I cut my first reindeer in almost 2 years on Wednesday.

[CharleyL]

On 1/8/2022 at 3:33 PM, rjweb said:

Charlie,

nice totes, I see you said you made them, what did you use to make the box joints, RJ 

I make many boxes, and now mostly make them with box joints. I have made box joints using DIY jigs, purchased jigs, table saw, and router tables. I now use an Incra I-Box jig, my Unisaw, and usually a Freud SBOX8 box joint blade set for 1/4 and 3/8" box joints. For 1/8" box joints I found a Freud ripping blade that has a FTG (Flat Tooth Grind) on the teeth that makes great box joints for tiny boxes. For box joints larger than 3/8" I use my Freud Dial-A-Width DADO blade set. It doesn't make great flat bottomed cuts, but on these larger box joints, it isn't as noticeable in the finished box.

The I-Box jig makes it easy to change from one size box joint to another because as you change the width of the cut, it automatically changes the width of the pin to match. The second feature in the I-Box is the sacrificial strip that minimizes chipping of the cut edges. Each time I am about to make a new box joint size, after making all of the adjustments to the saw and the jig, I make a test cut to be certain that everything is right and then I move the sacrificial strip to a fresh position. Then I proceed to make my box joints for as many boxes as needed at that setting. The sacrificial strip is just a piece of 1/4" MDF with 4 screw holes in it, so the original can be copied to make many spares, but Incra sells them in 3 packs for about $10 plus shipping. Since this piece can be moved and used again for each use, and flipped over to use the top edge too, many box joint cutting sessions can be done before this piece needs replacement, but I found it easy to just get a 2' X 4' piece of MDF and make a bunch of these by copying the original in a little over an hour of shop time. I doubt I'll live long enough to use all of them, but it was fun shop time at a cost of about $6 for the MDF.

I think I've found the ultimate way of making chip out free box joints with this combination of jig, saw, and blade. I was once told "You can't cut box joints in plywood", but I do it frequently in Baltic Birch plywood and solid wood with no problems. Attached are a few photos of some of the boxes that I've made. Most are just to contain tools and jigs that have many small parts that would be easily lost if not in a specially designed and built box to keep them together.

I have more photos, but want to keep this post short.

Charley

 

[rjweb]

Thx Charley, beautiful boxes, RJ 

[CharleyL]

7 hours ago, rjweb said:

Thx Charley, beautiful boxes, RJ 

It's easy, once you have the right set of tooling for good results. I spent a fortune on what didn't work, before coming up with what works well for me. I have a Leigh D4R with a special top plate for cutting box joints. I used it once, and it's been hanging in my shop ever since. The D4R makes great dovetail joints, if you use it right, but I wasn't at all happy with router cut box joints, no matter what jig I tried. The Incra I-Box jig is designed to be used on a router table as well as a table saw, but again, I wasn't happy with the tear-out that I got when using it on a router table. A spinning router bit cuts in both directions, so you really need a sacrificial backer on both sides of the work when cutting box joints.

The Incra I-Box jig only has one and it remains in the same position, so can be used over and over. But to protect the back side of the work you pretty much have to clamp a second sacrificial piece to the back side of the work, and the jig does not offer a way to keep it in the exact same position as you increment the work to cut the additional notches. If you hot glue or somehow clamp a sacrificial strip to the back side of your work, it will move with the work piece and receive cuts just like the workpiece. Now you run into the problem of how to position this already cut sacrificial strip in the exact same position on the next piece being cut so it can protect the shoulders of each cut the same way that it did on the first work piece. Any miss-adjustment and the edges of the new cuts will be chipped. 

Use the I-Box jig on a table saw, and the blade only cuts in one direction, and in exactly the same place for every cut. So you can get away with only one sacrificial piece on the side of the work that the blade exits the work. Since you move the work piece for each cut and the sacrificial piece and jig maintain the same positional relationship, you are cutting in only that one position. It's the work that moves and not the cutter or sacrificial strip. 

The I-Box jig holds it's accuracy well between uses too. I built yet another box to hold my I-Box jig. If I will be cutting the same width using the same blade on my Unisaw, the only things that I need to do before cutting more of the same size box joints that I did previously is to set the saw blade height for the thickness of the wood being used and then make a test cut to be certain that I have everything set right. I then move the sacrificial strip over to an un-cut position, and begin cutting my box joints. For the same width box joints, there are no other adjustments needed.

While on the subject of boxes, here is a photo of two sets of "Apple Boxes" that I made for my photo studio. The name for them was coined in the early days of movie production, possibly by someone using apple crates to raise a short person, or the camera tripod in order to get the shot desired. Each is 12" X 20" and they come in sets of 8", 4", 2", and 1" tall, so any height between 1" and 15" can be attained using different combinations of height stacked together. They are hollow and don't open, just "Very Sturdy" spacers. For these I used 1/4" Baltic Birch Plywood for the sides, and 1/2" Baltic Birch for the top and bottom. Inside are two more pieces positioned to act as stiffeners and to transfer the weight through the box from top to bottom and on to the next box in the stack or to the floor. Of course, the 1" high is two layers of 1/2". glued together, so solid wood. Are they strong enough to stand on? Well, I jacked up the front of my 3 ton Jeep Grand Cherokee and placed a stack of these under each front tire. Then let the Jeep down so the full weight of the front of the Jeep was on them. I didn't even hear a click and no sags were visible at all. I just wanted to be absolutely certain that anyone, even an elephant, could be supported safely with these before using them in my photo/video studio. Each was made just like my tool boxes and totes with box joints on all corners. I'll be making two sets of 1/2 Apple Boxes (!0 X 12") soon for the studio too. 

Charley

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by CharleyL

[rjweb]

Charley,

Thx for all your information on the ibox, I was looking at the D4R figuring I could do both dovetail and box joints, but I think I will just start out with an ibox. There is a person in my area that is selling one brand new in the box for $150.00. I want to start making boxes for gifts, thx RJ 

[rdatelle]

Looking good Charley, glad to see your doing ok. Tuff to get old. Remember these are the golden years.

[CharleyL]

Ha!

It's when your gold migrates into your doctor's Ferrari fund.

Getting old is definitely not for sissies. I hate getting old, but I'm not fond of the alternative either.  I've been falling apart quite rapidly since early 2000.

So far, my doctors have succeeded in putting me back together every time one of my parts starts falling off or needs replacement, but the replaced parts are not nearly as good as the original. I'm becoming "Bionic". The last time that I went on an airline flight I made a comment to the security guy running the scanner that "I had a lot of metal and plastic in me". He shrugged and waived me on. When I came out of the scanner he yelled out quite loudly "Man, you twinkle like a Christmas tree". I felt a bit awkward when everyone turned and looked up at me.

I've now had 7 heart surgeries, so lots of metal, titanium wire, and plastic in my chest, and two full knee replacements, so lots of titanium down there too. Also a pacemaker that keeps my ticker running at the right speed. I guess I did light up his scanner screen, but he let me on the airplane without a problem. I guess nothing metal in me is shaped like a knife or a revolver, so not a threat to the airline. I've also survived cancer twice, so far.

Not many have ever done everything that I have done in my lifetime. The list is too long to post here, so lets just say that I have had many different kinds of jobs and many significant adventures in my life, some of which were quite hard on this old body, but I've always strived to be very good at whatever it was that I did. 

I built my own Pro Photo/Video studio, beginning about 2 1/2 years ago, because I have always wanted one of my own. I've been a photographer since high school. It was a challenge for me and something "New To Do", but "not so great timing" for me, because I was ready to put it to use just about the same time that COVID arrived. I've been using it, but not very often, because "we are all in isolation" from each other as much as possible. But it was a "Bucket List item" that kept me busy building and creating. I have never been happy if I couldn't create in some way.  So without anyone to photograph, I got an assistant who lets me adjust my lights and photograph her whenever I want to try something new. Linda will pose for me for hours and never complain. She's quite pretty too.

Charley

[CharleyL]

So, only 1 "Like" for the above post with my photography assistant's picture attached?

In fact, nobody has made a comment, like maybe "How dues an 80 year old guy find a 20 something year old beautiful assistant to work with him?"

Well, that was kind of a test to see what response I would get from all of you, and it looks like I scarred everyone but @Octool Guy away, and he only posted a "Like" with no comment.

The truth is, she is a mannequin. The cheapest mannequin that I could find on Amazon at $86. Her hair came from the Halloween section of Walmart for $7 and her dress from Goodwill for $5.50. Her jewelry was all donated by my wife and neighbors wives.

When first setting up my photo studio I asked my wife to pose for me while I adjusted the lights and took some test shots. Ten minutes after she asked how long it was going to take. I replied "about an hour". With that, she got up and left, saying that she had better things to do. 

Other photographers that I know told me to "get a mannequin, one with glass eyes so you can see the catchlights (reflections of the lights) in her eyes)", so I ordered a mannequin from Amazon. she's just a full size "Barbie" with the right shape for a woman. No sex features, but shaped like a woman. She has been perfect for helping me adjust the lights and take test shots, but this has gotten more complicated since, and I will explain. 

My wife wasn't very happy, at first, that this new woman was in the house even though she wasn't real, but she was quite pleased that I was no longer asking her to pose for me. When I ordered "Linda" I had no idea how pretty she would look, but she does improve the environment of my otherwise plain studio. It took me over 2 months to get over the feeling that "someone was watching me from behind" while I'm sitting here at the computer though. Linda is usually in the gear closet, unless I'm making changes to the lighting or trying new ideas with the camera. I had just been setting up 8 LED light panels, each containing 480 LEDs (8 X 480 = a lot of LEDs) so that I could get adequate and shadow free lighting for a video shoot that will be happening soon. Linda was out of the closet and helping me get the lights adjusted. This was just one of the test shots that I took of her. Attached is a photo showing some of these LED lights that are attached to the studio ceiling. Sorry, I don't have a wide angle lens wide enough to get them all in the photo, but there are truly 8 of them total in a kind-of wide U positioning. I was working to get them placed in such a way that would allow me to leave them up, yet still let me use my strobe lights below them for still photos. Each of these LED lights can be controlled via an APP on my cell phone that lets me turn them on and off, and also adjust the brightness and color, so no wires to deal with, and with them attached to the ceiling, no tripod stands to trip over.

Charley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OCtoolguy]

Charley, I was going to mention that you had the "perfect woman" but thought better of it. Oh well, now I'm in trouble for sure.

 

[CharleyL]

 

Ray, Thanks for your response. But then you respond to everything that I post no matter what.

And still nothing from anyone else. 

Charley

[rjweb]

Here is my response WOW, RJ 

[OCtoolguy]

16 hours ago, CharleyL said:

 

Ray, Thanks for your response. But then you respond to everything that I post no matter what.

And still nothing from anyone else. 

Charley

We are a group on our own. Very exclusive.

[CharleyL]

 

6 hours ago, OCtoolguy said:

We are a group on our own. Very exclusive.

I agree to that.

In my 17 years of making and giving away reindeer I never found anyone who said "Hey, I can make them too".

Most men who are woodworkers make me tell them how I do this and then they want one, but other non woodworking men will ask questions, but won't take one for themselves. Most of the women, however, can't seem to get enough of them. When I first started, I was cutting them out and then using a re-purposed air powered dentist drill and 1/8" shank bits to round their corners to make them look more of a proper reindeer shape, but it was very time consuming. Staining and finishing was also done to the early ones, and it too took a lot of time. Then I found out that they liked them unfinished just as they come out of the saw, so I cut out all of the finishing steps, but I still do QC on them to remove any splintering of the edges, put eyes and red nose on them with marking pens, and spray them with clear lacquer so they, especially the ones that become jewelry, stay nice looking.  

At least some of you have now made some reindeer, and even made other 3-D items. I was hoping more would try it. My first 3-D items were from Dianne's books, but then I started looking everywhere for other 3-D patterns because I enjoyed doing the 3-D cutting so much. Others liked what I was making and most couldn't comprehend how magically the item being cut came out of the middle of the block of wood. When I first got the idea to make the reindeer I had watched it being done on a band saw, but what they made was over a foot high. I wondered then if I could do the same, but much smaller on a scroll saw. After a few attempts at drawing my own  and not being happy with the result (I'm no artist who can draw pretty pictures), I found the little 3-D reindeer pattern on www.woodgears.ca that Mathias had made. Then I used his pattern and Photoshop to clean it up a bit and resize it. I also used Photoshop to put as many copies of the pattern as I could fit on one sheet of paper before printing them, keeping the edges of each in line to make it easy to cut them apart from the sheet later. Once a full sheet is made, as many full sheets of that size reindeer are easy to print out or even photocopy.

Once I could cut them out reliably, I then decided to see if I could make them smaller, and did so. I now make 4 sizes in quantity, with the largest (original) about 4" tall, and the smallest about 7/8" tall. I did make some even smaller, but the number of bad to good ratio convinced me that it was a waste of time, if I was going to make things to give away, quite a challenge though. Then friends discovered that I was making them, and it seemed like everybody, but especially the women, went crazy over these, so I began making and giving them away. They do make nice Christmas presents. The middle sizes look great as a necklace or pin, and the smallest make great ear rings. I also make 3-D Christmas Tree ornaments in quantity. Another production item, but they take longer, so are only given to close family and very close friends. A gift of a dozen or so sure lights up faces when they open their package.

I have always enjoyed scroll sawing, since I began back in about 1965, but once I began doing the 3-D patterns I have never seemed to want to cut anything else, although I still do flat work occasionally. For me, 3-D cutting on a scroll saw was yet another slippery slope in woodworking, and it was almost straight down for me. It sure is a great way to reduce the scrap pile of "nice, but too small" pieces of wood. Much of my waste wood is now so small that my #2 son, who heats his home with a wood fire, complains that it isn't very good even for kindling, but he keeps coming back and cleaning out my scrap bins for me.

I have also been designing and building Science Exhibits, off and on, for the NC Science Museums since 1996, mostly for Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC. For these, I usually begin with a request for something from them and work to develop a concept to suit their need. I usually then do the cabinet making, wiring, programming, hydraulics, pneumatics, etc. to complete the project. Sometimes I work in my own shop to build them, or work on the sub-assemblies in my shop for the larger projects, and then work with them in their larger shop to complete the exhibit. So I do anything and everything needed, except for the graphics, but they have a department for that work.

Photography and woodworking are now my two main hobbies, and both at a bit out-of-control professional level, but I still tackle electrical and electronic projects frequently. I was into metal working pretty heavily too, until I had the pacemaker installed, and my heart doctor put an end to my metalworking. I gave most of my metal working tools, torches, welders, etc. to my #2 son, because he is a certified welder, fabricator, and senior certified refrigeration technician. He now makes the metal parts that I need, and his home and shop are just across town from me, so I can go there and use my tools and his that don't make sparks, if I need to. His shop is 6 X the size of mine too.

Charley

 

 

[BadBob]

I make these reindeer I found in an old magazine. I didn't do much to them and I have sold two sets so far.

 

I had one person that wanted the larger ones. Larger than I could cut on a scroll saw. After several attempts at it with a bandsaw equipped with a carter guide and the smallest blade I could find I gave up. I could cut out the reindeer, but the antlers kept breaking. I could probably have cut them from some better hardwood. I spoke to the customer about pricing and she was not willing to pay enough for me to cover wood cost. I wasn't willing to spend $40 on an experiment that I could not sell. The experience got me to lusting after the Pegas scrolling band saw. I could not find one anywhere in stock or I would have bought it.

I love photography as well. My Cannon T7i just recently rolled the counter over. That's more than 10,000 photos. Sitting on my hard drive right now are more than 47,000 photos.

 

 

 

[meflick]

On 1/12/2022 at 10:06 PM, CharleyL said:

 

Ray, Thanks for your response. But then you respond to everything that I post no matter what.

And still nothing from anyone else. 

Charley

Ray likes and replies to most. Any and everything here in the Village. I think. He must be like the Village’s mayor.
 

Like Ray, I try to read most everything posted  in the Village. I learn a lot of useful information i might miss otherwise. I must have missed your earlier photo info with your friend Linda. I have been a bit under the weather this week though so I have probably missed several. 

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by meflick

[OCtoolguy]

4 hours ago, meflick said:

Ray likes and replies to most. Any and everything here in the Village. I think. He must be like the Village’s mayor.
 

Like Ray, I try to read most everything posted  in the Village. I learn a lot of useful information i might miss otherwise. I must have missed your earlier photo info with your friend Linda. I have been a bit under the weather this week though so I have probably missed several. 

 

I had no idea that I was that bad. I will stop "liking" everything. I do it so I know which posts I've read. I guess I've developed a bad habit. It stops now.

 

[OCtoolguy]

4 hours ago, BadBob said:

I make these reindeer I found in an old magazine. I didn't do much to them and I have sold two sets so far.

 

I had one person that wanted the larger ones. Larger than I could cut on a scroll saw. After several attempts at it with a bandsaw equipped with a carter guide and the smallest blade I could find I gave up. I could cut out the reindeer, but the antlers kept breaking. I could probably have cut them from some better hardwood. I spoke to the customer about pricing and she was not willing to pay enough for me to cover wood cost. I wasn't willing to spend $40 on an experiment that I could not sell. The experience got me to lusting after the Pegas scrolling band saw. I could not find one anywhere in stock or I would have bought it.

I love photography as well. My Cannon T7i just recently rolled the counter over. That's more than 10,000 photos. Sitting on my hard drive right now are more than 47,000 photos.

 

 

 

Those are excellent Bob. Can you share the pattern? I'd like to give it a try. Thanks.

 

[CharleyL]

@BadBob and @Meflick, I really appreciate your replies and comments. Ray, I appreciate yours too. You can "like" everything, and it's OK with me. At least it tells me that "someone" has seen it.

Those are interesting reindeer Bob. Sort-of like what I make, but with elaborate antlers. How large are they?

I have made a few band saw reindeer on my band saw, a Chiwanese model, but the pattern did not cut well and the resulting reindeer were about 16" tall and not very interesting to me. The saw needs a 1/8" blade and super tuning to get any success at all on reindeer, but does fine for my other woodworking needs with a larger blade. My bandsaw is an 18" model with a 111" blade and actually not designed to use smaller than 1/4" blade size, so getting it to work at all was quite tricky, and I had to repair the blade several times when it broke. At that time I had the welders and tooling to repair it, but not now because of my pacemaker installation, I have given up on band saw reindeer. The blade became too short to be able to continue using it in my saw from the need to re-splice and weld it so many times .

Charley

 

[meflick]

On 1/14/2022 at 2:35 PM, OCtoolguy said:

I had no idea that I was that bad. I will stop "liking" everything. I do it so I know which posts I've read. I guess I've developed a bad habit. It stops now.

 

Oh Ray, that was not intended as a slam or anything negative on you on replying and liking. I see it as a positive actually. It lets folks know, me included, that someone read the post they made and appreciated it. I hope you won’t stop.

[OCtoolguy]

12 minutes ago, meflick said:

Oh Ray, that was not intended as a slam or anything negative on you on replying and liking. I see it as a positive actually. It lets folks know, me included, that someone read the post they made and appreciated it. I hope you won’t stop.

No problem. Not taken that way at all.