FrankEV

Needed to take a break from doing framed, flat panel portrait work and make something different. I have had this Side and End wall bird battern for a very long time and have revisited it often. It did include the base pattern, but there were no patterns/details for the top or bottom. I had to design them on the fly. The box is nom 12” wide by 8” deep and 4” high. I really did not realize how large the box was until I began to assemble it. Since the box was quite large I decided it needed a divided drop-in tray. The box outer walls, base, top and bottom is solid red oak. The red painted wall backers, inside box bottom, inside base top and the inside box tray supports were made from 1/8” BB ply (cut from my cut-off scrap pile). The tray was made from 1/4" Red Oak solid core ply and has a depth of 1 1/4 inches. Because I did not realize the size of the box, I was forced to purchase a 6 foot length of Red Oak 1” by 12” (3/4” by 11 1/2“) to make the top and bottom. Big $$$$$. The available 2 foot long boards at Lowes were not quite long enough as I need 26 inches. So I now have a nice 3’-10” length left for another future project. I planed the bottom down to 1/2”. For the top I rabbeted the bottom perimeter 1/4"deep so the top has a lid keeper that projects into the box. I sanded a small round on each corner and I used a small ogee router bit to put a decorative edge all around the top and bottom. Everything was finished with many coats of clear gloss Lacquer after which I lined the tray and the lower box with red felt. A very sticky job as I was using contact cement. I'm contemplating installing some small hinges as the top is heavy and will be cumbersome to remove and replace during use. I’m attaching a few pics as it is hard to show all the detail in one. Feel free to critique my work. . Edit 7/3/21: It was requested I post pics with the hinges installed. I was able to mortice the hinges into the box and lid to get the lid to land flat on the box. The lid does not need a hold open device because of the lids overhang.

Not sure you can cut 18" wide material on a table saw.

Look for as "real wood " cabinet maker in your area and check if they have a band saw set up for "resawing". May cost you a few bucks but worth it to get a number of thin pieces. If they will, have them run the pieces through thier wide belt sander to remove all the saw marks.

Very nice work. I was confused about how you morticed the legs in using your scroll saw untill I realized the top is made of two layers. Great idea. You call it a "Puzzle Stool", does that mean the letters are loose?

Too Complicated Tim, Thanks for the feed back. I dislike haveing to use JPG of a pattern, because it can not be manipulated with out converting in Inkscape or similar program. JPG's are OK if I'm converting a photo into a pattern, but would prefer to receive downloads in PDF or SVG. I have never worked with TIF files and do not plan to purchase Adobe Photoshop to do so. I'll have to live with Inkscape.

Studing both in detail I find both very apealing and well designed. I can see both being done by many. Very hard to say I like one over the other. I, personally, have only one very minor preference. It would be to use the open font for the N,E,S & W , as used in the one with the steering wheel, instead of the boxed font on the other. For some unexplained reason, I find the boxed font is distracting to my eyes. I know we don't typically place Scroll Saw work in a frame under glass, but either of these would look fantastic mounted on a contrasting ROUND backer and mounted under glass in a ROUND frame presenting the illusion of a real maritime compass.

Ditto to all the above! Great job!

WOW! My waste pieces never come out that neat. I'm betting it took the six months to put the puzzle pieces back together.

You are totally correct. For me the title "Bragging Rights" is OK but if one is going to reply to a posting and only give praise, IMHO, there is nothing of value to be gained except to boost the OP's ego. The question is then: Why do we all comment on post in this thread? Maybe this forum needs another subject for posting. Something LIke 'Critique my Scroll Saw Work' where both positive and nagative comments are expected and welcomed. If one does not like to or want to receive criticism they would not post in that thread. You are also corrrect, I never asked for "constructive criticism", as I just assumed it would be offered if appropriate. And although I'm happy with the work I post and like to brag as much as anyone, that dosen't mean the work I do couldn't be better. So from now on I will add a statement for "constructive criticism" to all positng I put up. Now I will give you some unsolicited criticism to your reply: One long parragraph is VERY VERY difficult to read, even on a large screen like I have.

Extreamly nice. Nice neat cutting of the font. Guarentee it will be cherished.

I had stack cut a bunch of the feathers, so I had extras. And yes I did break a couple that I had to replace. The quills are quite thin, thus fragile. I would do something different if I was to do them again, which I'm not likely to do. An eylet at the end of the quill would allow the fethers to be hung like Danny did, but I was looking for the fan arrangement that Sue May showed. I had to take the pics, get the pizza boxes, bubble wrap and store away right now so she dosn't see. I'll be careful to not let her look over my shoulder when I might have the pics up. A buck apiece for the Pizza boxes was a steal. Now they will be outa sight out of mind until the trip in July. Not going to post on FB or both my DIL and Daughted would see them. I'm glad to have the project put to bed.

Some of you might know how difficult it is to keep a scrolling project a secret from a better half that likes to visit you in your shop and see what you are making. That was the case with this project. I’m hosting a family get together in Virginia Beach the third week of July that includes my Son and his wife, my Daughter and her husband along with my Lady and myself. It has been about 10 years since we were all together. I’m trying to make this vacation a little special as us all being together at one time is difficult to arrange. We live in different parts of the country, namely NC, NY and FL. Back in early May, Danny Knappen had posted a couple of Sue May Pattern Dream Catchers he made that caught my eye and decided I would make one for each of the ladies as a surprise, hence the need to keep the project secret from my Lady. Sue May has a couple of offering including a Dragonfly that is perfect for my DIL and a Hummingbird that is good for my Lady, but wanted something different for my Daughter. I found a Butterfly pattern on-line that worked well. I stack cut 1/4” thick solid Walnut for the circular body. The creatures were cut from 1/4” solid Maple affixed to a hand painted 1/16” thick plywood backer material I found in Hobby Lobby. The feathers are cut from 1/8” thick solid Walnut and Maple. All cutting was done using Pegas #2/0 and #0 spiral blades. Based on the write up that came with the pattern, I decided to fancy up the cutting by adding Gold colored beads and a hanging chain, which I added after the wood work was all assembled and finished with many coats of clear Gloss Lacquer. The feathers and beads were fixed in place with Cyanoacrylate Glue. I spent a lot of time in the beading section of Hobby Lobby trying to find what I wanted/needed. Deciding on what chain to use and finding tiny screw eyelets was difficult. Cutting and assembling the various parts of the Dream Catchers, times three, was very time consuming. Not something I would care to do on a regular basis, but I enjoyed doing it for these special gifts. I now need to find some approximately 12” square by 2” deep boxes to bubble wrap, store and carry them in, as they are quite fragile. I may have to resort to some Pizza boxes from my local Pizza place . Thanks for reading! Yep, the Butterfly got placed a tad bit off center during glue up. I don't think it will matter to my Daughter.

Nice cutting. You might want to think about doing some detail sanding and using a butane torch to remove the backside fuzzies in the future. They do detract from a very well cut piece.

This is not really a Q&A subject, but just open for general discussion. My "cute" reply to Tbow388 in his post "Pattern Attachment" got me thinking about what do you all prefer to get/use when you obtain a pattern electronically? JPG, PNG, PDF and SVG are the common options. The SVV pattern library is JPG or PNG because of the way the site is set up and is really only a photo library. I personally do not like to use a photo file to produce a final print out of a pattern since there is no control over what is printed. When I use a Photo file I will convert it using Inkscape/Trace Bit Map to convert it to an editable SVG so I can change line weights, line/fill color, eliminate islands, resize, etc. I prefer to cut patters that are printed in a very thin cut line that is printed in Red with a light grey fill. I prefer it when the cut/waste area is the grey area but I havn't been able to figure out how to get it that way all the time. I also like to size the cut pattern to suit what size panel I want to produce it on. My printer is limited to a maximum 11X17 so most of my framed art is 11" X 14" - 17". I usually center the pattern and leave about 1" of free area all aroung the image either as a cut border or as a borderles piece. After editing in Inkscape I then save it as a PDF for printing purposes and/or in case I want to send/post electronically. JFYI, there is a free online service called PDF2JPG that allows you to convert PDF's to JPG's if needed.

If the wood has been stored in high humidity there is a possibility it would cup if transfered directly into a low humidity environment. However, if the wood is dry and you lower the humidity slowly ( which adding a new AC unit will do naturally), it will not likely cup. Flat stock should be stored flat with sticks seperating the wood to alow air to circulate around all sides of each peiece (easier said than done, I know.). Ply stock should not be affected by a change in humidity, but sugggest it be stored flat also or trully vertical. Leaning stored plywood can allow it to warp/bend over time no matter what the humidity is.

As PDF's Sorry, just couldnot resist. But, like others, shelf liner and spray adheasive. Shelf Liner from Walmart is a lot cheaper than Painters tape. The adheasive on painters tape is very week and any little dust will prevent it from sticking well. I personally do not like wetting the wood with MS to get a pattern off. Takes some time to dry and I find it interferes wuth the finishing process.

Interesting comment Charlie. I use on-line photos of my subject to try to get an idea of a fair color rendition. My shading and blending of colors still needs to improve. Just for the record, I'm not trying to make the illustrative image "real" but I don't want it to be tooooo "funky" or "abstract" either. Using color to enhance some of my scroll saw work kinda makes my work a little different from much of what this community does. I seems to be getting positive reviews and I see a few others adding some color to their work. I like to think some of what I have been doing is, in some small way, an insperation to others to think outside the box.

Hey gang, just wnat to say thanks for all the nice comments. But JFYI: It is funny how different people are attracted to differnt things (I guess that is what maks us human). None of the boats gat a mention and I thought they were the more appealing pieces. My lady raved over the Fishing Boat which see saw as a Tug Boat. Each of the sea creachers got at least one or more "like comments", even the Octopus, which I thought was kinda not so great. It is fun to post a group of pieces and see what comments people have. I get a better feeling about the opinions of the work rather than when each piece is posted seperately. Also, here is a observation I've made. The SVV group is very supportive of each other, a great thing, but "I feel" they tend only to give praise. Very little, if ever, is constructive critisim offered, which I find sad. Positive comments are always a god thing but there are times when a little nagativity is both worthwhile and instructive.

Yep. As I said , I do feel I could have done the paint work better. Eventhough these pieces are not supposed to be an true representation, I had looked at pics of Octopus on line to get and idea of what colors I should use. I had difficulty trying to produce an appropriate body color. Adding the white dots representing the suckers was done after the cut panel was affixed to the backer. These could/should have been more consistant. My detail brush work is not very good.

Rather than buying brush cleaner I use MS for that purpose. It is also an appropriate oil base paint thiner (art paint or house paint). Yes I clean my hands with it also. In the past I did NOT wear latex gloves when finishing but I do now and my use of MS for hand cleaning has gone way down. I will ocasionally spray the spray adheasive inside if it is raining, being careful to use a drop cloth or paper, but overspray can get on things...the MS will remove it. It will even clean up greesy tools when working on machinery of any kind. I buy it by the half gallon and it lasts a long time. You can get it in small (quart I think) cans also. I find it handy to keep around.

I though hard about using color for the MM and fish. Just could not decide if it would look correct. The image is very strong as a silhoette and color, in this case, may not improve it. But, you are correct, it might.

I’ve been busy over the past couple of weeks producing this group in between multiple doctor appointments, blood work, CT Scan, Colonoscopy and a short, but much needed, vacation trip to wine country of North Georgia. We had a grand time taking in all the Wineries. We drank and purchased a lot of wine over the 4 day trip. All the medical stuff is to do with a gastro problem that hopefully is resolved. The big C was negative. I’m told I just need to get MORE fiber. However, I also needed to get cleared for, in late July after another trip to Virginia Beach for family get together vacation, a scheduled partial knee replacement. FUN RIGHT? I’m hopeful it will be a short recovery until I can sit at the scroll saw and operate the foot pedal again. I presume the recovery period in order to be able to ride my motorcycle again will take considerably longer. Now back to bragging about my project. I converted the patterns for the following projects from various free stencils or illustrations available on line. These projects were made to supplement my portfolio to include pieces that may be more attractive to the local beach community citizens who frequent the Gallery that I exhibit in. All pieces are my typical construction using 5/32” Maple or Walnut Solid Core Ply Cut panels affixed to hand painted 1/4” BB ply backers. All cutting using Pegas #2/0, #0 and/or #1 spiral blades. All hand painting was done with Artist Acrylic paints. Panels were finished with multiple coats of Clear Glossy Lacquer. All the Frames are simple 1 3/4" wide Poplar, stained and then finished with multiple coats of Satin Wipe-on Poly or painted. Mermaid and Fish, 11X17, Painted Black cut panel affixed to a BB ply backer. Frame Painted Black. Crane on One Leg, 11x17 Fishing Boat, 11x14 Sailboats, 11x14 Sailboat at Sea. 11x14 Crab 11x14 Jelly Fish, 11x14 Octopus, 11x14. (The hand painting on this piece could have been a loot better.)

I purchased one of those personal coolers at the end of last summer, but never got to try it. As I have posted elsewhere, I have installed a small A/C unit in the gable wall of my small shop. It is now tolerable to work in the shop for a better part of the day, although I limit my time in the shop to early monings anyway. If an A/C unit is not feasable for the Garage, I would suggest trying a very high volume exhaust fan to help cool it down. Then the personal cooler might help at the saw.

Great Job. I'm with you 100%, I hate cutting loose block fonts. One trick is to drill a blade hole near the first. letter. Cut the letter and before it even has a chance to get away, use a piece of blue tape to keep it in the cut out. Cut over to the next letter and do the same, etc. After the last letter is cut and taped into place, the entire panel can be removed from the saw and all the letters will stay with it until you need to use them. Of course you need to cut out the center of "o's" and others first.

A piece of 3/4" thk good flat ply between the warped piece and the weights might help provide a more uniform flattening. It is also a good way to store flat stock to prevent warping.