Signals From The Bunker

[dedee]

Gill, amazing pieces. So they took more than a couple of hours to complete . Can't wait to see the furniture.
Could you turn one of them over for a mirror image and incorporate than into door panels perhaps?

Hope the diamond is worth the wait.

Andy

 

[tim]

Well that is fantastic Gill. Well done. Glad that you felt that you improved and got into the zone as it were. Its happened to me a couple of times - its an extraordinary feeling - although in my case, the exit from the zone is normally harsh and sudden. Say no more.


What furniture are you thinking of incorporating them in?

Maybe a chaise longue - then you can enjoy them lion down :roll: . Its okay, its already on and I'm out the door.....

Cheers

Tim

 

[Les Mahon]

Super work Gill! my meagre efforts at the scrollsaw challenge make me realise that there is quite a bit to this scrollsaw lark! I admire your perseverance - my workshop is strewn with bit's of things that seemed like a good idea, but just got left on the "too hard will come back to it" pile.

The Henger becoming an extension of your will power - mutant power tools - scary concept, you just keep that will power in check :lol:

 

[cambournepete]

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D> ccasion5: ccasion5: ccasion5: ccasion5: ccasion5:

Very impressed Gill.

Make sure you put them somewhere safe before disaster strikes...

 

[Alf]

Coo. :shock:

 

[les chicken]

Gill
That is an amazing piece of work. You may have got into the "zone" because they are so life like they may have bitten you if you were not careful. As a matter of interest what are the sizes.

Les

 

[tombo]

Gill,

bravo fantastic work! =D>, though its got me thinking... as know very little about scroll saws, shoot me down in flames if you like.
I watched an episode of the NYW where norm filled some faults in pieces of stock with black epoxy and then sanded smooth. I was thinking that this technique might look good with a scroll saw portrait, fill the cut outs with a contrasting filler... what do you think? like i said i know nothing about scroll saws.

Tom

 

[Gill]

Thank you all for the kind words.

It was a surprisingly simple portrait to cut, nowhere near as complicated as the Beatles portrait I cut a few months ago. There's no reason why a beginner couldn't complete this project; indeed, it would be a good way to hone skills. Apart from a few features such as the eyes and the mouth, it doesn't really matter how accurate you are. All you need is patience (and a scrollsaw with a supply of blades, of course :roll: ).

Les - it's 24.5 x 19 cm (inside cut measurements) so it fitted quite nicely onto plywood that I'd cut to roughly A4 size.

Tim - I haven't decided how I'm going to use them yet. A small box such as a CD/DVD cabinet is most likely.

Tombo - It's funny you should mention that! It's something I intend to do very shortly. I've just been asking about how to infill with resin to achieve such a finish.

Maybe a chaise longue - then you can enjoy them lion down :rolling eyes: .

Groan #-o

Gill

 

[tombo]

Gill,

two forums i dont look at turning and finishing, if i had i would have seen that ideas in this area are far more advanced than i was contemplating. Though after a finishing disater a couple of months ago, that i have only just come to terms with, I should pay the finishing section more heed.

Tom

 

[Gill]

Stack cut from 4mm plywood and suitable for dangling from a car rear view mirror instead of furry dice. Well, I like them .

I used DecoArt Triple Thick Gloss Glaze Spray to finish these items. It's the first time I've used it and it's great! Available from Calico Crafts.

Gill

 

[Jaco]

The Lion looks GREAT! 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[Gill]

A little while ago I had the good fortune to be given the trimmings of a waney edged board of hornbeam. I've never used hornbeam before and I found it to be a hard wood but a delightful one to work. When sanding the final piece, I had to be careful not to catch any of the sawn edges with my fingers because they were sharp enough to cut me!

I scrolled a layered Nativity scene measuring 2½" x 6½" and finished with one coat of Danish oil.

If there are any more hornbeam offcuts out there looking for a good home, remember me !

Gill

 

[Les Mahon]

Stunning Gill.

This reminds me that I must give the Chopper a go if I get enough Workshop time over the weekend.

Les

 

[trevtheturner]

Well, well, well! Superb, Gill.

If there are any more hornbeam offcuts out there looking for a good home.........

Might be ............

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[Lin]

Well girl, You have wiped me out.....You my friend are on a roll.....The puppies are wonderful.....wishing I could paint besides the spray kind.....and the lions...they are something else. I have that pattern and have not had the guts to jump on that many cuts myself. You did a wonderful job on them....I to understand the "Zone" you speak of...it's a great feeling when it happens....everything just flows.....just wish it was like that every time I scrolled....
The nativity scene you did......is awesome....I like the layering. Some thing I have not tried out.....Hard to do?
Looking forward to your "table".....
Is your Diamond back yet and how do you like it if so?
So new many things I want to try and you are doing it......Wish I had you over hear to help me when I jump on a new one..
Keep it up.....loving the pics...
Lin

 

[Gill]

When I see the work that you people produce yourselves, it humbles me that you should praise mine. Thank you.

Lin, the layered cuts are very straight forward but you've got to follow the pattern very closely when cutting parts which have to align. Otherwise, you'll have a lot of sanding to do. I'm confident that such cuts are easily within your capability. Actually, it took me a lot longer to sand the Nativity piece than it did to cut it . It was all cut from the one piece of wood, then each layer was sanded, scroll cut, and laminated back together. Since hornbeam is a very close-grained wood you can't really tell it's all from the one block. However, if you were cutting from something with a more pronounced grain it would be a different story. Patrick Spielman says that the scene should be enlarged considerably (118%, IIRC) before cutting, but I kept it small because the offcut wasn't terribly large. If it had been a bit bigger it would have been much easier - and less painful - to sand.

Yup, the Diamond is back with me but I've got problems with vibration because I don't have a suitable work surface to operate it on... yet! I've got my beady eyes set on part of His Lordship's lathe workshop which has a concrete floor. The idea is that he'll build a breeze block plinth onto which I'll mount a wooden box filled with sand. Resting on top of the box will be a piece of marble which will be bolted to the box and the saw will be fixed on top of the marble. The idea is that as the saw operates, its vibration will compact the sand and by tightening up the bolts through the marble base I'll be adding weight to the saw and thereby eliminating vibration. Well, that's the theory...

Table? What table :-$ ? For goodness sake, that's tantamount to accusing me of being a 'proper' woodworker! I've got a reputation to live down to, you know .

Gill

 

[Lin]

Gill, Gotta a question....Could the layered nativity scene be done from two or three blocks of contrasting wood......all the same size to start with? Then the pieces be interchanged to glue back together.....would that work or not.....Thinking that might look really cool...different species in the same project....Could the scrolling be stack cut if done that way?
Curious minds want to know.....I have an interest in trying it if its possible....won't happen for quite a bit of time with the orders I have...might not even be till after x-mas....but sounds like a plan....maybe?
Lin

 

[Gill]

Hi Lin

What an interesting idea :idea: . I don't see why you couldn't cut a layered scene with contrasting woods. The only problem is that all the details on each layer would contrast throughout the whole layer, and that might not look attractive. It could end up looking like a liquorice allsort, a piece of liquorice sandwiched between two coloured pieces of coconut:

Perhaps it might be possible to limit this effect. I'd suggest stack cutting in the conventional way, but remove those items you want to contrast as if you were segmenting a layer. Then interchange the 'segments' with their corresponding segments in a contrasting wood. Of course, this would leave a gap the width of the blade which you'd have to either fill or ignore. But if you only used the technique with background layers, the gap would only be visible under very close scrutiny anyway. Alternatively, it would make for good intarsia practice .

Potentially more serious would be the problem of ensuring that the contrasting layers are of corresponding thicknesses to each other. You couldn't stack cut a layer that was 3mm thick with one that was 3.5 mm thick because the layers wouldn't lie on top of each other without gaps after they were swapped. Of course, you've got access to a drum sander so you wouldn't find this much of a problem. I'm not so fortunate - I'll have to rely on my as-yet-untested thicknesser auxilliary table.

I hope this makes sense - it would probably be easier to show you through photographs rather than trying to write a description. I'm going to be rather busy over the next few days but when I get some time I'll tinker about and take some photographs to show you what I mean.

Gill

 

[Lin]

Gill, Where did you get the layered pattern from?...Which book or what mag?....I probably have it and don't even know it....Would like to look at it and the intructions to help me understand better.....Looking forward to pics of what you are talking about to get it to sink in.\
Lin

 

[Gill]

Hi Lin

I got them from Patrick Spielman's Fun and Easy Scroll Saw Projects in which he describes them as 'logscapes' because he cuts them out of logs. It's a very good book and there are lots of patterns in there that I like.

Gill