Ok folks, it's time to fire up another great trademark event here on The Patriot Woodworker!!!

We are embarking on our 4th Challenge Coin Display build off since we started TPW back in April of 2010. I can't believe we are almost coming up on two years here at TPW!

For our newest members, we have a tradition here that we started last year. We build Challenge Coin Displays for our Wounded Warriors. How it works is our members and myself build the displays, they then ship the displays to me. After I closely quality assure each and every display I then affix a TPW card to each one, thanking the troops for their service. And I box them up and off they go to our Wounded Warriors.

This campaign I am going to send all the displays to our Wounded Warriors at Brooke Army Medical Center.

There our Wounded Warrior Representative will hand them out to our troops. If your not familiar with our efforts please click on the following link to read more on what we do and how we do it.

MILITARY CHALLENGE COIN DISPLAY PROJECT

If you'd like to see some of our heroes who have received our displays please click on the following link.

MEET OUR HEROES

This is the bread and butter of our organization folks. This is what we live for, to actually do something for these men and women who protect us from the bad guys day in and day out. Not only do we secure donations for The Wounded Warriors Project but we love to interact directly with our troops and this is one of the ways we do this. As you all know we are also working on ways to help our charity Homes For Our Troops. There will be more information on that as I get it.

But for now, it's Military Challenge Coin Display time!!!!!

There are some revisions to our build plans, well really some new requirements. The build is still the same, and you can see how we build them here at The Military Challenge Coin Display Build link.

First requirement: We have decided that all displays must be finished to our exacting standards as described in our instructions on building these displays. The finish is incredibly rich and smooth when our sanding schedule is followed. And a couple coats of BLO is all that is needed after. Most of the finishing process is taken care of during the sanding. And you might even discover a new way to finish your project by using our system!

Second requirement: All displays must be made from hardwoods. Cherry, Walnut, Maple, and any highly figured hardwood. Most exotics are welcome. Please refrain from using Poplar and Oak unless the Oak is figured. 

Remember folks, these displays are going to men and women who put their lives on the line, and have paid the price for our freedoms, that is why they are in the hospital, something bad happened over seas, otherwise they wouldn't be there. And this is the reason why we must have nothing but perfection when it comes to these displays.

The displays themselves are simple in form, we chose this design on purpose. We didn't want them to be overshadowing the importance of the coins our troops worked so hard to have presented to them. There is allot of blood, sweat and tears behind each one of these coins. We must have a proper place for our troops to display them on.

On another note, if you are unable to build any displays for our troops, there are other ways you can help out, you can donate to The Patriot Woodworker to help defer the shipping costs of these displays. Typically our shipping costs range from 80 to 100 dollars each campaign, so we are always in desperate need of funds to cover our shipping. Please go to Support The Patriot Woodworker and place your donation. When you place the donation, please earmark it in the comments section at PayPal "For Coin Displays" so we can keep the funds separate in our general account.Please remember when placing a donation, you are not lining the pockets of anyone here. All funds go to their intended recipients, in this case the the funds will be used for shipping costs, if there are funds leftover we will hold them to help defer the costs of our next shipment of displays. Myself, John Moody and our forum helpers use our own hard earned money to keep this site up and running. We are an all volunteer run site, no one makes a penny off this site, we are here for our members and our troops. I know it's hard to believe, but this is what we do, we volunteer here at The Patriot Woodworker. We all have our own full time day jobs away from here, and when we come on here, it's because we love woodworking and we adore our troops.

You can also help by supplying materials to our builders! Team up with one of our builders and arrange shipping of lumber, finish, sanding supplies and other items needed to build the displays.

Please help, build these displays and send them to

The Patriot Woodworker

977 Sussex Rd

San Jacinto CA 92583

If you have any questions on this process, please don't hesitate to call 951.813.0717. If I don't answer please PM me or email me at thepatriotwoodworker@verizon.net

You can also leave comments and questions in this post!

So that's it folks! Feel free to chime in here and let us know if your going to participate or not. I have a big load of lumber my buddy Rob Durfos at Tule Peak Timber has donated to our Challenge Coin Display project that I will be working off of. Thanks Rob!!! Rob is a vet, and a Patriot. Go check out Rob at Tule Peak Timber and see the wonderful work he does that puts meat on his table.

Thank You Patriot Woodworkers!!! Now lets get to work and make some troops days just a tad brighter!

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops