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I got a request from a sister-in-law to make a Firefighter wall hanging for her son-in-law. Sent her a few images off the web, and a Sue Mey pattern came in 1st place, with a modification - replace Firefighter with PM FD 27 (Perryville Municipal Fire Department, Station # 27). Between liquid white-out and Inkscape (I'm still learning the finer points of Inkscape), I was able to get the go-ahead to cut out the pattern. The cutout in the photo is on black poster board. I did cut out a backer the same size as the helmet and glued that to the back (and just now realized I didn't take a photo of that, dang it!) Anyway, no drama and the helmet is on its way to her. Used 1/4" BB and finished it with Danish Oil.

We have had the crystal Nativity set for years. I decided to design a fretwork lightbox for it as an early Christmas present for my wife. She is speechless. Win Win!!!

This one took me a while. I had a bunch of different small projects going on and have been working on my Side by Side. Now to build some frames for a few projects.

Neighbor lady wants a small rocking giraffe. This is 5" long, 5-1/2" tall and 1-1/2" wide. Made from shop scrap-white cedar, I think. The details are all freehand done with a wood-burner pens. The legs are pegged on from the bottom with toothpick pegs and glue. The finish is just gesso to keep the burned in place. Designed from a highly modified open stock photo by T & E designs. It took several attempts before T & E seemed to have a workable design. She has not seen it yet. I will be anxious for her reaction.

Well here are a few of my newest cuttings. I like the Patriotic Trucks best. Still wish I could find some Bright Silver paint. That Glitter Silver looks ok. But I prefer Bright Silver. Oh well we do the best we can.

other stuff ive been doing ...Lids are for boxes

Few wee things ive been doing

Got the large version cut in one day, took several to sand, finish, and assemble. Sanded the gears a little bit more than the two spacers, so they sit a very small fraction of an inch lower than the spacers, giving them more freedom to spin. That made them a LOT easier to move.

G'day all, Another couple of puzzles cut from 30mm radiata pine two coats of clear gloss lacquer. Not 100% happy with them. Will alter the design slightly on the next ones.

Shout out to the Wooden Teddy Bear. Great service and fast order completion and shipping. I am always pleasantly surprised by them!

It's the holiday season, so it's all good. But trust that in 20 years she will remind you of it.

Those Santa's are amazing. I love them.

I was commissioned to make this pair of Chinese Dragons panels. The client chose this Dragon from a group of different Dragons I provided. The patterns were found on-line and had to be only slightly modified to make it scrollable. The original had the “ribs” (for lack of a better word) bridging to the opposite side making a multitude of dropouts. The cut panels are 1/8” x 20” x 30” BB ply mounted on a painted black 1/4" x 20” x 30” BB Ply Backer. The cut panels were stack cut to make mirror images with good side up. Shelf liner was applied to both sides to minimize possible tear out. All cutting was completed with Pegas #1 spiral blades. A number of blades broke, mostly because it was difficult to thread the blade from below without kinking the blade. Keeping the panel flat while cutting was difficult, especially so after some of the larger areas were cut out. Used a lot of blue tape to hold cutouts in place to help keep the panel somewhat rigid while cutting. Yes, the little piece in the Dragon’s nose had to be glued back in after the panel was affixed to the backer. The 20” x 30” BB ply panels were special ordered from Ocooch Hardwoods. I did not find the prices to be too unreasonable for this special order. They responded to my request quickly and the order was received within just a few days. Great service. Now here is where I need some help and opinions. I need to make frames for these panels and cannot decide what width rail/stile I should use. I typically use 1 3/4" wide, but not sure if that will look the best for these panels. Often large frames are narrow (3/4”) or, like large paintings, use a much wider (2 1/2” +) that may be more appropriate. Please provide you opinion on what size I might use and tell me why. You might want to let me know what color the frame should be also. Thanks for you help. EDIT 12/22/21 I made the frames from 1"wide x 3/4" thick Poplar. I think the 1" frame width works well for these Chinese Dragon mirror image panels. I did a significant amoiunt of hand sanding to obtain a very smooth surface. I then applied two coats of a Rustolium Black Primer sanding between coats, again to a very smooth finish after which I applied multiple coats of Rustoleum Black Lacquer. Just as I was finishing the final coat, the nozzle on the spray can stuck in the open (spraying) position and made a mess, but fortunately not on the frames. After drying almost 24 hours, I found there was some areas of blush. Two light coats of Deft Clear Gloss Lacquer did a nice job of getting a bright uniform finish. This commission project was difficult in many respects, but I feel it came out fairly well and am hoping the clients are happy. I'm not sure I would want to tackle a large panel project like this again. Thanks again to all that offered comments and advice. When appropriate and a black frame is needed, I think I will be using Black Lacquer again.

What a cute and clever pattern. I think that you go over big in some of the boutique shops.

Wonderful cutting, John.

That will put a lot of and fun into a young ones play time as it did to the old guy who made the puzzle

Down Right Fantastic

Win, Win? Wonder if that will work on my wife?

great work Love spalted woods

Beautiful work

I finished them all, then assembled. Well...technically....I assembled to check fits and use a round file on the inside of the axle hole on the gears so they would spin smoothly, but not bind. Once I knew the posts were the right height (more or less) and the gears spun relatively freely (wood on wood, so its not going to be fidget-spinner frictionless), I pulled it apart, glued the posts into the lower piece, stained everything (hearts/spacers are Minwax "Early American" and the gears are Minwax "Weathered Oak"....I need to restock my stains!). Once dry, I reassembled and glued on the top heart.

Fortunately the stacked panel was not heavy. I attempted to keep as much panel on the table as possible. I would orient the panel on an angle to the right or left of the back of saw as much as possible so as much of the panel was on the table as possible. Otherwise, I just supported the panel with my hands. Like I said, it became more difficut as some of the large parts was cut out. By using blue tape to hold the cutouts in place, I was able to make the panel "more" rigid so the overhang did not drop too badly. This project was a very easy cut (other than the thin areas between cutouts) so the cutting went quite fast. If this was a more intricate pattern I don't think it would be feasable with out creating extensions for the table to support the panels.

Thank you Jim for sharing such an awesome pattern.

I give my nieces and nephews an ornament every year. This year was Steve Goods initial snowflake. Did the personalized ornaments for the grandkids and great-nephews and an order from my daughter for her nephews.

These were made a few years ago but go up every year