Woodcraft Guild

Shore Bird by Alan Young

Alan Yonk will be demonstrating Carved Decoys and Shore Birds on April 1st at 7:00 pm. Mr. Yonk started wood carving in the early 1980s by carving small Santas and other figures.  At the same time, he began collecting old hunting decoys and developed an interest in how the old timers actually carved the decoys.  He started carving duck and shorebird decoys in the old time traditional manner.  The old time makers were not making the decoys as an art form but as utilitarian objects that were used by market hunters and early sportsmen.  These makers made both shorebird and duck decoys and each maker had his own style reflected in how he viewed the bird.  The decoys were not made to be a realistic depiction of the bird but to represent the bird in a manner that decoyed the bird to the hunter.  Shorebird decoys are the rarest of the decoys as all market hunting was halted by law in 1918, and all shorebird hunting was ended in 1928.  Wooden duck decoys were used by sport hunters until the advent of plastics took over the market.  All wooden decoys have become folk art and are now collected by art collectors.  Mr. Yonk is utilizing hand carving methods with knives and chisels in the traditional manner of the old time makers to make decoy style ducks and shorebirds.  He generally carves the heads of the duck decoys out of basswood as it holds the carving details well and the decoy bodies are usually made from white pine or white cedar.  Some of the decoys are hollowed out to make the decoy lighter in order to float better.  The shorebird decoys are usually made from white pine or white cedar.

In 1999, Mr. Yonk won best of division at the Tri-Cities Wood Carvers Annual Show in Washington State with one of his green winged teal decoys.  He displayed his decoys at art shows in Illinois and has been an annual participant at the Sidewalk Art Show on the Snake River in Idaho Falls.  In addition to these art shows, he has been a participant at the Northwest Decoy Show held annually in the Seattle area. 

Wooden Decoy by Alan Young

Staying with his early years of carving, Mr. Yonk also makes a number of Santa carvings every year.  Most of these Santa figures are carved with some outdoor theme, with some holding a goose, a decoy, a fish, or Santa as a golfer.  He also makes traditional Santa carvings of Santa with a toy bag or holding a teddy bear.  Plan to attend you wont want to miss another master woodworker demonstrate skills that you can take to your own shop. 

Alan Yonk's Wooden Decoy Demo

Results:

  Alan’s decoy carving demo was excellent, if you were unable to make this demo you really missed out.  It is always amazing to see some of the local craftsman working on their craft and being willing to share how they do things. Alan also shared his ingenious custom clamp for carving that was very impressive.  Everyone had a great time.

Brian Brown will be the demonstrator for the March 4th meeting at 7:00 pm.  Everyone was impressed with Brian’s last demo “introduction to pen turning”. If you have not seen one of Brian’s demonstrations you will be amazed at the amount of information that will be provided on a fun and easy project. Brian has been a longtime member of the guild and his woodworking has been featured in the Post Register Gallery as well as the Idaho State Fair and the Guild Display at the Madison County Library. If you are looking to use your lathe to make some fun gifts this is the demo for you.

Meeting Events:
• Raffle — As always will be having our raffle and we encourage you to bring items for the raffle that you would be willing to donate to the guild.  This is an important fundraiser that helps sustain guild events, demos and prizes.
• Instant Gallery –  Silver level and Gold Level
• Members Challenge — This Month’s Challenge is “Turn something and use some sort of color” Of course non-members are encouraged to sign up as a member and meet this month’s challenge item.
• Lending Library of Woodworking Books and Movies
• Chance to Socialize with other woodworkers in the area

Location Details: Eastern Idaho Technical College Building #2 Room 215. If you turn off of 17th Street going North between Pier 1 imports and Burger King onto Ashment then right (east) between the old Ponderosa Paint building and the LDS institute building you will see building #2 on your left. It is a brick building with rounded corners. There is an outside door to the room we will be using and it will be propped open.

Falls Cabinet's Website

Thursday February the 4th The Woodcraft Guild is planning on meeting at Falls Cabinets for a tour of the shop and a review of how a modern cabinet and millwork company works. We will also be getting a demonstration of the Falls Cabinet’s CNC machine. This is a great opportunity to see professional woodworking at its best. We will be meeting at Falls Cabinet and the tour will begin at 7:00 pm which is located at 4514 North Haroldsen Drive in Idaho Falls North. Haroldsen is a frontage road that runs parallel to Highway 20 just off Telford Road. Glenwood Smoked Meat is just across the street. We hope to see you there!
Click Here for Map
Guild Members remember some hardwood donated by Falls Cabinet will be available for purchase before the shop tour for paid members. These funds will go directly to purchase equipment for the Woodcraft Guild and future demonstrations. The balance of the donated wood will be available at the next Woodcraft Guild meeting. Others are encouraged to sign up for membership in the Woodcraft guild and participate in the Hardwood Sale before 6:30pm the Day of the Tour.

Results:
The Shop Tour 2010 was another great success with 20+ members attending the tour of the Falls Cabinet facility, it was very informative.  Everyone learned something new attendies mentioned the CNC machine and the changing face of automation in a modern cabinet shop as highlights of the tour. Special thanks to Tom Barker and Scott Thinnes for their time and expertise.  Falls Cabinet’s donation of wood for the sale was another contribution to the guild.  Members got an excellent chance to get some wood for steeply discounted prices.

CNC Demo at Falls Cabinet

The prize winners this month were Steve Hagen who won the members challenge with his flower vase for Valentine’s Day and Tom Barker won the Gold level instant Gallery prize with his wenge pen.  Once again our Silver Level Prize went unclaimed.  Remember we always encourage new woodworkers to attend our Demonstrations and enter their work in our instant Gallery.  You can’t win if you don’t enter.