Workshop Humour

A whittle bit of workshop humour to brighten your day:


DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted vertical stabilizer which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL:  Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

SKILL SAW:  A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

HACKSAW:  One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle.  It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you try to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS:  Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads.  If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER:  Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper and tin oil cans and splashing oil onto your shirt; but it can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER:  A tool for opening paint cans.  Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.

HAMMER:  Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of diving rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent to the object we are trying to hit. 

Kitchen Utensil Bucket

Although this was not made with the scroll saw, it was however, an item that I made a couple of months ago with (mainly) my table saw.  A handy, large bucket to hold all our long-handled kitchen utensils.  Made from natural oak.  It actually turned out better than I thought it would.

Scroll Saw Village

This is a great website for anyone who works with a scroll saw.  Member forums, User Galleries, Free Patterns and much, much more.  Check it out!  Click on the title to be redirected to that site.

Potpourri Box #1

The dark pieces of wood in this potpourri box are 1" thick pieces of African Ebony, a very hard, very close-grained and beautiful wood.  Dipped in orange oil and later varathaned.  Another  great project pattern from the Scroll Saw Workshop .  My wife claimed this piece as soon as she saw the finished product.

Scrolled Bowl #2

This bowl was cut from the same pattern as my Scrolled Bowl #1, but this bowl was cut from 1/2" pine, thus making it much taller than my first bowl.  I have also posted a video here from Steve Good, creator of the pattern for this bowl, which is available on his blog at: Scroll Saw Workshop .  Be sure to visit Steve's great website.

Scrolled Bowl #1

This is apparently a very popular item with a pattern from http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com .  This bowl was cut from 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood, dipped in orange oil and later varathaned.

Wall Art: Duck

This wall art project was cut from 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood, dipped in orange oil and varathaned, then framed.

My first scroll saw project

This is my very first project that I created with my scroll saw.  As it was early December, I decided to make this project (through the kindness of a free pattern from Steve Good) and gave it to my son, Darren, as a Christmas gift.  This item was cut from 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood, oak stain applied, and then later varathaned.  The base was cut from 3/4" pine and painted black to give a little contrast.  The clock insert is from Lee Valley Tools, (www.leevalley.com).

How I got started with the scroll saw

Several months ago, while browsing the power tools in a local home improvement store, my eyes focused on a scroll saw which was on display.  I wondered what a scroll saw could actually be useful for, so when I got home, I did some searches on the internet and particularly YouTube, and began to realize what wonderful items that could be made with the scroll saw.  I was very impressed with one individual by the name of Steve Good, who by the way has his own blog pertaining to the art of creating useful and decorative items with the scroll saw. You can visit Steve's blog at: http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com .  From that site, you can find a link for Steve's catalog of hundreds of free patterns that you can download and use to create these beautiful projects.  From that point on, I was 'hooked' and went back to the store and purchased my first ever scroll saw, a SKIL, Model 3335, 16" variable speed saw.  Steve Good also has many informative and helpful video clips to show how he creates some of his items.  I am a regular viewer of Steve's blog, and I also subscribe to his newsletter.  If you are at all interested in getting into scroll sawing, I urge you to visit Steve's blog and see for yourself what a wonderful hobby this can be.