Message from the President
This month, 3 of our club members braved the sun and represented the IWA at the Day of the Child event held 12 April at Jurupa Unified School District’s Parent Involvement Center. It was well attended, and the kids really enjoyed tossing bean bags at the cornhole board built by Ernie Gonzalez. Also, this past weekend (14 & 15 April) the SkillsUSA State Conference was held in Ontario and eight of our club members donated their time to a great cause. 41 students competed in introductory Woodworking and Cabinet Making contests, including 2 middle school competitors. It was a great event. My hat’s off to these awesome volunteers. We couldn’t have done it without your help. I Look forward to next year’s contest and working again with the best our hobby has to offer. Thanks to all the volunteers and read all about these and other club news below.
Treasurer’s Report
Club treasurer Phyllis Minert presented the treasurer’s report. There were no outstanding debts or requests for payment.
Club Business
The April 2023 meeting of the Inland Woodworkers was held on the 11th. Social hour began at 5:00 pm, and club president Mike Trejo called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. There were 17 in attendance, including our newest members: Matt and Sue Martel, and John Valdez.
Mike T reported that Jacque Long of the Fontana Foundation of Hope (https://www.fontanahope.org/) has approved our request for a charitable donation. The funds will be dedicated to buying parts used in building toys for the annual holiday charity toy drives. Mike will work with Jacque to coordinate the contribution.
Rockler Ontario invited Inland Woodworkers back to their store for the monthly Tuesday night meetings. This option will be discussed in more detail next month. Some considerations for the discussion: there is insufficient space to seat more than about 10 members, the store closing time (7:00pm, with perhaps a 30 minute buffer to complete our meeting), and no use of power tools.
Rockler has been donating some items for our raffles (CNC and IW). They posted our club flyer near their cash registers, and are passing out an information flyer about IW with each purchase. IW members are eligible for a small discount on small items, such as hand tools, but the discount would not apply to power tools.
SurfPrep (https://surfprepsanding.com/) invited IW members to tour their Lake Elsinore facility. SurfPrep makes electrical and pneumatic sanding and vacuuming equipment. They also make abrasives for their power sanders and for consumer sanders. They are a family-owned business, located in southern California, with parts and assembly done in their Temecula facility. Marketing director Hannah Khalaf will work with Mike T on setting a date for the tour. We will discuss the logistics at the May meeting. Note that Fridays are best for SurfPrep, but they might be able to arrange a Saturday visit.
Chuck Petrovich has a Woodline Router Dovetail Joinery System.
It can be used to cut different types of dovetails, including half blind, straight, keys, and shaped. The set belongs to the club and is available to a club member willing to learn how to use it, and show other club members how to use it.
Arlan Van Zant has a sawmill and can reduce logs and slabs down to 1″ thick. Anyone with logs that need milling can contact Arlan to coordinate.
Door Box Specialties is still offering wood for toys. The pieces are remnants and cutoffs from their drawer boxes. The material is finished on two sides.
Show & Tell
Ray Van Zant recently completed another toy truck:
The cab is made from mahogany. Ray also uses maple, cedar, and rosewood. He has been making toys since he was 8 years old, and is a frequent contributor to the IWA annual toy drive.
Chuck Petrovich shared several scroll saw projects.
He reminded us – when making a puzzle, be sure to chamfer the edges.
Chuck recently enhanced his coffee cup holder to now include a pencil holder.
Chuck shared a tip for gluing the perpendicular legs. He demonstrated a home made a jig for supporting the parts during assembly. The group then discussed using regular wood glue along with superglue (cyanoacrylate adhesive) and pin nailers.
This project was made from Black Limba. The lumber is separated for color and sold as white (without black streaks) or black (with black streaks). The wood is relatively soft and easy to work with a moderately coarse texture.
Upcoming Events
Day of the Child was held on Wednesday, April 12, at the Jurupa Child and Family Services, 3924 Riverview Dr., Jurupa Valley. Check the Inland Woodworkers website for a review of the event.
The Skills USA Regional Woodworking competition was held at Chaffey High School (1245 North Euclid Avenue Ontario, CA 91762) on Saturday, April 15th. Winners of the Cabinet Making event will be headed to Atlanta for the national level competition. Check the Inland Woodworkers website for a review of the event.
This year’s Club Fund Raiser will be held on Mother’s Day 2023 (May 14) at the Blue Jay craft fair. Blue Jay is an unincorporated community in the Lake Arrowhead area. Volunteers are asked to make special crafts (for example, cutting boards, trivets, trinkets, charcuterie, scroll saw silhouettes, etc.) that will be sold to fund materials for the Inland Woodworkers toy drive. Chuck P runs the event and will provide IW with a booth. Set-up at 9am, close at 2:30pm. Vendors need a table and canopy. Mark the date – more details forthcoming.
The Old Tool Swap Meet will be held at Anderson Plywood in Culver City on May 20th. Buyers should plan on arriving at 6:00 am to find the best bargains. More details can be found at: https://www.andersonplywood.com/old-tool-swap-meet/ .
The Oak Glen Retreat Farmer’s Market 2023 season will begin on the weekend of March 4/5th. This is a craft fair held on Saturday and Sunday at the Farmers Market. It will continue every 1st and 3rd weekend throughout the spring and summer. IW club members can rent a booth and sell their wood crafts. Each person must submit a registration application at https://form.jotform.com/230116576952155. A 10 X 10 booth will cost $50 for 1 day or $80 for the weekend. The Farmer’s Market is located at 38955 Oak Glen Rd., Yucaipa, CA. More information is available on the form.
AWFS Fair – the bi-annual woodworking show will be held this year in Las Vegas July 25-28. Additional details can be found at https://www.awfsfair.org/. South East Tool is offering a code for IW members to receive admittance to the show.
The next Festool Road Show event will be held on Wednesday, 5/24/2023 from 10:00a – 2:00pm, at Austin Hardwoods & Hardware, 610 N Santiago St, Santa Ana, CA 92701. Find details here: https://www.festoolusa.com/company/festool-experience#West
Miscellaneous
Congratulations to the raffle winners, including Bonnie Hogancamp:
