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I picked mine up at a Woodcraft store. Auto supply store often carry it. Amazon has a broad array up to 7000 grit! https://smile.amazon.com/Sandpaper-Precision-Polishing-Sanding-sandpaper/dp/B01M6A7D9A/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=ultra+fine+sandpaper&qid=1562264384&s=gateway&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1 The brand I am using is Norton brand.

I have cut this Shela Landry pattern before but this time I chose a different finishing method. Cut in cherry, the blank is .4" in thickness and approximately 14" x 9". After cutting and sanding the cherry it was soaked in Danish oil, wiped down and allowed to dry thoroughly. This was followed by 4 coats of Watco wipe-on gloss poly. Despite my best efforts there were dust nibs galore. I wet-sanded it using 2000 grade sand paper on a sanding block to level the finish and remove the dust nibs. This was made difficult because the poly tends to develop a slight ridge at each cut of the letters. That caused highly visible shiny spots amidst the satin rubbed finish. This necessitated lengthy and delicate hand sanding of each bright spot. (Next time I will use the Satin wipe-on). After all of the sanding was done, I applied a single coat of Briwax to increase the luster. The complete look is difficult to capture with the camera but it has no visible flaws and rivals a spray-booth lacquer finish. I have just ordered more of this ultra fine sand paper up to 3000 grit.

There is an old saying "There is never enough time to do it right but always enough time to do it over." I love designing and scrolling signs and Bible verses in Cherry. There is nothing more frustrating than losing a drop out well toward the end of the project. I have learned something that should have been obvious to me. I share it for those who may enjoy the same subject matter. When designing the bridges, try to retain the maximum long grain wood structure. The attached PDF shows script letters (Palace Script font) that have notoriously narrow and fragile bridges that can easily turn your masterpiece into kindling. The first column is an okay way to build your bridges. The second is better with a slight difference that retains more of the long grain in the wood and makes the drop outs just a bit stronger. By changing the location and angle of the bridge, you retain more of the long grain of the wood a d g o q.pdf

I use Glidecote V207501 Woodworking Aerosol Lubricant on all of the metal surfaces in my shop. It works well on the powder-coat surface of the Excalibur as well.

My squadron was scheduled to deploy on Coral Sea in 1972 but were switched to Ranger. (Ranger had been disabled by a war protester (Patrick Chenowith) who threw a paint chipper and several bolts into her main reduction gears.) This reshuffled all the the deployment pairings. I did a carrier qualification session on Coral Sea but never deployed on her - which is to say I was on board long enough for 10 traps and 10 cat shots but never left the cockpit. That is a beautiful plaque! Bravo Zulu!!!

That is really cool.

Beautiful, Jim!

Love it. As an add on: The chance of forgetting something is directly proportional to .....uh.......ummmm.......never mind.

Beautiful! Nice work.

That i an ambitious project to say the least. Beautifully done. Bruce

Dave, I really love your work. Strictly top notch in design and especially execution!

This is just a bit less than 1/2". It was resawn from four-quarter lumber and thickness planed before edge jointing.

I made a plaque similar to this and cut in it Jatoba (AKA Brazilian Cherry). That was the only wood strong enough to cut without losing the cut-outs. I succeeded on the first attempt. I failed on the next 2 attempts and wore out 2 band saw blades re-sawing the Jatoba. I quit scrolling for months out of frustration. I redesigned the plaque with larger letters and cut it in real cherry. I made it through, on the first try, using the Flying Dutchman Ultra Reverse #1 blades. I am pumped!! This plaque is 15.5 x 9.5. I will finish it with Watco Danish Oil. Bruce

Amen! - 85 missions off of USS Ranger including 38 during Linebacker II (Dec 72 to May '73.)

Beautiful! I love the segmented concept. It takes some of the pressure off when doing the final letters of a long quote.

I installed my Pegas chuck yesterday. Some impressions and observations - first the good: 1. Nice piece of engineering and manufacturing. Everything about it screams quality. 2. The tensioning lever employs a superior means of tensioning. No need for constant grease to slow down the wear of the Teflon eccentric cam lever. A drop of oil will suffice for a year. 3. It definitely reduces vibration. 4. The slot that fits over the articulating arms was milled to the same width as the Excalibur chuck. Annodization adds thickness of roughly 5 mils. This means the Pegus chuck slot is 10 mils (5mils on each side) thinner than the Excalibur original. Measured with a caliper the Pegus reduces potential side to side run-out by roughly .01" (Think 2 pieces of paper in thickness.) Admittedly this is not a big deal but it increases precision a bit with no risk of additional wear. Then the bad: 1. No instructions. They leave you to discover for yourself the bearing sleeves that hold the old (and new) chuck in place and how to remove them - just for starters. 2. (Important) The Pegus Chuck blade positions are not factory adjusted for trueness between the two chucks. The location where the set screw and the thumb nut meet within the blade slots are haphazard. In the case of the chuck I received, the top chuck's set screw and blade thumb nut met at the right side of the blade slot. So much so that you couldn't insert a #7 blade into the chuck because the blade was too thick. I had to back the set screw off so it sat slightly proud on the left side of the blade slot. The bottom chuck set screw was adjusted to meet the thumb screw in the center of the chuck's blade slot. Unadjusted, this mismatch between top and bottom chuck caused the blade to be out of true with the stroke of the saw's articulating arms. Additionally, it wasn't as simple as adjusting the chucks to the same position. To true the blade to the plane of the articulating arms, the upper chuck needed to be closer to the left edge of the slot. The bottom chuck was adjusted to the middle of the slot. This is due to the saw, not the chuck - but it is a critical adjustment for fine tuning the installation for optimum performance. Bottom line: I like everything about this chuck but it is ridiculous to send it out without installation and set-up instructions.

And I have a Sister, Brother-in-law and two Nieces who live in Grants Pass Oregon. A "fer" piece from Halfway, Or. but same rugged beauty along the Rogue River.

Welcome to the Village, Rick. Bruce Minnesota

Welcome to the Village, Robert. Bruce Minnesota

Hi Aris: Welcome to the Village!!! Bruce Minnesota, USA

Hi Jean-Pierre: Welcome to the Village! Bruce Minneapolis

Hi Stephen, Welcome to the Village! Bruce Minneapolis

Welcome to the Village, Rob. Bruce Minneapolis

Welcome to the Village, Paul. Bruce Minnesota

Welcome to the Village, Renay Bruce Minnesota