I know, another Eagle

[FrankEV]

I cut this 11X14 Alex Fox Pattern titled Eagle-Flag from 1/4 inch thick Oak solid core plywood, that I stained with Minwax Weathered Oak stain to enhance the Oak color.  The cut panel was affixed it to a 1/4 inch thick Mahogany solid core plywood backer that I darkened with Minwax Mahogany stain to improve the contrast.  The panel was finished with multiple coats of spray lacquer.

The cut was done exclusively with Pegas #0 spiral blades.  Cutting the Oak was slightly more challenging than the Maple or BB Plywood I usually use.  Had to cut a little slower and even the cutting sound was different.   After the cut was complete the vertical grain alignment produced an interesting look.

The panel is loose fit into a solid Red Oak Frame which I made and also darkened with the Minwax Mahogany stain.   The Frame was finished with multiple coats of clear Gloss Polyurethane.

[namunolie]

Look awesome 

Nice USA flag pattern

 

[rjR]

Nice work!

 

[spirithorse]

Nice work! Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse

[wombatie]

What an awesome piece.  Fabulous work.

Marg

[smayne]

Looks great  

[daveww1]

terrific job

[amazingkevin]

I would not attempt this one, incredible skills to have finished 1/4" oak an a #0 blade whoa!!!

[FrankEV]

3 hours ago, amazingkevin said:

I would not attempt this one, incredible skills to have finished 1/4" oak an a #0 blade whoa!!!

Oak Ply, not solid.  Started with 2/0 spirals, but broke too many to quickly.

[munzieb]

That is stunning! Beautiful job.

[ben2008]

I like it a lot. Really nice work. 

[alexfox]

Look great! Excellent finishing

[ike]

Great clut nice pattern 

IKE

[edward]

Awesome work and framed always like doing eagles.

[FrankEV]

4 hours ago, alexfox said:

Look great! Excellent finishing

It is always a big boost to the ego to get a good review from the pattern maker.  Tried hard to do it justice.

Thanks

[Woodrush]

On 11/7/2020 at 11:59 AM, FrankEV said:

I cut this 11X14 Alex Fox Pattern titled Eagle-Flag from 1/4 inch thick Oak solid core plywood, that I stained with Minwax Weathered Oak stain to enhance the Oak color.  The cut panel was affixed it to a 1/4 inch thick Mahogany solid core plywood backer that I darkened with Minwax Mahogany stain to improve the contrast.  The panel was finished with multiple coats of spray lacquer.

The cut was done exclusively with Pegas #0 spiral blades.  Cutting the Oak was slightly more challenging than the Maple or BB Plywood I usually use.  Had to cut a little slower and even the cutting sound was different.   After the cut was complete the vertical grain alignment produced an interesting look.

The panel is loose fit into a solid Red Oak Frame which I made and also darkened with the Minwax Mahogany stain.   The Frame was finished with multiple coats of clear Gloss Polyurethane.

Never to many eagle's. Great job

[Goat]

Nice work.  How long did this take to cut?  I'm currently finishing up another one of Alex's designs and I'm embarrassed to say how long I've been cutting and still not finished.

[FrankEV]

4 hours ago, Goat said:

...How long did this take to cut? ...

I did not actually record the number of hours at the saw.  Guessing, I would say about 12 to 15 hours.  I don't spend more than 3 houirs at one time at the saw and that is often interuppted by other chores that crop up.  Also, I lose a lot of cutting time replacing broken blades .  

I do know that I have become a lot more proficient using spiral blades and the REAL cut time is a lot less that if I tried to do this kind of pattern with a straight cutting blade.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by FrankEV

[alexfox]

On 11/11/2020 at 9:12 AM, Goat said:

Nice work.  How long did this take to cut?  I'm currently finishing up another one of Alex's designs and I'm embarrassed to say how long I've been cutting and still not finished.

When someone asking me about time I spent cutting project, I always say that I dont count hours - I just enjoying the process

[Goat]

9 hours ago, alexfox said:

When someone asking me about time I spent cutting project, I always say that I dont count hours - I just enjoying the process

I definitely agree with that.  I'm pretty slow, so it usually takes 2-4 weeks for me to finish a project.  And by that time I've lost count of the hours.  I enjoy making them, but my favorite part is people's reaction when seeing them.

[Goat]

I liked this so much I'm starting to cut it myself.  All I can say is this is allot harder than it looks.  You have some serious skill to pull this off.  I can see why you chose the spiral blades now.  I'm cutting a stack of Aspen that is a little under 1".  I'm struggling with it right now.  I was able to use some #5 Ultra Reverse on the stars and they turned out OK.  However I was butchering the lines in the wings.  They are a challenge because most the spots you cut aren't much wider than the blade itself (and the size of the piece is kinda hard to spin/control).  So one side of the cut I can do fine, but then when I turn around and am just shaving off the rest its hard to make the turns without having the blade totally in wood.  I've tried spirals in the past and quickly went back to regular blades.  But this time I think I'm going to have to use them if I want to finish.  I'm trying out the FD New Spirals.  Smallest I can use with my stack is #3.  So I'll have to sacrifice some of the finer details.  They cut OK, but I really don't like the mess they leave on the bottom of the cut.  I hope all the boards in the stack won't have that mess.  I only have Olsen spirals for comparison, but I don't like the "shaving" ability of the FD spirals.  What I mean is if you need a cut about 1.5 times the width of the blade it cuts nice on the first cut, but to widen that cut with these blades is a challenge.  It wants to grab and skip, making a smooth line frustrating.

[FrankEV]

1 hour ago, Goat said:

I liked this so much I'm starting to cut it myself.  All I can say is this is allot harder than it looks.  You have some serious skill to pull this off.  I can see why you chose the spiral blades now.  I'm cutting a stack of Aspen that is a little under 1".  I'm struggling with it right now.  I was able to use some #5 Ultra Reverse on the stars and they turned out OK.  However I was butchering the lines in the wings.  They are a challenge because most the spots you cut aren't much wider than the blade itself (and the size of the piece is kinda hard to spin/control).  So one side of the cut I can do fine, but then when I turn around and am just shaving off the rest its hard to make the turns without having the blade totally in wood.  I've tried spirals in the past and quickly went back to regular blades.  But this time I think I'm going to have to use them if I want to finish.  I'm trying out the FD New Spirals.  Smallest I can use with my stack is #3.  So I'll have to sacrifice some of the finer details.  They cut OK, but I really don't like the mess they leave on the bottom of the cut.  I hope all the boards in the stack won't have that mess.  I only have Olsen spirals for comparison, but I don't like the "shaving" ability of the FD spirals.  What I mean is if you need a cut about 1.5 times the width of the blade it cuts nice on the first cut, but to widen that cut with these blades is a challenge.  It wants to grab and skip, making a smooth line frustrating.

Spirals require a lot of practice, but once the eye/hand coordination is mastered they are a lot easiier to use for patterns like this one with a lot of small cutouts.  I hate having to spin my panel.  Small spirals leave quite "visually" sharp points. 

Stack cutting almost 1" thickness with straight blades is going to make the cutting very difficult.   Your blade holes must be perfectly perpendicular to the panel or the lower panels will not be a true duplicate of the top panel.  Blade tension and slow cutting is critical or cuts will not be perfectly true.  Also because you need a larger blade for the thick stack, the small cuts are much more difficult, even if you use spirals.  

And, JFYI, I do not stack cut portraits type panels as I consider each piece I do as a "one-of-a-kind".   I'm not into production.

[Goat]

14 minutes ago, FrankEV said:

Spirals require a lot of practice, but once the eye/hand coordination is mastered they are a lot easiier to use for patterns like this one with a lot of small cutouts.  I hate having to spin my panel.  Small spirals leave quite "visually" sharp points. 

Stack cutting almost 1" thickness with straight blades is going to make the cutting very difficult.   Your blade holes must be perfectly perpendicular to the panel or the lower panels will not be a true duplicate of the top panel.  Blade tension and slow cutting is critical or cuts will not be perfectly true.  Also because you need a larger blade for the thick stack, the small cuts are much more difficult, even if you use spirals.  

And, JFYI, I do not stack cut portraits type panels as I consider each piece I do as a "one-of-a-kind".   I'm not into production.

I'm not into production, but I figure I might as well make a few extra for gifts/prizes while I'm at it.  In this case I already have 3 people in mind.  I'm far to slow at this to want to cut the same thing 3 times.  I'd rather cut something new   I cut a piece right before this and had all sorts of issues with the bottom boards cut being way too small.  I was constantly having to "fix" cuts.  I found I needed #5 blades and almost max tension.  Anything smaller and it wouldn't cut the same on the bottom board.

I meant for the stack to be only 3/4".  But I guess my old planer's gauge is off.  I wanted 1/4" but got something a little more.  Between the 3 boards it adds up to about 7/8" total.

[heppnerguy]

this is a beautiful piece. I would like to give it a try sometime also. I like challenges, most of the time, but sometimes I get frustrated with them. I love lots of fret cuts because when you are finished they are so awesome, like your project here. Thanks for posting

Dick

heppnerguy

[Joe W.]

Outstanding!  

If there is a "Julliard Art School of Scroll Sawing" you could teach there.