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Post by Ralph on Aug 16, 2008 20:27:17 GMT -5
Wilum, There were 16 facets on each "cube" or ball for a better word.
Each one was made from a triangular shaped piece of 3/4" thick maple cut into compound angles. When glued together (which took enough time in itself) they formed a perfectly faceted ball, and being hollow they bounced nicely.
I've got one around here somewhere but I think it is packed away.
Sadly they have since changed over to plastic ones.
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Post by Ralph on Aug 16, 2008 20:29:26 GMT -5
Now that I think about it, I believe Lichtman's Liquors up in the North Utica Shopping Center still has the Old English styled signs above their liquor sections in the store.
I did those free hand with a router about 20 years ago.
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Post by wilum47 on Aug 31, 2008 12:14:01 GMT -5
OK here goes another "I'll keep this thread alive some how" try.
First, Ralph,
Ive seen those signs, done by hand? Nice! Why did you give the craft up if I may ask?
I did an inlay type cut out for my address sign up to camp leaving the image of the island and the post numbers etched into the island. Didn't look bad for a first try.
OK, here's another saw blade thingy to pass on. When its time to change your tubing for your oxygen machine or CPAT take a strip of it and slice it open end to end.
Twist the beginning open and cover the teeth of your saw blades. Overlap the tubing about an inch and a half and secure with a piece of masking tape. Now the first times are going to be a little hard to do because of the tubing's "memory". Try warming it up a little. This will protect your blades teeth even if it gets dropped (to a degree). ;D
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Post by Ralph on Sept 2, 2008 1:15:18 GMT -5
Not carved by hand , but they were freehanded with a Router that had a v-cut blade in it.
I gave it up in some respects because the place I worked for was going downhill. It was the advent of the CNC machines for woodworking. The machines were now doing everything, and small enough to be afforded by almost any company........except for around here.
If I had lived in High Point, NC or woven willow branches into chairs up in Vermont I would have had it made.
I wound up with a small shop on Hubbell St. just off Bleecker for a couple years but then gave it up.
More time to spend in meditation. LOL!!!
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Post by wilum47 on Sept 2, 2008 7:34:31 GMT -5
That's the problem with this economy and time. Allot of the craftsmanship is gone. Try to find a good shoe repairman.
First time I saw CNC with wood at work was about 10 years ago at the NY State Fair and these two guys were running out personnel signs in about 20 minutes and most of that was due to the backed up orders! That's not crafted, its stamped!
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Post by Clipper on Sept 2, 2008 7:51:51 GMT -5
I made a sign years ago, after watching them make them at the county fair in Booneville. They used a router, and I was young and broke and did not have a router. I made a sign about 18" x 24" with our last name, our address, and a picture of mountains and a lake. I did the whole thing with exacto knives, chisels and gouges. It took me months of working on it for an hour at a time when I had free time. When it was complete and the water, trees, and mountains had been colored, the address painted black, and the background sealed and had two or three coats of poly on it, it was beautiful .
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Post by jon hynes on Sept 3, 2008 21:49:10 GMT -5
I attended what I believe was the first Home Show at the newly built Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Teddy Nowak was an exhibitor with a pantograph machine that used a router. He was using it to make signs out of redwood. Quite expensive as I remember. I had one made and still have it in the attic. He had half the people at the show there standing in line to have a sign made or those just watching. And piles of chips all over the place. I thought that was the slickest machine going. No great talent to make the sign but a professional result. Joe Ustravinus, owner of Enchanted Forrest staked him to the money to buy the machine and Teddy was able to pay or it the first day. I knew Teddy from his second hand store on Baggs Square next to the White Elephant.
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Post by Clipper on Sept 3, 2008 23:01:29 GMT -5
They made a lot of money with that machine. My mom and dad had just moved to Newport and I bought them a sign with the family name routed out of a redwood board about 16-18 inches long, with a deer and a pine tree on one end. It took about 10 minutes to make, and he charged about $10That was a lot of money back then.
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Post by Ralph on Sept 9, 2008 0:27:27 GMT -5
I've got a pantograph for the router packed away in a box somewhere.
Damn thing took more time to set up than it did to use! Easier to do it free hand.
When I ran the shop down on Tracy street we had a HUGE commercial sign maker there, damn thing was as big as two ping pong tables.
I guess they used it to make the large vertical sign posts that are/were up in New Hartford on Oxford Road.
Clipper, I did a few things by hand with chisels and gouges once or twice.........too many damn blisters!
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Post by Clipper on Sept 9, 2008 21:56:45 GMT -5
Splinters and blisters, but a real sense of pride and satisfaction when it was finished. I would not indulge in such a project again right away, haha.
I meant to get on here and brag earlier, but with Kathy in the hospital, I didn't get to it. I have to rub in a little good luck story. I stopped at a yard sale the other day on the way to the hospital (Saturday Morning) The was a Dewalt plunge router in a case and a set of about 20 router bits. They had $50 on it, and I bought it for $30. the damn thing is just like new, and some of the router bits have never been used. LOL
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Post by Ralph on Sept 9, 2008 21:59:51 GMT -5
Excuse me whilst I wipe the drool off of my keyboard.
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Post by Clipper on Sept 9, 2008 22:03:18 GMT -5
Haha. The family was selling off dad's tools, and mom was going into an apartment in NC closer to her kids. If I had been able to afford it, they also had a contractor sized heavy duty commercial table saw, with extension tables, and dust collector. It was originally about $800 according to the old lady, and was only about 4 years old. They were asking $500 for it, and told me I could have it for $400. I was awful tempted, but I could not justify the money right now. I have an almost new Craftsmen saw now. Kathy would kill me, haha.
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Post by Clipper on Sept 9, 2008 22:08:23 GMT -5
I just now got home from the hospital. Kathy was supposed to have her surgery at 9 AM. They never took her down until 4 PM and started her surgery at 5 PM. She came back up at 8PM. They relieved the pressure that was causing her sciatic nerve pain. It was spinal stenosis, and they had to bore out a little bone to make room for the nerve passage to be larger. She was feeling relief as soon as she came back, although she was a little sore from the surgery itself. She has an incision about 2 inches long in the small of her back, that they closed with surgical glue of some kind, and put a bandaid on it.
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Post by Ralph on Sept 9, 2008 23:05:14 GMT -5
What surgery?  ?? Man, I must have missed something somewhere here Clip! Glad she is feeling better though. |
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Post by Clipper on Sept 10, 2008 7:22:12 GMT -5
Well, she has had horrible sciatic nerve pain since the last surgery. They thought maybe the bone graft or cage that they put in might be pressing on the nerve. They went in yesterday and they didn't find any of that, but found a little narrowing of the nerve space (spinal stenosis) and reamed that out some more so the nerve had more room. Today she is still in pain, but they are hoping it is inflammation from the messing around in there, and that it will heal and go away in a couple of days. God, I hope so. She was in so much pain the last week that she would sit on the edge of the bed and cry. Say a prayer for her. I won't jack the thread, but if there is any news I will put it in a PM later. Thanks for your concern.
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