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Winners Announced On behalf of The Patriot Woodworkers and the Bassett Family, we want to congratulate the following raffle contributors for their win, and we want to thank all for participating. I wish all could receive something for their contributions, but as you all know folks, this is a raffle, and the cause is the reason. Thank you all once again! We raised $2205.00 !! Please PM @John Morris with your shipping information so that we can get these wonderful sponsored prizes out to you immediately! Laguna Tools $500.00 Gift Certificate - @p_toad Easy Wood Tools full set of Mid-Sized Turning Tools - @Dadio Woodriver Spindle Sander - @DuckSoup Rikon 8" Slow Speed Grinder - @schnewj Introduction Every year The Patriot Woodworker's adopt a Wounded Warrior or Gold Star family for Christmas. We do this through a great veterans support organization named Operation Ward 57. The Patriot Woodworker's submit an application to Ward 57 to be accepted to receive our family for Christmas, and each year we are chosen to participate. And each year, our sponsors donate wonderful items for us to raffle for this cause. We use 100 percent of the raffle proceeds to purchase gifts for the kids, and a Christmas dinner for the family and to fund related project expenses such as shipping fees for gifts. Our Mission We need your help to accumulate funds for our Wounded Warrior adopted family, who has given much to our nation in physical and emotional sacrifice and much more in family sacrifice. The Wounded Warrior Family This year we are proud to be supporting the Bassett Family from Las Vegas, Nevada. They include Wounded Warrior, Mr. James Bassett and his wife Mrs. Michelle Bassett, and their two boys Dalen (15 yrs) and Aiden (14 yrs). (Bassett family, image a couple years old) Mr. Basett and his boys Wounded Warrior James Bassett James went to Basic Training and AIT at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. He was stationed at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma and attached to multiple units under the 214th Fires Brigade. His combat deployments during Operation Enduring Freedom were to UAE & Kuwait while he was in Unit 114. His unit was the first live HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) ever fired in the UAE. James has many injuries, too many to list here by Mrs. Bassett's account. He has a Traumatic Brain Injury which has affected his impulse control and he has little to no short term memory capabilities. He is haunted by PTSD (mostly survivors guilt and hyper alert behaviors), and James suffers from Avascular Necrosis in his right leg (dead bones) and the family is currently putting off an ATK (above the knee) amputation for as long as possible. He wears braces from mid thigh to calf as well as ankle and foot braces on both legs. He has Plural Scarring on both lungs due to the fine metals he was breathing while "In Country" for 9 months. Army Service Basic Training and AIT - Fort Jackson, South Carolina Permanent Duty - Fort Sill, Oklahoma Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Combat Deployments - United Arab Emirates, Kuwait Medals - Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal The Wounded Warrior Mom and Wife Michelle Bassett, the hard working mother of two boys and the wife and best friend, and caregiver of her Wounded Warrior husband James is one busy lady! I have been in contact with Mrs. Bassett and I found out the sacrifices and volunteerism spirit is alive and well after her husband James' service and sacrafice to our nation. This family is still giving freely of their time to our country. Michelle is a highly active member and Fellow of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. I'd like to submit some excerpts of my discussions I've had with Mrs. Bassett. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation brings awareness to the community on the everyday life and struggles of our Military and Veteran Caregivers. Every state has a "Fellow" our job is to advocate and fight for the rights our Veterans and Caregivers deserve. I am the State of Nevada Fellow. Every year all the Fellows head to Washington DC for a week. We then "Storm the Hill" and have private meetings with our House Representatives and Senators and talk to them about what we need done. I helped pass two bills that were signed into law by President Trump. The first bill was the Family Caregivers Act. and Last year I focused on something near and dear to me which was our Vietnam Era Veterans. I am proud to say because of our Fellows hard work we were able to get enough Co-Sponsors and the VA Mission Act was signed into law by President Trump this year. This bill is the one that expands the Caregiver Stipend currently available to "Post 9/11" caregivers to include "Pre 9/11". It is starting with the Vietnam era since these are the Veterans that are sadly needing full time caregivers. It allows a family member or appointed person to get paid to take care of the Veteran in their home. This way they can spend their last few years at home and not in a state run care facility where they aren't cared for well. also With the Elizabeth Dole Foundation we have a campaign called Hidden Heroes (Tom Hanks is our spokesman) and I was personally able to get a day named Hidden Heroes Day in the city of Henderson Nevada. I also volunteer with Operation Homefront and I am the Hearts of Valor leader for Southern Nevada. Family Snapshot by Michelle Bassett James and I met online through a Cancer support community. He is a Leukemia survivor and I am a 2 time breast cancer survivor. Right after we started communicating he joined the military. James is a 40 year old Army Veteran who served a combat deployment that forever changed our lives. He is an amazingly strong man who battles mental and physical disabilities daily but still gives 100% for his family. He loves his car and tinkering around with it is cathartic for him. He loves food and is a total meat and potato guy. Watching NASCAR and going to the gym are 2 of his favorite ways to relax. Dalen will be 15 years old and definitely marches to his own drum. He is a self proclaimed nerd and proud of it. He joined a Dungeons & Dragons club at school and has been enjoying that. He wants to design video games and loves computer graphics as he gets older. He has great taste in music (Johnny Cash, Jimmy Buffet, Billy Joel and lots of 80s) so I feel I'm doing something right! Aiden will be 14 years old in about a month and is the typical "cool kid". He loves all typical teen boys stuff. He has recently started showing an interest in photography and has been taking pics on an old cell phone of mine. He is a jokester but such a sweet kid and loves volunteering with James & I. Links of Interest Michelle and James Hidden Heros Page Injured Service Members and Their Families Participate In Family Fun for a Day (story with James and Michelle) Prior Years Projects Adopt a Wounded Warrior Family for the Holidays 2015 Adopt a Wounded Warrior Family for the Holidays 2016 Adopt a Gold Star Family for the Holidays 2017 Rules Sorry, only Residents of the US and Canada may participate All are welcome to participate, members, forum hosts, admins and non-members. (John Morris (Founder) and family may not participate) Please allow 1 to 3 weeks for delivery of prizes, most of the time prizes are sent out immediately You may purchase as many raffle tickets as you like Raffle ends 4pm Eastern time, January 1st. 4 names will be randomly drawn by Raffle River, and prizes will be awarded in the order of names drawn, starting with Laguna Certificate, then the Full Size Easy Wood Tools, then the Rikon Slow Speed Grinder, then the Woodriver Spindle Sander. You may also enter by mailing check or money order made out to The Patriot Woodworker and send too: The Patriot Woodworker - 977 Sussex Rd, San Jacinto, CA. 92583 You may also request one free entry by submitting your request through regular postal mail, please use address above. Click on the ticket to enter! This year, the items our sponsors have donated can be seen in the image below, these are some great prizes folks! The tickets are only 2 dollars with multiple ticket bargains, and your odds of winning are very high given our typical turnout. To view the ticket prices, and to purchase your tickets please click on the Raffle Ticket above! A full accountability of the proceeds will be reported on at the end of the raffle so you know your hard earned money was used for our Adopted Family. Please be advised, the Laguna Certificate is also good at their new store, Supermax Tools. In addition, there are many items you can purchase directly with the 500 dollar certificate such as Laguna Bandsaw Accessories for most bandsaws, please see Band Saw Accessories. Their Drift Master Fence System is pretty nice from what I hear. In Closing Ok Patriot Woodworker's, it's time to muster and it's time to show everyone what we are all about! The purpose our woodworking community was created is for this reason, to help those who have served us, and paid the price. Remember this is not charity, this is not a hand out, this is payback! Thank you sponsors! We also need to thank our sponsors Woodcraft Supply, Laguna Tools, and Easy Wood Tools for their generous support and for donating those wonderful items for the raffle! For without them, we would not have a community, nor would we be able to perform the work we do. Thank you guys!
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I posted this a long time ago, before we had a large membership. I'd like to show everyone this piece. I had a wood burner in my old shop in Ohio. As I tossed wood in, my eye caught something in the piece I was throwing in. I managed to catch it. I couldn't believe what I saw. A star in the center of this half rotten, spalted apple.(about 7" dia) The picture you see is the final project. I was able to make 6 of these and gave them to family members.
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This is my early Christmas and late birthday. Looks very solidly built.
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Its hard to stay up with her when she is feeling good.! 60-40 solder when we moved here in 99 was 3.95 each if you bought 12 rolls at a time. Now its 18.95 but don't think she has gone up in her charges near that much. I'm using used 2x4"s for the bases that came from my cocatiel bird house. This one is going to Houston.
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Well it's early, but we couldn't wait to show off our beautiful tree. Decorated with only lights and turned ornaments. Thanks so much again to all of the members of The Patriot Woodworker who donated their beautiful pieces. There is still plenty of time and more room on the tree if you would like to help! Merry Christmas! Jim
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I started gluing some pieces for an ornament. I selected a piece that looked like it had good grain and few scraps. It didn't glue up as I intended. Off center just a tad. I turned it and found worm holes and bad sections of grain. Removed, reglued. One of the scrap pieces came apart. Reglue, restart. Why didn't I just quit and start new? I like a challenge and this was one. I got it to where I felt I should quit, but NO, do just a little more. WRONG thing to do. I just set it down and left it for a couple of hours. When I returned my feeble mind had found a solution, if it didn't fly apart again. Here it is, slightly off center and after I had to remove the finish and redo.
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Sprayed a bunch of ornaments yesterday morning. Some of globes are segmented plywood but I also experimented with the marbling technique described in American Woodturner magazine. Also did several birdhouse ornaments and turned some tiny birds to go with a few of them. Thanks for looking!! Steve
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First ornaments for this year. I'm doing a demo Sunday on segmented plywood globes and different coloring techniques so I finished these today to show for the demo. This one is a new technique for me. AAW magazine had a piece on marbling in the last issue and that's something I've wanted to try for a long time. There was a link in the article for a kit to get started and I ordered one to give it a try. This is the best one I've done and it was also the first. There won't be any pictures of the last few I've tried just like everything else, there is a learning curve. Steve
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This is the last of my sea Urchin shells. The difficult part was getting a good fit between the shell and the wood. I solved that with some very dense foam from Micheals, it is 1" dia X 1" long. I CA glued it to a dowel and turned it to thickness. Then used goop to stick it to the shell, lightly clamped it overnight. Same on both ends. I turned the Purple Heart pieces and used goop to attach to the foam.
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This time I really had to look all my waste bins several times to come up with enough pieces to glue together to finish. I didn't want to have to make a trip to Rocklers for more wood
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The cause As you know we had a wonderful project that spanned from October to the end of the year of 2017 that involved the Gold Star widow and her two children as assigned to our community by Operation Ward 57. You can see the project at: The Patriot Woodworkers with Op Ward 57 Adopt a Gold Star Family for the Holidays - 2017 The donation During the project we witnessed many forms of heart felt giving, from the actual raffle ticket purchases, to the exchanging of the winnings from one member to another. Every step of the way, everyone who participated in this project performed heroically, I want to thank everyone once again for their giving, and participation in this very important annual tradition of ours. Thank you! Sometimes, things happen in these projects that are, well, just pretty danged cool, and one of those things was the shipment I received from Patriot Woodworker @honesttjohn. The shipment contained one blanket for each member of the Merlo Family. These blankets were hand made by Mrs. Mordus, (spouse of John Mordus aka honestjohn). John informed me the items were on their way, and I was expecting them, but what I was not expecting was the handwork that went into this operation. My own mother is a crocheter, I grew up with the craft, so I understand the time and heart that goes into this craft, the blankets of Mrs. Mordus were knitted. I am showing images of the work the night before we shipped the gifts from our home to the Merlo Family. I want to apologize for the image quality, it was late, the lights were dim in our home, shortly after I took these pictures our kids wrapped each blanket individually and put a name tag on the gifts before we put them in the shipping box for delivery the next day. This knitted blanket was made for Mrs. Merlo, the knitting is exquisite and detailed, can you imagine spending the time that it takes to make every single tiny square and creating those squares methodically around each heart. I had a chance to feel this blanket, it was very soft, and it had considerable heft to it as well, I was tempted to wrap myself in it but my heart said no, the first wrap should be performed by the honored recipient, Mrs. Merlo. Look at those tiny knitted stitches The hearts The following are images of the blankets Mrs. Mordus created for the children, Camilla and Charlie, the baseballs went to the boy, and the butterflies went to the girl. Mrs. Mordus crafted a border around the fleece fabric of both blankets. This is a style of making blankets that my own mother has been wanting to do for sometime now, mom was over at this time, and she closely examined the borders to see how Mrs. Mordus fabricated them. I wish I had taken close up images of the borders, I don't know why I did not. At this writing I am right now kicking myself. Camilla's flutterby blanket Charlie is a baseball fanatic! And of course, do you think @honesttjohn could let that box of blankets ship without something from the shop! John installed a completely wonderful keepsake box for Mrs. Merlo that he created. This was unexpected, a beautiful touch to an already incredible shipment for the Merlo Family. I am not sure what the box was made from, it may have been John's trademark Pine that he uses in many of his plaque projects, hopefully John will chime in here and let us know. And the grand finale, the Merlo kids with their warm blankets on Christmas morning. You can tell they are very happy. We do not have an image of Mrs. Merlo with her blanket, it was not provided, but I can surmise why we do not have that image, well you know how ladies are, early in the morning, just out of the rack, hair not straight yet, I am sure the image is out there, but Mrs. Merlo surely wasn't going to let that one get out! Without further adieu, the kids Charlie and Camilla and their cherished blankets. (these images shown here, with permission given by mom Merlo) Little Camilla showing off mama's blanket In closing Again, I want to thank everyone who was involved in this project, it was a huge success this year thanks to you all. And on behalf of our entire Patriot Woodworker community, Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Mordus for this very special gift, that will keep on giving to this family for years to come, as they curl up during cold season with these blankets. This topic is long over due, and I want to also apologize to @honesttjohn for taking so long to get this up and live, thanks for your patience John.
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One of my angel ornaments got damaged and I promised to make another one. This one I made smaller, about 3" and made more use of add ons.
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Introduction Every year The Patriot Woodworker's adopt a wounded warriors family for Christmas. We do this through a great veterans support organization named Operation Ward 57. The Patriot Woodworker's apply to Ward 57 to be accepted to receive our family for Christmas, and each year we are chosen to participate. And each year, our sponsors donate wonderful items for us to raffle for this cause. We use 100 percent of the raffle proceeds to purchase gifts for the kids, and a Christmas dinner for the family. Our Mission We need your help to accumulate funds for our Gold Star adopted family, who has given much to our nation in physical and emotional sacrifice and much more in family sacrifice. All proceeds from this raffle will be used to purchase gifts for Camilla, Charlie, and mom Nicole and to provide a Christmas dinner for the family. The Gold Star Family This year we are proud to be supporting the Merlo Family from San Marcos, California. They include Mrs. Merlo (widow of Spc 4 Ivan Merlo), and her son Charlie at 4 years old, and Camilla at 7 years of age. The Merlo's in Service Young Mr. and Mrs. Merlo. History Spc 4. Ivan E. Merlo of San Marcos, California graduated from San Marcos High School in 2006. He joined the Army that October and arrived at Fort Campbell four months later. He was due to return home within two weeks after finishing a yearlong deployment in Iraq. He was supposed to serve as the best man at the wedding of his best friend and brother in combat, Pfc. Phillip J. Pannier. But Merlo and Pannier both died while waging an Army offensive targeting insurgents north of Baghdad. Just before being deployed, Ivan married his long time girlfriend, Nicole. His awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon, Weapons Qualification, M4, Expert. Ivan died in Samarra, Iraq of wounds sustained during combat operations at age 19. Army Service 2nd Battalion 327th Infantry Regiment 1st Brigade Combat Team 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Fort Campbell, Kentucky Gold Star Family History The term Gold Star family is a modern reference that comes from the Service Flag. These flags/banners were first flown by families during World War I. The flag included a blue star for every immediate family member serving in the armed forces of the United States, during any period of war or hostilities in which the armed forces of the United States were engaged. If that loved one died, the blue star was replaced by a gold star. This allowed members of the community to know the price that the family had paid in the cause of freedom. Read more... Our prior years projects Operation Ward 57Adopt a Wounded WarriorFamily for the Holidays - 2015 Operation Ward 57Adopt a Wounded WarriorFamily for the Holidays - 2016 Click on the Raffle Ticket and support our adopted family! Tickets only $2 each with multi ticket discounts! Rules Sorry, only Residents of the US and Canada may participate All are welcome to participate, members, forum hosts, admins and non-members. (John Morris (Founder) and family may not participate) Please allow 1 to 3 weeks for delivery of prizes, most of the time prizes are sent out immediately You may purchase as many raffle tickets as you like Raffle ends midnight December 16th 2017, names will be drawn one second after midnight 4 names will be randomly drawn by Raffle River, and prizes will be awarded in the order of names drawn, starting with Laguna Certificate, then the Rikon Slow Speed Grinder, then the Woodriver Spindle Sander, then the Full Size Easy Wood Tools. You may also enter by mailing check or money order made out to The Patriot Woodworker and send too: The Patriot Woodworker - 977 Sussex Rd, San Jacinto, CA. 92583 You may also request one free entry by submitting your request through regular postal mail, please use address above. This year, the items our sponsors have donated can be seen in the image below, these are some great prizes folks! The tickets are only 2 dollars with multiple ticket bargains, and your odds of winning are very high given our typical turnout. To view the ticket prices, and to purchase your tickets please click on the Raffle Ticket above! A full accountability of the proceeds will be reported on at the end of the raffle so you know your hard earned money was used for our Adopted Family. You may win one of the following prizes! 4 Winners will be randomly drawn by Raffle River In Closing Ok Patriot Woodworker's, it's time to muster and it's time to show everyone what we are all about! The purpose our woodworking community was created is for this reason, to help those who have served us, and paid the price. Remember this is not charity, this is not a hand out, this is payback! Thank you sponsors! We also need to thank our sponsors Woodcraft Supply, Laguna Tools, and Easy Wood Tools for their generous support and for donating those wonderful items for the raffle! For without them, we would not have a community, nor would we be able to perform the work we do. Thank you guys!
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Merry Fishmus to one and all!!! Note: I found this the other day in my "table top photography" folder from years ago.
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Good Monday Morning! Good Monday Patriot Woodworkers! What did you get done over the weekend, and what have you planned for the week ahead! Inquiring minds want to know. Please tell us what's happening in your shops, your life, and any events going on with you. Thank you for being here folks! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to all Patriot Woodworkers and guests alike. So, here we are, a day after Christmas and I completely forgot to get our Monday topic live, as I do weekly. I also did not get our Monday topic up the last two weeks as I have been very ill, I have finally dug out of the flu fog the last few days and I actually felt great for Christmas. I'd like to say thank you to all for being here, and sharing your lives and shops with us, we are forever grateful for the folks who keep our forums live and interesting. And we hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Under the Christmas Tree So Patriot Woodworkers, what did you all get under the tree this Christmas, I'll go ahead and kick it off! My family purchased this wonderful restored fully usable set and sharpened Warranted Superior saw for me, this is a beaut! I love it. They also presented me with this wonderful old book all about North American woods and trees, and their use in the trades and crafts woodworking industry. I love these old books, I use them as a resource for our Patriot Woodwiki that we have been building, and the family knows I love to read these books. I can't get enough of them. This books was copyright is 1951 and it is still viable today, why wouldn't it be, trees have not changed in the last 60 years have they? The book is called American Woods, and was written by Shelley E. Schoonover (Regional Fiscal Agent (retired) United States Forest Service). So that was my haul of the day, what did Santa bring you all! Cover: Sample page: New members Please welcome the following members to our community. @tim gilmer, @eazygeezer, @Gene Thomas, @SANYIndia, @tarasmith, @ecadriel, @AshleyJ, @Duane Bledsoe, @Ksvet06, @Richard Hurwitz, @JARED ADAMS, and last but certainly not least, @Revuaf ! To our new members, thank you for joining us! To our existing members, please click on their names above and shoot them a welcome message. News We acquired our 2000th member this month! Welcome them by clicking on the topic preview below. We do have a door prize for @Ksvet06! Stay tuned for what it is! The call was announced, and The Patriot Woodworker's stepped up! Thank you all for your support of our Christmas Project! We raised $2175 for this family, and they are now enjoying your contributions, thank you Patriot Woodworkers!!!! In case you missed it please see "Winners Announced". A full financial accountability report will be submitted to our community very soon. What's It Our December "What's It" still needs an answer, there have been some really good suggestions put in place by you all, but we still need some references to the answer in order to call anyone a winner of this months project. Featured image of the week Attribution: “Exhibit Experience.” The H. O. Studley Tool Chest & Workbench, 12 Apr. 2014, http://new.studleytoolchestexhibit.com/exhibit-experience/. Source: http://thepatriotwoodwiki.org/Material-Processing-Research-Portal
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This one required some glue up. And then some more. The piece on the bottom is acrylic and has some gold sparkles in it. I thought about making the bottom spindle much smaller, but my wife liked it just as it is. She gave her ideas as I worked on it and she likes it. After 50 years, happy wife, happy life.
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I am officially relieved from crowded retail stores until after the new year....
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I started this one a few weeks ago and got sidetracked on other projects. I like to embellish the wood color with contrasting woods and ornamental things. It is not as large as it appears and is about 5" total length. Another Christmas gift
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Every year a couple popular youtube authors, Carl Jacobson and Allen Stratton, sponsor a Christmas ornament challenge. They are primarily wood turners but the challenge is open to anyone who cares to enter. It's how I got my start on youtube. An entry doesn't have to be a video, it can be a slideshow, just something to show you actually made the ornament. Remember, the entry can be anything from a turning, to a carving, to scroll sawing, or whatever. There ARE some nice prizes, some of which are from EWT. Check it out, it's fun and even if you don't enter it's a great way to get ideas for Christmas ornaments. Christmas ornament challenge Steve
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A few ornaments from the latest run. There were 17 in this batch. Actually have started another 10 or so, that will probably be the last of them for this year. Steve
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Just finished up 12 more ornaments, I think that will do it for this year. That will give me about 45 altogether. Some will go in gift shops but many will be gifted. Anyway, I had a piece of spalted beech, heavily spalted but still solid enough to hollow, kind of unusual. Did one with walnut accents and one with maple. I like the walnut one for the contrast but then, I like the maple one too. Steve
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Just when you think things are going good, you get in a hurry, or don't get enough glue somewhere, or just get stupid, etc. etc. It happens to all of us I imagine. Sometimes you might even drop something and step on it..sigh. Just for the record, this picture really was taken in the cutting room Steve
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I made a couple of these Georgia Bulldog plaques as Christmas gifts. They are both big fans. I made it dimensional and it has 3 layers in some places, nose and teeth. I modified it in several places and it is about 10"x8". I think they will like it
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I made a knob for a ceiling fan chain pull. I again used wood scraps and a couple of declarations. When I showed her the new fan pull, she said "Oh no, that is a Christmas ornament, can you convert it?" And so it goes........Happy wife.......Happy life
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I am still tinkering with ornaments, when I don't have honey dos. I was wondering what bright yellow would look like with gold glitter. It actually looks a lot better than the picture shows. The camera can't capture the sparkle.
