Helenm2807

Ouch! Mine was a 12 inch disc sander - the piece of wood flipped out of my fingers and, before I knew it I'd sanded off all of the fingernail from my third finger, about 30% from my index finger and ploughed a trench down the side of the finger in between. Its amazing how it doesn't really hurt until you see just how much damage you've done. Luckily my other half is a qualified and unflappable First Aider

Having seen your work Susieq I'm sure it'll be fantastic! H.

Nice one Clayton. Congratulations! There's nothing quite like the feeling you get when your customer really likes what you've done. Here's to a mile-wide smile. H.

What a beautiful piece of work Susie! I love the way you changed the direction on the rim piece - it has an almost optical illusion look to it. Fantastic! I would just like to make one comment about wearing gloves - I lost a complete fingernail a couple of years ago on a disc sander because I wasn't wearing gloves. They do have their place in certain situations - the ones I wear now are very close fitting and are blade proof. H.

Brilliant! That is one turkey with attitude! H.

Love the board Susie. Nice job. With regard to the end grain issue; one way to do it is to cut the pieces using a block stop on a chopsaw so you get them all as close to the same size as possible. When you glue it up, glue it face side down so that the pieces are as flat as possible and any variations are on the underside, then sand the whole thing using a random orbital sander rather than a planer. I've done one like this and it makes a really hard wearing chopping board - you can also get some great patterns with the endgrain. I finish mine with a foodsafe finish but Danish Oil is also considered suitable for chopping boards. The planer will NOT like doing the end grain and, apart from blunting the blades in no time, you end up ripping chunks out of your board, especially at the edges. The problem is that doing an end grain board involves having the grain on the blocks going in all different directions so there is always going to be somewhere that is going against the blades of the planer. Trying to get a clean surface is very frustrating. H.

That's a really pretty little box. I love the way the lid fits on the body and the wee cross inside is beautiful. I'm sure your friend and her husband were delighted with it. H.

Wow! That is fantastic! I've only done a couple of intarsia projects and know the effort involved. Well Done! H.

Beautiful box. Fantastic pattern. Just one problem - she's gonna either want another one or a bigger one because she can't get all her treasures in it. I love. H.

Hey I like these Ron! Simple but full of meaning. Nice one.

Wow! I wish I had the patience to do that.

I used to belong to another Scrollsaw forum but for some reason it went splat and I can no longer access it. That was (happily) how I found and joined this forum. I downloaded some patterns from the other forum and the dog is one of these. He was done by a guy called 'Arpop' and was one of a series that he called 'Happy Dudes'. I am pleased to say I downloaded all of the happy dudes and this is the second one I have had the opportunity to use. I have lifted the sunglasse by about 1/16" and the muzzle by about 1/4". He makes me smile.

What can I say? It is truly beautiful and you must be very proud. Please don't add any detail - it's wonderful as it is. H.

Welcome Maya, Glad you joined us. H.

Brilliant! I found myself sitting here with a huge smile on my face. I love it.

Great ideas - both the cheat sheet and Nita's super-organised notebook. I keep telling myself I should be doing something like this but tend to get caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment and all the technical bits get forgotten. Perhaps I need to mention it to my other half (who is also my soulmate/accountant/adminstrator/salesman/organic filofax)

I am currently enjoying the sunshine sitting in our conservatory at the end of a hot day at work (there is no ventilation to speak of so whatever the temperature outside you can add 15 degrees plus), enjoying a cold drink. I'm between projects at the moment. I have another toy box to make, but there's not rush for that. My husband wants me to make him a desk for the corner of the dining room now we've finally got around to decorating it. My dentist also wants me to make him desk from piece of burr elm but I haven't got the capital to buy the rest of the timber for it at the moment. And finally I have an idea for an intarsia/pyrography project which I've done the pattern for but need to empty the woodshed to find a suitable piece of timber. Decisions, Decisions.

Well done Scrolldad!

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have not seen this 'blue painters tape' but will have a go with low tack masking tape which, I'm thinking, may be something similar. This will certainly be cheaper than importing the 'Wonderpaper'

A little while ago I read an article in a UK woodworking magazine where the guy used this stuff called WonderPaper by Jason to print his scrollsaw pattern onto. It's a bit like a big sticky label, only not quite so sticky. I have got sick of using the spraymount that then takes ages to peel/scrape/sand off (even if I am using the repositionable stuff) and I've had mixed results with other fixatives, so I took the plunge and bought a pack. It comes from the USA and I have to say I'd be reluctant to go back to glue after using this. What do other people use? I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has used this Wonderpaper.

Hi there. Let me add my welcome to the village. Whereabouts in Wales are you? H

I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out so I just cut it from birch ply then used watercolours to stain the individual pieces. I quite like the result and have been looking round for another one to do. Problem is; I'm spoilt for choice!

Love it! So appropriate. I want to make this for my workshop.

Hi Mick, Thanks for the welcome and the the heads-up about the UK chat. I've tended to find us few and far between over here so it will be nice to meet other folk. I'll try and drop in on Thursday. H.

Thanks for the compliment. My parents were doing up their bathroom and asked me for a clock. I'm always wanting 'just another five minutes' when I relax in the bath and couldn't resist the temptation. The toes took ages to file and sand out - I definitely need a long relaxing bath when I'd finished.