Scroll Saw Pattern Book -- Patrick & Patricia Spielmen

This is one of my favorite books. I decided to buy this book because I was tired of going back and forth to my library to check it out all of the time. This is a book that I highly recommend to get if you are new to scrolling, although it doesn't cover how to scroll in general, it does go into detail on how to work with resizing patterns and covers some basics on topics like compound cutting, inlay and marquetry, plus there's a wealth of patterns that you can cut to build your skill level. I refer to this book quite often for project ideas. The Spielmens also have many other good books to choose from.

Cribbage Board - Free Pattern

C ribbage is a traditional card game that dates back to about the 17th century and is played by 2, 3, 4 or more players and uses a board with pins to keep track of points for each player, although old,this is still highly popular game.

I have made cribbage boards for several friends over the years, and they were very grateful to receive them. I haven't seen to many nice one's available commercially. I suppose that's probably why they liked the ones that I made so much, usually made out of an old scrap of hardwood with several coats of lacquer or polyurethane to protect them.

I found this plan for a cribbage board on a Canadian website for woodworking, it's very plain, but attractive, the base has a storage compartment for the pegs, and is held shut with a rare earth magnet. This is a great project to make using up some small scraps from the shop, or to use that one really special small piece of highly figured wood that you've been saving. With a little time and material you can make your favorite Cribbage player a very nice holiday gift.

If your ready to get started, you can download the Cribbage Board pdf here, the instructions are located here
, another very useful illustration is located here.

If you are not sure were to get Cribbage pegs, Rockler Woodworking has them available here. They also have rare earth magnets.

Heirloom 5 car Toy Train Plans

I'm always scouring the internet for more great plans, especially those that are either free or relatively inexpensive. I found this little gem of a toy train this morning in my search, it's a classic 4-4-o steam engine with a coal tender, freight car, log car and a classic caboose.

This looks like a durable little heirloom quality toy that will last for years. There are many very nice patterns out there for trains for the very young, the type that are basically made out of a single piece of wood, safe for small fry's and easy enough to make. If your looking for a pattern for a train to make for an older child, this one has a fair amount of detail without being a complicated project like a scale model train that an adult would collect.

The instructions call for the use of a small lathe, however, I believe that this project could be completed with store bought parts and dowel stock, plus a little ingenuity. The plans are very well detailed, there's one for each car and the engine, a materials list and you can print the plans out in pdf form too. You can get started here