another tool time

 I have talked in the past about some of the tools I have, referring to carving knives. Here I will cover the power tools I utilize in the carving process, and there are not many, but not many needed. At present I own a Shopsmith band saw (needs a blade) and a scroll saw. The scroll saw is a 16” so cutting 2” is about as deep as it can cut.  Since I am currently mostly working on Santa ornaments carved from a corner cut this works just fine for the current project. Some day I hope to take my Shopsmith mini and set it up to run the band saw straight from here. I still have the old motor from the unit, so all I will need to do is purchase a pulley system to connect the two. For now I can hook it up to the big Shopsmith the standard way, yes I have a regular and a mini Shopsmith.

Previously I showed how I create a rough cut using a homemade template and I have to say it works really well and a time saver to boot. The other day I made another homemade carving aide, this one helps me cut blocks into corner cuts. Made totally from scrap wood. It is in a 45 degree angle and has room in the back to use clamps to hold it in place. In the future I will build one that is “V” shaped, this style holds the block in place firmly, but due to the depth that my scroll will cut I had no room to play with here. Most of my corner cut ornaments are being carved out of 1 ½ bass wood so in cutting a corner cut this means I am cutting a 2” depth. I don’t get a perfect cut from these and I am not always getting a perfect cut down center since there is some slight movement with the scroll based on the thickness of the wood.

That’s the good news, the bad news is that I hit my finger on a table saw blade, removed a layer of skin and won’t be carving for a week or so. This happened last Wednesday and so far it is healing up nicely so won’t be too long before I can put pressure on it again. Tried my carving glove on the day or so after it happened, bad idea, really bad idea. 

Live, learn then don't do it again