Craft Fair…

When I first started woodworking awhile back I never thought of doing a Craft Show/Fair. Well the company I work for decided that we should have a 4 hour craft fair at the end of the month. I have had several people at work ask if I was going to bring anything. So I have been spending more and more time in the shop trying to get stuff made.

Thanks in advance to: Steve Good - http://www.scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/, Arpop - http://fssp-arpop.blogspot.com/, Steve (Scrolling Companion) - http://hoviousscrollsawworks.blogspot.com for all of the wonderful patterns! And to Terri (my loving wife) for putting up with all the sawdust.

I will be creating an online photo album of the items I get completed.

Wish me luck!

Babies…

Where I work we have one employee who had a baby in May and another who is due in Nov. So I took a couple of patterns from Steve Good and modified them a bit and came up with the two items. On the chair I had to increase the size to be able to get the lettering on it.


Congratulations to the new moms and dads!

Past Projects

I found some pictures of past projects that I never posted… The Christmas Box was for my Stad (step dad). The name on the one side Nanoosh is a nickname the grandkids came up with years ago.

The Fairy was for a friend of a friend who is a cancer survivor.



The pirate shelf I built for the son of a co-worker. You can not see it that well in the pictures but the shelf supports are in the shape of swords.

To see these and many other wonderful patterns go to the Scrollsaw Workshop (http://www.scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/)

Warped Wood

On Monday (August 24, 2009) Steve Good at Scrollsaw Workshop posted a great flower pot pattern and wrote about buying wood at Home Depot. Still being new to the scroll sawing world, this is how I get most my project wood.

I have one big problem I run into from time to time. Warped wood… Primarily with the ¼ poplar boards I get. Well I have found a solution that has worked well for me and thought I would share.

The first things you need:
Bath Towel
Iron (I have to sneak it past my wife)
2 pieces of flat (non-warped) wood (these should be a bit bigger than the warped piece)
Clamps

Now I soak the towel in water. I will also dip the wood in water.
Wrap the wood in the wet bath towel
Iron the towel/wood (here I use the steam option)
Flip the wood and do the same
Put the freshly ironed (no starch) wood between the flat pieces and clamp
Once clamped I will let the wood dry for a few days (depending on weather)

After drying the piece should be good to use or finished.

July 2009

It has been a bit since my last post. There are multiple reasons for this. The main reasons are my DeWalt scroll saw was in the shop for 5 weeks (parts got back ordered) and we are moving. The move is exciting as we are going from an apartment to a house. And seeing as the house has a garage, I get to make it into my shop! Will be nice to have room to work in!

On another positive note, I ordered some scroll saw books, thanks to the Amazon gift card I got for Father’s Day! Thanks Andy! So I have a list of projects I want to get started on after we get settled. Keep checking back and I will get some more stuff posted soon.

Everyone have a Happy & Safe 4th of July!

Hearts & Keychains

Here are some pictures of some recent items I cut out. The pattern for the hearts with the initials was done by Arpop (http://fssp-arpop.blogspot.com/).

And the keychain patterns were created with a program by Steve Good at the Scrollsaw Workshop (http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/).

Andrew's 20th

There are times when someone’s birthday comes along and you can not think of a single thing to get them. It makes matters worst when the person won’t be of any help. So I put the search aside.

I found a web site that shows you a large number of words written in Chinese. Included are a large range of names. The site can be found at http://www.chinese-symbols.com/

After going to this site I got an idea! (Note the energy saving light bulb above my head) So I came up with the pattern for this name sign.
So I want to wish my oldest son, Andrew, a Happy 20th Birthday!

Cat Lady

I am sure most of know one or know of one. The cat lady. Well my family is blessed by being friends with our neighborhood cat lady. She is a good friend who happens to love cats. So I made her this candle box, pattern by Steve Good.

While on the subject of cats, one of ours had kittens recently. While my wife would like to take over the title of Cat Lady... we had to get rid of the babies. Lucky for us (and them) there is a place near by called The Cat House on the Kings. This place is incredible! It is a no-cage, no-kill cat sanctuary and adoption center. According to their web site they are currently caring for 700+ cats, kittens and do not forget the dogs too. Please take a moment and check out their site at http://www.cathouseonthekings.com/ also take a look at this video titled Cat House on the Kings

After writing this post, I decided to make the kitten sign for the folks at The Cat House on the Kings.

Elephants

As I have noted in the past, my wife loves elephants. With that said, I was surfing the internet one day and came across a picture of an elephant. It was drawn in a way that you could print in and the color it in. As I was looking at it my first thought was, I could cut that out on the scroll saw. So I printed it then I ran it through a copier at 75% & 50% reduction.

The hardest part of cutting this was the fact that I used ¾” oak and a #5 blade. But it was a gift for my wife and worth it.

What is it?

A friend and I were talking about various scroll saw patterns and such. The conversation led me to this idea. The original thought was to make this as a candle holder. The main problem I ran into is it does not put out much light. When my sister saw it she thought it would make a good planter.

One thing I did that can not be seen from the photos is I used a wood burner to write the meaning of each word. These are on the inside.

If I was to make this again as a candle holder I would want to cut the words larger. If I were to make this as a planter I would make the whole thing larger. I think it would be nice for a small bamboo plant.

Any other ideas?

Woodworking Weekend (part 2)

After coming home from my first San Joaquin Fine Woodworkers Association meeting I was talking with my youngest son (Josh) who had gone to the meeting with me. Josh had never really been interested in my woodworking. Now he was talking about it. In case you don’t know, I primarily work with a scroll saw. And now that I have two, I asked Josh if he would like to give it a try. And to my shock, he said yes. After picking my jaw up off the ground I had to think of a good starter pattern. Then I remembered a post on Steve Good’s site about this pattern http://www.stevedgood.com/feather.pdf so I showed it to Josh and he said he liked it.

After printing a couple of copies it was out to “my office” also known as the patio/workshop. I set up my old Ryobi saw and showed him all the different part and what they did. We glued the patterns to the wood and got started. We stopped a few hours later (9:00 PM) do to the noise we were making and the respect for our neighbors. The next afternoon we were back at it. After finishing the cuts on that one, Josh wanted to try this pattern http://www.stevedgood.com/supergeek.pdf
Please note: being the nice dad I try to be, I let him make some of his cuts on the DeWalt. And to my shock he preferred the Ryobi (kids…what can you do).

So I think I might have a partner in my little shop now. I can’t tell you how proud and excited I am at the possibility of spending time with one of my sons in the shop! I have been very blessed with wonderful children! I have added some pictures of Josh working and his first piece (still needs to be sanded and stained).

For more patterns by Steve Good, please go by his website http://www.scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/ and make a donation if you can, as Steve asks nothing for the use of his patterns. To see the complete catalog of patterns go to
http://www.stevedgood.com/web/catalog.html

Woodworking Weekend (part 1)

This past weekend was my first meeting as a member of San Joaquin Fine Woodworkers Association. The meeting was the officer elections and the annual project contest. All I can say is Wow! The items were great! I can tell there is a lot of talent is this group and I look forward to learning as much as I can! One of the nice things about this association is they encourage education. Besides the meetings, they are holding classes almost once a month. What made the meeting even more special was that my 12 year old son tagged along and seemed to enjoy himself.

So I suggest to anyone who lives in central California to look into this association. Watch their website as I am sure there will be pictures from this last meeting coming soon. You can also look at pictures from past meetings at http://sjfwa.com/

And there was an added benefit to this meeting I will tell you about in part 2.

Photo Album

If you take a look at the bottom of the page you will notice that we have removed the map and replaced it with a photo album. These are various pictures from past post. There is also a link to the photo album in the links on the left.

Enjoy!

March 09 - Projects

Here are some of my recent projects I have done on the scroll saw.

Fae - I saw a piece of clip art of a green fairy. After blowing it up and printing it, I cut this from a piece of poplar and got some green wood stain. She measures about 10 1/2" tall.

Cross - I am sorry to say that I can not recall where I got this pattern. So whoever drew this, I give you the credit. Another piece from poplar that is 9 7/8" long and 6 3/4" wide.

Letter Opener - Well after the first one I made broke, my wife asked me to make her another one. She found the outline of the elephant that I put together with letter opener pattern by Steve Good. This time I thought I would use oak and maybe it would last longer.

Scroll Saw Update

When I first decided to purchase the DeWalt I had the choice of ordering it online or buying locally. The main difference was price. In the end I went with buying locally. When the saw died, I took it back to the store, who happens to be an authorized DeWalt dealer and service center. As I mentioned in my last post, I was told 2 to 3 days to 2 weeks. Well the fine folks at Ideal Saw Works http://www.idealsaw.com/ had my saw ready to pick up in less than one business day!

I do want to point out that this does not change my view of the DeWalt saw, I still think it is great!

So Thank You to Ideal Saw Works for your great service. Now back to making saw dust!

Good Things Come From Bad Situations

Last month I was lucky enough to get a new scroll saw. My original saw is a Ryobi. It is not an overly bad saw but I wanted better. After a lot of reading and thinking, I decided on the DeWalt. I am very glad I did. The weekend of the 28th I built a table specifically for my DeWalt. Then one evening I am cutting on a project and my wife comes out. I turn off the saw and we talk a moment. When flipped the switch to start cutting again… nothing. After checking everything I know to check still no power. So on Saturday I load up the saw and go to where I bought it to have it serviced. 3 day to 2 weeks, depending on what is wrong with it. No I am depressed! Good thing I still have the old Ryobi. But now I am spoiled.

So I start looking around the store and a gentleman strikes up a conversation. When I mention that I am still new to woodworking he tells me about the San Joaquin Fine Woodworkers Association. I am very excited about joining this group and attending the classes they offer.

If my DeWalt had not died, I would not have learned about these fine folks!
Check out their web site – the link can be found on the left (in the Links section).

Valentines Day '09'

Here are the last few things I have made for Valentines Day. The two boxes and smaller sign are made of poplar. The bigger sign (with the couple on it) is made of a poplar front and a pine backing.

Basket / Box

Here is a project I finally finished. I started and stopped this one a few times. I got motivated to finish this one when a good friend fell in love with it when she saw the lid half done. The box is 7” across and 4” tall and is based on a patter called “Queen Anne Basket” from the book “Scroll Saw Basket Weave Projects”.

Phoenix

I was asked (by my oldest son) if I could make the phoenix from the “Fantasy & Legend Scroll Saw Puzzles” without making it a puzzle. Seeing this son never asks for anything I jumped at the chance, so here it is. Now I need to get it in the mail to him.

For size comparison there is a quarter in the picture.

Heart Box

Once again I saw a wonderful pattern by Steve Good. I have made three so far. The box in the middle is made from poplar top & bottom and sides made of pine. The couple on the top is also made of poplar. The other two boxes are made of oak. The boxes are around 4” x 4”. With the lid on the boxes are about 1 ¼” tall. The inside is around ¾” deep. Also notice the quarter in couple of pictures. Look for these at the TnTCreation store on Etsy (see link on the left).

Puzzles

I missed posting these before the holidays. Here are a few puzzles I made for my kids and their friends. Made from various woods and coated with Dutch Oil.

Christmas Presents 2008

Here are a couple of Christmas presents I made for family this year. The Satna box is based another wonderful pattern by Steve Good. Visit Steve @ http://www.scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/
The basket is from a pattern book from Fox Chapel publishing.

Do not forget to add yourself to our guest map at the bottom of the page!

Thanks!

Tim