Santa's Six Pack

[D L Ames]

Here are six small pot potpourri boxes I put together from a free plan offered on the Wood Magazine site this month. Nothing like a few last minute Christmas gifts. These boxes are made out of (L to R) Lacewood, QSWO, and I believe Bloodwood. I scroll sawed all of the lids out of 1/8" Baltic birch ply. Its been awhile since I have done any scrolling and I forgot how good I suck at it.:lol:

I have these wiped down with MS in this photo and will finish them with Minwax natural stain and 3-4 coats of wipe-on poly then add the screen in the bottom of each box.

Thanks for looking.

D L

 

[woodguy1975]

Looking good D L. Looks like some awsomely tight miters and some great scroll work.

I'm assuming the natural stain is going to be used to pop the grain. Why that over the usual tung oil or BLO? Is it because of the amber tone of an oil isn't desired? I know Jerry Terhark uses natural stain quite a bit too, but can't remember exactly what he said about it.

Thanks,

John

 

[D L Ames]

Looking good D L. Looks like some awsomely tight miters and some great scroll work.

I'm assuming the natural stain is going to be used to pop the grain. Why that over the usual tung oil or BLO? Is it because of the amber tone of an oil isn't desired? I know Jerry Terhark uses natural stain quite a bit too, but can't remember exactly what he said about it.

Thanks,

John

Thanks John, actually I used the stain because it said I could top coat in about 8-hours as opposed to 72-hours required by the Watco oil I prefer using. How much time do you need before you can top coat tung oil or BLO?

D L

 

[woodguy1975]

If you top coat BLO or Tung with poly you can do it 24 hrs later. If you top coat with lacquer you have to wait at least 3 days. If all the moisture isn't out you are in for blushing with Lacquer. Most of the time I use poly I use it in about 50/50 with BLO or tung oil to pop the grain for the first coat. I just go back the second day and start out with the straight up poly.

I do have to admit one thing. I hate poly. I use shellach or Lacquer when at all possible.

Good Luck,

John

 

[Canuck]

Great work D.L.! I am pretty impressed with the scroll work. (The only downside is that when guys can produce the kind of work that you do, I am once more hit with that Woodguy's disease! - I have not as yet purchased a good scroll saw. Even though I just joined this forum about a week ago, my list of gotta have power tools continues to grow and grow. I may have to just continue to be envious 'till after XMas.)

Thanks for posting your pictures and the source of the plan.

Wayne

 

[clowman]

Those are top notch DL. Nice tight mitres as John said. What's your technique? Really nice SS work too!

 

[DaveO]

Beautiful DL, you should be very proud. Nice scroll work, too. Dave

 

[cskipper]

Great job! Don't know why you are criticizing your scroll work - looks good to me. Wayne - the WG disease is very addictive! We had it long before it got it's official name. If you want to jump slowly at the scroll saw - let's talk - I want to upgrade... (oh my heavens - now insomniac is even rubbing off on me!)

 

[Monty]

Very nice! I really like that scroll work ... wish I had the patience for that!

 

[sapwood]

D L,

I viewed the pixs long and hard--can't be done :eusa_doh:

OK, maybe you made the boxes (love that lacewood) and a scrollsaw in the hands of a craftsman can cut perfectly round circles and tiny little figures :eusa_thin

I'm amazed

Sapwood

 

[D L Ames]

Actually the quality of the scroll work is in direct proportion to how far I stood away when I took the picture. Notice I didn't include any close-ups.:lol:

John, thanks for the tips on finishing. I use lacquer occasionally and I forgot about the issue with blushing even though I read that someplace before. I am just now stating to get brave and and experiment with blending finishes such has thinned hand rubbed varnish. I used that technique on one of those pistol boxes I made and really like the silky smooth feel of the final finish. Only problem is that it took me 4-days to do all four coats and Santa (aka LOML) needs to take these boxes to work on Thursday for a gift exchange. I am looking forward to experimenting with BLO in the future.

Clay, I cut all of my miters on the TS with the miter gauge. I cut the four side pieces sequentially so I could get the grain to flow and match around the box. Hmmmm:eusa_thin ......that grain matching stuff must be another one of those Woodguyisms.:lol: Sure, its no where near the size of a bathroom vanity but by golly my grain matches.:lol: For my glue-up, I laid all four sides (outside) down on a piece of masking tape (sticky side up) with the long points of the miters touching, applied glue to the "V" that was formed and then just folded the box square. The masking tape is all that was needed to clamp the boxes until the glued dried. I hope this makes sense.

D L

 

[D L Ames]

D L,

I viewed the pixs long and hard--can't be done :eusa_doh:

OK, maybe you made the boxes (love that lacewood) and a scrollsaw in the hands of a craftsman can cut perfectly round circles and tiny little figures :eusa_thin

I'm amazed

Sapwood

Okay Roger busted me out.:eusa_naug I forgot to mention my perfectly round circles came from my perfectly round brad point bits.:lol:

D L

 

[D L Ames]

Here is a link for the free plan offered by Wood Magazine if anyone is interested. http://images.meredith.com/wood/pdf/Dec05.pdf

BTW, the 1st of every month Wood offers a free downloadable plan on their web site. I normally download them each month and stick them in a folder on the computer.

D L

 

[mshel]

Great job on the boxes. I don't do much scroll work but maybe one of these days when things are really slow, I might just tackle some sort of scroll project. I want to do some inlay work and that might be the first thing I attempt. I bet I haven't used my scroll saw a total of 2 or 3 hrs since I bought it. Hardly justifies it's existance but it is one of those " if you need it, you got it" things.

Mike

 

[cskipper]

Mike, not to say you need to practice a little bit, but I'd suggest not jumping right into cutting inlays. You might want to cut a couple of simple ornaments or something similar first - just to get used to the tracking of the scroll saw blades, speed control... again. Inlays require pretty precise cutting.

 

[Big Mike]

DL I love all boxes and those are wonderful. Several years ago when the pattern for the one with the flowers/berries/mistletoe came out I made one for all the women in my life. I had had very little practice with a scroll saw. By the time I managed to cut 7 of them that looked decent I decided not to become a scroll sawyer.....Yours look great even from a distance. Nicely done!:icon_thum

 

[D L Ames]

By the time I managed to cut 7 of them that looked decent I decided not to become a scroll sawyer.....Yours look great even from a distance. Nicely done!:icon_thum

Mike, thanks for your comments. I stacked my lids in groups of four and held them together with carpet tape and then gang sawed them four at a time. I find this technique useful for ensuring I consistently carry my screw-ups across all four pieces.:lol: I think I saw one of these boxes in one of the other member's gallery.

D L

 

[cskipper]

Stack cutting is definitely the way to go. I've tried lots of ways to keep the pieces together - am currently masking tape along the edges on all for sides. There are many ways like the one you mentioned. The only thing I quit using was double sided tape - your pieces can break when you are taking them apart. Good job on your boxes,

 

[D L Ames]

Cathy, I have had problems with breakage also in the past with the double-faced tape method. This time I just used very small pieces (3/8" sq?) in each of the corners and tried to stay away from the pattern area. The other thing that I relearned again (DAMHIKT) is that it is a good idea to include a sacrificial piece on the bottom of the stack. Fortunately I cut four of each lid and only needed three of each.

D L

 

[rickc]

The only thing I quit using was double sided tape - your pieces can break when you are taking them apart. Good job on your boxes,

I have the same problem with double sided tape - plus, when I find my fingers sometimes stick to the tape, instead of turning or sliding. Has given me some unwanted cuts!

One technique I used after breaking a couple small ornaments done by stack cutting was to use a hot air gun. Essentially I use the heat to loosen up the adhesive. Even helps remove the small pieces of tape that sometimes stay behind. Works very well - you just have to keep in mind several points:

1) keep your fingers away from the hot air!
2) remember the wood will get HOT, too!
3) Don't let the hot air gun focus on any one spot too long - if you don't pay attention to what you are doing, you can scorch the wood. (Don't ask! )