Woodworking is a fun hobby but sometimes groups need my skills to be part of greater good than a crafted work. Also, I am a member of the Woodworking club of Houston (WWCH.ORG). There are several special smaller groups within the larger club. We call them splinter groups (woodworking humor). Among these is the Toy Group. They meet 1 day week for 3 hours and make wood toys for children hospitals, shelters, police and fire departments Santas and other child related services at Christmas time. Then their are members of the club that add to the total. Last year, this fine group delivered over 4.000 toys. Not to shabby for 8 people meeting 3 hours a week.

This is Memorial for a playwright who was part of Stages Repertory Theater in Houston and is in the courtyard. He passed when he was 96 and active. While talking to his friend, he commented (jokingly) that he would like it to last 100 years too, So I made it from Ipe. It is the heaviest, densest wood know. I almost think that petrified wood be easier to work with.

This English Garden style is almost 6′ long, it took 4 strong men to carry it to the spot. It just might last in the outdoors for a 100 years

I made several podiums to show awareness for women’s heart health on a red dress event.

I made the podiums from old cedar fences, one of my favorite wood then used a reddish outdoor stain. There are holes drilled in the base for spikes so the wind would not blow them away.

This was at Discovery Green Park in Houston.

In my view, KPFT 90.1 is the best radio station. It is a publicly supported station that means almost all of the programming are done with volunteers. It has fundraiser and operates on a small budget.

They had a table to conduct interviews with. It was weak and small. I asked them if I improve it. So the table I made has 4″ Red Oak legs stained Ebony, a 1.5″ thick top with a green marble laminate and trimmed with Red Oak.
It is rounded so guest being interviewed would have sight on each other and the DJ. There is a large grommet at the rear center for cables and this table can take abuse and easy to clean

So now there is a good place for interviews with community leaders, authors, experts and the next hot college band or with music legends. I have made other things for the station. So if they are having a fund drive, call and pledge, pledge a lot. The money is in good hands.

For the past few years I have been part of a crew helping to restore a Danish fishing boat from WWII at the Holocaust Museum in Houston. The top roll of photos is the shape it was in and the lower roll is the new work. have a small part of the project. I got to strip and refinish the hull. I also got to make some doors. For the most part, there were 3 working the for just a few hours a week. This subjected to the weather. Houston is really hot in the Summer.

I have started to make some boxes for the Beads of Courage. This is a program that rewards children with cancer or some other terrible condition by giving them beads for their treatments. (See their web site for more information.)

In my view of things, cancer is not easy to cure. That is why I made the boxes form mixed materials. each piece looks like nothing and are too small to make anything from. However when they come together something pretty happens. It also takes some time to put these boards together. These boxes are abut an 8″ cube.

The painted boxes are from a senior care center. there are some that need a lot of care and others who are in the adult daycare. They have many health problems both physical and mental issue but really enjoy doing art with a purpose. So I and some other woodturners are making the top and bottoms and they paint the tubes. it is a fine example of good folks helping each other. The Beads of Courage has some minimum standards. The body must be at least 6″ diameter and 6″ tall. Sad to say, these kids get a lot of beards.

The balloon is rounded. they thought that it was going to have a flat, plywood doors. I wanted it to look like a balloon. They were really happy with the work.

With the rounded doors made room for more storage space for school supplies. The basket was mounted later under the balloon.

A while back, I was part of the art group for Extreme Home Makeover. I worked on a number of projects and we each had a solo project. Mine was to make a Hot Air Balloon storage cabinet.