Scroll Saw Blog

We’re playing with the blog servers, so the scrollsawblog may be up and down for a bit…. We’ll be back….hopefully !

I cut out the horse shelf last night/this morning. Despite the horrendous color, that’s really cherry.  And I haven’t blown out the dust so the holes are kind fuzzy.  This one took about twice as long to cut out as the Deer Shelf.  Part of increase was due to complexity–there’s just more holes in the horse shelf. The other is cherry–it’s a little slower cutting than the sassafras.  Oh, and a #3 blade cuts much, much quicker than a #5.

I was going to cut the shelf boards out, but instead spent most of the day cleaning/re-organizing and just didn’t get around to it.  Oh, and I also spent a good bit of time taking bookmark pictures and adding them to the catalog and to the Tuliptree site.

If you look at the pictures you’ll notice a couple of things.  One, I forgot the slot for the cleat–oops, got to go back and cut it. The other is the slots in the bottom of the middle piece and top of the bottom piece. These additional cross pieces should strengthen the shelves quit a bit, since we no longer have to depend on butt-joints.

Horse Shelf Side

Just had a chance at picking up a real good spot at the Canton Flea Market. Unfortunately Verizon didn’t get me the voicemail until 3 days later, so I lost the spot. Not very happy with Verizon right now……..

And it’s Finished! I got it oiled this afternoon, and test-displayed it on the slatboard.

This afternoon I adapted another shelf pattern–this one is a horse-themed shelf.  The goal is to cut it out of cherry tomorrow. Jen wants me to adapt the iris pattern into another shelf.  I’ve got it partly done–the iris middle portion is finished, but I need a lower bracket.  After this one is cut I’m thinking of going back to the deer shelf with some structural improvements such as another connector piece on the lower shelf to keep everything glued together better.

Finished Deer Shelf

The parts for the old Porter-Cable micropinner came in today.  Wonder-of-wonders, I was able to put them right on ! Anyway, with a little trepidation and images of exploding power tools flashing in my mind, I shot out a few pins, and IT WORKED!!!

As to the Harbor Freight $25 special?  Well, I didn’t have any trouble with it, so what I’m thinking is to put a common length pin in it and have it handy, and use the Porter-Cable for the rest. I wouldn’t have any problem telling someone to get the $25 micropinner from Harbor Freight. It might not be the best, but it did get the job done.

I was able to get that deer shelf mentioned in the previous post put together this morning. I ran across a few issues that need to be addressed in the next shelf though.

Below is the assembled shelf.  It’s all made from 1/2″ sassafras. The shelves are 18″ x 6″; to get some idea of the actual size, it is sitting on 3 scrap 2×4s.

This next picture shows the cleat and how it’s attached to the wall.  You’re looking from the wall-side of the shelf. The cleat is the trapezoidal piece sticking out from the shelf.  The screw goes through the cleat into the wall, and the shelf slides back on top of the cleat.

To put it on the wall you’ll slide the cleat out and screw it to the wall.  Since it’s just one board, it’s lightweight and should be easy to keep it level while screwing it in. Once the cleat is on the wall, you’ll take the shelf and slide it on top of the cleat from the side.

If you don’t have enough room to slide it off, another option would be to slide the shelf off the cleat just enough to get a screw through the cleat into the wall.  Then slide the shelf the other way and screw the other screw through the cleat. Unfortunately you’ll have the entire weight of the shelf to put up with, but it can be done.

One thing I’ve been meaning to try for a while is a set of shelves with fretwork sides.  The problem: How to hang it?  I don’t like the traditional picture hanger. You need two of them, they have to be put in at a precise distance while keeping them level. Another method is to use a cleat.  The cleat is screwed to the wall, preferably into studs. Then the shelf hangs from the cleat.

What I’ve done is take Pedro’s (www.finescrollsaw.com)  Deer Corner Shelf pattern and cut it into three pieces. Two shelves will go in between the three pieces, with the top shelf also connected to the cleat. The shelves will be 18″ long–2″ longer than the US standard stud spacing of 16″. The idea is that the wall part of the cleat will be screwed into the wall on the 16″ centers.  The shelf sides will also be on 16″ centers, so they’ll hide the screw holes when the shelf is in place.  With 1/2″ stock, that makes the sides 17″ from side-to-side, and 18″ will give an additional 1/2″ beyond the sides.  This will make errors in cutting length not so obvious–we’ll see if it works!

The sides are cut, and are shown below.  The stock for the cleat is already to be sliced at and angle–it will fit in the slot at the back of the sides. The stock for the shelves is being glued up.  Tomorrow I’ll remove the clamps, plane & cut the boards, slice & cut the cleats, and then the unit should be ready for assembly.  If all goes well, there should be a picture here tomorrow.

Deer Shelf Sides

Now that I have boxes for the barrettes, earrings and other jewelry, I need to make a display to hold the boxes that can also display them. I’m working on the first attempt; this one will hold 3 rows of 6 boxes each, or a total of 18 pieces.  I drew the design in Coreldraw, and this is as far as I got tonight.  The sides, vertical pieces and bracing are 3/4″ sassafras; the shelves will be 1/4″ Baltic Birch. The shelves will also have a sassafras lip.  After it’s finished I’ll paint the entire display forest green to fit in with the rest of the tables. So why am I using sassafras? Simple–I got a whole bunch of it!

Jewelry Display

This is the ongoing saga of Pedro’s “Garden Box” from his www.finescrollsaw.com website. Both sets of long sides are cut, as is one set of short sides. The next step is to cut the second set of short sides.

I was out getting a piece of stained glass for the flower boxes, and was thinking of trying out one of the Garden Boxes with stained glass. It would help protect the fretwork during daily use; however, the holes aren’t that large and the effect of the glass may be diminished. I’d have to go with a clear, single-colour glass, as any opalization would detract from the fretwork.

To do the glass would require some design thought on assembly.  A 1/4″ x 1/4″ piece of cherry with an 1/8″ x 1/8″ rabbet cut out of one corner would hold the glass in place on the sides.  I’m thinking a similar arrangement would work on the lid as well.  The trick would be to make sure that these supports would not interfere with the top’s fretwork, while also making sure the glass and supports fit within the supports on the sides. I haven’t got out the ruler yet to see if this is practical.  If not, I could go with glass only on the sides or on the top.  Another possibility is gluing the glass without the cherry supports, but this won’t look as nice on the inside.