Wooden Star Spangled Uncle Sam

Staying with the patriotic themed projects, heres another Uncle Sam to decorate your picnic table or wherever else you might like to place him, he'd probably sell well at craft fairs and flea markets too. This Uncle Sam is also from Better Homes and Gardens magazine, if you would like to make one you can find the pattern and complete instructions here.

Uncle Sam Outdoor Whirigig

Well with Memorial Day behind us, the 4 th of July is only about a week and one month away. Hard to believe since its only starting to get nice outside now. With the 4th in mind I'll be looking for some projects with a patriotic theme in mind the next couple of weeks. I found this Uncle Sam Whirligig in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, I think he would make a great decoration for a deck, garden, atop your mailbox or just about anywhere else you like, if you would like to make one you'll find the complete instructions and a pdf pattern here

Air Purification System

Like a lot of people I have a very small unheated shop. I work outside when the weather is nice, about the time that Thanksgiving comes rolling around I end up stopping when I can't take the cold anymore, til this year. This year I brought my scroll saw inside and set it up in a small unused room. This solved the problem with working in the cold, but created a new one, dust.

My Craftsman saw has a dust port on the right hand side, so I attach my Shop-vac, which I have installed a HEPA filter in. The Sop-vac takes care of most of the dust and you can disconnect it quickly to vacuum the area around the saw with the brush attachment to keep things neat. But even with all that, there is still some very fine dust that ends up escaping and settling on things in the room.

Even in a larger well equipped shop with a built in dust collection system that has ductwork going to each machine, theres still the need for a way to collect the wayward dust that hangs in the air for several hours after your done working, which is why most woodworkers will have an air cleaner as part of their overall dust collection system.

I looked at the larger shop air cleaning units, but they're ugly and not cheap either. I kept on looking around and one day in the store while getting furnace filters came across the Hunter Air Purifiers in another isle close by. I bought the one you see above, the QuietFlo 90 for $49.95. The little machine is good for rooms up to 12' x 13' and will exchange the air up to 6 times per hour, it can sit on a shelf/table or it has a couple of slots on the back so you can hang it on the wall. Its also easy on power, just under 10 watts.

When I'm going to work with my saw, I turn on the Hunter, the the Shop-vac and do my cutting. When I'm finished I leave the Hunter running for about 3-4 hours (with the door closed) and then shut it off. It has done a pretty good job for me so far.

Look for these machines on sale at places like Menards, Home Dept, Lowes, etc. or maybe on-line at Amazon.com, there are some good deals out there, just look and you will find something affordable.

Dust Blower Maintenance

I was cutting out some projects and my dust blower seemed to becoming less and less effective; I suspected that the bellows had failed, so I removed it and found that it was still good. Next I removed the plastic goose neck and blew in the end that connects to the bellows, and about 1/2 tbs. of fine dust came out. Problem solved, for now.

The bellows on my saw doesn't have a check valve in it, like an old fashioned bellows for a fireplace or a bicycle pump, so it's basically just sucking in and out to create the air stream to remove the sawdust. The problem with this tactic is that it fills the line with debris requiring us to remove the goose neck from time to time for cleaning.

I'm tired of servicing such a poor design, and I have an idea to make a separate blower that can be moved for use to any tool. The blower will be easy to make out of readily available parts, be adjustable, be easy on the electric bill, and we won't have to keep playing with it to keep it functioning.

I'll share it with you in an upcoming post, when I have one made, and up and running.

It's been a few days since my last post. Now that the weather is nice, I have been outside and basically torn my shop completely apart for cleaning and reorganizing things, adding new shelving, and getting ready to bring my radial arm saw home. I hope I'll be done shortly so that I can back to making things.

Adult Puzzle - The Ultimate Puzzle

Most people think of a jigsaw puzzle in terms of some attractive picture cut into nice uniform pieces that interlock with one another. Lets try something new and challenge your puzzle solving skills, this is a dastardly puzzle, no picture and the lines are almost invisible because its all black. This type of puzzle would also be great if it were made into a tray type puzzle.

This is in the Spring 2005 issue of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine. you can read the article here to get you started and the pattern is available here .

If this is driving you crazy, this one will have you seeing red.

Dinosaur Puzzle T- Rex

I finished this yesterday, he's made out of 3/4" Poplar, I used a number 7# reverse tooth blade and painted him with acrylic art paints, then I added a quick coat of Minwax wipe-on polyurethane to seal the finish. The pattern was from the Holiday 2007 issue of ScrollSaw Woodworking & crafts magazine. If you would like to make one of these, you can get a free pattern here Free T- Rex Dinosaur Puzzle pattern If you would like to read the article, click here

Note: According to the people at Min-Wax, the wipe-on poly is lead free and considered inert after 30 days, as any solvent will have evaporated and as such is a good choice for toys and furniture to be used by kids.