Band Saw Box

Hi all,
We are still waiting to move house, so once again this post is coming from a precarious hot spot.
In my last post, I showed you a drawing of a band saw box that I was going to attempt. Well I've finished it and I'm very pleased with the result.

Until recently I'd never heard of a band saw box, so I looked it up on Google. I was quite amazed by what I saw, so I watched a few being made on You Tube.

These boxes are supposed to be made, as the name suggests, on a band saw because it has a much greater depth of cut than a scroll saw. Anyway, I wanted to make a band saw box but there was no way I was going to lash out on a band saw because a decent one costs serious money. So, I would have to do it with my scroll saw which according to some people couldn't be done.

Well here is a picture of my finished box. It could have probably taken a little more time on the finish, but seeing as this was my first attempt at a band saw box and that I'd used


 a cheap piece of pine from B&Q and there is a limit to how much sanding I wanted to do. Now, if you are wondering why there is a difference between making a band saw box on a band saw and making one on a scroll saw, here are the differences.

To make a band saw box on a band saw, you first laminate or stick several pieces of wood together to form a block onto a which design is stuck and then the box it cut out in several piece.

Doing it on a scroll saw is different in as much as the design is stuck onto several pieces of wood which are then cut out and then stuck together. Greater care needs to be taken when doing on a scroll saw because each cut needs to be identical. Having said that a lot of the skill comes in the sanding because it here that band saw box takes on a look of its own.

If you own a scroll saw it is worth giving it a go because the results can be spectacular.

If you need more information on how it is done please let me know and I will get back to you when a hotspot allows. Who knows, by the time I make my next post I might even have moved, but that would probably be too much to hope for after 18 weeks of waiting.

Band Saw Boxes

Hi all,
We still haven't moved house, so this post is coming via a hot spot again. The signal is poor, so it will be a quick one. Over the Christmas period my wife Terry decided to try and forget her woes by doing a bit of pyrography. Here is a photo of what she did. It is a nice autumnal scene and at the rate we are going that's when we'll move house.

As you can see she did a great job with the pyrography but she then wanted to add some colour. She painted the leaves with watercolour paint, which she says gives her a more delicate tone on the wood. Acrylics have many good properties but they do tend to be a bit garish. The plaque was fined with spray lacquer because the brush on stuff would make the paint run.

I think she did a good job, but has now gone back into moving mode. To that end her days are split between planning what she is going to do in the new house, deciding what she can buy for it and shouting a solicitors.

I on the other hand decided to use the time to work on my new book and I am pleased to tell you that I have written 16,000 words and it is going well. Target day for publication is April.

I haven't managed to do any pyrography during the last few days, but I have been working on a design for a band saw box, which you can see below. They are made on a band saw, I reckon I could do just as well on my scroll saw; perhaps I'm deluded, but we'll see.

If you've never heard of a band saw box, you are in good company because neither had I until a few weeks ago and they are quite interesting.

In my next post I hope to show you how I made a band saw box on my scroll saw and that should prove to be interesting.

By the way, I'm sorry if you find any spelling or grammer issues in this posts but I haven't brought my prooofreader (the wife) with me. She said something about wasting time sitting about in a cold car when she could be giving an estate agent or solicitor a bit of verbal encouragement.

In Layed Pencil Box

Hi All,
Happy new year to all of you. Let's hope it's a good one.

In my last post I showed you the drawing of the top of a pencil box. I managed to finish it over the Christmas period and give it to my wife as a present for her to keep her pretty pens in.

I made the box from a small piece of American cherry that was 4 inches wide, 18 inches long and a quarter of an inch thick. The sides of the box weren't very high so I did a single box joint on each corner. All of the cutting was done on my scroll saw. I used a size 12 blade for the straight cuts and a size five for the more intricate bits on the lid.

Cutting the lid was tricky in parts especially were the Damsel Fly met the reeds. I also had to leave some bits of wood intact and use my pyrography iron to complete the design. This can be seen on the bodies and heads of the Damsel Flies and the legs.

After cutting out the design and doing the pyrography work I cut out a piece of 3mm plywood and stuck it to the under side of the lid. Care had to be taken with the positioning because this would have to fit snugly into the top of the box to position the lid and stop it sliding off. Its other purpose was to stop the polymer clay, that I was going to use to fill the fretwork, from dropping out through the bottom of the lid.

The in lay work was done by mixing blue and yellow clays together to make a green, which was then pushed into the reeds with the back of a craft knife blade. For the body I used a blue clay with a little white added to give it the right hue.
Lastly, I did the wings. These were filled with a clay mixed from white and translucent. I didn't mix the clay thoroughly and this gave the wings a marbled look. The photo doesn't really do it justice because it worked out rather well.

After baking the lid in the oven, I used a very fine sand paper to rub it down and then gave it a coat of sanding sealer. Once that was dry, I gave it a couple of coats of varnish to finish it off then put a layer of felt on the inside and on the bottom of the box.

I was pleased with the way it turned out, but disappointed with the interior size  because it would only hold a small number of pens or pencils. To make amends I'm going to do another one soon which will be a bit bigger with a different design on the lid.

I will show it you as soon as it is done. In my next post I will also show you what my wife has been up to with here pyrography iron.