Compound cutting wood

[OCtoolguy]

I have a question regarding the printing of the pattern. Or any pattern for that matter. When it comes to controlling my printer I never seem to be able to get it to do what I want. How do you take the pattern of the reindeer and print out as many as Charley mentioned on a single sheet of paper? I can't seem to figure that out. Any help from you folks would be greatly appreciated. I have an Epson WF-3640 printer. When I tell it to do wallet size pictures, I only get one instead of the 9 that it says I can print. I can't seem to find the setting for that.

Ray

 

[fredfret]

I make several copies then lay them out to get what I need and make copies. I'm not smart enough to make the computer do it for me. 

Fredfret

[Fab4]

5 hours ago, octoolguy said:

I have a question regarding the printing of the pattern. Or any pattern for that matter. When it comes to controlling my printer I never seem to be able to get it to do what I want. How do you take the pattern of the reindeer and print out as many as Charley mentioned on a single sheet of paper? I can't seem to figure that out. Any help from you folks would be greatly appreciated. I have an Epson WF-3640 printer. When I tell it to do wallet size pictures, I only get one instead of the 9 that it says I can print. I can't seem to find the setting for that.

Ray

 

Hi Ray:
I use Inkscape
Once I get the one pattern to where I like it I just duplicate the original and place it beside the original
Then I keep duplicating the pattern and place it on the paper - once the paper if full I save it then print it out from there
Fab4

[OCtoolguy]

18 hours ago, Fab4 said:

Hi Ray:
I use Inkscape
Once I get the one pattern to where I like it I just duplicate the original and place it beside the original
Then I keep duplicating the pattern and place it on the paper - once the paper if full I save it then print it out from there
Fab4

There is supposed to be a way of "tiling" a picture within the confines of the 8.5 x 11 paper. I was able to do it but it cut off the tips of the antlers and the feet of the reindeer. Not sure what I did wrong yet. I'm hoping that Charley will see my question and chime in.

Ray

 

[CharleyL]

Thanks for all your positive comments, but since I work completely alone, running a camera as well as a scroll saw or other woodworking tools at the same time is quite difficult, My video camera died it's last death several years ago (repaired several times)  and I haven't, yet, replaced it. 

 I'll try to take a few still shots showing various stages of the reindeer production process and post them soon.  If you try compound cutting and have problems, please post your questions and I'll do my best to answer them.  My original reindeer pattern came from www.woodgears.com, because of all of the reindeer patterns that I could find, I like this one best, but I have cleaned up the original pattern a bit to make them easier for me to cut, and  came up with four different sizes, the largest being a little over 3 1/4" tall (close to the original pattern size) and the smallest just a little over 1" tall.  I also occasionally cut two middle sizes (the Mrs. and teen daughter). The middle sized ones usually get a brooch pin glued to one side of their body so they can be worn. The smallest get a hole drilled through their head just below their antlers and I install a ring and an ear hook, making a pierced ear ring from them. I make them in left/right pairs, so when used, both reindeer face forward. These tiny ones are made from hard maple, because making them from  softer  woods usually results in them falling apart before I finish cutting them. The other three larger sizes cut Ok using pine or poplar, but I have made some from soft maple and ambrosia maple too.

I am making reindeer again for this coming Christmas Season, and I have already given away a few, with my present total count for this year of all sizes being 127. I've lost count, but I am certain that I've made well over 3,000 reindeer since I began making them annually. I never sell anything that I make, so my usual  rule for giving one to someone is that they  need to help me in some small way during the Christmas Season in order to receive one. Any waitress, cashier, sales person, nurse, doctor, etc. is offered one after they help me in some way. They mostly go to girls and women, because most men want no part of them, unless they too are woodworkers and can appreciate what it takes to make them.  Most people have never even seen any compound cut scroll saw work before and think that I carve them.

Charley

 

[OCtoolguy]

4 hours ago, CharleyL said:

Thanks for all your positive comments, but since I work completely alone, running a camera as well as a scroll saw or other woodworking tools at the same time is quite difficult, My video camera died it's last death several years ago (repaired several times)  and I haven't, yet, replaced it. 

 I'll try to take a few still shots showing various stages of the reindeer production process and post them soon.  If you try compound cutting and have problems, please post your questions and I'll do my best to answer them.  My original reindeer pattern came from www.woodgears.com, because of all of the reindeer patterns that I could find, I like this one best, but I have cleaned up the original pattern a bit to make them easier for me to cut, and  came up with four different sizes, the largest being a little over 3 1/4" tall (close to the original pattern size) and the smallest just a little over 1" tall.  I also occasionally cut two middle sizes (the Mrs. and teen daughter). The middle sized ones usually get a brooch pin glued to one side of their body so they can be worn. The smallest get a hole drilled through their head just below their antlers and I install a ring and an ear hook, making a pierced ear ring from them. I make them in left/right pairs, so when used, both reindeer face forward. These tiny ones are made from hard maple, because making them from  softer  woods usually results in them falling apart before I finish cutting them. The other three larger sizes cut Ok using pine or poplar, but I have made some from soft maple and ambrosia maple too.

I am making reindeer again for this coming Christmas Season, and I have already given away a few, with my present total count for this year of all sizes being 127. I've lost count, but I am certain that I've made well over 3,000 reindeer since I began making them annually. I never sell anything that I make, so my usual  rule for giving one to someone is that they  need to help me in some small way during the Christmas Season in order to receive one. Any waitress, cashier, sales person, nurse, doctor, etc. is offered one after they help me in some way. They mostly go to girls and women, because most men want no part of them, unless they too are woodworkers and can appreciate what it takes to make them.  Most people have never even seen any compound cut scroll saw work before and think that I carve them.

Charley

 

Charley, did you see my question above regarding how you manage to get as many as possible onto a sheet of paper? Can you give some detail on how you do that? Also, the easiest way to throw pics up here is with your phone. Both still and video. No moving parts.

Ray

 

 

[CharleyL]

When I have a new pattern and want to fill a sheet with multiples of them, I use Adobe Photoshop, because I have it. Any photo processing software should be able to do this. The layers function makes it relatively easy. Layers is a way of putting one image on a kind of clear sheet above your image. If you open a blank 8 1/2 X 11 sheet and also open the image that you want to put on the sheet in the same dots per inch resolution you can click on the image and drag a copy of it onto the blank sheet using the icon with the arrows (the move tool. The program actually puts this image on a clear layer so you can move it around once it's there. Moving the image to the upper left of the page (not too close because there are printing margins to avoid) you can place this image where you want to. There are blue line guides available, both horizontal and vertical, that you can use by dragging them from the top and side ruler scales to wherever you want them. These show on the screen, but don't print out and you can drag as many as you want onto the page and place them anywhere you want to. I usually position these guides on each side, and top and bottom of the first image, then go back to the original pattern thats also still open, click on it again and drag another copy of it onto my page screen and position it next to the first image. Again, each one of these patterns is on a separate invisible layer, so I can go back and move any one of them if I choose to, without affecting any of the others simply by checking the layer that I want to move in the "Layers" toolbox window. I repeat this, adding guides as necessary and adding more copies of the original pattern, until I've filled the page with pattern images. Then I save a copy of this multi layered page image, naming it after the original pattern followed by a space and then X16 or however many of the patterns there are on the page. Photoshops puts up a warning window asking if you really want to save the page with all of the layers. You can flatten the page, putting all of the patterns on one screen and eliminating the layers, but if you do, it will be very difficult to work on or move just one of the patterns on the page without affecting the other. Until you are certain that you won't be making any changes, save the page image with all of the layers. Also remember to save your original pattern image too. Now print out as many pages of your multi layered image as you want. 

This "layers" thing is a bit mind blowing when you see it or try to use it the first time. Just think about each layer as being an invisible clear sheetr of plastic lying on top of your page, that you can add or change pictures on, or move it around without it affecting any other image layer. The magic of all this is in the software and the computer. If I could make a video of me doing this or if you could look over my shoulder as I did it, you would be doing it yourself in 10 minutes. It's really that easy, once you can see it done.

My larger reindeer, the 3" plus size, will only allow me to fit 9 patterns on one 8 1/2 X 11 sheet with quite a bit of waste paper on the right side, but it isn't large enough to get another reindeer pattern on it. My smaller reindeer fit more to a page and are more efficient for page use. I have sheets with compound cut Christmas Ornaments on them where I can fit only 2 ornaments per page. Remember, with compound cutting you always need two images connected side by side, a face image and a side image. You fold this pattern at a right angle between the two images and apply it to two sides of your block of wood. With most ornaments, both images are identical. With the reindeer, you have a face view and a side view. Always keep the two views connected together at this fold line. It's what keeps the two images in alignment with each other. Cut one image with a clamp holding all of the cut pieces together in their original positions. When finished with that view, loosen the clamp carefully, keeping all of the pieces from separating, turn the block so the second image is facing up, and tighten the clamp. Then cut the second side of your pattern.

Since the reindeer is inside the middle of the block of wood, you never have to remove the pattern, It all goes in the trash along with the scrap wood, so use any glue that works good. I use Stationery Store Rubber Cement. Sometimes I have a portion of the pattern lift while cutting it, but it's quite infrequent. When it happens I hold it in place with a pencil eraser, my finger, etc. Since I've cut so many reindeer, I can usually do well even if the pattern tears off by just using the image in my head to replace the missing pattern piece and finish the cut without a problem..

Charley

[Phantom Scroller]

Steve Good has 3d cutting video on YouTube and how to make a clamp to hold the little blighters. Roly

[OCtoolguy]

Thanks Charley. I wasn't sure about how you did it but now I understand. I don't have Photoshop but I do have Gimp and I think it will do it too. I'll give it a try. Thanks again. Your description of things is very clear.

Ray

 

[rdatelle]

Thanks, Charley for all that info. I always have trouble cutting reindeer out. I cut 3D ornaments with no problem but reindeer gives me trouble. I will try again with all the info all you guys left. Thanks.

[CharleyL]

Thanks guys,

My clamps are just two strips of 3/4" cabinet birch plywood about 1" wide and 6" long. I have other sizes and some made from solid wood and other materials, but I keep coming back to the ones made like this. They just seem to be strong, yet flexible enough to work the best of any that I've made.  After cutting them out I stick the face sides together with double sided tape so they stay aligned with each other. Then I drill a hole through both of them centered and about 3/4" from each end. This hole has to be straight, so a drill press for this is very important. I make the holes large enough so that 8-32 stainless all thread will easily fit through them. I use the stainless all thread because it better resists stretching and bending from repeated use. The 32 threads per inch lets you get significant tightening forces using just your fingers too. I have tried all thread with more coarse threads and different diameters and came back to 8-32, but stainless, because it works the best of what I can buy locally. You can buy 8" long  8-32 stainless all thread from Lowes. It's in the gray metal "hard to find" stainless hardware section. You could just buy one piece and cut it in half if you will just be cutting reindeer, but I leave it full length and buy 2 for each clamp to make the clamps work for a larger variety of work. You will also need 6 flat washers, 6 hex nuts, and 2 wing nuts. All of this except the all thread can be common steel hardware, but stainless will work. It just costs more money. You can use plain steel all thread too, but over time they will stretch and bend. I've been there too.

With the two pieces of 3/4" birch ply cut and drilled, I put one end of one piece of the all thread in each hole of one of the pieces of wood, with a nut and washer on each side of the wood. With the all thread just sticking out one side of the wood by about 6 threads and the long end of the all thread sticking out the other..  On this short all thread side of this piece of wood, after the nuts have been tightened, I add a second nut and tighten the two nuts together so they can't loosen. I do the same to the nut on the same side of the other piece of all thread. I then put the other piece of plywood on the long ends of the all thread and add a flat washer and wing nut to each all thread. This will allow you to tighten or loosen the clamp pieces to hold and release the piece of wood that you will be cutting.

In use, I drop the project piece of wood with the reindeer or other pattern on it in between the plywood strips with the 1st side to be cut side facing up. I then make certain that the pattern piece and the bottom side of the clamp are flat against the saw table. Then  I tighten the wing nuts to attain relatively even and parallel pressure on the pattern block of wood. It has to be tight, about as tight as I can get it using just my thumb and fore finger to turn each wing nut. During cutting, each time you make a top to bottom cut on the reindeer you will be removing wood from the block of wood, making the block of wood a little bit narrower by about the blade thickness, and the clamp will loosen. So  the clamp must be tightened or the piece being cut will move. If the cut pieces change position with respect to each other, the reindeer or other item being cut will be ruined. Keep the clamp tight until all cuts have been made to the face  pattern. 

Now that the face pattern has been completely cut, loosen the clamp and rotate the block of wood in the clamp so that the side view is facing up. Make certain that all of the cut pieces are in their correct positions and again tighten the clamp, again making certain that the bottom side of the clamp and the bottom side of the  pattern block of wood are even and flat against the saw table as you tighten the clamp, again, as finger tight as you can make it. Now cut the side  view pattern, again re-tightening the clamp each time that you make a full length cut that makes the block of wood thinner. 

When you have finished fully cutting both the front and side patterns, you can turn off the saw and loosen the clamp. Your finished reindeer will be in the center of the pattern block of wood, completely surrounded by the pieces that you cut free, kind of like a chicken inside a shell. All you need to do now is carefully lift the pieces off to find him. The top and bottom center pieces will have the profile of a reindeer, but only the center piece will be a real 3D reindeer shape. All the rest is scrap. Be very careful removing the scrap pieces from around the antlers. They usually don't fall away without coaxing. I made a special, but simple,  tool to help with the removal of the scrap between the reindeer's legs and his antlers. It's just a 6" long piece of 1/8" dowel rod that I sharpened to nearly a fine point in a pencil sharpener. A pencil will also work, but it leaves marks on the reindeer. I also use this dowel rod stick to hold down pieces of the pattern while cutting it if the glue fails and a part of the pattern becomes loose. I use Stationery Store rubber cement when compound cutting. Although I occasionally the paper pattern lifts off around the antlers and feet, I can usually hold it down with the dowel rod until I can cut past the loose area. When you cut the same pattern over and over, you can almost see the lines without the pattern anyway.

Making these reindeer is quite a challenge when you first start. You may need to make a few before you learn the technique, even if you can cut patterns very accurately.. If you are still having trouble following pattern lines very accurately, you may need to wait until you can, before attempting a compound cut pattern. If it isn't cut nearly perfect, it will very likely be a failure. A side benefit, when doing compound cutting, is that all of the paper pattern ends up attached to the scrap, so you don't need to remove any of it from your reindeer. 

I've been taking still pictures as I work. Right now I'm making a batch of my smallest 1" high reindeer. They are quite a challenge, even for me., and I make fire wood out of about 1 in every 8 that I cut. My pictures will be of these, because these are what I am cutting now. I cut for about 4 hours total today, and a few hours on Wednesday. Just before I quit for the day I put a wire through the hole that I had drilled through their heads and sprayed them ll with clear gloss lacquer. When they dried I removed them from the wire and added two black eyes and a red nose using black and red marking pens.

Then I began the jewelry making part of this, putting rings through their heads and attaching pierced ear hooks. I orient the hooks to make left and right pairs, so that when worn, both reindeer face forward. Then I put each pair on ear ring cards and then into small white cardboard boxes that I bought from Hobby Lobby. All of the rings and ear hooks also came from Hobby Lobby. A 12 mm ring spread open and inserted through the hole in their head and then closed back together, will fit over and around their antlers. Then a small ring, about 4 mm is looped through the hole in the ear hook as well as the 12 mm ring, connecting them all together. Unfortunately, this makes the jewelry hardware almost as long as the reindeer is tall, but it seems to look fine at this length on most adult women and larger teens.

I'll be making batches of my larger sizes of reindeer this coming week, but I have a dozen Baltic Birch boxes to make too. I'm also supposed to make some wine gift boxes (kind of a longer than usual  shaker candle box) to be given to relatives at Christmas. These have to be made from solid wood and stained, so I've got plenty of work to do beside making reindeer.  So I'm quite certain that my record of 426 total reindeer in one Christmas Season will not be broken this year.

Charley

 

 

 

[meflick]

Thanks for continuing to give us detailed information about your process and how you do it with the compound cuts.  I for one am saving it all to my computer for more detailed perusal when I have time to sit down and go through it slowly and completely before giving it a try.  I think I am pretty good with following pattern lines now, especially thanks to a lot of puzzle cutting I have been doing, and I have some more simple patterns to try before I get to the reindeer.  Good luck on all those projects you have to get done.  Be sure you show us some pictures of those wine boxes along with those reindeer ones you are taking.

[CharleyL]

I'll take some pictures of the reindeer scraps, but it may be a few days before I can post them. I'll start with the block of wood with the pattern on it, then show what it looks like after the  first, or face view, cutting. Then I'll provide a picture of the block of wood after the second, or side view, cut. Then views of the dis-assembly of the cut pieces, kind of one layer at a time.  It would be better if I could take a video of the process, but I don't have a working video camera right now. 

On a few occasions, like when I cut one of the larger sized reindeer for my cousin who had been asking how I cut them. I cut the reindeer for her and then kept all of the scraps together when I finished cutting it. I then applied blue tape to hold it all together with the end of each piece of tape folded to form a pull tab. So she got to "hatch" her reindeer after she had received it.  I also sent her the blade that I had used so she could see how small it was. She was quite impressed.

Charley 

[meflick]

You're very kind Charley and I can imagine how much fun your cousin had hatching her reindeer.

[CharleyL]

On 11/15/2017 at 2:37 PM, octoolguy said:

Thanks Charley. I wasn't sure about how you did it but now I understand. I don't have Photoshop but I do have Gimp and I think it will do it too. I'll give it a try. Thanks again. Your description of things is very clear.

Ray

 

Gimp should work, but I haven't  used it myself. Friends have told me that it works very much like Photoshop. Even the free versions of Photoshop called Photoshop Elements have the capability to do this. Learn any one of them and this is one of the functions that you will use very frequently. I can also very easily make a color photo black and white or make it brown and white like an old photo, combine parts of several photos to make one, etc. Don't always believe what you see in pictures any more. 

These programs are just toolboxes full of special tools for working on photographs. Learn how to use just the basic tools and you will gain a whole lot of ability to work with your patterns.  

Charley

[OCtoolguy]

18 minutes ago, CharleyL said:

Gimp should work, but I haven't  used it myself. Friends have told me that it works very much like Photoshop. Even the free versions of Photoshop called Photoshop Elements have the capability to do this. Learn any one of them and this is one of the functions that you will use very frequently. I can also very easily make a color photo black and white or make it brown and white like an old photo, combine parts of several photos to make one, etc. Don't always believe what you see in pictures any more. 

These programs are just toolboxes full of special tools for working on photographs. Learn how to use just the basic tools and you will gain a whole lot of ability to work with your patterns.  

Charley

Thanks Charley, it all sounds so simple. I even bought a big thick book on how to work with Gimp but it is still a mystery to me. I would love to sit in a classroom and have it all explained. I tried many youtube videos but even they are not the best for me. I'm too old I guess. I did just mess around with Photoscape and also Paint. It can see how Paint works but I even have trouble using it. I can't ever seem to find the right tool or do what I intend to do. Oh well, too many things to learn and not enough life left.

Ray

 

[CharleyL]

If doing it on the computer is beyond you, how about the cut and paste method. Make a bunch of copies of the pattern at the size you want using a photo copier. Then take a blank piece of paper and begin cutting and pasting as many patterns as you can fit on the piece of paper. When the paper is as full of patterns as you can get it, print a copy of this pasted together sheet on the photo copier. You now have a full page master that you can make copies from. It will take more pieces of paper to get there, but it's simple to cut and paste. Even school kids can do it this way. Once you get the master sheet with all of the pattern copies on it, keep it for when you need more copies. Make them as you need them, and cut the patterns apart from these copies to past to your wood. It'll waste a few sheets printing the single patterns to fill the sheet, but from then on you won't waste any more paper. Paper is cheap in small quantities. DONE!!!

Charley

 

[NC Scroller]

32 minutes ago, CharleyL said:

If doing it on the computer is beyond you, how about the cut and paste method. Make a bunch of copies of the pattern at the size you want using a photo copier. Then take a blank piece of paper and begin cutting and pasting as many patterns as you can fit on the piece of paper. When the paper is as full of patterns as you can get it, print a copy of this pasted together sheet on the photo copier. You now have a full page master that you can make copies from. It will take more pieces of paper to get there, but it's simple to cut and paste. Even school kids can do it this way. Once you get the master sheet with all of the pattern copies on it, keep it for when you need more copies. Make them as you need them, and cut the patterns apart from these copies to past to your wood. It'll waste a few sheets printing the single patterns to fill the sheet, but from then on you won't waste any more paper. Paper is cheap in small quantities. DONE!!!

Charley

 

I often do this with patterns in magazines and other printed materials where I plan to make more then 1 or 2.  My paste up method of choice is good old scotch tape.

[CharleyL]

Okay, pictures, as promised.

I was cutting the smallest size reindeer this week to make ear rings for Christmas Presents, but the technique is the same no matter what size reindeer or compound cut pattern that you decide to make. Whatever the pattern is, it needs to have 2 views to make up the complete pattern and they need to be attached together on one piece of paper, so you can fold the pattern between the two images (the front view and the side view) They must remain attached to each other in order to preserve their alignment with each other. You fold them and then place the fold on the corner of your block of wood, so the face view glues to one side of the wood block and the side view glues to the adjacent side of the block of wood. Again, I use Stationery Store rubber cement, to attach my compound cut patterns because it's cheap and easy to work with, and because all of the the pattern pieces get trashed while still attached to the scrap. 

For reindeer, I like to use a FD #1R blade and I use the same blade for all four sizes that I make. I always apply paraffin wax to both sides and teeth of a new blade and again after each reindeer or other pattern is cut.  I run my DeWalt scroll saw slow enough that the cuts don't burn. With pine, this can be faster than when using a hard wood like hard maple. For cutting 3D Christmas Ornaments from other kinds of wood, I adjust the speed to suit the wood that I am cutting.

First picture.

Again, this is of the smallest reindeer that I make. He is just a little over 1" tall and I always use hard maple for this since they are so delicate, but again, I use the same method regardless of the reindeer or other compound pattern size. You can easily see the face and side views of the pattern folded over the corner of the block of wood. The little extra wood near his antlers gives me a chance to correct before actually cutting the pattern, should I have a new blade that doesn't track the same as the previous blade.  The reindeer's feet must touch the bottom edge of the wood and the wood must have a perfect cut on the bottom or the reindeer won't stand correctly when he is complete.

Second picture.

Here you can see the clamp that I use alongside the reindeer that I will be cutting. The clamp is made from two strips of 3/4" birch ply  about 1 X 6" in size with 10-32 stainless rods between them and wing nuts on the long all thread side to tighten and loosen the clamp. All of the 4 sizes of reindeer that I make are cut with this same clamp. It's one of the first clamps that I made when I started compound cutting and it has a few battle scars to show for it, not all caused by me. I teach scroll sawing and have  several of each size clamp. I let my students use any clamp to prove that it isn't the clamp that's giving them trouble because they can even use the one that I just demonstrated with, but even with all of it's battle scars, this one is usually my first choice. We've been through a lot together.  When you install the reindeer and tighten the clamp, make certain that the reindeer block of wood and the clamp is flat against the saw table. 

 Third picture 

Ok, ready to cut. The clamp is as tight as I can make it without hurting my fingers and the blade is passing through the space in the clamp above the reindeer. I always start at his top right antler and work clockwise. I cut all the way down and exit the bottom of the block of wood at his right hoof. Then tighten the clamp (about 1 turn) and then cut up the inside of the right leg and back down his left leg and out of the block and out of the block of wood again. Then I start cutting at his right hoof and go all the way up to the top of his antler and out of the top of the block of wood. Then I again tighten the clamp. Then a short cut down between his antlers and back out of the top of the block of wood completes the face view cutting.

Fourth picture

When you remove the clamp you should see this. All of the face view has been cut and if the pieces are separated they should look like this. No put them all back together and in perfect alignment with each other, open the clamp wider, and place the block of wood back into the clamp, but this time with the side view facing up. As you tighten the clamp, make certain that the bottom of the clamp and the block of wood are again flat against the saw table .Again I cut this side view in a clockwise direction all the way out of the wood at his hoof, then tighten the clamp. Then cut up between his legs and back out the bottom  of the wood at his hoof. Then cut up from his hoof to his antlers, but this time I continue to cut all of the antlers before exiting the wood about where I began cutting. If all cutting is complete, you can carefully remove the clamp.

Fifth picture -

At this point you should have a perfect little reindeer (if you carefully followed the lines of the pattern) inside all of the scrap pieces, kind of like a chicken about to be hatched. The next succession of pictures will show the removal of pieces. I attempted to remove only one piece of scrap in each picture, but life and gravity made this nearly impossible, so the next group of pictures was after me cutting a larger reindeer and then attempting to remove only one piece at a time. It didn't go perfectly well either, so picture five is the completely cut larger reindeer. . Now to begin removing one piece of scrap at a time as best as I can

Picture six and seven

Show the top surface layer of scrap removed . Although you can see a complete reindeer in the top center of picture seven, it iis only a scrap side view. The reindeer himself is in the center of the larger piece with scrap surrounding him. Picture eight and the following show the rest of the scrap falling away

Picture Nine

Shows the two reindeer that I made during this photo session, the llargest and the smallest that I make together with a ruler scale under them to give you a size comparison. 

Picture ten

Is a completed set of reindeer ear rngs mounted on a card and in a gift box.

Picture eleven 

Is the result of two afternoon's production. Yes, I do wear magnification when cutting these. 

 

 

 

 

[CharleyL]

A continuation of my previous post

 

Here is one more reindeer picture that didn't seem to want to upload with the rest. It shows the four sizes of reindeer that I make. Also is a picture of how I put the nose and eyes on each reindeer, which is the easiest part.

I have been spraying the ear ring reindeer with 1 coat of clear lacquer. It seems to stiffen them up a little, although they are still extremely delicate. I drill a tiny hole in their head below their antlers and behind their eyes, to allow insertion of the gold or silver 12 mm jewelry rings. Then I attach a small ring to this ring and then an ear hook gets attached to this small ring. The small ring is necessary for the reindeer to face forward. I always make a left and righ pair, so both reindeer face forward when used.

Oh, now that the ear rings needed have been completed, I'll be making a batch or two of the larger sizes. I've also got some boxes to make before the big day. 

 

[OCtoolguy]

Thanks so much Charley. Those pics are worth a million words.

 

[meflick]

Thanks for taking all the time to write that up, take photos, etc. Charley and put it on here for all of us novices to learn from your hard work.  It is greatly appreciated and will be saved in my "how to" file.  When  I finally get some time to sit down and give them a try i will report back on my success or failure! 

[NC Scroller]

I am Blessed to know and have worked with Charley.  I have never met a person who would go the extra mile to help anyone more then Charley.  He is a man of many talents. 

[OCtoolguy]

52 minutes ago, NC Scroller said:

I am Blessed to know and have worked with Charley.  I have never met a person who would go the extra mile to help anyone more then Charley.  He is a man of many talents. 

We need some more symbols to click on. Don't ya think? Nothing over on the right seems to adequately reflect what we might want to convey.

 

R

 

[dgman]

So, now that you all know everything there is to know about compound cutting, go out and do it! It's easier than it seems!