I was honored with an invitation to judge entries in the Basic Wood Furniture Construction (Category WO-2), Advanced Furniture Construction (Category WO-3), and Cabinet-Making- Carcass construction, Casework, or and Carpentry (Category WO-5). Nine of us from the local Woodworkers Guild participated in judging the Wood entries; the multitude of other categories were judged by various other local community residents, including at least one person who travels from Kansas City to judge this contest.

The event was the North West TEAM Awards Contest. TEAM is the Technology Education Association of Missouri. I invite you to read in detail the descriptions in Page 3 of this document.

The event took place at the cavernous  gymnasium of the Missouri Western State University, less than 10 minutes from my house. I find that students involved in the program are learning, and applying sound woodworking principles. And it is always rewarding to me to see the terrific pieces the students produce. The winners will represent the North West District at the State level in just a few weeks.

As a result of this event, I am happy to report that woodworking is alive and well in Northwest Missouri! The examples that follow show the skill level of high school youngsters, and their skill in making furniture.

First, the overall winner – and, I believe, THE winner for the entire District this year – a gun cabinet, designed and made by a student in either 11th or 12th grade (from the entry sheets; no student names, school affiliation, or any other information could be gleaned from the entry sheet) – CLICK on the images to enlarge them:

Notice how the grain flows in the drawers, the tops of the glazed doors, and in the raised panels in the lower section. This gun cabinet was flawless in its execution.

The second-place entry was this chest of drawers, in the same category as the gun cabinet above. This chest was unusual in that the false drawer fronts had the rails running the entire width, and framed the drawer boxes behind them. Also, due to the grain patterns, optical illusion played games on us – we had to measure spacing, to assure ourselves of drawer alignment. And the drawer pulls were in the recessed surfaces:

The following was not a winner, but nice execution, and a reminder to me that I must build a similar dart board cabinet for our Family Room; this one was built, I believe, by a 14-16 year-old student:

Nine members of our Woodworkers Guild participated in judging the entries in the Wood category; here is a nice group photo of several of the members, as the judging deadline neared. Although this white oak and walnut chest with coopered lid did not win, it received many comments for its sheer size – it was enormous, and heavy:

In this next photo I spied several of my fellow Guild members in one of the more serious moments, on the verge of a momentous decision, judging (no pun intended) from the visible tension on the faces – the blonde lady is Cherie, our Guild President:

All of us received a nice “Thank-you” from the Chair of one of the Industrial Technology departments in a local high school in St Joseph, MO (third person from the right, in the blue shirt and the tie):

I am already looking ahead, to learn how our District winners will do in the competition at the State level. I hope to hear, read, or learn the results somehow. And when I do, I will share with all of you.

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