Here is another small project our VP Steve took on just to help out a young mother. She wanted a small open toy storage unit for her 8 month old baby's toys. Although these units can be purchased, when asked she said she would like something that is handmade. We assume she is thinking it would be a keepsake or handed down later. Maybe that's why she wanted a quality product rather than a bought flat pack.
Members of our Shed continue to manufacture these native bee boxes for sale to the public. The bee boxes can be purchased directly from our Men's Shed or through MJ Machinery (Central Coast Bee Supplies Reliance Dr Tuggerah). They are made from Australian hardwood so are suitable for positioning anywhere outdoors.
Margaret Pearce OAM is a member of Wyoming Lyons Club and contacted us through one of our members wives. Margaret was instrumental in getting the palliative care unit at Gosford Public Hospital up and running, seeking the relevant politicians for help and raising funds etc. She informed us that although there was a room at the hospital for the children to stay in while their parents were being attended to they had nothing if interest to keep them occupied. We were asked if we could maybe make some toys for them to play with. The idea was for them to enjoy playing with a toy and if they took a liking to it they would be encouraged to take it home with them. Therefor although the toys are issued sparingly there will be an ongoing need toys to be made. Wyoming Lyons are also in the process of doing a similar thing once they get Wyong Hospital Palliative Care up and running. We have made quite a lot of toys so far and have put it out to all the other Men's Sheds to join in and help. There are 13 other sheds on the coast.
Shaun joined our shed a while ago and is a keen cyclist as well as enjoying the great outback. On one of his trips out west he came across an odd shaped mallee burl and took a liking to it but at the time didn't know what he would do with it. He brought it to the Shed and decided to make a multi tea light candle holder.
So this is what he came up with.
On Saturday morning the 4th May we held a Mothers Day Sale at the Shed premises. We had an excellent turnout of members willing to help. The event was well advertised via 93.3 Coast FM as well as Facebook & signage in the immediate vicinity. Again it was a huge success and raised much needed funds for our shed.
A big thank you to all those who helped before & on the day.
Steve one of our newer members was asked by a guy to make a custom chess board. After a bit of thought he decided to segment some thin plywood on the table saw then char the squares with blow torch. He then glued this to a thicker 20mm section of form ply. The result is a unique chess board
A lot of people ask us what we do at the Shed. We endeavour to help the general community wherever possible but will not encroach on the local trades. As an example we had a lady asking us if we could make a butchers block/table from old timber she supplied, as she said none of the local joinery shops were interested, so we agreed. We have qualified carpentry members who did the job and the results can be seen below.
They were quite unstable and needed to be be dismantled the splits in the timber repaired fully glued then re-assembled. So now her setting is back to like new.
