Firetrucks.

Many members left the workshop about ten am to attend the Memorial Service for Keith Brink. Keith was a huge believer in the mission of the RCWA, and an inspiration to all of us. We will surely miss him.

Total toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 363. As of today, there are 3,477 toys in inventory. This brings us very close to our goal of 3,500 toys.

Statistics for the Last Workshop of 2025

Photos from the Workshop

Our next get together will be on Dec 6, 2025. This is our Toy Packing and Distribution Day for 2025. We will start at 9 am and plan to have all boxes packed and ready for pickup by 11 am. Recipients will be notified next week of pickup times. Members will deliver many of the toys, while some recipients will be dropping by to pickup their toys.

PREP FOR NEXT TWS

STATS FOR 11-8-25 WORKSHOP AND PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT

To Dos for the Next TWS

Install screws in flatbeds on pickups before spraying

2. Seal 59 toys – Sand 59 toys

3. Spray 190 toys + Spray 59 more toys: Ready for Wheels: 190+59= 249

4. Spray 15 cradles – Hand sand 15 Cradles – add quilts and dolls and pack for inventory

5. Bag up the critters and pack up for inventory.

6. Update Toy Distribution Matrix and Update Toy Parts list

Install screws in flatbeds on pickups before spraying

2. SEAL TOYS: Seal 59 toys – Sand 59 toys

3. SPRAY TOYS: Spray 190 toys + Spray 59 more toys: Ready for Wheels: 190+59= 249

4. PACK CRADLES/DOLLS/QUILTS: Spray 15 more cradles – Hand sand 15 more Cradles – add quilts and dolls to 25 cradles and pack for inventory

5. PACK CRITTERS: Bag up the critters and pack up for inventory (64 bags)

6. Move Cradles (5 Boxes) and Critters (6 Boxes) and Toys Ready for Wheels (10 Boxes) to WOOD SHOP for TWS on Saturday 11-15-2025

TOYS NOW READY FOR WHEELS: 249

(THESE ARE THE LAST TOYS FOR 2025!)

GENERAL MEETING 11-10-2025

MEETING MINUTES

Meeting Minutes 10 November 2025 rev 1 Download

TWS (TWS2025-22) 11-08-2025

Our TWENTY-SECOND Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday NOV 08, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the NINTH workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. We will hold toy workshops every weekend from now until Dec 6 as we concentrate on finishing Toys to deliver to kids on Dec 6, 2025.

It was a COLD WINDY day today, reaching the upper 30’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (24) included Rick, Stu, Ken, Al, Frank, Bobbi, Denni, Jim Brown, Jim Burke, Grant, Tony, Lauree, Darwin, Don, Ron H, Roy E, Roy B, Lon, Marty, Bob, Kathie, Gary G, Cleon, and Ed.

Activities today included Hand Sanding, Helicopter Rotor installs, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on a large number of cars. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree, Darwin, Bob, Tony and Kathie.

Block Bags. Bob and Kathie filled more block bags at home; they were put into handmade cloth bags and logged into inventory today.

The last 9 Tugboats were put into inventory today bringing the total for this year to 105.

Gary and Pat Graves have been working on the always popular Chalk Boards in their print shop, and today they brought them in completed, packaged, and ready for inventory. This year’s total was 39.

More ring toss games were packed in one-gallon bags and put into inventory today. Total for this year was: 51 games.

The handsanders prepared 190 toys for final spraying. This included Elephants, Mini Vans, Hedgehogs, Soccer Vans, Firetrucks, Station Wagons, and Koalas.

The wheel guys and gals put wheels on 291 toys. The wheeled toys were added to our Storeroom Inventory today. Toys included Older VWs, Road Graders, Pickup with Tanks, Putt Putts, Locomotives, Duck Push Toys, Hippos, Duck Toys, 50’s Toy Cars, Helicopters, Ice Cream Vans, and Mini Vans.

Marty put truck tires on the rear of the Road Graders, and standard tires on the front; Stu and Bob added the grader blades. Then Marty put truck tires on the rear of the Pickups with Tanks and standard tires on the fronts. Lon added rotors to a few helicopters.

The outside guys routered and sanded Pickup Bodies, Critters, and Kid Cars. Then Bob and Stu glued flatbeds onto Pickup bodies. The last 59 toys for 2025 were sanded and routered and are ready for sealing. Working outside will not be required for the rest of 2025.

The first line of wheels installers included Grant, Roy B, Cleon, and Darwin. Ron H and Roy E set up a second line of wheel installations. Frank assembled the last 15 cradles using red pegs.

Rick finished assembling the Rocking Chairs in his home shop this week and brought them into the workshop to put into inventory. This year’s total was 41.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 388. As of today, there are 3,114 toys in inventory on our way to 3,500.

PHOTOS FROM THE WORKSHOP

TOY WORKSHOP STATS for 11-8-2025

To Dos for the Next TWS

x Spray 15 cradles

x Install screws in flatbeds on pickups before spraying

x Seal toys – 59

x Update Toy Distribution Matrix and Update Toy Parts list

x Spray 190 toys

x Sand 59 toys / Spray 59 more toys

x Hand sand 15 Cradles – add quilts and dolls and pack for inventory

x Bag up the critters and pack up for inventory.

PREP FOR NEXT TWS

Prep for 11-8-2025 TWS

x Build 9 more tugboats

x Polyrub all rocker parts (4 x 41 = 164 parts)

x Assemble rockers (41) and pack up

x Spray 10 cradles

x Locate/make tanks for 28 pickups

x Glue on tanks/install screws in tanks on pickups before spraying

x Seal toys – 352

x Revise/Sand Road Graders / Make Grader Blades – Jerry – then Seal Road Graders

x Update Toy Distribution Matrix and Update Toy Parts list

x For next workshop: Sand/router group of Pickups – then build ﬂatbeds – assemble

x Spray 176 toys

x Spray 122 more toys including Road Graders

x Hand sand 10 Cradles – add quilts and dolls and pack for inventory

PHOTOS FROM THIS WEEK’S Preparations

Background Activities Every Week

Build 9 more tugboats – 11-2-2025

Polyrub all rocker parts (4 x 41 = 164 parts) – 11-2-2025

Assemble Rockers – 11-5=2025

Locate/make tanks for 28 pickups – Glue on tanks/install screws in tanks on pickups before spraying — 11-2-2025

Seal 352 toys – 11-3-2025

Spray 176 toys – 11-4-2025

SEAL GRADER BLADES AND ROAD GRADERS – 11-5-2025

SPRAY 122 MORE TOYS – 11-5-2025

STATS for TO DOs this week

TWS (TWS2025-21) 11-01-2025

Our TWENTY-FIRST Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday NOV 01, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the EIGHTH workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. We will hold toy workshops every weekend from now until Dec 6 as we concentrate on finishing Toys to deliver to kids on Dec 6.

It was a crisp day today, reaching the upper 40’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (21) included Rick, Stu, Ken, Al, Frank, Bobbi, Patsy, Jerry, Maggie, Jim, Grant, Tony, Lauree, Darwin, Keith, Lon, Marty, Bob, Kathie, Cleon, and Ed.

TODAY’S INSIDE ACTIVITIES:

Activities today included Basketball Game Final Assembly, Hand Sanding, Locomotive Stacks installs, Helicopter Rotor installs, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on a large number of cars. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree, Jerry, Bob. and Kathie.

We need 5 more tugboats to reach our goal of 100 Tugboats. Bob took the parts home to complete the assembly.

Basketball Game Activities today: Marty, Jerry and Darwin assembled the last 54 basketball games by adding a string/ball to each. Two spoons were then attached with a rubber band. The games were packed in boxes (9 to a box) and tagged for Inventory. Six full boxes were packed today for a total of 54. This brings the total for the year to 117.

Block Bags. More blocks were sanded and routered by the outside guys . They are ready to be put into handmade cloth bags.

Today, Tugboats were counted, packed, and put into inventory. There were 79 boats put into inventory today.

Tops were made by Dave Maude and put into inventory today. Twenty five were added to the 18 brought in last week. Ring toss games were packaged today and put into inventory. The sticks were turned by Al Oines; the ring/strings were added by Jim Brown. Darwin packed them in one gallon bags; fifty one were added to inventory today.

The handsanders prepared 95 toys for sealing. This included Duck Push toys, thin Hippos, Mini Vans, and Pickups. They also put away their sanding gear and installed wheels on 54 Locomotives.

The wheel guys and gals put wheels on 206 toys. The wheeled toys were added to our Storeroom Inventory today. Toys included 50s toy cars, Little French cars, Whale push toys, Batman cars, long Firetrucks, Helicopters, Locomotives, Crayon Whales, Putt Putt cars, English Toy cars, thin VW Bugs, and Soccer Vans.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 415. As of today, there are 2,726 toys in inventory on our way to 3,500.

Today’s Stats

To Do This Week

At the end of the workshop, there are 306 toys ready to be sealed, including 50s Toy cars, Duck push toys, Hedgehogs, thin Oldies, Minivans, Elephants, thin Coupes, thin Koalas, older VW cars, Firetrucks, Soccer Vans, and Locomotives.

Rick brought in all the parts for the 41 Rockers to be finished with Polyrub by Kathie. Frank brought in ten small cradles to be finished with Polyrub by Kathie.

Blocks are ready to be put into handmade cloth bags.

Final Finish. There are 96 toys, including Duck Push toys, thin Hippos, and Mini Vans ready for final spray finish. A box of Pickups will need tanks installed and then will be sprayed as well.

Many boxes of toys were taken home last week; most of them were returned today These numbers are reflected in the toys ready for sealing above. We continue to press on to reach our goal of 3,500 toys for 2025 Toy Program giving. Thank You!

Photos from the Workshop

The next Toy Workshop will be held on November 8, 2025 from 9 am to noon at 910 Wood Avenue in Rapid City, SD.

WT SIG 10-29-2025

The Wood Turning Special Interest Group (WT SIG) was held today from 1 pm to 3 pm. All RCWA members and guests are welcome to attend. It is on the calendar for the last Wednesday of each month at 1 pm. It is held in Jim and Maggie’s Shop at 2879 Spotted Fawn Lane, Rapid City, SD 57702.

Thank you Jim and Maggie for hosting , preparing demos, and making your shop ready for today’s Woodturning SIG.

Attending (): Jim, Maggie, Rick, Ken M, Steve, Lon, Darrell, Stu, and Marty (verify)

No reporters attended this meeting.

PREP FOR NEXT TWS

10-26-2025: SEAL TOYS: 145

10-30-2025: SEAL TOYS: 78

TOTAL TOYS SEALED: 145 + 78 = 223

10-27-2025: SPRAY TOYS: 144 + 74 = 218

10-28-2025: SAND TOYS (RICK): 145

10-31-2025: SPRAY TOYS: 109

FOR NEXT TWS ON 11-01-2025: TOTAL TOYS SPRAYED: 144 + 74 = 218 + 109 = 327

TOYS SANDED BUT NEEDING MORE PARTS: 26 (PICKUPS TOY 6.2)

WORK AT HOME: ROUTER/SAND/SEAL: HIPPOS + SPRAY LOVE BUGS

TWS (tws2025-20) 10-25-2025

Time is flying and we still have more to do, so come on down to the workshop. If you want extra credit, be sure to take home a box of two to work on at home, because ” 21 BOXES ARE STILL NEEDING SANDING AND ROUTERING”. Just ask Rick or Lauree or Bob to find a box to take home. Hope to see you at the workshop! Bob B

Our TWENTIETH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday OCT 25, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the SEVENTH workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. We will hold toy workshops every weekend from now until Dec 6 as we concentrate on finishing Toys to deliver to kids on Dec 6.

It was a pleasant day today, reaching the upper 60’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (24) included Rick, Stu, Ken, Al, Frank, Don, Bobbi, Patsy, Jerry, Maggie, Jim, Grant, Tony, Lauree, Darwin, Ron Fisher, Dave Maude, Lon, Marty, Nick, Bob, Kathie, Gary G, and Scott B.

TODAY’S INSIDE ACTIVITIES:

Activities today included Basketball Game Final Assembly, Tugboat Building, Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on a few toy cars. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree and Bob.

We needed ten more tugboats to reach our goal of 100 Tugboats. So today Darwin traced hulls, cut hulls, drilled holes for pegs, the outside sanders sanded and routered the hulls, the wheel guys added pegs to the hulls, Tony added the cabins and stacks to complete the build. Five of the ten tugboats needed are ready for sealing. Parts for five more are ready.

Basketball Game Activities today: Handsanders sanded the remaining hoop subassemblies with 400 wet/dry sandpaper. Then Marty glued the 100 Hoop Subassemblies on to the 100 Base Subassemblies. When dry, Nick, Marty and Jerry put tht last parts on the basketball games by adding a string/ball to each. The string/balls were prepared by Jim Brown a few weeks ago. Two spoons were then attached with a rubber band. The games were packed in boxes (9 to a box) and tagged for Inventory. Seven full boxes were packed today for a total of 63. The parts for the next 47 or so are ready for next week.

Block Bags. More blocks were sanded and routered by the outside guys – then the handsanders touched up the blocks and put them in bags. Twelve more block bags were filled and put into inventory.

Today, the wheel guys put wheels on 45 toys. A few cars were returned from the Depot repair shop and added to inventory . The wheels guys trimmed dowels for BB game strings, and installed 2 posts on each tugboat hull (10). The wheeled toys were added to our Storeroom Inventory today. Block bags (12) were put in inventory. Several Basketball Games were packed and put into inventory (63). Dave Maude brought in old fashioned tops ready for inventory (18). A total of 160 toys were added to Inventory today.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 160. As of today, there are 2,315 toys in inventory on our way to 3,500.

To Do This Week

At the end of the workshop, there are 144 toys ready to be sealed, including Tugboats, Firetrucks, English toy cars, Helos, Crayon Whales, Pickups, and VW Bugs (thin) toys.

Final Finish. There are 165 toys, including tugboats, whales, firetrucks, soccer vans, and off-road vehicles ready for final spray finish.

Several boxes of toys were taken home today by members to work on in home shops. This will help a lot as we press on to reach our goal of 3,500 toys for 2025 Toy Program giving. Thank You!

Photos from the Workshop

PREP FOR NEXT TWS

INVENTORY THE TOYS REMAINING IN WIP ROOM

21 BOXES NEEDING SANDING AND ROUTERING

SEAL TOYS

BUILD MORE HOOP SUBASSEMBLIES

SPRAY TOYS

SPRAY MORE WHEELS – MAKE 11 MORE TUGBOATS

INVENTORY BLOCKS/BLOCK BAGS = 32 BAGS FILLED

WE NEED 80 MORE LONG BLOCKS TO FILL THE LAST 8 BAGS

SAND/ROUTER CRITTERS / INVENTORY CRITTERS / PACK CRITTERS

PREPARE TO BUILD BASKET BALL GAMES

PARTS ARE READY (100): BASE SUBASSEMBLIES AND HOOP SUBASSEMBLIES

FIND SPOONS – NEED 200 = PLUS RUBBERBANDS

TWS (TWS2025-19) 10-18-2025

Our NINETEENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday OCT 18, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the SIXTH workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. We will hold toy workshops every weekend from now until Dec 6 as we concentrate on finishing Toys to deliver to kids on Dec 6.

It was a blistery but pleasant day today, reaching the upper 50’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (21) included Rick, Roy B, Stu, Ken, Al, Keith, Jim Burk, Frank, Patsy, Jerry, Grant, Lauree, Lon, Bob, Kathie, Ed, Ed’s Friend, Cleon, Denni, Gary G, and Rex.

TODAY’S INSIDE ACTIVITIES:

Activities today included TUGBOAT BUILDING, Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on HELOS and other toys. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree and Bob.

Today’s Plan of Attack

Tugboat Build activities today: Keith, Ken, and Rick assembled Tugboats on the Tugboat Assembly Line.

Parts Fabrication: More cabins and hulls were sanded and routered by the outside folks. Pegs were installed in the Hulls by the Wheel guys. Pegs tips were sanded by Rick. The jigs for attaching the cabins to the Hulls were set up and the production line was started. The test line last week produced 16 tugboats and was able to reveal a few necessary tweaks. After some minor training fixes, the rest of the Tugboats (74) were assembled today. They are now ready for sealing. We will need to build 10 more tugboats to reach our goal of 100 tugboats for 2025.

Basketball Game Activities today: Today Ed and his friend trimmed the posts and wedges from the Basketball Game base subassemblies that we made last week. Handsanders sanded the hoop subassemblies with 400 wet/dry sandpaper. Next week, the bases and hoop subassemblies will be glued together. To finish up the basketball games, we will add a string/ball to each. there are 110 ball/string assemblies ready for next week. Two spoons will be attached with a rubber band, and the games will be ready for show time. This should happen over the next couple of workshops.

Ken prepared an additional 30 backboards at home this week. This week, Bob will cut the groove on the front to align the hoops. Next we’ll drill the pilot holes, glue the hoops to the backboards, drill pilot holes, and insert screws.

The handsanders prepared the second group of basketball hoop subassemblies (44) by sanding with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

Filling of the Handmade Cloth Block Bags. The hand sanders worked on several boxes of toys today including locomotives, tugboat stacks, rabbits, 30s cars and hoop subassemblies. They also helped fill the block bags.

Pat Graves brought in 8 more block bags today. These were added to the stack of 40+ bags made by Pat and Kathie. Many blocks have been sanded over the last few months. So today, we filled block bags. Typically, we put ten large blocks, ten small blocks, and ten large round and ten small round 1″ dowels into the bags. We filled 32 block bags today and entered them into inventory. We have more blocks to put in bags, but we are short the approximately 7″ x 3/4″ by 1 1/2″ large blocks. We will need more large blocks to complete the next 8 bags.

To Do This Week

At the end of the workshop, there were tugboats, soccer vans, large fire trucks, and whale push toys ready to be sealed. The firetrucks and whale push toys were rescued by Gary Graves last month and treated in the ICU area of his shop.

There are tugboats, rabbits and 30s cars ready for final spray finish.

Today, the wheel guys put wheels on 71 toys, rotors on 25 helos, and 2 posts on each tugboat hull. The wheeled toys were added to our Storeroom Inventory today.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 103. As of today, there are 2,155 toys in inventory on our way to 3,500.

Photos from the Workshop

scrollsawing sig 10-16-25

The Scrollsaw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) met at Rick’s shop in Black Hawk today from 1 pm to 3pm.

Attending today: Rick, Al, Marty, Jerry and Ken (verify)

Today’s discussions included general scroll sawing discussions and overall Christmas Ornaments. Rick presented a trunk show of ornaments, shared some patterns, and detailed explanations related to the ornaments.

Photos from the event:

No reporter attended today – so no photos are available.

PREP FOR NEXT TWS

Seal 61 Toys

Prepare Basketball hoop subassemblies (44)

Spray 71 Toys + 44 Hoop Subassemblies

Inventory String/Balls prepared for BB Games: 110 available in one tub + 100 available in second tub

Prep for Sealing and Spraying and Building BB HOOP Subassemblies

Seal 61 Toys

Prepare Basketball Backboards for Hoops

Spray 71 Toys + 44 Hoop Subassemblies

GENERAL MEETING 10-13-2025

The General Meeting was held on Monday evening at 7 pm.

10.13.2025 at 7 pm. We held the October 2025 General Meeting of the RCWA in the upstairs room in the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church on Monday Oct 13, 2025 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes 13 October, 2025 rev 1 Download

SHOW AND TELL

TWS (TWS2025-18) 10-11-2025

Our EIGHTEENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday OCT 11, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the FIFTH workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. We will hold toy workshops every weekend from now until Dec 6 as we concentrate on finishing Toys to deliver to kids on Dec 6.

It was a very pleasant day today, reaching the upper 70’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (22) included Rick, Roy B, Stu, Ken, Al, Keith, Grant, Lauree, Darwin, Lon, Bob, Kathie, Ed, Cleon, John, Bobbi, Marty, Denni, Maggie and Jim Brown, Bert and Ralph Brethauer.

TODAY’S INSIDE ACTIVITIES:

Activities today included Tracing, Airplane Building, Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling, and Equipment Maintenance. Wheels were installed on Love Bugs and Airplanes. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree.

Today, Rick repaired a drill press spring. Keith and Rick assembled airplanes and started up the Tugboat Assembly Line.

Tugboat Build activities today: Cabins and hulls were sanded and routered. Pegs were installed in the Hulls by the Wheel guys. The jigs for attaching the cabins to the Hulls were put in place and a short production run of 16 was started today. This will continue as more cabins and hulls are completed next week.

The handsanders prepared the basketball subassemblies by sanding with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper. They also sanded the completed hoop subasseblies.

Bob cut and prepared posts this week. Rick, Darwin and Marty made 100 walnut wedges to secure the posts into the bases. Marty glued and wedged the posts on bases (100) today. When dry, the protruding wedges will be sanded or cut off. Then the bases and hoop subassemblies can be glued together. To finish up the basketball games we will add a string/ball to each. Two spoons can be attached with a rubber band, and the games are ready for show time. This should happen over the next couple of workshops.

Ken prepared the additional 52 backboards this week. Bob will cut the slot on the front to align the hoops. Then we will drill the pilot holes.and glue in the hoops. After the 52 subassemblies are sealed/sprayed/sanded, they will be ready for final assembly with the bases.

The handsanders worked on several boxes of toys today. Basketball backboards and tugboat stacks were also sanded. At the end of the workshop, there were 3 boxes of toys ready to be sealed. Paddle games (50) were packaged up today and put into inventory.

Today, the wheel guys put wheels on 141 toys. The 141 wheeled toys were added to our Storeroom Inventory today.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 191. As of today, there are 2,052 toys in inventory on our way to 3,500.

Screenshot

CNC SIG 10-4-2025

Friendly reminder: the next CNC interest group is Saturday from 12:15-2:15 (following the toy workshop) at Kellogg’s, 1116 West Blvd.

Attendees – needs to be updated: Mike Howard, Roger Borland, Ken Ketel, Rick Weisbeck, Lon Gose, Stu Kellogg

Basis of today’s discussions/demos: X__________________________. As always, show and tell items or other topics/questions are welcome.

TWS (TWS2025-17) 10-4-2025

Our SEVENTEENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday OCT 4, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the FOURTH workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. We will hold toy workshops every weekend from now until Dec 6 as we concentrate on finishing Toys to deliver to kids on Dec 6.

It was a much cooler day today, reaching the upper 60’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (28) included Rick, Roy E, Roy B, Stu, Ken, Patsy, Jerry, Al, Keith, Grant, Lauree, Darwin, Lon, Bob, Kathie, Ed, Ed’s Friend, Frank, Cleon, John, Harley, Nick, Bobbi, Marty, Gary G, Jim Brown, Bert and Ralph Brethauer.

TODAY’S INSIDE ACTIVITIES:

Activities today included Tracing, Airplane Building, Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling, and Equipment Maintenance. Wheels were installed on several toys. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree.

Today, Rick adjusted the height of the router bit, Ken tested it. Keith, Roy E, and Nick assembled airplanes and put wheels on other toys. Lauree put 8 necklaces into the double heart boxes. Roy E packaged up the last 9 Crayon Haulers with new crayons.

Bob moved forward with the Tugboat Build for the year. We needed cabins and hulls. The 48 hulls that were cut to shape last week were sanded and edge routered. Bob made 46 + cabins, including the 15 degree 1 ” diameter holes. These were all put into the completion process today. Bob traced the nose shape on each part. Then Ed and Jerry cut the nose of the cabins to that shape; there is still some sanding required. Then all top edges of the cabin will need to be round over routered. We needed 100 smoke stacks for the tugboats. Lon drilled holes in one end using the radial drill press with the end drilling jig. He completed the 100 stacks today.

The handsanders prepared the backboards for hoops by removing all fuzz and splinters. Marty and Bob glued hoops onto backboards (48) today. When dry, screws will be installed in each hoop subassembly to further secure the hoops to the boards. Ken is working to prepare the other 52 backboards. Over the past few months, Ken sanded the bases, routered the edges and milled them with three pilot holes for posts, strings, and launchers. There are over 100 completed bases ready to be sealed/sprayed. After the hoop subassemblies are sealed/sprayed, they will be ready for final assembly with the bases. But first, the posts must be wedged/glued to the bases. Then the bases and hoop subassemblies can be glued together. To finish up the basketball games we will add a string/ball to each. Two spoons can be attached with a rubber band, and the games are ready for show time. This should happen over the next couple of workshops.

There were several boxes of toys hand sanded today. Basketball backboards and tugboat stacks were also sanded. At the end of the workshop, there were 4 boxes of toys ready to be sealed. One box of toys, plus 100 basketball game bases and 45 backboards are ready to be sprayed with polyurethane. Fifteen types of toys were moved into Inventory today.

Today, the wheel guys put wheels on 275 toys. Paddle games (12) and Cup and Ball Games (50) were completed last week by Al. Jim Brown added the strings/balls. The 275 wheeled toys plus the 62 paddle games and cup and ball games were added to our Storeroom Inventory today.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 337. As of today, there are 1,861 toys in inventory on our way to 3,500.

As we continue with the Toymaking Marathon, we have concentrated on getting most toys cut to shape. We have reduced the backlog of unstarted toys to less than 2 boxes of toys that need to be cut to shape. Most of the Work in Progress (WIP) toys need to be routered and sanded. Parts for Basketball games, Rocking Chairs and Tugboats are nearing completion and will be assembled very soon.

Photos from the Workshop

PREP FOR NEXT TWS

Spray a Few Toys

Building Tugboat Parts

TWS (TWS2025-16) 9-27-2025

Our SIXTEENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday SEPT 27, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the THIRD workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. We will hold toy workshops every weekend from now until Dec 6 as we concentrate on finishing Toys to deliver to kids on Dec 6.

It was a very pleasant day today, reaching the upper 80’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (19) included Rick, Roy E, Patsy, Jerry, Al, Keith Grant, Lauree, Lon, Bob, Kathie, Ed, Don, Cleon, John, Bobbi, Marty, Maggie and Jim Brown.

TODAY’S INSIDE ACTIVITIES:

Today, Rick assembled the new Ebay purchase of the Dewalt Scroll Saw; Ed tested it. Keith assembled airplanes. Lauree put necklaces and felt into the double heart boxes. We will need 8 more necklaces. Roy E packaged up the Crayon Haulers. We will need 8 more packages of crayons for them.

Bob looked into the status of the Tugboat Build for the year. He inventoried the Tugboat Parts: We have 52 hulls cut to shape that need sanding and routering. We have 54 cabins built and ready to put on the hulls. So we need 48 more hulls, Bob traced them out today, and Ed started cutting them. The outside sanders started sanding and routering the first 52 hulls. We need 46 more cabins, so Bob picked out some 3/4 inch pine to take home and build cabins. Cabin making process starts out by cutting parts to width, then length, then drill the 1″ hole at a 10 – 15 degree angle. Then the top part is glued to the bottom part. Then the shape of the cabin is traced on each part. Then the nose of the cabin is sanded to that shape; then all top edges of the cabin will be routered. We will need 100 smoke stacks for the tugboats. The stacks are cut to length. They need to be drilled with a 3/4″ Forstner bit on one end. Bob setup the drill press with the end drilling jig and drilled 15 stacks. More will be cut at the next TWS.

There were several boxes of toys ready to be hand sanded today. At the end of the workshop, there are no boxes of toys ready to be sealed, and 8 boxes of toys are ready to be sprayed with polyurethane. Thirteen boxes of toys were moved into Inventory.

Today, the wheel guys put wheels on 307 toys. Of these, 264 were added to our Storeroom Inventory. We are short a few necklaces for heart boxes, and a few crayons for the crayon haulers.

As we continue with the Toymaking Marathon, we have been concentrating on getting most toys cut to shape. We purchased a new Dewalt Scrollsaw this week, to replace one scrollsaw with a burned out motor. We have reduced the backlog of unstarted toys down to about 2 boxes of toys that need to be cut to shape.

The outside machine sanders/routers worked on finishing several boxes of toys including blocks.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 264. As of today, there are 1,524 toys in inventory on our way to 3,500.

TOY COUNT SUMMARY TO DATE (9-27-2025)

Photos from the TWS:

WT SIG 9.24.2025

Thank you Jim and Maggie for hosting , preparing demos, and making your shop ready for today’s Woodturning SIG.

Attending (12): Jim, Maggie, Al, Rick, Ken M, Steve, Bob, Kathie, Lon, Darrell, Stu, and Marty

Today, Jim Brown demonstrated some of the basic steps and jigs used in preparing to make a Segmented Bowl. Maggie showed us how to mount a platter using the Longworth Jig. Maggie later showed us how to sharpen some of the tools people were asking about. Maggie then discussed her thread cutting tool. Finally, Bob and Jim showed us how to use an L-Fence Jig on the table saw.

Show and Tell: Steve York brought in two bowls he made last month, one a segmented vessel, and another was a open segmented bowl. Maggie had a couple of small boxes she was experimenting with developing the technique to add threads to the lids.

Maggie discussed the non-profit organization called BEADS OF COURAGE Program. Jim discussed the size of the bowls used by the Program. Maggie is checking into the details of this program and how to send bowls to the Program, which is based in Arizona. Official medallions can be purchased and embedded into the bowls. Several people are interested in making bowls or boxes for the Program. More discussions will follow.

Thread Cutting Tool ——————————– L-Fence Jig

The details on the L-Fence Jig can be found on a video called “The L Fence Jig Every Woodworker Needs!” by Saw Dust Solutions with Buck (2-28-2025) on YouTube. Bob made the L-Fence last month, and Jim setup the jig on his table saw. The L-Fence Jig can be used to flush trim on the table saw, cut tapers, straighten a piece with a rough edge, cut rabbets, make working with odd-shaped pieces much safer, and duplicating odd-shaped pieces easily.

According to Bob Van Dyke of Fine Woodworking: This is one tablesaw add-on that you won’t want to live without. The L-fence makes quick work of rabbets, tenons, and straight flush-cuts. It helps you to cut accurate miters, make precise cuts on awkward parts, and add versatility to your saw. In its simplest form, the L-fence is two boards fastened along their edges at a right angle. One side is clamped flat to the rip fence; the other side extends horizontally for a workpiece or template to ride against. But because this fence is raised slightly above the table, it doesn’t get damaged like a sacrificial fence would.

Adding jigs and auxiliary fences is a common way to increase your tablesaw’s capabilities. But the most clever tablesaw add-on might be one you’ve never heard of. The “L-fence” makes rabbets, tenons, and straight flush-cuts a breeze, and it will change the way you think about miters. Once you grasp the basics, the L-fence will become an indispensable fixture in your shop.

The topic for the next WT SIG will be Christmas Ornaments. The next SIG will be Oct 29, 2025.

PREP FOR NEXT TWS

Next TWS is Sept 27, 2025. On the To Do List this week:

Seal 221 Toys; Spray 185 Toys; Spray wheels for 185 toys plus four boxes of toys (still at Wood Shop); Build a jig to help assemble newly designed cradles.

Seal Toys – done today 9-22-2025 – 221 toys ready for hand sanding.

Spray Toys – done today 9-25-2025 – 185 toys ready for wheels/ears.

New scrollsaw arrived today.

TWS (TWS2025-15) 9-20-2025

Our FIFTEENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday SEPT 20, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the second workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. We will hold toy workshops every weekend from now until Dec 6 as we concentrate on finishing Toys to deliver to kids on Dec 6.

It was a very pleasant day today, reaching the upper 70’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (21) included Rick, Stu, Patsy, Jerry, Ken, Roy B, Al, Grant, Darwin, Lauree, Lon, Bob, Kathie, Ed, Don, Cleon, Frank, Marty, Jim Burk, Maggie, and Jim Brown.

TODAY’S ACTIVITIES:

Activities today included Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on several toys. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree.

There were several boxes of toys ready to be hand sanded today. At the end of the workshop, there are 9 boxes of toys ready to be sealed, and 8 boxes of toys are ready to be sprayed with polyurethane. Ten boxes of toys were moved into Inventory.

Today, the wheel guys put wheels on 315 toys. Of these, 245 were added to our Storeroom Inventory. The crayon hauler trailers will be matched up with the crayon hauler tractors after they are packed with crayons as Toy 6.8.

As we continue with the Toymaking Marathon, we have been concentrating on getting most toys cut to shape. We had some mechanical issues with two of our scrollsaws and one belt sander. But after today, we have reduced the backlog of unstarted toys down to about 5 boxes of toys that need to be cut to shape.

The outside machine sanders/routers worked on finishing several boxes of toys that can now be sealed.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 245. As of today, there are 1,260 toys in inventory on our way to 3,500.

PHOTOS FROM THE WORKSHOP

SS SIG 9-18-2025

The Scrollsaw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) met at Rick’s shop in Black Hawk today from 1 pm to 3pm.

Attending today: Rick, Al, Marty, Jerry and Ken

Today’s discussions included general scroll sawing discussions and overall Christmas Ornaments. Rick presented a truck show of ornaments, shared some patterns, and detailed explanation related the ornaments.

Photos from the event:

COMMUNITY EVENT 9.13.2025 BLACK HILLS LITTLE BATTLES 5K

COMMUNITY EVENT – Sept 13, 2025 – Little Black Hills Battles 5K at Old Storybook Island at 2911 Canyon Lake Drive, Rapid City – starting at 8:30 am going til noon.

FOOD TRUCKS, DJ & ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

Little Black Hills Battles is a recognition of Monument Health’s Pediatric patients who bravely fight childhood illness and disease every day right here in our community. During this walk participants will get to know many of these brave children and their heroic stories. Join us for a celebration following the walk with music, food trucks, bubbles, free wooden toys, and more!

Donations through Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) are devoted to helping these children. Opportunities for donations were available at the event.

———————————————————

With temperatures in the mid 60’s, several members of the RCWA gathered at Old Story Book Island Park today to support the Little Black Hills Battles at Monument Pediatrics. This is a fundraiser to assist young people (and their parents) battling diseases at Monument Pediatrics.

Attendees (14) included Al, Stu, Ed, Keith, Ron, Rick, Lon, Cleon, John, Bobbi, Patsy, Jerry, Bob and Kathie

This year, we gave away new Giraffes developed for the Toy Program, as well as giraffes that were made for last year’s event. The new Giraffes were cut to shape at one of our Scroll Saw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) meetings at RIck’s Shop. Rick finished them with sanding and routering. Thanks Rick and the SS SIG members! We also offered kids a choice of Love Bugs or Vans.

Rick, Patsy, Kathie, Bob, Lauree, Keith and Ron all took turns assisting the kids with the coloring of the wooden toys (giraffes or love bugs or vans). Jerry, Al, John and Cleon glued and installed wheels. Stu and Bobbi spelled the installers. Rick, Stu, Ed, and Ron helped the little guys test out and race their special toys. Over 40 giraffes (two styles) were colored by kids of all ages ranging from a few months to teens. Twenty love bugs/vans were colored, wheeled and raced. Parents and kids were very pleased with the gifts of wooden toys today!

Photos from today’s event:

SEPTEMBER 2025 GENERAL MEETING 9.8.2025

If you didn’t get the memo, a Meeting Notice was sent out via EMail on Fri, Sep 5 at 2:18 PM: The General Meeting will be held on Monday evening at 7 pm.

9.8.2025 at 7 pm. We held the September 2025 General Meeting of the RCWA in the upstairs room in the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church on Monday Sept 8, 2025 from 7 pm to 8:15 pm.

Attending tonight: Jerry, Patsy, Kathie, Bob, Tony, Stu, Roy E, and Al O. Refreshments were provided by Stu Kellogg.

One of the main topics discussed was the Logistics of the upcoming Community Event, the Black Hills Little Battles 5k Fundraiser, that we will be supporting on Saturday Sept 13 at 8:30 am at Old Story Book Island Park. Rick will be picking up the tables and supplies needed for the event from the Wood Shop on Friday morning. The other topic discussed was recognition of extraordinary Behind-the-scenes efforts and activities that are taking place between workshops by members of the RCWA.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes 8 September 2025 Download

PREP FOR NEXT TWS

9.8.2025 10 am. It was another behind the scenes event today: Sealing Toys and Making a Glue Caddy for the workshop.

Toys sealed included C-cars (22), Large McQueen racers (20), Firetruck (1), Clown Cars (27), and Whale Push Toys (11), for a total of 81 toys.

A glue caddy for Toy Workshops was made this morning to control the moving glue bottles. This was made from 1 inch walnut and uses one of the cup holder pegs given to us in 2012.

9.9.2025 1 pm. Another behind the scenes event today: Spraying Final Finish on Toys (148).

9-10-2025 Another Behind-the-scenes activity: Members who live in Peaceful Pines, Ralph Brethauer and his wife Bert, are helping on the Toy Program by adding wheels to toys in their apartment. Today, I picked up a box of school busses and a box of helicopters. This is the kind of activities several of us did during Covid a few years ago. Recent medical events have restricted Ralph to his 4 wheeled walker, so attendance at workshops is more difficult. The school busses are ready for inventory, and the helicopters are wheeled and ready for rotors to be installed. Also today, I dropped off three more boxes to Bert and Ralph to work on that are ready for wheels. Thank you, Ralph and Bert! You are appreciated!

9-11-2025 1 pm. Continuing with another behind the scenes activity: Spraying final finish on two more boxes of toys: Tanker Trucks (27) and Double Heart Boxes (25). We are now ready for the next TWS on 9.20.2025.

CNC SIG 9.6.2025

Friendly reminder: the next CNC interest group is Saturday from 12:15-2:15 (following the toy workshop) at Kellogg’s, 1116 West Blvd. The City will be blocking off West Blvd from South to Fairview Street that afternoon for an evening block party. This means if you park in front of my house you might get blocked in before you leave. Suggest you park on side streets Clark or Fulton.

Attendees: Mike Howard, Roger Borland, Ken Ketel, Rick Weisbeck, Lon Gose, Stu Kellogg

Basis of today’s discussions/demos: I have had a few questions on material settings, gaps, etc., so I thought I might use my latest project and show you what happens when you cut using VCarve, Material Boundaries, Vector Boundaries, Model Boundaries, or levels, and why you really should check gap settings before you generate tool paths. I have 3 new displays for the shelf of shame demonstrating this. As always, show and tell items or other topics/questions are welcome. I have one question of moldings that we will try to discuss providing there is time.

TWS (TWS2025-14) 9.6.2025

Our FOURTEENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday SEPT 6, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

This is the first workshop in our Toymaking Marathon. We will hold toy workshops every weekend from now until Dec 6 as we concentrate on finishing Toys to deliver to kids on Dec 6.

It was a very pleasant day today, starting at 36 degrees at 7 am, but expecting to reach the upper 60’s by noon. The attendees at today’s workshop (23) included Rick, Stu, Patsy, Jerry, Ken, Roy E, Bobbi, Al, Denni, Keith, Grant, Darwin, Lauree, Lon, Bob, Kathie, Nick, Ed, Gary Graves, Don, John, Cleon, and Ron H.

TODAY’S ACTIVITIES:

Activities today included Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on several toys. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree.

There were several boxes of toys ready to be hand sanded today. Over 200 airplane wings were sanded and readied for installing on the airplane fuselages. At the end of the workshop, there are 4 boxes of toys ready to be sealed, all the airplane wings sanded, and 7 boxes of toys are ready to be sprayed with polyurethane.

Today, the wheel guys put wheels on 195 toys. Of these, 164 were added to our Storeroom Inventory. The crayon hauler tractors will be matched up with the crayon hauler trailers after they are sprayed and be packaged as Toy 6.8.

This past week, Jerry installed tow hooks on the tow trucks. He matched up each tow truck with a bug. Together the tow truck and bug make up one “TOY”: Toy No. 6.17.

Bob installed a Tank on each Tanker Truck last week. The tanks are made from recycled inch – and – a quarter dowels that were sanded flat on one side. Kathie sealed the toys and today the Hand Sanders got them ready to be Sprayed.

As we begin the Toymaking Marathon, we have over 52 boxes in the Work In Progress Room. About 37 boxes of toys need to be cut to shape. So one of our focusses today was to utilize all four RCWA scrollsaws. Jerry, Ron H, Darwin and Ed manned the saws to try and reduce the number of toys needing to be cut to shape.

The outside machine sanders/routers finished the Giraffe Toys that will be given away this weekend at the Black Hills Little Battles 5K Event planned for Old Story Book Island Park. This is a fundraiser for Monument Pediatrics and the Make a Wish program. The outside crew finished the Giraffes and moved on to finish several boxes of toys that can now be sealed.

RESULTS: There are now 7 boxes ready to spray and 4 boxes ready to seal. The airplane wings (200) are ready to be sealed and installed. The Giraffe toys (50) are sanded and routered and are ready to be given away on Sept 13 at the Black Hills Little Battles 5K community event.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 164. As of today, there are 1,015 toys in inventory on our way to 3,500.

Photos from the Workshop

WHEELS AND AXLES FOR 2026 RECEIVED TODAY (8.30.2025)

The “Browns’ Mobile” delivered wheels and axles to our offsite storage unit this week. They picked up the supplies at the Warehouse at CraftParts in Texas this past week. This delivery is a little earlier than normal, due to the different timing of the visits to the grandkids in Texas. Thank you, Maggie and Jim, for making the trek to the warehouse for us once again.

PREP FOR NEXT WORKSHOP (will be held on 9-6-2025)

TOYS were sealed (153). Firetruck Ladders (106) were sealed.

Toys were sprayed with a finish, (105)

Airplane wings (150) were cut to size. Then they will be sanded and sealed.

Tanks (35) were made from leftover stair rails. The tanks were then added to the Tanker Truck Bodies with glue and dowels.

Tow Trucks were wheeled with truck tires on rear, standard tires on front. Tow hooks were added to the Tow Trucks with axle pegs. Then the Tow Trucks and accompanying Love Bugs will be packaged together using saran wrap.

Wheels are being sprayed this week in preparation for Saturday’s TWS.

Airplane wings are being sanded, basketball backboards are being milled for installing hoops, new backboards were cut to size, and Tanker trucks are ready to seal.

TWS (TWS2025-13) 8.23.2025

Our THIRTEENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday August 23, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

It was a beautiful day today, with highs expected only to reach the upper 70’s. The attendees at today’s workshop (20) included Rick, Stu, Patsy, Jerry, Ken, Roy E, Bobbi, Al, Denni, Keith, Grant, Darwin, Lauree, Lon, Bob, Kathie, Marty, Ron H, Roy B, and Jim Burke. Rick greeted some visitors included a family with three children hoping to find someone to teach woodworking to their children. Keith showed them how to put wheels on toys and let them try a few as well.

TODAY’S ACTIVITIES:

Activities today included Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on several toys. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree.

There were several boxes of toys ready to be hand sanded today. Of these, 7 boxes were finished and are ready to be sprayed with a coat (or four) of polyurethane as the final finish.

The wheel guys put wheels on 193 toys. These were added to our Storeroom Inventory.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 193. As of today, there are 851 toys in inventory.

Jerry has the tow hooks and love bugs at home. Together the tow trucks and love bugs make up one “TOY”. Keith and Bob started putting the truck wheels and standard wheels on the tow trucks today. When all wheeled up, Jerry will add the tow hooks. The tow truck and love bug will be saran wrapped to keep both parts together as one “TOY”..

Jerry, Roy E, Darwin and Ed worked on cutting toys with scrollsaws.

The outside machine sanders/routers finished several boxes of toys that can now be sealed.

Lauree continued to organize the Work In Progress room today. When the day started, there were 52 boxes of toys in various stages in the room. There were about 37 boxes of toys yet to be cut to shape. There was a box of 100 tugboat bases ready to be cut to shape. There are also xx boxes of toys waiting to be sanded and routered. Several people asked to take some boxes home to work on.

RESULTS: There are now 7 boxes ready to seal and 4 boxes ready to spray.

Photos from the Workshop

SS SIG 8.21.2025

The Scrollsaw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) met at Rick’s shop in Black Hawk today from 1 pm to 3pm.

Attending: Rick, Al, Bob, Kathie, Marty, Jerry and Ken

Today’s discussion included one-one-one discussions about scrollsawing techniques. Rick showed several ornaments and discussed the techniques he used to cut them. Marty Bartholomew (potential new member) came to the meeting for the first time. Marty was a Woodworking Guild member in Denver and recently moved to Rapid City. Rick showed him several projects he had cut recently and described some special methods he used to make them. Marty showed us pictures of several of his recent projects included some beautiful boxes featuring hand cut dovetail joints. Jerry shared some 3D ornaments that he had prepared for others to cut. Several members took some home to try. Jerry described the techniques for #D cutting including the use of a clamp to hold the parts during cutting. Jerry cut a few small 3D ornaments on Rick’s Hegner.

Ken finished about 40 backboards for basketball games last week so passed them on to Bob for the next steps.

Photos from the event:

PREP FOR NEXT WORKSHOP (8.20.2025)

Sealing, FInishing, Blocks, Bags

COMMUNITY EVENT: STURGIS THRESHING BEE 8.16.2025

Attending (11): Rick, Kathie, Bob B, Darwin, Lauree, Al, Lon, Patsy, Jerry, Stu, and John.

The RCWA toymakers set up in the Memorial Building at the Sturgis Threshing Bee on August 16, 2025, at 8:30 am. The temperature was in the low 60’s at the start of the day with gusty winds from the north. We got a down pour about noon for a short time, which kept the temperatures down in the low 70s all afternoon.

This year Jerry designed and built two new tractors to give to kids at the Threshing Bee. The tractors were cut from redwood, pine, and cedar, and pre-drilled for wheels in several Scroll Saw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) meetings in the last few months. The vans were made by Rick over the last few months. We brought the new tractors along with vans for kids to color. Kids were given a choice of tractors or vans. When we added the wheels, the kids had incredible racing vehicles.

As it turns out, we gave away all 60 tractors and about 75 vans, for a total of 135 toys. Rick improved the race trace this week with a more robust and “beefed-up” launching mechanism and revised lane dividers. This was timely because the kids made sure to test them several times each on the 8′ race track! We gave away all tractors before the parade started at 1:30 pm. After the parade, we gave out vans until a little before 4 pm, then packed up and traveled home.

Photos from the event:

The parade of more than a hundred tractors started at 1:30 pm with the Master of Ceremonies announcing each tractor as it came by the Memorial Building. A wide assortment of both steam and gas/diesel tractors, dozers, mowers, cars, and even a horse drawn wagon was presented by owners and their families, children or grandchildren. The parade was seen with a hazy picturesque backdrop of Bear Butte in the near distance.

Other activities during the day included a working steam tractor driven sawmil, a shingle making display, a threshing machine, a rope making display, several static steam engines, a museum, a quilt show, a tractor pull, a kids tractor pull, and raffles as well.

Fresh “Corn on the Cob” was being sold from the back of a pickup truck picked from a farm in Bison, SD, the same morning. One building had a jam and jelly sale. There were vendors selling Kettle Corn, Roasted Nuts, and Doughnuts. Near the entrace to the Bee was a Swap Meet of old tools and antiques. There were also over 100 farm implements displayed around the grounds buildings. Fundraisers by 4H clubs provided tasty meals in two different locations at the Bee.

I spoke with Jerry from Bowman, ND, who invited us to come to Yesterday’s Farmers Threshing Bee coming up in September and give out toys. However, Bowman, ND, is 180 miles from Rapid City, SD.

COMMUNITY EVENT: KID’S CARNIVAL 8-10-2025

We gave toys to kids (FREE) on Sunday Aug 10, 2025 at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Rapid City, SD. This was at the request of Sharon Grey and Bobbi Bares of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. We were part of the Kid’s Carnival sponsored by the Outreach Committee of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

We brought blank unfinished wooden toy vans and love bugs for kids to color with crayons. When the kids finished coloring, we installed wheels on each toy. The event started at 11:30 am and ran thru 3 pm. Activities at the event included Face Painting, various games with prizes, and the School Backpack and School Supplies giveaway. We gave over 100 toys to kids today. The event was very well attended and our wooden toys were very much appreciated by the attendees.

Thank you from Sharon Grey from Our Redeemer Lutheran Church

WOODTURNING SIG (WT SIG) 7-30-2025

Thank you Jim (and Maggie) for hosting and preparing your shop for today’s Woodturning SIG.

Attending: Jim Brown, Rick, Ken M, Steve, Matt, Bob, Michael, Lon, Ken K, and Dave.

Today’s demo was done by Dave Maude, he showed us how to use the SKEW Chisel tool, and invited others to give it a try.

Show and Tell: Steve York brought in two bowls he made for the non-profit organization called BEADS OF COURAGE Program. Maggie is checking into the details of this program and how to send bowls to the Program.

Photos from the event:

TOY WORKSHOP (TWS2025-12) 7-26-2025

Our TWELVTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday July 26, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

It was a VERY hot day today, with highs expected to reach the upper 90’s. The attendees at today’s workshop (22) included Rick, Stu, Patsy, Jerry, Harley, Roy E, Nick, John, Cleon, Bobbi, Al, Mary Green, Gary Graves, Darwin, Lauree, Lon, Matt, David, Abby, Bob, Dennis, and Kathie.

Activities today included Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on several toys. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree.

There were several boxes of toys ready to be hand sanded today. Of these, 7 boxes were finished plus a small group of paddles, and are ready to be sprayed with a coat (or four) of polyurethane as the final finish.

The wheel guys put wheels on 155 toys. Of these, 50 love bugs went to the Love Bug Inventory.

Toys put in Toy Program inventory today: 105. As of today, there are 658 toys in inventory.

Jerry cut the handles for the chalk board blanks at home last week, and returned them to the workshop today. Gary Graves picked them up for further processing. Jerry took home the tow hooks and love bugs today The wheels guys will put the wheels on the tow trucks, next time, and then Jerry will add the tow hooks. Jerry is leading the breakfast crew at the Nemo Fire Department Bike Breakfast next week. He will work on Truck Cabs and the crayon hauler trailer blanks after the rally.

Stu brought in a group of basketball hoops for basketball games that he made on his CNC (87), Bob gave Stu the prototype of his new modified small cradle. Stu will be milling the cradle ends. Roy has two sheets of plywood that might be used for the cradle ends.

Jerry and Darwin worked on cutting toys with scrollsaws.

The outside machine sanders/routers finished several boxes of toys that can now be sealed.

Roy E reported receiving a bunk of surplus lumber from a local counter top manufacturing facility. Roy is still working on two boxes of love bugs at home with drilling and cutting to shape.

Lauree worked to organize the Work In Progress room today. There are several (lots) boxes of toys yet to be cut to shape. There is a box of 100 tugboat bases ready to be cut to shape. There are also several (lots) boxes of toys to be sanded and routered. Please let me or Lauree know if you want some projects to work on at home.

Photos from the Workshop

PREP FOR NEXT TOY WORKSHOP (7-18-2025)

Some toys were ready to be sealed and some toys were ready to be sprayed this week.

7-18-2025: With the temps in the mid 70s today, it was a good time to spray some toys. A total of 158 toys were sprayed and are ready for the next steps of installing wheels or tow hooks.

7-19-2025: Another warm day, so more toys were sprayed. A total of 81 toys were sprayed today, bring the total number of toys ready for wheels and/or rotors at our next toymaking workshop to 239.

7-23-2025: A total of 57 toys were sealed and will need hand sanding at the Toy Workshop on Saturday 7-26-2025. This includes whales, coupes, paddle games, and 3 stragglers from earlier years.

GENERAL MEETING 7-14-2025

We held our July General Meeting in the upstairs room in the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church on Monday July 14, 2025 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm.

Attending tonight: Grant, Jerry, Patsy, Kathie, Bob, Rick, Tony, Stu, Jim Burke, Maggie, Roy E, and Al O.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes 14 July 2025 Download

Show and Tell

Photos from the Meeting

TOY WORKSHOP (TWS2025-11) 7-12-2025

Our ELEVENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday July 12, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

It was a nice warm day today, with highs expected to reach the mid 80’s. The attendees at today’s workshop (18) included Rick, Stu, Patsy, Jerry, Don, Harley, Roy E, Tony, Nick, John, Maggie, Bobbi, Al, Ken, Jim Burk, Keith, Bob, and Kathie.

Activities today included Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on Love Bugs for Tow Trucks. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Rick.

There were several boxes of toys ready to be hand sanded. Of these, 8 boxes were hand sanded today and are ready to be sprayed with a coat (or four) of polyurethane as the final finish.

The wheel guys put wheels on 35 toys. These toys were added to the Tow Trucks. They will be packaged with saran wrap and put into inventory after the Tow Trucks are completed. As of today, there are 553 toys in inventory.

The hand sanding group finished 8 boxes of toys, plus a group of paddles. They are ready to be sprayed. Jerry and Patsy finished sanding the large and small helicopter blades. Jerry took home the chalk board blanks to cut out the handles. He also took home the Truck Cabs and the crayon hauler trailer blanks to build the trailers.

Jerry, Tony and Bobbi worked on cutting toys with scrollsaws.

The outside machine sanders/routers finished 3 boxes of toys that can now be sealed. Ken tooks home several basketball game bases and backboards to begin milling and adding parts. Roy E reported receiving lots of scrap lumber from a local counter top manufacturing facility. Roy took home two boxes of love bugs to drill and cut to shape.

Photos from the Workshop

CFB PINEWOOD DERBY ASSISTANCE 7.7.2025 thru 7.9.2025

Members of the RCWA returned to the Shop at the Club for Boys (CFB) for the tenth year in a row to help boys build their Pinewood Derby race cars.

The race cars were traced and cut from 2×4’s by members of the Rapid City Woodworkers earlier this year. Wheels (500 @ 2″) were donated to the project by the RCWA. Dowels for axles (1/4″) were provided by the CFB. The RCWA members guided about 120 boys thru the steps needed to build and finalize cars for the races planned for the following week.

On Monday the RCWA was represented by Rick, Al, Lon, Stu and Jerry. Kathie joined the group on Tuesday.

CNC SIG 7-5-2025

The CNC Special Interest Group met this Saturday, 10:00-12:00 at Rick’s Shop. The topic was basic sign making. Attendees: Rick, Cori, Michael, Grant, and Stu. Here’s a few pictures:

SPECIAL TOY WORKSHOP 6-30-2025

We’re holding a special toy workshop tomorrow (Monday) morning starting at 9:30 am at Rick’s shop to cut all the racers for the Club for Boys (CFB) event that we are supporting next week. We’ll be cutting to shape, and rough sanding the flat sides of at least 75 racers that are already traced. Then we’ll need to drill axle holes as well. Please come and have fun at this special workshop. There will be jobs for all.

We had a very productive workshop, with Lon, Rick, Ken, Al, and Jerry attending. After one and a half hours of cutting and sanding, we now have 99 racers and 20 blanks ready to go for the CFB pinewood derby build planned for July 7th thru 9th, 2025.

TOY WORKSHOP (TWS2025-10) 6-28-2025

Our TENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday June 28, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

It was a very warm day today, with highs expected to reach the mid 90’s. The attendees at today’s workshop (14) included Bob, Kathie, Al Oines, Ken M, Cleon, John, Don R, Ron H, Bobbi, Patsy, Jerry, Darwin, Lauree, Rick,

Activities today included Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on various toys. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree and Rick.

There were several boxes of toys ready to be hand sanded. Of these, 3 boxes were hand sanded today and are ready to be sprayed with a coat (or four) of polyurethane as the final finish.

There were 5 boxes of toys that were sprayed at the beginning of the workshop. This included heart boxes, and jewelry boxes, which made their way to Lauree who will put felt in the bottoms of each box. The wheel guys put wheels on 82 toys.

The toys moved to inventory (137) today included Log Trucks, Jeeps, Milk Vans, Caterpillars, and Small Bugs. As of today, there are 553 toys in inventory.

The hand sanding group finished 2 boxes of toys. They are ready to be sprayed.

Jerry finished small log trucks at home.

Photos from the Workshop

The racers for the Club for Boys toy building activities coming up in early July were inventoried. It was discovered that only 24 were cut to shape and sanded. Rick is planning a special toy workshop for Monday June 30 at his shop starting at 9:30 am to finish cutting and sanding the racers that will be needed for next week.

VENDOR EVENT AT KNECHTS HOME CENTER 6-21-2025

We were invited to a Summer Vendor Show at Knecht Home Center on Saturday, June 21, 2025, from 10 am to 2 pm. The purpose of the show was for vendors to showcase their products and services to local businesses, homeowners and industry professionals.

On an unseasonably warm day in June, members of the Rapid City Woodworkers set up canopies outside Knecht Home Center before 10 am. During the event, we gave away more than 70 of our now famous Give Away Vans to kids attending the event and were able to share with visitors what we do as an organization. Kids got to decorate the vans, get wheels installed, and then test them on our 8′ race track. Thank you to Knecht Home Center for inviting us. We enjoyed this event and were happy to have been able to help to make it a successful event!

Attending: Tony, Rick, Al, Jerry, Roy and a few others.

Knecht Home Center is located at 320 West Boulevard in Rapid CIty, SD.

SS SIG 6-19-2025

The Scrollsaw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) met at Rick’s shop in Black Hawk today from 1 pm to 3pm.

Attending: Rick, Al, Roy E, and Ken

Today’s discussion included one-one-one discussions about scrollsawing techniques. Members cut Giraffes for the upcoming community event 5K Black Hills Battles in September.

Photos from the event:

WT SIG 6-18-2025

The Wood Turning Special Interest Group (WT SIG) was held today from 1 pm to 3 pm. All RCWA members and guests are welcome to attend. It is on the calendar for the last Wednesday of each month at 1 pm, but was moved up for this month only. It is held in Jim and Maggie’s Shop at 2879 Spotted Fawn Lane, Rapid City, SD 57702.

Thank you Jim and Maggie for hosting and preparing your shop for today’s Woodturning SIG.

Attending: Al, Jim and Maggie Brown, Rick, Ken M, Steve, Nick, and Stu.

Today’s demo was done by Al Oines; he showed us how to make a wooden pen on the lathe.

Photos from the event:

TOOL SALE 6-14-2025

In case you haven’t packed up tools to sell yet, do so and bring them to the TOOL SALE tomorrow morning at 7 am to help set up. Its at the parking lot at 910 Wood Ave – that’s the parking lot of the building where we make toys. If you don’t know your number, Tony can give it to you at the sale. So hope to see you in the morning! Bob and Rick

Today we held our Annual Tool Sale. This was a fundraiser to support the Toy Program.

The day was predicted to be in the low 90’s, and was one of the hottest days of the year so far, with clear skies in the morning and wind after noon.

Members had been bringing in items for the sale for the last month. Friday afternoon Rick opened the Wood Shop for members to bring items by. We also had some donated items which we sorted and labeled on Friday afternoon. The sale was held in the parking lot at 910 Wood Ave next to the Wood Shop where we build toys for the Toy Program.

On Saturday morning, members, led by Rick moved and set up tables in the wee early hours so that items could be put in place on tables at 7:00 am in preparation for the 7:30 am sale start. Jerry brought 6 6-foot tables from Nemo. We used about 15 tables plus 4 pieces of 2′ x 8′ plywood and 8 saw horses. Tony handled the cash box and Cori recorded every transaction, allocated to member ID numbers or to the group (#99).

Patty and Jerry set up coffee, cookies, lemon bars, pumpkin scones, and ice tea in the meeting room in the annex. Someone brought in a cooler filled with ice and water. Kathie and Patsy prepared the sandwiches on Friday – deli meat sandwiches, chips, grapes, applesauce, and cheesesticks.

Attendees (20): Bob, Kathie, Jim Burk, Al Oines, Nick Spano, Harley Schmadeke, Lon Gose, Bob A, Cori, Roy E, Patsy, Jerry, Josh, Darwin, Lauree, Grant, Mary, Rick, Tony and Stu.

Preliminary results showed that we had exceeded last year’s sales by 1 pm. Traffic slowed to a crawl by 2 pm. We closed down and dispersed of remaining items to Restore, so were wrapped up by 3 pm. Thanks to all who helped with our Tool Sale fundraiser for 2025.

GENERAL MEETING 6-9-2025

Meeting Minutes are available below:

Meeting Minutes 9 June 2025 Download

CNC SIG (6-7-2025)

Just a quick a reminder that the CNC Special Interest Group will be meeting this Saturday, 10:00-12:00 at Kellogg’s, 1116 West Blvd. in Rapid CIty, SD.

Topic will be moulding and tiling.

Attending(11):

Bob Arnio, Jeff Albrecht, Grant Coffin, Bobbi Bares, Joan Bares, Lon Gose, Roy Erickson, Stu Kellogg, Michael Howard, Nick Spano, Maggie Brown.

PREP FOR NEXT TWS – 5-31-2025

With the temps in the high 70s today, it was a good time to seal some more toys. Three boxes of toys were mouse sanded (82), and 8 boxes of toys were sealed (244). There are now 8 boxes of toys (244) ready for hand sanding at the next workshop.

May-June 2025 New Toy Department

Off site toy development – Jerry designed and produced 35 Tow Trucks with Love Bugs.

Jerry is building Log Truck beds and posts.

June 16, 2025

With the temps in the mid 70s today, it was a good time to spray some toys. Rick came to Bob’s spray booth and sprayed more than 5 boxes of toys for a total of 130 toys.

WOODTURNING SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (WT SIG) 5-28-2025

The Woodturning Special Interest Group (WT SIG) was held on May 28, 2025. All RCWA members and guests are welcome to attend. It is on the calendar for the last Wednesday of each month at 1 pm. Today’s meeting was held at the West Hills Shop in Rapid City, SD.

Thank you Michael and Ken for hosting and preparing your shop for today’s Woodturning SIG.

Attending (13): Al, Jim and Maggie Brown, Bob and Kathie Buchanan, Steve, Stu, Jerry, Lon, Roy, Ken K, Michael, and Bob A.

Today’s demo was done by Michael Howard. He introduced us to his new CNC Machine and showed us what he can do with it so far. The spindle has been backordered, so no sawdust has been made yet. Then Michael showed us how to use a wood chuck and how to make one. The large nuts needed for the chuck were purchased from McMaster catalog. Michael attached a workpiece to the chuck using CA glue and an accelerator.

Example of part needed for 1 1/8 chuck – from McMaster – Carr Catalog:

Show and Tell included another large, open segmented bowl by Steve York made with walnut and zebra wood.

Photos from the Event

The next WT SIG will be held at the Brown’s Shop on June 18, 2025 at 1 pm.

TOY WORKSHOP (TWS2025-09) 5-24-2025

Our NINTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday May 24, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

It was a cool rainy day in the neighborhood, today, with highs expected to reach the mid 50’s. The attendees at today’s workshop (24) included Rick, Grant, Roy E, Nick, Russ, Frank, Darwin, Lauree, Roy B, Maggie, Jim Brown, Al, Lon, Vicki, Bobbi, Bob, Kathie, Cleon, Gary G, Jeff, Celi, Patsy, Jerry, and John.

Activities today included Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on various toys. Roy E updated the Love Bug inventory. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Lauree and Bob B.

There were 8 boxes of toys ready to be hand sanded. Of these, 5 boxes were hand sanded today and are ready to be sprayed with a coat (or four) of polyurethane as the final finish.

There were 7 boxes of toys ready for wheels at the beginning of the workshop. The wheel guys put wheels (and ears) on 173 toys. These toys were put into inventory: Station Wagons, Puppy Dogs, Thin Love Bugs. Turtle Push Toys, Shark Cars, VW Bugs-Thin, and Derby Cars. As of today, there are 416 toys in inventory.

The hand sanding group finished 5 boxes of toys for a total of 124 toys. They are ready to be sprayed.

Lon and Frank returned boxes of toys worked at home, that are ready to be sealed.

Jerry finished Tow trucks, tow hooks, and bugs at home; they are ready to be sealed. Between the outdoor sanding group, the boxes Lon and Frank returned, and Jerry’s tow trucks, there are 5 boxes totaling 131 toys that are now ready to be sealed.

Photos from the Workshop

PREP FOR NEXT TWS – 5-17-2025

Some toys were sealed and some toys were sprayed on Saturday. A total of 103 toys were sealed and will need hand sanding at the Toy Workshop on Saturday 5-24-2025. A total of 251 toys were sprayed and are ready for the next steps of installing wheels or ball/string assemblies.

Photos from the shop

SCROLL SAW SIG (SS SIG) 5-15-2025

The Scrollsaw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) met at Rick’s shop in Black Hawk today from 1 pm to 3pm.

Attending: Bob, Kathie, Rick, Jerry, Roy E, and Ken

Today’s discussion included one-one-one discussion about scrollsawing with newer member Roy Erickson. Rick gave him with some more practice using the DEWALT scrollsaw. Members cut Pupppy DOg ears for the TOy Program, Tractors for the upcoming community event at the Threshing Bee in Sturgis in August, Giraffes for the upcoming community event 5K Black Hills Battles in September and Show and Tell of the purple peg spraying jig (256 per board).

Photos from the event:

GENERAL MEETING 5-12-2025

We held our General Meeting on Monday MAY 12, 2025, at 7 pm.

Meeting Minutes:

Meeting Minutes 5-12-2025 r1 Download

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT:

TWS (TWS2025-08) 5-10-2025

Our EIGHTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday May 10, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

It was a warm day in the neighborhood, today, with highs expected to reach the mid 80’s. The attendees at today’s workshop (21) included Rick, Grant, Ed, Roy E, Nick, Ron H, Lon, Ken, Bobbi, Jim Burk, Bob, Kathie, Cleon, Harley, Stu, Don, Gary G, Mary Jo, Patsy, Jerry, and John.

Most of the work today was Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on Love Bugs. Roy E updated the Love Bug inventory. Today’s Inventory and Control was brought to you by Bob B and Ron H.

There were 14 boxes of toys ready to be hand sanded (403 toys). Of these, 181 were hand sanded and are ready to be sprayed with a coat (or four) of polyurethane as the final finish. There are still 222 toys ready to be handsanded at the next workshop.

The wheel guys put wheels on 101 Love Bugs. Roy E logged them into the Log Bug Inventory.

Lon returned two boxes of toys ready to be sealed. Ed returned three boxes of toys that are ready for further sanding, and routering. The outdoor sanding group finished sanding and routering three boxes. There are a total of 123 toys ready to be sealed.

Dorla Brinks returned several boxes of critters from critter toy sets #13.1 and 13.8 that were cut at home by Keith. Keith had earlier field tested several of the set #13.8 toys with a group of elementary children that he works with. He has some feed back on many of them.

Our goal for 2025 is to build about 3,500 toys to donate to organizations who work with kids in South Dakota.

Photos from the Workshop

PREP FOR NEXT TWS 5-5-2025

Toys were sealed on Monday – a total of 403 toys were sealed and will need hand sanding at the Toy Workshop on Saturday 5-10-2025.

CNC SIG 5-2-2025

Friendly reminder of the first CNC interest group meeting this Saturday, from 10-12 at Kellogg’s, 1116 West Blvd.

Please feel free to come with ideas for topics to discuss and/or shops to visit. Both machining and laser engraving ideas are welcome.

This Saturday, I thought we might work on a sign that has a couple of components. We can combine or merge several elements, explore height base operations, try different gap settings for overall height, add some engraved (or raised) letters, and virtually explore some letters to get the effect we want.

WT SIG – 4-30-2025

The Wood Turning Special Interest Group (WT SIG) was held on April 30, 2025. All RCWA members and guests are welcome to attend. It is on the calendar for the last Wednesday of each month at 1 pm. It is held in Jim and Maggie’s Shop at 2879 Spotted Fawn Lane, Rapid City, SD 57702.

Thank you Jim and Maggie for hosting and preparing your shop for today’s Woodturning SIG.

Attending (9): Al, Jim and Maggie Brown, Ken M, Bob and Kathie Buchanan, Steve, Nick, and Stu.

Today’s demo was done by Maggie Brown; she showed us how to make a simple bottle opener using a part from Craft Supplies.com.

Show and Tell included a large, segmented bowl by Steve York made with walnut and zebra wood, and a three point bowl made by Jeff Albrecht for the Silent Auction.

17th Annual RCWA Woodworking Show – Story with Photos – 4-26-2025

The Rapid City Woodworkers Association (RCWA) shared their skills and showed finished art products during their 174th annual Woodworking Show. It was held Saturday April 26, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Knecht Home Center at 320 West Boulevard in Rapid City. The event was free to the public.

The show featured displays of fine woodworking projects by individual members. The theme for the show was “Military/Patriotic”. The group showed collections of Old Tools and game tables for kids and adults including marble games, kangaroo races, basketball games, giant and medium JENGA games, and a Love Bug race track. There were also live demonstrations of wood turning, scroll sawing, toy-making, and computer controlled routers. Visitors to the show were given the opportunity to receive the free monthly club newsletter as well as lots of door prizes of handcrafted wooden items made by members. In addition, a raffle and silent auction was held for several wooden items. Proceeds from the show will be used to buy supplies for the RCWA’s Toy Making Program for less fortunate children in the Black Hills.

Woodworking demonstrations included several projects with explanations of how to make wooden toys, how to turn bowls, hammers, pens and tops on a lathe, and using a scroll saw to make name signs, bowls, vases, and other fretwork items. Interested children received their individual names cut from ¾” pine wood to take home. Kids colored their own vans or love bugs, members added wheels, and then the kids tested their new toys on the race track. Members of the RCWA shared tips and advice as well as swapped ideas for techniques and projects from those attending the show.

Many thanks goes out to Rick Weisbeck and all of his supportive friends at Knecht Home Center at 320 West Boulevard near the intersection of Omaha and West Boulevard in Rapid City, SD. Photos of the group’s activities can be seen at http://www.rcwasd.org, under the RCWA blog posts.

CLICK ON ANY PHOTO AT ANYTIME – TO SEE SLIDE SHOW OF PHOTOS

Attending/Participating (26): Jerry and Patsy Hood, Kathie and Bob Buchanan, Lauree and Darwin Buus, Rick Weisbeck, Cori Weisbeck, Ed Pike, Dennis Eliason, Grant Coffin, Al Oines, Jeff and Celi Albrecht, John Wolf, Jim Burke, Jim Brown, Roy Erickson, Nick Spano, Harley Schmadeke, Dave Maude, Ron Hauck, Gary Graves, Bobbi Bares, Kathy and Wes Murphy

WELCOME TO THE WOODWORKING SHOW!

WW SHOW THEME: Patriotic/Military

RCWA TRAVELING DISPLAY CASE

FRONT ENTRY

Door Prizes / Sign-up / Registration/Raffle Items

TOY PROGRAM DISPLAY

TOYS MADE FOR 2024 CHRISTMAS TOY PROGRAM

TOY PROGRAM HISTORY

Trifold Display/Continuous Slide Show

TOYMAKING 101 – STATIC DISPLAY

SILENT AUCTION

CLUB DISPLAY

Items that best represented the Show’s theme were displayed on tables near the middle of the store. This included a tribute to all member Veterans and Responders.

OLD TOOLS DISPLAY – LON GOSE brought in three panels of old tools attached to boards for display during the show.

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS’ DISPLAYS – Those who brought items for individual displays included:

Al Oines/Richard Rasmussen

Jim Burke

Rick and Mary Weisbeck – Cori Weisbeck

Bob and Kathie Buchanan

Ed Pike

Darwin and Lauree Buus

Grant Coffin

Jeff and Celi Albrecht

John Wolf

Jerry and Patsy Hood

Dennis Eliason

Roy Erickson

Dave Maude

Ron Hauck

Bobbi Bares

Stu Kellogg

WW SHOW DEMONSTRATIONS

Areas were set up with lathes, CNC machines, toymaking apparatus, and a Target for the Gatling Gun……

WOODTURNING – the woodturning demonstration was set up between the two entry doors and included the Club’s WOODTURNING LATHE – set on Jim Brown’s custom built rolling work table.

SCROLLSAWING – setup included 5 scrollsaws, a drill press, a laptop computer and printer, and portable hand sanders.

TOYMAKING – setup with tables for kids to color vans or love bugs, with RCWA Toymakers installing wheels on the cars. The race track was the ultimate feature.

KIDS GAMES

GAMES FOR KIDS……An area was prepared for games for kids, including a double marble game, a double basketball game, a tabletop race track, wooden puzzles, a Giant Jenga game, a medium Jenga game, a Connect Four game, and a full blown 8′ 3-track race track.

COMPUTER NUMERICALLY CONTROLLED (CNC) ROUTER DEMONSTRATION – RICK WEISBECK placed his CNC router on the counter in the Shipping Dept and setup in the shipping/receiving area for the gatting gun demonstration

GATLING GUN TARGET PRACTICE – was set up in the shipping/receiving area…………….

Luncheon Details……… Patsy, Kathie, and Celi

SS SIG 4-17-2025

The attendees at today’s SS SIG included Rick, Ken, Bob, Kathie, and Al.

Rick showed several examples of scrollwork he is preparing for the Woodworking Show. He showed us what he is planning for the Theme Plaque. He showed us a scrollsaw he is repairing that was donated to him by Don Roberts.

Then he did a quick Show and Tell of items he has made recently.

Then we cut out a few tractors. We had four scrollsaws going for about 30 minutes; 32 tractors were cut to shape, bringing the total to 38 tractors.

Photos from the event:

SHOW AND TELL

APRIL GENERAL MEETING 4-14-2025

We held our General Meeting on Monday April 14, 2025 at 7 pm.

Meeting Minutes:

Meeting Minutes 4-14-2025 r1 Download

Photos from the Meeting:

Show and Tell Items:

TWS (TWS2025-07) 4-12-2025

Our SEVENTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday April 12, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

The attendees at today’s workshop (23) included Rick, Grant, Ed, Roy E, Arnie Jordan, Nick, Al, Lauree, Darwin, Ron H, Lon, Ken, Bobbi, Jim Burk, Bob, Kathie, Cleon, Frank, Harley, Stu, Don, Gary G, and Dennis.

Most of the work today was Hand Sanding, Cutting, Drilling, Machine Sanding and Milling. Wheels were installed on Simple Helicopters. Roy E updated the Love Bug inventory.

These toys were put into inventory today: Tractors (109), Race Cars (31), and Simple Helicopters (103). As of today, there are 243 toys in inventory.

Our goal for 2025 is to build about 3,500 toys to donate to organizations who work with kids in South Dakota.

Photos from the Workshop

Screenshot

Results of Today’s Toymaking Efforts:

Boxes of toys that have been cut, drilled, sanded, and routered were loaded into Bob’s truck, as they are ready to be sealed: 13 boxes.

Boxes of toys that have been sealed and handsanded were loaded into Bob’s truck, as they are ready for the final spray of finish coats of polyurethane: 3 boxes.

WOODTURNING SIG 3-26-2025

The Wood Turning Special Interest Group (WT SIG) was held on March 26, 2025. All RCWA members and guests are welcome to attend. It is on the calendar for the last Wednesday of each month at 1 pm. It is held in Jim and Maggie’s Shop at 2879 Spotted Fawn Lane, Rapid City, SD 57702.

Thank you Jim and Maggie for hosting today’s Woodturning SIG.

Attending (10+): Al, Keith, Jim Brown, Maggie Brown, Ken K, Ken M, Steve, Arnie J, Roy E, Michael, and other special guests.

Today’s WT SIG was a planning session for the upcoming year. The meeting was conducted by Maggie Brown. The results will be published on the SAVE THE DATE page,

No reporters were available for this meeting, so no photos were taken.

TWS (TWS2025-06) 3-22-2025

We held our SIXTH Toymaking Workshop for 2025 on 3-22-2025.

Our SIXTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday March 22, 2025, from 9 am to noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

The attendees at today’s workshop ( ) included Rick, Grant, Ed, Roy E, Roy, Arnie Jordan, Nick, Al, Lauree, Darwin, Russ, Ron H, Ken, Bobbi, Dave, Maggie Brown, Mary G, Patsy, and Jerry. et al – – revise by checking against the photos.

Most of the work today was Cutting, Drilling, and Milling. Some Love Bugs were traced.

Our goal for 2025 is to build about 3,500 toys to donate to organizations who work with kids in South Dakota.

Results of Today’s Toymaking Efforts:

Photos from Today’s Workshop

SS SIG 3-20-2025

The attendees at today’s SS SIG included Rick, Ken, Jerry, and Al.

Only 4 of us there, Rick, Jerry, Ken and Al. We cut out a few tractors and Rick worked on repairing a scroll saw.

No reporters were available for this meeting, so no photos were taken.

Pinewood Derby Assistance 3-14 AND 3-15-2025

A few RCWA members spent Friday evening and Saturday morning at the Assembly of God church on Highway 16 assisting members of the Rangers building each Ranger’s pinewood derby race car. After the RCWA members assisted with shaping and sanding the cars, the kids painted their vehicles and added weight to their car in preparation for the race next weekend.

Members assisting today included Rick, Cori, Stu, and Tony.

A great video showing the event in progress can be seen by clicking on the link below:

MEMBERS PERFORM FIREFIGHTING DUTIES

3-8-2025

Woodworkers Maggie and Jim Brown are members of the Doty Volunteer Fire Department. This weekend they were on duty extinguishing a grass fire near Wheaton College on Hisega Rd near the old Fireside Inn. Thanks Maggie and Jim for doing this!!!

11.7.2008

TOYMAKING WORKSHOP (TWS2025-05) 3-8-2025 – AND GENERAL MEETING

We held our fifth Toymaking Workshop for 2025 along with a General Meeting on 3-8-2025.

Our FIFTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 was held on Saturday March 8, 2025, from 8:30 to 11:00 am. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. The March General Meeting was held from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm.

Today we moved onto Phases 2 thru 5. Most of the work today was Cutting, Drilling, and Milling.

Our goal for 2025 is to build about 3,500 toys to donate to organizations who work with kids in South Dakota.

Results of Today’s Toymaking Efforts:

Patterns traced: 27

Toys traced: 778

Total Patterns traced to date: 60 + 27 = 87

Total toys traced to date: 1710 + 778 = 2,488

We are mostly done tracing toys from patterns.

Photos from the Workshop:

General meeting minutes 3-8-2025

Meeting Minutes 8 March 2025 (1)Download

Photos from the Meeting: “Show and Tell”

Photos from the General Meeting:

OCWA TOYMAKING VISIT (3-8-2025)

Anaheim Hills, CA

I visited the Orange County Woodworkers Association (OCWA) Toymaking Party on March 8, 2025 in Anaheim Hills, CA. My goal was to pickup new toymaking techniques and new ideas for toys. Al Missbrenner from the OCWA invited me to the workshop.

I got to sit in on a session with the “boxmakers” as they worked thru some serious glue-up issues. I picked up some great pointers for this process. This is very timely, as Nick Spano is beginning a new venture into making jewery boxes. Al Misbrenner was the lead guy on this project today and filled in as Fit Check Inspector as well as final inspector.

I visited the “cradle makers” group as they have modified their small cradle design to eliminate the individual dowels from the side rails and replaced them with a solid piece to capture the bottom of the cradle and provide a nice strong attaching point for the cradle ends. The ladies have also designed a sock doll from special socks from Target.

I visited the “tow truck” group as they assembled a smaller version of our Love Bug to tow behind their 1″ tow trucks.

I visited the puzzle guy ROBERT and he gave me several samples of puzzles and mazes to build for the older children. Robert gave me tips on designing toys for kids, that you should try to incorporate touch into each toy, such as dump trucks that really dump, or the tail gate moves for example. Always think of adding anything to make kids think and use their imaginations.

I talked with Ross Gilroy – hadn’t seen him for a few years. We talked about his trip to visit Will and Rachael – Woodturners in Rapid City – many years ago on April 13, 2012, as well as his latest creations on the Powermatic.

Read about Will and Rachael by clicking on this link: (https://rcwasd.org/2012/04/25/field-trip-to-will-and-rachels-april-13-2012/),

Here’s information about Will Bellucci and Rachel Scheffel.

Field Trip to Will and Rachel's – April 13, 2012

Ross loves to help in any way he can with the toy program. Ross is the most creative person on the lathe. He integrates so many aspects of woodworking into his wood turning. He made the original Rattles more than 20 years ago. He made 100 rattles for the toy program last month.

I spoke with Greg Smet and his dad Ed Smet to get caught up on the lastest with their families.

I visited with Len Musgrave who is still spraying all the toys with a spray gun and lacquer (outside). He explained to me how to make the small car trains for the vertical racetracks, using the table saw and a router. He said he started with this OCWA is about 1984. Over the years, they have met at Ganahl Lumber, the Goodwill Store on Harbor Blvd, as well as at Bill Rogers and Tom P’s houses for many years. The current location is Ken Crandall’s house in Anaheim Hills, CA.

Woodturning SIG (2-26-2025)

The Wood Turning Special Interest Group (WT SIG) was held on Feb 26, 2025. All RCWA members and guests are welcome to attend. It is on the calendar for the last Wednesday of each month at 1 pm. It is held in Jim and Maggie’s Shop at 2879 Spotted Fawn Lane, Rapid City, SD 57702.

Thank you Jim and Maggie for hosting and preparing your shop for today’s Woodturning SIG.

Attending (10+): Al, Keith, Jim Brown, Maggie Brown, Ken K, Ken M, Steve, Arnie J, Roy E, Michael, and other special guests.

Today’s demo was done by Maggie Brown; she showed us how to make a round box with a lid: a lidded vessel. The final touch was a beautiful little finial on top.

Show and Tell included a large, segmented bowl by Steve York. Several other items were shared by members.

Toy Workshop (TWS2025-04) 2-22-2025

Despite the really brutally cold weather we had at the beginning of the week, Saturday looks to be almost bearable!

We held our FOURTH Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 on Saturday Feb 22, 2025, from 9:00 to 12:00 noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

The attendees at today’s workshop (23) included Bob, Kathie, Rick, Grant, Roy E, Arnie Jordan, Al, Lauree, Darwin, John, Harley, Mary Green, Russ, Frank, Maggie, Jim Brown, Ken, Tony, Adam, Mary Jo, Bobbi, Patsy, and Jerry.

Today we continued with Phase 1 – Tracing and finished the majority of the Tracing. We traced the rest of the patterns for 2″ thick wood and finished tracing the patterns for 1″ thick poplar. The 1″ stock was cut to approximate size for each pattern by Bob at the storage site prior to the workshop. We bandsawed the other 2″ traced toys into individual pieces. Lastly, we put all toys of one kind into a box, attached an Assembly History Tag, and moved the boxes to the Work-In-Progress (WIP) store room.

Those not tracing today were working on the next phases: Cutting, Drilling, and Milling.

Our goal for 2025 is to build about 3,500 toys to donate to organizations who work with kids in South Dakota.

Results of Today’s Toymaking Efforts:

Patterns traced: 27

Toys traced: 778

Total Patterns traced to date: 60 + 27 = 87

Total toys traced to date: 1710 + 778 = 2,488

Total Traceable Toy Patterns left to trace: xx (plus Critters)

This is our fourth workshop of tracing patterns. We have also advanced to phases 2 – 3 – 4 on the toys traced prior to today.

Photos from the workshop:

Supplies for 2025 Toy Making

Maggie and Jim Brown returned from visiting a new grandchild in Texas on Monday evening. On board were nine boxes of pegs and wheels for building the toys for 2025. Thank you to the Browns for going the extra mile to pick up our supplies from the warehouse near Dallas, TX.

3.30.2025 Supplies were moved into the storage area today.

Our wheels and pegs are purchased from CRAFTPARTS.com, 4220 Clay Ave, Fort Worth TX 76117

Our Wheel Supplier

EXTRA FEATURE – SHOW AND TELL – WORKBENCH

This workbench has been a long time coming. It started with a gift of a 3″ thick maple shuffleboard from Nuts N Bolts Fabric Shop in Edgemont, SD. When they opened their new store in a former Chevrolet garage, they found a shuffleboard in the back room. It was about 21′ long, 20″ wide, and 3″ thick, glued up solid maple. So they cut it into 3 pieces, so that it could be moved without a fork lift. I brought all three pieces home to my garage in 2009.

I cut the 7′ piece down to just under 5 feet long for the workbench top. I wrapped the edges of the workbench top with 2″ x3″ oak from a stairs retrofit project at a local elementary school provided to us by Roy from the New Horizons Band. The legs were made from reclaimed 4″ x 4″ redwood and 2″ x 2″ oak stair railings. The only parts that were purchased were the bolts, nuts, and washers used to hold it all together. A woodworking vise purchased some time ago at a live auction was installed under the workbench top. Fabrication of the base assembly was straight forward, using lap joints, rabbet joints, and dado joints, all cut on the table saw using a crosscut sled. The sheer weight of the top before trimming it to 5 feet long, (estimated at 180 pounds) was the only major challenge to building this workbench, as you can imagine.

SS SIG 2-20-2025

The Scrollsaw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) met at Rick’s shop in Black Hawk today from 1 pm to 3pm.

Attending: Bob, Kathie, Rick, Jerry, Roy E, Arnie, Al, Darwin, and Ken

Today’s discussion included one-one-one discussions about scrollsawing with new member Arnie Jordan. Rick introduced him to the scrollsaw with some practice using the DEWALT scrollsaw. Rick had prepared a few projects to cut CELEBRATE characters, so members cut a few on scrollsaws.

Photos from the event:

PREPARATION FOR NEXT TWS ON 2-22-2025

Preparation for our next workshop continues during the cold winter months. We have cut the rest of the 1″ wood blanks needed for the toys to be cut from 1″ thick poplar. Some additional patterns remain to be traced from 2″ thick wood.

The color for axle pegs for 2025 will be purple. Rick went shopping and found the perfect purple – see below.

TOY WORKSHOP (TWS2025-03) AND GENERAL MEETING 2-8-2025

We held our THIRD Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 on Saturday Feb 8, 2025, from 8:30 to 11:00 am. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. The February General Meeting was held upstairs from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm.

The attendees at today’s workshop (23) included Bob, Kathie, Rick, Grant, Ed, Roy E, Arnie Jordan, Nick, Al, Lauree, Darwin, Russ, Ron H, Keith B, Ken, Tony, Dee, Bobbi, Dave, Patsy, and Jerry.

Today we continued with Phase 1 – Tracing. Today we traced more Toy Patterns onto 2″ thick wood and started tracing patterns for 1″ thick poplar. The 1″ stock was cut to rough size for each pattern by Bob at the storage site prior to the workshop. We cut the other 2″ traced toys into individual pieces with the band saw. Lastly, we put all toys of one kind into a box, attached an Assembly History Tag, and moved the boxes to the Work In Progress (WIP) store room.

Many of us were tracing, but others began working on the next phases: Cutting, Drilling, and Milling.

Our goal for 2025 is to build about 3,500 toys to donate to organizations who work with kids in South Dakota.

Results of Today’s Toymaking Efforts:

Patterns traced: 14

Toys traced: 329

Total Patterns traced to date: 60

Total toys traced to date: 1710

Total Traceable Toy Patterns left to trace: xx (plus Critters)

This is our third workshop of tracing patterns. We are also starting phase 2 – 3 – 4 on the toys traced prior to today.

Photos from the workshop:

General Meeting Minutes 2-8-2025

Meeting Minutes 8 February 2025 Download

Results of 2025 Election

2025 OFFICERS OF THE RCWA – final Download

Photos from the meeting:

Woodturning Special Interest Group (WT SIG) 1-29-2025

The Wood Turning Special Interest Group (WT SIG) was held on Jan 29, 2025. All RCWA members and guests are welcome to attend. It is on the calendar for the last Wednesday of each month at 1 pm. It is held in Jim and Maggie’s Shop at 2879 Spotted Fawn Lane, Rapid City, SD 57702.

Thank you Jim for hosting and preparing your shop for today’s Woodturning SIG.

Attending (15+): Lon, Stu, Dave, Al, Keith, Jim Brown, Ken, Ken M, Nick, Steve, Jerry, Rick, Roy E, Rex, Michael, and other special guests.

The demonstration planned for today was “How to make a French Rolling Pin” presented by Dave Maude.

Several members brought Show and Tell items to share with the group today:

Everyone enjoyed the demonstration – thanks for the show Dave! Thank you Jim for hosting! By the way, that’s a really nice looking outfeed table, Jim!

Grassroots CNC SIG 1-18-2025

A small group of interested CNC users and wanna-be potentials met at Stu’s shop on Saturday Jan 18th to view a demonstration on the CNC showing how to carve a piece of wood from a 3D image. Stu carved half of the image on his CNC and then gave the file to Rick to take home and carve the other half using his CNC.

Got this note from Darwin: Hi Bob, we had a good CNC session with Stu. Did half of the Buffalo wine stopper. Rick was taking the other half with a jump drive with the software program to cut side two. Very Cool how this CNC process works. All from a 3 D image. Lon, Rick, Cory, Darwin were there. Thanks Darwin

Photos from the gathering:

TOY WORKSHOP (TWS2025-02) 1-25-2025

We held our second Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 on Saturday January 25, 2025, from 9:00 to 12:00 noon. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

The attendees at today’s workshop (24) included John, Bob, Kathie, Rick, Grant, Lon, Dennis, Ed, Roy E, Nick, Al, Lauree, Darwin, Russ, Ron, Keith B, Keith H, Mary G, Maggie and Jim, Ken, Mary Jo, Patsy, and Jerry.

Today we continued with Phase 1 – Tracing. Today we traced more Toy Patterns onto 2″ thick wood, then cut the traced toys into individual pieces with the band saw. Lastly, we put all toys of one kind into a box, attached an Assembly History Tag, and moved the boxes to the Work In Progress (WIP) store room.

Many of us were tracing, but others began working on the next phases: Cutting and Milling.

Our goal for 2025 is to build about 3,500 toys to donate to organizations who work with kids in South Dakota.

Results of Today’s Toymaking Efforts:

Patterns traced: 28

Toys traced: 881

Total Patterns traced to date:

Total toys traced to date: 500 + 881= 1381

Total Traceable Toy Patterns left to trace: xx (plus Critters)

(All using 2x stock.)

This is our second workshop of tracing patterns on 2″ thick stock. We are also starting phase 2 – 3 – 4 on the toys traced last time and today.

Photos from the workshop:

For more information, go to RCWA WEBSITE.

TOY WORKSHOP (tws2025-01) 1-11-2025 with General Meeting

We held our first Toy Workshop (TWS) for 2025 on Saturday January 11, 2025, from 8:30 to 11:00 am. This was held at the Wood Shop at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City. The shop is in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. The January General Meeting was held upstairs from 11:00 am to noon.

The attendees at today’s workshop (25) included John, Bob, Kathie, Rick, Grant, Lon, Tony, Ed, Roy B, Roy E, Keith, Al, Don, Lauree, Darwin, Gary G, Russ, Ron (new), Keith, Wyatt, Mary G, Maggie and Jim (at home), Dave M and Stu.

THE TOY PROGRAM. The Toy Program effort consists of 5 major phases:

Phase 1: Tracing

Phase 2: Cutting toys to shape

Phase 3: Milling – routering, drilling, machine sanding

Phase 4: Finish – sealer coat – sanding – spray – sanding

Phase 5: Wheel installations

We are starting a new year of Toy Making today, and so began with Phase 1 – Tracing. Today we traced Toy Patterns onto 2″ thick wood, then cut the traced toys into individual pieces with the band saw. Lastly, we put all toys of one kind into a box, attached an Assembly History Tag, and moved the boxes to the Work In Progress (WIP) store room. Next workshop, some of us can begin working on the next phases: Cutting and Milling.

Our goal for 2025 is to build about 3,500 toys to donate to organizations who work with kids in South Dakota.

Results of Today’s Toymaking Efforts:

Patterns traced: 18

Toys traced: 500

Total Patterns traced to date: 18

Total toys traced to date: 500

Total Traceable Toy Patterns left to trace: xx (plus Critters)

(All using 2x stock.)

More to come: we will be tracing for the next three or four workshops, as well as starting the cutting and milling. That is, we will start phase 2 – 3 – 4 next time on the toys traced today.

Here are photos from today’s activities:

GENERAL mEETING 1-11-2025 – mINUTES

Meeting Minutes 11 January 2025 Download

Minutes taken by Stu Kellogg

Photos from the General Meeting:

For more information, go to RCWA WEBSITE.

THE SS SIG MET ON 1-16-2025

The Scrollsaw Special Interest Group (SS SIG) met at Rick’s shop in Black Hawk today from 1 pm to 3pm.

Attending: Bob, Kathie, Rick, Jerry, Patsy, Roy E, Al, Darwin, and Dave M

Today’s discussion included one-one-one discussions about scrollsawing with new member Roy E. Rick introduced him to the scrollsaw with some practice using the DEWALT scrollsaw. Other discussions centered on some of Rick’s latest projects.

Photos from the event:

THANK YOU NOTES RECEIVED FROM YFS KIDS 1-25

JANUARY 2025

Lots of kids from YFS sent Thank You notes to the RCWA after receiving our wooden toys for Christmas 2024. Here’s just a sampling:

Earlier blog posts:

Here is a listing of some of the earlier posts. Posts in the RCWA BLOG prior to 1-16-2025 were imported from the previous website on 1-15-2025 and are available below. To locate any blog since 2008, type a key word such as a category or a date in the search box below:

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