FrankEV

Very nice, all are awesome. More detail info would be nice. And, I sure wish you would photograph them on a neautral background. The shine off the leather armchair is just much too annoying.

Great job. Almost looks like the top and bottom was cut on a lathe. Thanks for the reply.

Beautiful! They really look good. Question. I can see the vertical slats (for lack of a better word) were cut from a thick (3/4" ?) solid piece of wood on the scroll saw. Did you do the top and bottom on the Scroll saw also or did you use a lathe to turn them after cutting the mortices and gluing up a block?

Touching subject. Great cutting of an oviously great pattern that captures the subject really well. Kudos.

Your wifes taste is impeccable! Nice cutting.

I use my sanding mop frequently as I proceed on a large project. Maybe every 1/8 to 1/4 of the cutting area. I find by doing so, I get less drag on the cut panel allowing it to slide more smoothly while cutting. I use the torch for the final fuzzie removal. I also wax my table as soon as I feel any drag occuring.

Always use a piece of hardwood or MDF behind (if standing up) or below (if laying down flat) the cut panel when torching fuzzies. Never try to burn the fuzzies off without a back up board to prevent the flame from licking through and charring the good side. Clean up fuzzies first with a sanding mop and then use the torch moving it quite quickly like spray painting to get the last remnants of fuzzies. BTW, great work. Very well done.

Nice Work. Love the Butterfly Plaque. The silhouettes appears to have a very rough horizontal grain that the black paint did not cover completely. Was your use of such a rough grain done purposely? Probably only me, but, for me it seems to detract from the simple idea of a B on W "silhouette".

Hey Chris, thanks for the question. I use various size Artist Brushes to apply and blend the Artist Acrylics. When I have a border coler (like the Kingfisher) or if the background is a soild color I will use rattle can paint, ususally Krylon, or Stain as appropriate. When I do the Hand painting I will most often apply an Acrylic GESSO (a primer that smooths and preps the wood surface) to the backer before applying the colors. GESSO comes in both brushable and rattle can spray. I will most often use printed copies of the cut pattern as stencils to locate the various colors more accurately, and even then there are overlaps and missed spots that have to be delt with. I'm not a true artist that works in Acrylics, but I have learned one thing about applying and blending Acrylics. you have to work light to dark. It almost impossible to lighten up an area if a dark color has be applied first. And, just an aside, I have purchased a decent air brush kit and acessories almost a year ago with applying sprayable acrilics in mind. However, I have yet to put it to use, I know I addded more info then you asked for, but just hope it is of some value.

After two weeks of vacation in the New Orleans French Quarter I have finally got back into the shop and finished and framed these two Projects. I found this nice illustration of a Kingfisher that was an easy conversion. It is an worthly addition to my group of Bird Art pieces. Cut panel is 5/32”x9”x12” Solid Core Maple affixed to a 1/4”x11”x 14” BB Ply Backer. The Backer was hand painted with Artist Acrylic Paints. Cutting was completed with Pegas #1 Spiral Blades. Assembled panel was protected coats of Deft Clear Gloss Spray Lacquer and mounted in a 1 ¾” wide Poplar Frame Finished with Minwax Water Based Classic Black Wood Finish Stain and protected with Multiple coats of Minwax Polycrylic Finish. This Scroll Saw pattern is my layout of various free tropical Fish stencils I found on-line. The Cut Panel is a 5/32”x14”x 11” Solid Core Birch panel selected for the grain that had the feel of water. The ¼”x14x11” backer is BB Ply that was hand painted with Artist Acrylic Paints. Cutting was completed with Pegas #2/0 Spiral Blades. Assembled panel was protected coats of Deft Clear Gloss Spray Lacquer and mounted in a 1 ¾” wide Poplar Frame Finished with Minwax Water Based Royal Pine Wood Finish Stain and protected with Multiple coats of Minwax Polycrylic Finish. As always, comments and critiques welcome.

Great job, just need to part with more dedtail. Also, what was her reaction. Shuda did a video!!!!

Unless the cutting is constructed as a Plaque, It is my opinion, all portrait type panels that will hang in an environment other that a shop, need an aprropriate Frame, That well done Wolf cutting would look great on an oversized backer about a inch larger than the cut panel all around in a nice rustic/distresssed Frame having rails about 1 3/4 wide.

I have used many of the popular brands of rattle can spray in both clear gloss and satin (most often Gloss), Minwax being the most readily available almost everywhere. However, I am a fan of Deft Brand that I get at my local Ace Hardware. The cans do not clog, drys very quickly with little blushing, lays fairly smooth needing only a very light sanding with 1500 grit paper after the initinal coat with no or very little sanding needed after additional coats and enhances wood color while not adding any yellowing, like poly does. I dont have the ability to use a spray gun these days but did when I had my shop in NC where I also use DEFT brand bulk Lacquer. Used it often for furniture pieces. I will occasionaly use a lacquer sanding sealer on solid wood projects that need a sanding and shaping, especially on softer woods, although most often on even Hard Maple. For Black Lacquer the only brand I can find it in locally is Krylon, but not too happy about the final finish. Tends to run and/or not cover with a nice uniform coat. As and aside, I prefer Wipe-on Poly to spray poly. Using a fine grit paper to apply and rub in the WO, I get get very rich smooth poly finish w/o the thick apperance that make things look like flooring. I hope this info helps.

Try spray lacquer. Hard, clear, shinny or satin and not a very thick build up, so it should not interfere with puzzle assembly.

A large pizza box works great for shipping that type of project. Get a clean from your local pizza place for next to nothing. Btw...nice work

Excelent job on both the cutting and the frame. The nice wide border between cut panel and frame really works well and makes the piece seem large. What size is the cut panel? What size backer? What is width of frame rails?

Not a darn thing wrong with your version. I like to color my work, but that in itself does not make it better, maybe just a little different. Just me, but would have liked to see a little wider (maybe 1") dark border around the cut panel inside the frame.

I understand exactly what you do. I used to have a jig like that to make corner joint splines but it was left behind, with many other items and jigs I had, when I moved to Florida some 8 years ago. Never thought I was going to need any of them again. Just might have to make your version for small boxes like I make now. Thanks

I personally would not hesitate to sell them. However, I would hang them for disply above the reach of small children and possibly have a sign, or a slip of paper to include with the sale, that states: "Hanging tree ornament, not a toy...Keep out of reach of small children".

Well done. They will be much appreciated gifts. You asked for advice, but did not mention what the cut panel thickness, panel sizes or what the material is. I assume the cut panels are either nominal 1/8 or 1/4 inch thk BB ply (or similar). Looks thin in photos. Since they are positive cuts (meaning thay will mount on top of a backer with free space all around) I would use a 1/4" thk BB ply backer, which would be rigid enough to allow you to mount them in nice Frames. I would mount the cut panels centered on suitable standard photo size backers such as 8x10, 11x14 or 16x20, as appropriate, so you can use commercial frames unless you world prefer to make your own custom size frames. A 1" clear space all around a cut image, provides for a nice image presentation. Black backers can be overly strong, especially if a lot of area is exposed around the cut panel. Might suggest you think about using a dark stain in a contrasting color to the cut panel wood. In these kinds of presentations a combination like Maple/Walnut works well. Again, for a stained backer, a BB ply would work better. As a alterternative, if you wanted the finished pieces to be in the form of unframed plaques, the backer should be much thicker (3/8 to 1/2 inch) and preferably solid wood with a minimum amount of free space around the image. Hope you find these comments helpful.

In my previous post “Cube Tissue Box Cover w/ Hummingbird design” I mentioned I did not do a good job on the corners. Well, I thought I would try again, but with a different panel pattern. The design for mitered joints should work. Everything seemed to be perfect. I did my miters on the table saw very carefully and they looked about as perfect as possible. Well assembly proved to be another story. I used blue tape to form hinges to fold up the box and clamped with two Sedy strap Clamps. The Top was set into the box and clamped with squeeze Clamps. Well as you can see the joints did not closeup and gaps resulted along each joint. Not sure what went wrong, but I’m thinking I needed temporary internal bracing (square blocks) to prevent the clamping pressure from bowing the side panels. The Seahorse panel design looks nice and was an easy stack cut with Pegas #2/0 spiral blades. I played with the coloration of the seahorse to get a multi-colored effect, like those in photos of Seahorses I found on-line. Well, as I originally mentioned, we have many tissue boxes around our home, so I guess I’m going to have to come up with another panel pattern and try again. I will post the Pattern in the New Pattern Announcements for your use and enjoyment. You may have better luck producing tight joints then I’m having.

My happy place is only 8 x 12 with only 6 ft high walls. Oh how I wish it was a few feet bigger in each direction. I'm jealous!

TY. I have, and use, the same hand miter saw. Works well and very accurate. That Jarrah is beautiful. And TY for the info on the 30% Lacquer. I'm not set up to spray with a gun so forced to use spray cans. Our cans are gloss, semi-gloss and satin. Sounds like 30% is like our satin.

Excelent job on the Three Amigos!. Very nice cutting and colloring work. Ya did good!!! Yes painting the backer is time consuming and can be difficult to get the right colors in the right place with out overlaps or missed areas. I have gone to making paper stencils from the cutting pattern to get most of the colors in the correct place. Helps but not always 100% accurate. Not intended as a critism but I'll offer one suggestion. In the future try cutting nominal 1/8" thk material and use 1/4 as a backer. There is less visable vertical cut edges. Also, the 1/4" thk backer makes the panel much more rigid.

Excelent Job. Love that each face has a different cutting. The dark trim on the light box is just beautiful. What tool did you use to miter the corner trim? 30% Gloss Lacquer? Mix your own? Spray or brush on? You should not tease and put something out there that is different with out an explanation..