Rendering Photographs in Wood

[meflick]

Frank, I think this looks awesome. I can’t imagine trying to cut all those straight lines so close together. My hat is off to you. I can see why your wife would love it. Thank you for taking the  write-up and share your process as you have progressed so others can learn from your doing.

[Frank Pellow]

Ethan Helping Daddad Drill:

I've just started cut a new photograph into a wood panel.  I decided to test my theory that the closest I could cut the  lines is 25 lines per decimetre (or 6 lines per inch).  I'm attempting 36 lines per decimetre (9.5 lines per inch).  I might have bitten off more than I can chew with this one because I've just started and , already, there are two problems.

First, I cut through one of the black lines:

For strength, all black lines should be contiguous.  I did not make such a goof when cutting 'Big Smiles'.  I think that I recovered from this by inserting a nearby bridge to the next line, leaving two short 'peninsulas' which I think will be strong enough.  The bridge will appear a s small black dot in the background and I doubt that it will be noticed.

Second, and this is more serious, I noticed that some material has broken off one of the black lines at the back of the piece:

It looks like lines this thin are just too fragile.  Perhaps, the blade is not as straight as it should be but, testing the blade with a small square, it appears to be straight.

I'm going o carry on, at least for now.  The piece may end up in the scrap heap,     but I am sure I will learn things.

[meflick]

I’m following with interest Frank.

[Frank Pellow]

1 hour ago, meflick said:

I’m following with interest Frank.

Well then Melanie, I had better keep it interesting (but not too interesting).

[Frank Pellow]

 I'm happy to report that it looks like I am going to be able to save this piece.   But, it is taking me a long time to do so.

It seems like the breakage that I showed in the photo above is confined to the backer board:

Many thin strips on the backer have broken off, but the corresponding strips' on the front panel have remained intact.  That means that, unlike the case with 'Big Smiles ...', I will not be able to make use of the backer as another photo.  This backer is completely sacrificial.

I've spent about 10 hours sawing this so far and the sawing is about 45% completed.  Here is a photo:

The details are so intricate that I'm needing to use the thinnest blades that I have (Pegas Spiral 2/0) for all the sawing. 

To compound the problem, the pattern is lifting up in places and it's torn in a couple of places.  I've been using cello tape in places to hold down as well as I can the pat of the pattern that I am currently working with.   In the future, I plan to utilize a rolling pin when attaching a pattern with spray glue.

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by Frank Pellow

[Frank Pellow]

I discovered a new (at least, new to me) technique.

Back on February 17th  I said:

• Sawing where the strip of material being removed is more than the width of the spiral blade but less than twice the width of the blade is not easy.  I find the best way to do this is to first cut a straight(ish) kerf along one side of the strip, then to go back and nudge the remainder of the material out.  This second edge is often somewhat jagged.  I use a couple of very thin flat files (purchased at Lee Valley Tools) to smooth that edge.  It takes more time but, to me, it is worth that time.

Through trial and error, I discovered that it is possible to enlarge a narrow channel by running the blade along the side of the channel while exerting little or no pressure on the side.  This works more smoothly on the left side of the channel.  In the photo below, I have done that on the portion of the channel just in front of the blade (and pointed to with a white arrow):

Edited March 11, 2022 by Frank Pellow

[Frank Pellow]

I've now spent about 16 hours on the new piece and have completed about 70% of the sawing.  I mentioned earlier the the pattern was lifting in places.  Placing cello tape along the edge of the pattern where this was happening allowed me to see enough of the pattern to cut.

I'm relieved that I now appear to be past that region of the pattern.

Although the backer has been quite damaged, enough of it has remained intact that I can do my trick of photographing it then taking a negative of that in order t get an approximation of how this will look.  Here it is:

[Frank Pellow]

I Declare my first try at cutting 'Ethan Helping Daddad ...' to be a FAILURE

Here is a photo of the "completed" piece:

It's TOO DARK, even in the best possible light.

The main reason for the failure, is that I there are too many wide black lines jammed into the piece.  To look good, many of the black lines should be more narrow.  I think that I could probably cut them narrow enough BUT such narrow strips of wood would not be strong enough.

Another goof that I made was to drill the white dots in Ethan's eye's too large.  I think that I know how to fix that and I probably will as an experiment.

I'm not discouraged and I will attempt this piece again, cutting fewer channels.  To put this in perspective,  A large chunk of my career as a software architect and developer was spent in the research labs at IBM and Microsoft and, in both places, I had to decide to terminate much much larger projects that had involved a lot more time and effort (and not only my time and effort).  I did learn from those projects and I did learn from this one.

In total, I spent about 24 hours working on this; 21 hours were spent sawing.  Almost all the sawing was done using Pegas #2/0 spiral blades (33 of them).

 

[don watson]

Only you can condemn this piece as a failure. I think it is a great learning experience and well worked. The original thinking is sound and the execution is sound it only needs minor adjustments, Rome wasn't built in a day. Maybe there are certain pictures that don't respond to this treatment ? If there is a cutting you have done that is successfull analysis of the technique used may prove fruitful, direction of cuts, widths etc. all may prove sources of inspiration. I don't know really as I have not yet tried but I amsure you will see some way to improve the methodology and lead on to better results (in your eyes).

Don W 

[don in brooklin on]

Frank I have followed this with great interest.  Very interesting project and well described.  I think the out comes are fantastic.

I have been browsing CNC and laser machines and came across a machine made up close to our alma mater.

If you watch the intro they show a picture being routed with a cnc machine. https://sienci.com/about/

Very interesting as they are supposed to coming out soon with a laser attachment.

 

 

 

[Frank Pellow]

3 hours ago, don watson said:

Only you can condemn this piece as a failure. I think it is a great learning experience and well worked. The original thinking is sound and the execution is sound it only needs minor adjustments, Rome wasn't built in a day. Maybe there are certain pictures that don't respond to this treatment ? If there is a cutting you have done that is successfull analysis of the technique used may prove fruitful, direction of cuts, widths etc. all may prove sources of inspiration. I don't know really as I have not yet tried but I amsure you will see some way to improve the methodology and lead on to better results (in your eyes).

Don W 

Don, all of what you say is true and I thank you for your observations.  I have almost completed the second cutting of 'Ethan Helping Daddad Drill', this time with fewer lines, and it is much better.  I expect to post a photo of the completed piece tomorrow.

[Frank Pellow]

2 hours ago, don in brooklin on said:

Frank I have followed this with great interest.  Very interesting project and well described.  I think the out comes are fantastic.

I have been browsing CNC and laser machines and came across a machine made up close to our alma mater.

If you watch the intro they show a picture being routed with a cnc machine. https://sienci.com/about/

Very interesting as they are supposed to coming out soon with a laser attachment.

 

Thanks for your kind comments Don.

Thanks also for making me aware of that company Don.  I looked at their site and am very impressed both by the apparent quality of their products and the obvious quality of their documentation.  I'm very tempted to order their laser machine even though I thought that is something I would never do.

But, I can't find a link to the demo that you mention.  Where do I find it?

[don in brooklin on]

The video is on initial screen. Sorry

https://sienci.com/

 

The laser is an add on at $460.  and is 8 weeks away.

 

 

[Frank Pellow]

2nd Attempt at 'Ethan Helping Daddad Drill'  is better:

I am still not happy with the piece but it's good enough.  I state, yet again, that it is hard to capture the effect of this technique in a photo.  For the most part, photos of items  items produced this way just look like bad photos.  So, although not great, 'Ethan Helping Daddad Drill' looks better than shown above.

Other than attempting to cut too many channels in the first attempt, the biggest problem that I had with this was attempting to capture the faint smile in my mouth.  I advise anyone selecting a photo as the subject of this this scroll-sawing technique to choose a photo where one can see the person(s) teeth.  It is very hard to properly design a pattern with a clear differentiation between the upper and lower lips.

The second attempt at this took me a little more than 15 hours, 9 of those hours using Pegas #0 Spiral blades (18 of them) and the rest using Pegas #2/0 Spiral blades (21 of them).