munzieb

Thank you all for your kind comments. The cutting went pretty quick. A little help from my buddy, Mr. Blue Tape. We are keeping the 1st copy to remind me , lesson learned. I may have to make another one if my sister bugs me. I'm getting pretty good at making the picture frames using my Integra Miter on my table saw. Trim is from Lowes.

I moved this over from Pattern request. Mahendra did a fantastic job designing this pattern. We had visited my nephew and family this summer and wanted to give them a gift to remember our trip. The photo was enlarged and put on canvas at the UPS Store and printed the Photo file. This was actually my second cutting. Got the first one done and when I lifted the pattern, some of the fibers of the BBPW came up with it. Tired to fill but the color contrast was too great.

Extreme Cuteness! Well done!

I want to see those Santa helper Elf Ears! You are a cutting machine!

Welcome to the village. You can already see that there is a lot of good information and also encouragement here. So here is my 2 cents of knowledge, blades break, it's the cost of making something beautiful. Heck, Michelangelo had to throw out brushes when they were worn out. If he had an errant hammer blow with a chisel, it was tough to put it back on, you have CA or super glue. It's a whole lot easier to fix wood. If you notice that it gets harder to move the blade through your piece, it's gone dull. It will start to wander and slow you down. Don't wait for it to break, just change it out. Blue tape is your friend. If your project is getting too floppy or wobbly, save your cutout pieces and tape them back in place (without obscuring adjacent lines) It will stabilize your work and helps when you are sanding the back to remove the fuzz. Nature is perfect... or not. Leaves, plants, trees, landscapes and even animals have curves, radii and irregular shapes. If you wander a little, it's not a problem and won't be noticed. Man is hung up on straight lines and sharp angles. If you make a mistake, do it in the waste area, you can always go back and nibble away with your blade and clean it up. If you are cutting where there are 2 sharp converging lines, cut to the point and then slightly deeper (the thickness of the blade) back out the blade and cut into the waste area to reverse the blade and back into the point and continue cutting in the new direction. If you notice a weak or floppy piece in the area of your cut, do them first. You will remove the load on that piece especially if the remaining piece is larger. If you are cutting parallel cuts with narrow strips between them, cut the line next to the piece you just removed. It will also remove the load on that narrow piece. If it looks fragile, tape it back in with blue tape. When starting a cut on a piece, avoid blending a cutting into a curve or straight line. Start at converging lines or a point in the piece. It will make for a crisper cut. Don't be afraid to drill more than one hole in a cutout. You can relieve pressure on some fragile pieces. These are some self learned techniques that work for me and I know the members can add to this list to make you cutting more interesting and rewarding. Keep making saw dust and enjoy!

Impressive work!

Nice Job Kevin, Especially like the manger scene.

That is a really sharp and crisp cutting. Great job!

Great info. I really like that halving technique with the long ruler. A big time saver!

Impressive! well done.

Rocky. Just found some 3v LED lights with pigtails but they are 1/2 as many for 4 x the price. I got 200 G-O-W for $12.00 and Led's are 100 for $52. Can't justify that yet.

Very Nice cutting. Are the lights corded or Battery powered? I really enjoyed the cutting on the ones I did but battery mount and soldering the 20 Grain-of-wheat bulbs are a pain. I made 6 for gifts and now my wife says I need to make another one.....

Great job on the clock. What kind of wood did you use? I am intrigued, what are the 2 holes in the wall behind the clock?

A few years ago, I built a scrolled lamp and lamp shade. I wanted a soft yellow/amber light. I ordered some thin amber plexi glass. The color was right but the LED light was still too stark and almost blasted through the fret work. Decided to use a parchment paper/Velum and it did the trick. Bought it at Hobby Lobby. Used contact cement to adhere to back/interior.

Welcome to the gang. Lots of good info here. Looks like you dove in with both feet into cutting and your background should be very helpful in designing patterns. Look forward to seeing some of your work. In another life, I used to hang out at that airport down the street a good amount and actually got my A&P license there.

OK, I went with "C" batteries. A fair amount of Routering and fitting to make it work. Broke open one of the AA battery holders for the connectors, spring and switch. Seems to be working better. Just ordered a "core box" router bit from MLCS that is 1" in Dia. that is the same size as the "C" battery, Once I make a template for the cover plate route out, things should go faster.

Thanks for all the compliments. Found these all on Pinterest. You may be right., I may have to go with "C's". I can router out the base. I may consider plug ins for future projects but need to get the right "grain of wheat" bulbs for that.

My wife has indicated that this may be my last schwibbogen for a while even though she did a fantastic job of painting. I may need to revisit Ohm's law at some point. I have 20 .3 Ma bulbs and my 2 aa batteries are getting hot after a while?? Do I have to go to "C's"?

Thanks all for your comments. My wife appreciates it too. Don, go for it. Came from Pinterest. As to the wiring. Best wire I could find was from an Ethernet cable, its solid strand. I would strip out a small section with a razor for solder and stagger and bounce back and forth to make a parallel connection. I would hot glue the wires in place. I still have one or two more to make.

Finished another Schwiboggen. This one was actually easier to cut than the last. Less blade pulls. I did not stack cut this. I have a tendency to push too hard and deform the back cut. I am getting better with my soldering. I jump back and forth on solder connections to save time. Still parallel connections. Went to a AA battery connection. Routered the bottom to make it fit. Seems to be holding longer. My wife did her usual fantastic painting. A few more and Santa's bag will be full.

Outright amazing! Your work is a fitting tribute to the person that started it.

I'm considering attending the show this year. I'm about 1.5 hrs south. I've checked out the Facebook page and it looks good. I'd be interested in any thoughts or reflections of people that attended this show in the past.

Have you thought of lighting from the inside? It would make for a great effect!

Nicely done!

Thanks Scrappile. On to my second Schwiboggen. Got to use up what I got. Not much space to use your lights. Routering AA battery pack into base. Probably less lights and not wandering around , only base and top. Probably less draw on battery. Getting better with soldering. Will post once I'm done in a few days.