HoosierWood

You're right Mike. My son plays Minecraft, and I've might have been known to play it a couple of times too, and the entire world in the game is "block" style. The main charcter is Minecraft Steve and he normally has a pick tool. Another well known world characters are called "creepers". They're called that because they "creep" up on you while your digging and blow you up (not cool). I would say the important part of representing these characters is that they look pixelated.

Great job.Lee.

Thanks for the finishing suggestions and compliments on the welcome sign. Being my first "real" project, I'm happy with it. I've learned a few things while doing it and Dick helped me with some questions I had. Everything was put on hold due to catching up with work after the holiday and the winter storm. I'll get back on it this week and finish it out.

Hope everyone made it through the winter storm okay. Looks like the worse is past Indiana now. We got maybe 4-5 inches of snow out of it, not too bad. I know some in the south got heavy ice. I prefer snow over ice any day. Everyone stay safe out there. Harold

Very good job.

It's funny you said that Kevin. To be completely honest that wasn't my first picture of the pilot holes. When I uploaded the first picture to my computer I noticed one of the cuts on the tree needed to be drilled. I was like, I can't have that.. I don't want to look to much like a rookie. So, I drilled the hole and took another picture, but as I was cutting out the letters I noticed I missed another one on the letter M. Oh well.

Need some advice on finishing. What do you suggest I use to finish the project?

The deer pattern is from a book I bought recently, "North American Wildlife Patterns" by Lora S. Irish. The font for the "welcome" message was downloaded at www.dafont.com (Western) . I used Inkscape to trace the deer pattern and to position the "welcome" message. I used PosterRazor to seperate the 18" final image for preparation on the wood. I really need to work on lettering and control. I had to do some last minute changes to the pattern because I messed up the rock on the left side by the deer. I decide to cut the rock out completely. I've come to the conclusoin I'm not a CNC cutter and my cutting and lettering will get better in time with some practice. I'm going to use a triangle file to fix the styling on the top of the letters and do a little sanding to square up the letters in general. Overall, I'm happy with the project. Being handmade the little imperfections give it character. .

Geeting started on the Deer Welcome sign I'm making for my daughter. Post more when completed.

Good tip. Thanks.

Yes, I actually use the blue painters tape on the wood then use the adhesive spray to attach the pattern and then the packing tape.

I have a Dewalt 788. Normally my speed is set around 3-4 on the dial. This seems to be the speed were I feel I have the most control. This may come with practice but I have a hard time staying on the lines and if I have it up to fast I feel like I have less control of the wood. That may be a problem with the piece of Padauk I'm using. It's a thicker piece of wood then I'm use to. I'm not sure that will make a differerence, better or worse, with control. Plus, to be honest and it may sound nuts... but I'm a little intimidated by it. It's a nice piece of wood and I don't want to screw it up. So I'm a lttle paranoid about just jumping in on it and not knowing what I'm getting into. I'm going to try the candle lubrication idea that was brought up and see if that helps with the blade action. But knowing how often the blades need to be changed out explains some of the issues I have had wiith some of my projects. I guess I'm slow that way but I didn't connect some of my control issues with the blade being dull. I guess I expected the blades to last until the teeth started falling off.

I'm already finding the site very helpful. It helps to have a place to go to when you have a question. I noticed some of the questions being asks are the same questions I have especailly about working on your own patterns. And seeing some of the work others have done is inspiring. I know it takes lots of practice and hardwork to get to the point of some of this work, but seeing what can be done with time and work is a motivator to keeping working on it. At this point, intarsia is what I really would like to work on. Some of the art pieces I've seen done is just amazing. I'm sure there's a lot of satisfaction in developing an idea for a piece of art, planning the project out and then wokring on it and watching it build until the piece is complete. I look forward to learning more from everyone and particiapting in the fourm.

Really nice work. The grain patterns are perfect. A really nice piece of art.

When every conversation with friends and family start out, "Hey, can you make this for me?".