What We're Making

[splitwdw]

Dave, Great carving. Have you done something like this before?

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davemartin88 Here's a screen door I'm nearly finished with for our house. The door is an inexpensive pine door from Lowes, I then made the lower panel from cherry and carved the picture on the CNC. Took about 15 hours to carve. Finish is mainly shellac and a bit of stain to bring out some details. I'm happy with how the cherry and pine look together, wasn't sure I was going to be okay with it.

Very nice. I wouldn't have thought the cherry and pine would work. Really really nice!

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[davemartin88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by splitwdw Dave, Great carving. Have you done something like this before?

I've done a bit of woodworking but first time with a carving like this integrated to the project. I've done a couple of small 3D cuts on the CNC and cherry cuts really well and requires very little sanding or clean up. I also happen to have a good supply of cherry, walnut, and oak to pick from from trees that have fallen or been taken down on our property and milled. I've milled these over the last few years so after air drying, it's all ready to use. I was hoping the darker stain on the pine would work with the cherry which only has a clear coat and happy with how it turned out.

For those interested, the removed material from the carving is about 1/2" thick at its deepest points and done in a 3/4" panel that was glued up from 3 pieces of cherry. I was/am worried that the panel will warp. The panel was oversize on the CNC machine and screwed flat around all the edges while being cut. I cut it for about 5 hours each day, for 2 reasons. First was I don't want to leave the machine running when I'm not in the shop and second, thought it might help to relieve some of the stress in the wood from the cutting by only cutting part of the pattern each day. Once the carving was complete, I put on two coats of shellac to seal the wood before I took it off the router, then immediately applied two coats to the back side to keep the panel from drying at different rates. I really like to use shellac as you can easily apply 3 coats in just a couple of hours and it builds to a nice finish.

The panel is held in the door with pocket screws from the back side running in to the frame, about 3 screws on each side, then plugged the pocket holes with a cherry plug. Again, hoping this will help to hold the panel flat but will see what a season of temperature and humidity changes do. It's under a roof so won't be directly hit by the weather.

MRG- I took a 6" square from the carving and cut it out in cherry as a preview which gave me something to use to clear coat with shellac and compare to the the pine door and the house. My original plan wasn't to use the dark stain on the door frame but we decided the pine was too light so put some of the darker stain on it to get it closer to the color of the house- it will darken a bit with time as it is the same stain used on the logs of the house which are also pine. I added the trim at the top and on the inside of the door around the screen so there would be a bit more cherry to balance it out, we'll see!

Thanks for the comments and thanks to all for keeping this thread alive, some amazing things being created.

[Exit 2024]

Have to share our family affair - COOKIES
That is just perfect for us - one is enjoying making them and the other is happy to eat it all

Last year and this year Easter cookies

[Philliefan33]

Wow, those cookies look like artwork. My sugar cookies usually look like they were decorated by a five year old.

[simple girl]

Wow, those are beautiful!!!! Such talent!

[splitwdw]

Wow, cool cookies. Does the person that makes them use stencils for part of the design?

[Exit 2024]

splitwdw, no stencils on those, all hand painted with icing

[Walt34]

Wow, they look like Wedgwood china. I'd be afraid to bite into one and break a tooth!

[simple girl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exit 2024 splitwdw, no stencils on those, all hand painted with icing

That's amazing!

[Exit 2024]

Thanks for all wows using the moment will spam you all a little bit more

[Walt34]

That is such incredible detail work. You have real talent and ability there.

[Ronstar]

Wow, Exit 2024 - those cookies are awesome!

[MRG]

They look like that AND I can eat them!

Excellent.

[Exit 2024]

Now you all know the real reason to FIRE for us ASAP - more free time means more cookies

[redduck]

Those cookies look amazing! About how long does it take to paint a dozen?

[Exit 2024]

redduck, it depends on design and number of colors used , white and blue 26 eggs took probably 7-8 hrs total split in 3 days. It takes much longer to came up with doable idea though

[davemartin88]

Wow, the cookies are amazing!

[Exit 2024]

davemartin88, thank you for opening such a great topic, I was really enjoying looking at all that work shared here, so many so talented people, although honestly I am not that surprised. It takes a lot of patience, determination and attention to details to perfect different crafts, same skills are very applicable to achieve FIRE

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exit 2024 davemartin88, thank you for opening such a great topic, I was really enjoying looking at all that work shared here, so many so talented people, although honestly I am not that surprised. It takes a lot of patience, determination and attention to details to perfect different crafts, same skills are very applicable to achieve FIRE

For me it's personally very rewarding to perfect skills. One does not have to do this in retirement. It's a choice.

Yes, perfecting skills was critical at work yet there is something different going on. Maybe it's just that these skills cannot be co-opted by an institution run by others. Not that those institutions are bad, have to admit they are a necessary part of society. It's just that I never felt I was in charge and always had to prove those skills to a manager.