Scroll Saw Blog

Another quick trip, carrying the last of the stuff to Mississippi. Yep, bringing the old tablesaw and jointer down this time.  Also a load of Baltic birch plywood–it’s strapped to the side with some 1/2″ thick sheets strapped to the appliances up front. I’m a little tongue-heavy, so I threw some wood in the back. You can also see the spare tires strapped to the side.  One’s for the truck, the other for the trailer.  I figure it’s easier to grab one out of the trailer than try fishing it out of the truck with the trailer attached.  Imaging a big, heavy tire being maneuvered out the tailgate and off the edge with the trailer hitch right there in the way.  You can also see the E-track mounted in the trailer.  If you get a trailer, the E-track is highly recommended. It sure makes strapping things in much easier, and many truck stops have E-track straps for sale if you get in a bind (or need to get the cargo into a bind ).

Trailer Load with E-Track

The upstairs air conditioner is out….again. Now that the roof is heating up in the sun, it’s getting toasty up here.  What’s bad is the scroll saw is up here, and cutting in the heat is Not Good.  What’s worse, the servers are also up here.  If we can’t get the A/C running soon, I’ll have to bring the servers down until it’s either fixed or I can find another spot for them.  So, if the blog is not coming up for you in the next few days, come back a little later. Hopefully we can get this fixed this week.

I’ve been collecting the Dover clip art books…decent images that explicitly state that you can use them in crafts without getting further permission.  I ordered some more from Amazon last night.  I get the “free 2nd day shipping”–it’s proven worth the cost, as even the slow-boat shipping costs add up. Anyway, I went out to grab the trailer and came back around lunch time–the books where sitting by the door.  I guess we have an Amazon shipping warehouse nearby–whatever the reason, it’s nice having free overnight  delivery at times!

Lighting is very important in the shop–if for nothing else, you want to see clearly enough that the fingers don’t go through the tablesaw blade! My favorite shop light is what’s known as a “High Output Fluorescent”. These 8′ fixtures are a little more expensive than standard fluorescent (running around ~US$60), but give out quite a bit more light. I had a standard 8′ fixture back in Ohio; when I put a high-output type next to it the differences was very obvious. Another advantage is there cold tolerance.  Standard fixtures may not light-up in cold weather, and when they do, they are dim. The high-output fixtures are good down to at least 20F, and I’ve never had problems with it coming on.

For those of you who have the “compact fluorescent” bulbs (esp. those who hate them), the high-output bulbs last much, much longer.  I had a set of bulbs that lasted 5-6 years with almost constant use.  I’m doing good to get a year out of the compact fluorescent. Highly recommended.

Here is the fixture I re-installed here in Pendleton. I figured the new owners of the house would do fine with the standard 8′ fixture, which is quite a bit more light than the original 100W incandescent the garage started off with! The hardest part of installing the fixture is the weight–the ballast is big, full of iron, and heavy. I stripped the entire fixture down to just the sheet metal. This was screwed into the ceiling using 2-1/2″ wood screws.  Be sure to screw into joists–remember, this thing is *heavy*. I then mounted the ballast other guts into the fixture.  Re-hook up the wiring (this took the place of a standard fixture that had a bad ballast), black-to-black, white-to-white, ground-to-sheet metal and then put the covers back on. That’s all there is to it!

High-Output Fluorecent

Today I spent cleaning up the wood in the Ohio garages, doing “Triage”. The obvious scrap is going into a burn pile, the remaining boards were sorted by specie. I’ll be taking the “full” boards down to Mississippi for use down there. Cut boards will be sorted into wood I want to use in Indiana; the rest I’m thinking of taking to the Scrollsaw Club to see if anybody wants it. The wood nobody wants will go into a burn pile.

I also loaded up the Baltic Birch plywood into the trailer. A few sheets got set-aside for Indiana. I’m not keeping much, since it’s easier to get up here then in Mississippi.

The garage looks completely different. The shelves still need packing, but it’s a lot more open in there. A lot of the stuff on the shelves will end up in the burn pile or trash.

I ordered several pendulum-type movements from a new (to me) outfit called “Primex”.  Based on the links, it looks like they’re the wholesale arm of Klockit, and only sell to those with a sales-tax ID number or similar item.  The prices they were quoting were better than another outlet I’ve been using, so I gave them a try. After the order on Monday I got a quick acknowledgment, but nothing about shipping.  I was checking today, and the order was still listed as “being processed”.  So there was a bit of surprise when a box came with the movements.  This was better than the previous folks, who sometimes would take their own sweet time at getting things shipped.

Anyway, now that the movements are here, I was able to finish off a few clocks.  The Little Princess #1 wasn’t one, though–the spacer interfered with the pendulum movement.  I gave up and put in a non-pendulum version which did fit.  That means the little platform becomes a small space to put a knick-knack if desired.  For Little Princess #2 I cut out the spacer.  The movement is still a little large, but I’m hoping it goes in there.

Today’s project (besides cutting out one wolf and messing up a second) was the Little Princess Clock. Since I’ve got that truckload of cherry, I’ve been making the clocks out of the cherry. Not only is it “there”, but scraps from one project are readily available for the next. The first picture is the stack of blanks that make up a pair of Little Princess Clocks:

Little Princess Blanks

(Pardon the white balance issue.  I was too lazy to move the lamp, so we’ve got the wood illuminated by two different colored light sources.)

Three hours of cutting later, a bit of sanding and assembly, and I’ve got one of the two Little Princess clocks put together.  The other is ready to go together, and will be put be assembled shortly. The picture below is the raw cherry Little Sweetheart (on the left) and the Little Princess (on the right).  The Little Sweetheart uses a 2-3/4″ insert. Because of the battery issues posted previously, I doubt if I’ll make more of these until I find inserts that take “AA” batteries. The Little Princess takes a pendulum movement and dial.  It also uses 3/16″ wood instead of the normal 1/4″.  I cheated and used 1/4″ for the gable piece for strength.

Little Sweetheart/Little Princess Clocks

Harbor Freight is a good source of cheap tools–but you have to be careful.  I consider what I get from them as “Disposable Tools”. If you need something for a one-time special job, it might make sense to get the tool from them, and assume it won’t last beyond the job at hand.  However, on occasion you get a rather decent tool. The clamps below are a good example.  Thought I wouldn’t compare them to a $40 Bessey Clamp, these only cost about $6.  And I got lucky and got several at $2 each.  (Haven’t been lucky since that sale, though!)

The work well for edge gluing panels. I’ve also used them once in a while to hold together projects like the Wilderness Clock.

Harbor Freight Clamps

It’s been a few days since the last post and even more since a picture, so I’m throwing up one of the latest Wilderness Clocks.  It’s almost finished; just needs a movement and hands. The clock is made from solid cherry, as is it’s twin.  The twin just went through an oil bath, and when the oil cures will be getting a coat of spray lacquer.  The oil helps to make sure the edges of the fretwork get “wet-colored”, as it’s hard to get a spray finish to evenly coat the edges inside the holes. The dial is another printed dial. For the twin I’m planning on putting some foresty clip art on it.

This is another clock in the ongoing goal of replenishing the clocks that I’ve made and sold in the past.  The next one is the Little Princess; this one is like the Little Sweetheart, just a little bigger and with a pendulum movement instead of a 2-3/4″ insert.

Which brings up a problem: I like the 2-3/4″ inserts, but the only ones I can find require a “n” battery (looks like 1/2 of a “AA”). These batteries are hard to find and rather expensive.  I wish the clock part folks would bring back the ones that take a “AAA”. I ordered some more pendulum movements (FYI, they’re now running about $7 ea in quantity), and couldn’t find any supplier that still had the inserts that used “AAA” batteries!

Wilderness Clock (Cherry)

Well, I did get the clocks (Little Sweetheart and Wilderness) mostly cut out.  There were a few measurement issues (due to some modifications) that meant I had to  re-cut some parts.  Both Wilderness Clocks are cuts & assembled; one has just been oiled and the other is waiting.  The Little Sweetheart clocks have been a little bit of a pain.  First I assembled them in the wrong order. I try to put them together so I can sand the joints and get rid of any irregularities.  Unfortunately I put on the wrong parts first and that’s kept me from the sanding. Next I sanded the carcass in the wrong order: Forgot to put on some trim pieces first, so I had to re-sand the carcass.  This sanding was to get the top ready for the roof.  Well, I did get that sanding done, but when I put the roof pieces on, they were too narrow.  I need to go back and expand the roof pieces so they’re big enough.  Fortunately one of the measurement goofs in the Wilderness Clock left me some extra pieces that will work for replacement roofs for the Little Sweetheart!

I’ll try to get some pictures of the Wilderness Clock later tonight.  It’s a nice clock, just takes a bit of time to cut (pushing 4 hours for a group of two).