Shed report to Committee April - July 2019
General The shed is in good shape with everyone busy.
Car Company funding award Philip and Chris put together an excellent funding application to the Car Companies “Charity Drive”. We were successful in being allocated $2500 and whilst chatting with other recipients we negotiated with the Nelson Lawn Tennis Club to design and build a set of seats for them. We assured the Car Company that the money would be going to the purchase of capital equipment only and we are currently setting our priorities for suitable purchases. The Car Company has also supplied us with an advertising sign which has been installed in the Shed entrance.
New Accounts Peter has opened new cash accounts with Blacks Fastenings and Opel
Outside Projects
Lawn Tennis Club Seats This project was designed and assembly jigs built by Mark with final production carried by Mark, Richard and helpers. The end result was very smart and a great advert for the Shed.
Bait tunnels for Brook Sanctuary Production still continues on this project with the production/assembly jigs allowing any member with spare time to continue production. Trent has been doing a great job on this project so as long as the plywood and core flute keep coming in we will pump them out. Just right now there appears to be a shortage of core flute so if anyone out there knows of a source (perhaps from the Real Estate Industry) that would be great.
Rodent trap tunnels for Brook Sanctuary The Rodent trap project has now passed through the prototype stage and members under the guidance of John Martin are producing the traps. John took some time off during this time period for a holiday but has now returned and is now pushing along with this program.
Iron Duke Sea Scout Group boat refurbishment This project under coordinator Peter McGowan and Gavin is a very worthwhile community project with only one sunburst dinghy requiring some cosmetic repairs.
Toy production Mark and Richard have designed and produced prototypes of some wooden toy trains and trucks including machining the wheels on the lathe. Production has now started with Ken and Richard running a small batch to test the market. John as usual will be in charge of colour selection and final painting.
Rimu tables We were recently given a number of high quality Rimu side table kitsets and these have been assembled by Mark and varnished by Brian with the first one already sold.
Repairing toys Richard repaired some wooden toys for Atawhai School.
Nelson Ballet (Doug Fitzgerald) We have allocated this group some space so that they can complete some props for an up and coming production. They are supplying all labour and materials.
Coffee mug stands
This project involves the distribution of coffee mug stands to the various cafes in town so that customers will hopefully be encouraged to use ceramic mugs instead of the throwaway variety. Discussions were had with the environment centre, prototypes were trialed and the first batches have now been produced.
Projects (in-house)
The Builders Peg Production Project This is moving along at pace with further sales and although Tony has now left Nelson, Trent, John and Colin are continuing production. Colin has also made an ingenious portable sign which gets wheeled out onto the pavement every open day to advertise our product. Colin has also had discussions with Gibbons Construction so watch this space.
Work Box Although the workbox is completed, maneuvering it in and out and within the shed has been quite a problem. Colin has come up with an ingenious solution whereby an in house designed and constructed roller - jack system has been built which enables us to move the box with ease. Willem completed the machining required and Colin completed the fabricating.
Large belt sander The large belt sander that Nigel Brown’s father donated to us has been replaced with an excellent unit from Garin College. Colin and Trent used many parts of the old sander to produce a new set of shelves for Mike’s electrical section as Wayne sold two of the ex Potton Burton shelves to a staff member of Nelson Tasman Kindergartens. The new “Garin College” sander has now been installed with mountings made by Colin and only requires the wiring and dust extraction to be set up.
Wood Lathe Richard, Wayne and Colin made one good wood lathe out of two. This is a very high quality “B- Line” product from the 1970’s!
Metal band saw donation The lightweight metal cutting band saw which has done sterling service recently had the motor replaced by Mike. We certainly run on the “smell of an oily rag” and sure enough we just happened to have a spare donated motor in stock.”
Electric Lawn mower Colin has refurbished a donated electric lawn mower which is now for sale.
Thicknesser repairs The auto feed system on the thicknesser was not working correctly, but new member Arthur Panchurch soon had it stripped, checked and going again.
Small Benches Robert is always working away quietly at all manner of small projects. He has now produced a number of excellent small benches and a step unit to aid access to the timber rack. Colin also made up a small bench from one of the wood lathe bases that we had no further use for.
Donations
Basement Cleanout Richard and Wayne hooked the trailer up to Richards RAV4 and brought back a great load of resalable goodies from Robert Cook’s basement. Robert will be moving into a retirement home soon and we suggested that he might like to join the Shed. Mitre 10 Mega Timber Donation
After three truckloads of donated timber were delivered to us from Miitre10 (as the result of Denis being at the right place at the right time) we really did wonder if we had bitten off more than we could chew. However with the Trent, Colin, Tony and John peg team and Colin’s sales/marketing expertise we have not only cleared all the timber from the yard but have made some serious money as well. If you want great bargains in timber, just see Colin. It won’t be free but it will be a bargain.
MDF donation Port Nelson donated 80 sheets of slightly corner damaged MDF which is now in stock and for sale. Just see Sales Manager Colin for the bargain of the century.
Steel cabinet donation Stephen has obtained two cabinets which will be ideal for tool storage.
Mirrors Sales manager Colin sold and delivered a number of mirrors that Wayne was about to dump!
Timber “shorts” rack With Mike’s design and Richards’s execution we now have a neat storage bin system for all those small pieces of timber that are too good to throw away.
Steel racks Colin is well underway with the production of a steel rack which will really tidy up the storage area. Trent has done a great job of preparing the steel parts for Colin.
Raised gardens John Martin’s proposal of raised gardens was unfortunately turned down by those in higher authority which was a shame as we could be producing fresh vegetables for those in need in the town plus adding another dimension to the shed as we don’t want to be seen solely as a bunch of “woodies and fabricators”
Potton Burton Publishing office furniture donation
We were recently donated a large quantity of high quality office furniture and shelving from Potton Burton publishing. At the time we perhaps wished we hadn’t taken on this rather large project but Wayne has on sold quite a lot of the units including modifying one into a custom desk for Nelson Tasman Kindergarten which Grant and Wayne delivered and installed to order.
Member’s projects
Boats
From time to time members bring projects of their own into the shed and it would seem that small wooden boats are the current flavour with Ian, Gregg and Ron spending time on the boats when not doing the charity side of our operations. Ex-professional boat builder Gavin is proving to be a valuable resource in this area. Ron has put many hours into refurbishing his dinghy and as he wants it ready for the whitebait season the pressure has been mounting.
The Yurt One of the most interesting projects under way at the moment is Stephen Clare’s Yurt. Stephen is attempting to source recycled rimu tongue and groove flooring which is proving a little hard to get.
Ken’s Doors and Gates Over the last few weeks Ken has been making some really nice traditional gates and doors.
Zacs Structure Zac has an interesting structure made up from the timber from Mitre10 taking place (watch this space)!
Model boats New member John has some model ships under construction.
Membership Membership is still steadily increasing and we have twenty plus Sheddies regularly on the shed floor. Recent new member Dennis Ready who is wheelchair bound was pleased to note that Adrian had arranged for the AGM to be held in the old Chapel Café as he would have difficulty getting up the stairs. The Chapel is now “Earth Hub Nelson” founded by Jose Cano. Although temporary member Sam Broaddus from Maine USA has returned home he has already booked in his Nelson summer accommodation and will be joining us from January to April next year. What a truly nice guy he is to have around the shed and the fact that he is not only a very good woodworking craftsman but also a urologist is also useful for us older chaps.
Sunday opening Sunday opening would appear to be going well and it is a great opportunity for members who work during the week to attend.
Safety We have a small number of new member inductions to complete. As virtually all the operating machines have the correct signage displayed our next move will be to run members through an assessment program based on a system used at NMIT. We will also increase the number of safety glasses and earmuffs through the Car Company funding award.
Looking Ahead
After the AGM we can look forward to a consolidation of where we are heading and could perhaps consider moving into providing some small education programs similar to that which Waimea offer and perhaps also consider longer opening hours assuming we can get sufficient numbers of Supervisors.
AcknowledgmentThe writer has been absent from the Shed over recent times and so many thanks to Colin who has kept a log of our activities so that gaps can be filled in.
