For most of the year, the machine tools at the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association member shop busily hum as the participants hone their skills at the community workshop.

That hum pauses this weekend amid the association’s annual holiday gift sale, with more than 500 items assembled and displayed for shoppers. The sale, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, continues from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the woodworking shop, 5360 Eastgate Mall, Suite E, in Sorrento Valley.

Guests can browse hundreds of handmade wooden items, including bowls, cutting boards and utensils for the kitchen; jewelry and jewelry boxes; toys, ornaments and holiday decor; and furniture and accessories. Pieces are cut from exotic woods on a bandsaw.

The group has around 1,000 members, making it the largest woodworking guild or association in the United States, according to spokesman Tom York. Recent efforts at broadening membership appear to be paying off, as more women and residents from diverse communities take up woodworking as a hobby and creative outlet.

“It’s no longer an old men’s club,” York said in an email. “More than 30 percent of our new members are women, and women are a dynamic force in our leadership.”

Each year, members of the association make about 3,000 wooden toys, and all are donated to local charities including Rady Children’s Hospital, community shelters and other service organizations. A weekly toymaking group, which meets Fridays, is responsible for most of the toys at the gift sale.

The San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association produces the annual juried exhibition of woodworking pieces, “Design in Wood,” at the San Diego County Fair, which will return in summer 2022. Over 31 years, the group has donated more than 1,700 children’s chairs, York said, many made during the monthlong runs of the San Diego County Fair at a children’s booth in their exhibit.

At the heart of the association’s tradition of learning and craftsmanship is a popular 3,000-square-foot member shop, overseen by Gary Anderson. Located near Interstate 805 and Miramar Road, the center will expand its footprint in early 2022 to accommodate an increasing interest in woodworking.

The association sponsors a range of classes and special interest groups, ranging from design to carving to turning to turning to furniture making, and it offers CNC routers and laser engravers, which are machines that cut wood with lasers. It also offers a 3D printing machine.

For more information, visit sdfwa.org or call (858) 230-7593.

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