The Beauty Of Woodcraft

The Burdekin Woodcrafts Association is an organisation dedicated to helping men and women of the community to enjoy the satisfaction of making beautiful items from wood.  For over 30 years they have helped many people, and their creations are probably found in hundreds of homes in the area.

To this end, they try to have up-to-date machinery to make the constructions quicker and easier.  This has been helped this month with the with the purchase of a new thicknesser and dust extractor. A thicknesser, as it sounds, is a machine designed to take roughly cut and thick timber, smooth it up, and bring it to the thickness needed for the project. The purchase of these two machines was made possible by a generous grant from the Gaming Community Benefit Fund.

Club President Phillip Scuderi is thrilled with the new machines.  

“The thicknesser is an Italian made SCM 630mm wide with small knobs and buttons to control the cutting height, rather than turning handles and does an amazing and seemingly effortless job,” said Phillip.

“The new four bag dust extractor, the club’s eighth extractor, easily gathers all sawdust made by the thicknesser and helps keep our workshop a clean and healthy environment.

We sincerely thank the Community Benefit Fund for their generosity.

I should mention that because the SCM is so different from our previous unit, installation and training was overseen by an SCM Field Service Technician from Brisbane.”

As well as members making their own projects, they will always happily make whatever the community needs, from engraving wooden signs to making items of furniture, and anything in between. They can also use their experience where possible to restore beloved items of furniture for future use.

Their workshop at 30 Little Drysdale Street is a hive of activity every Wednesday and Saturday morning, and they sincerely welcome all new members and will happily guide them through the use of whatever machinery is needed and what techniques can be used to create beautiful items. As their President says, “if you want to make something to be proud of, and not just sit around talking, then Burdekin Woodcrafts is for you”.

The Woodcrafters can be contacted on 0409 615 559, or via their Facebook page.

Contributed with thanks to Phillip Scuderi.

The new SCM 630 and the dust extractor with BWA members Kerry Banks, Vice-President Merv Mohr, Treasurer Lyn Cecil, President Phillip Scuderi, Barry Reid, and Geoff Manins.

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