Any "Bikers" out there?

[Chris Knight]

Lin,
That horsehead is fabulous! I like the transitional effect between marquetry and carving that intarsia seems to impart.

That is a neat little sanding gadget you have in the picture - did you make it?

 

[dedee]

Do any of you "Boys" scroll?

Yes but having viewed the contents of this post a few times I might as well give up

Excellant stuff

I ride a Brompton by the way.

Andy

 

[StevieB]

Nice work Lin 8) I ride a Yamaha FZS600 Fazer - great fun unless its pouring down with rain like today :evil: Still faster than the car through London though

Steve.

 

[Gill]

The horse's head is coming on a treat, Lin. It'll be great to see how it comes out.

Trev - it's a pain in the proverbial getting decent plywood in this country. I've whinged about it before on this forum. Believe it or not, B&Q actually do a fairly decent interior grade plywood that doesn't have voids and is suitable for scrolling - but only one side of the board is suitable for presentation and the thinnest I've seen is 4mm. I have manged to wangle myself some 1.5mm aircraft ply, but it was a 'one off' purchase and I don't know how reliable this source is going to be in future. Hobbies of Dereham will mail out pieces of thin ply but the cost has always deterred me from using their service.

I tend not to work in ply any longer. Now that I've found a source of good timber ('scuse the pun) I'm using proper wood more and more.

Andy - come on, don't be downhearted! Lin's craft is an inspiration and encourages me to better work. Her techniques are little different to those used by scrollers all over the world. The thing is, she's worked hard at it and has learned how to give her pieces a delightfully personal touch. The more you work at scrolling, the better you get - and the improvements do start to happen quickly. What's really holding you back (apart from a young family (hammer)) ?

Gill

 

[CHJ]

Switched on the 'puter this morning to check the mail, and WoW this thread hit me like a breath of Fresh Air.

Could not have been more welcome on a damp morning in Gloucestershire.

Well done Lin for treating us to your efforts. And to Gill for introducing us to you.

 

[dedee]

.

Andy ........ What's really holding you back (apart from a young family (hammer)) ?

Gill

Don't take my comments too seriously I too am inspired by the work on show here. It is somewhat ironic that I got into scrolling to make wooden toys, jigsaws etc for the kids (friends and family have benefited enormously) but at the moment it is my own children that are restricting workshop time to nearly zero. My choice I suppose and I probably could get my on 5 hours sleep if I really tried :wink:

What have my kids got in common with London buses? Wait ages for one then two come together!

Andy

 

[Lin]

I just gotta add to this thread......I have played with several hobbies over the years.....Wishing now that I would've found out about a scrollsaw many years ago. The only hobby I ever stuck with before my Hawk showed up was crocheting. That little love of my life is what paid for my first scrollsaw. I made and sold afghans, scrunchies, and dollies for about three years and just kept stashing my $$ away....then when I realized how much I had.....I of course had to find a way to spend it. Thought about buying a laptop first but saw an infomercial on the TV that caught my interest.....The Roto-Zip. Now that little tool looked cool and also looked like something I could do......bought one and made several outdoor pieces with it but wanted to make more intricate cuts....a guy at my JOB told me.....well why don't you buy a scrollsaw......After he explained to me what it was....I started checking it out online. After several months of looking into several different saws I ordered my first Hawk and spent most all of my savings on it then shortly after a drill press. I got my saw in April of 2002.......Not ever having done anything with wood other than the Roto-Zip in plywood and hammering a few nails this was gonna be fun.....or so I thoguht. I knew nothing about how to finish anything and just learnig how to get the blade to stay in the holder on the Hawk was hard enough.....luckily the folks at RBI were very tolerate of a new scroller and talked me thru my first attempts......I say attempts because most all of my first attempts became "wooden frisbees"...
The boards said a #5 blade was the best to start with.....I tried using precision blades at first...they were the only ones I could make cut straight...(I hadn't found out about the burr on the blades that cause you to have to feed at little off center) With the #5 blade PGT blades I tried to cut ornaments from 1/4" ply....not stack cutting them...I chopped them up over and over again....Boy I thought I had made a big mistake with my $$. Finally found out about the burr on the blades and tried a smaller blade....better but still having problems controlling the blade....took a suggestion online and switched to cutting 3/4" pine....cheap wood for me to practice on.......Laid out a couple easy cuts.....only a couple interior cuts and I was able to complete them both without cutting off pieces I wasn't suppose to....now the outer round cut on both of them had lots and lots of bumps.....but they looked pretty good to me after all the mess ups I had been having....I sanded the bumps as best I could and then sanded the pattern off.......or so I thought..I stained both pieces......whoops....I didn't get all the glue off when sanding....Had to sand off the stain and the glue and try the staining again. Since have learn to use painter's blue tape or the lavendar stuff under my pattern or to use mineral spirits to get the pattern off.....
Those first two completed pieces went to family members as trivets...They took me two months to get done......as I cut many pieces I threw away first. I still get small bumps sometimes when cutting circles but have improved drastically over those first two. By the time X-mas had arrived I was able to do some ornaments for our tree and sold a few to co-workers.....Around X-mas time that first year is when I discovered pattern making and portrait cutting....WOW....a new thing to try...My art is still developing today. My customers come up with new ideas for me to try for them and as they say...."the beat goes on" There is still much for me to learn....with the scrollsaw......and more so about woodworking in general.....Lots of "Toys" to master and things to learn. The scrollsaw is addictive and as hobbies go....the learning curve is not to bad.....just stick with it and make some wooden frisbees and before you know it....you'll be following the line fairly perfect and the projects that you can make are endless.
The little sanding tool in the pic with the Horsehead is called a "Bow Sander" I purchased it from another scroller who does fantastic Intarsia projects. He makes and sells these handy tools besides sellinghis art. There are other types of these on the market. Great for getting into those little areas to round over that I cannot get to with my flex sanders.
Lin

 

[Chris Knight]

Lin,
Great background - thanks for the info on the bow sander.

 

[Gill]

Talk about 'Post in haste, repent at leisure'...

Anyone who's taken copies of the patterns that I posted earlier in the thread (and you're quite welcome to do so) should contact me for an amended version. There are one or two minor defects with the original patterns that need to be rectified before attempting to cut.

Sorry about that.

Gill

 

[ProShop]

Lin,
Another biker here
Fantastic, Love the bikes and the Horses.