Using methods very similar to my most recent discussions/posts (Orb and Wavy Ribbon), I made this project to enter into competition at the SAW Expo in Springfield, MO a couple of weeks ago... it did well... 1st Place in the Open, Complex category.

  This project was directly fashioned after the work of Malcom Tibbets, wood turner. (as are the Orb and Wavy Ribbon that I made). However, my method uses only scroll saw... no miter saw, lathe, or band saw.  It is constructed of 2 half-bowls and 10 quarter-bowls. The toughest part was the assembly. 

Congratulations on first place. That is so neat looking. I love all the lines and the curves are perfect. That is truley awesome!

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Spence, that is downright cool.  Congrats!  How many hours are involved in the piece?

 

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Ron Dudelston
Site Host


Above and Beyond WoodWorks

Way cool. Hard to find the right words.Congratulations on your first place. I can see how you got it.

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Wayne Mahler
God bless and protect our troops that serve so we can be free.

Ron Dudelston said:

Spence, that is downright cool.  Congrats!  How many hours are involved in the piece?

 

Ron,

  That question is always asked and I never know the answer. So for this project, I made up the number: 40 hours. I honestly don't know, though. If I were to include the amount of time researching Malcom Tibbetts' work and the time to make a circle cutting jig for the scroll saw (which I made for the Orb I posted a couple months ago) and all the other amounts of time indirectly related, it would double or triple... I think.

   Prepping the stock for cutting the bowl parts is several hours. The actual wood cutting is maybe 3-4 hours or so... then there is gluing up the half and quarter bowls- maybe a couple of hours... then project assembly and sanding/shaping is a LOT of time, with more sanding/shaping when fully assembled... then finishing and making a base and finishing the base. (I'm breaking new ground with these "ribbon" projects... nobody has done them using just a scroll saw, so I have to figure out a lot of things and that takes time, especially when I have to revise methods several times. Assembly of the ribbon after the bowl parts are cut and glued-up was a real bear... the Mobius assembly was much harder than the Wavy Ribbon project. Like the Wavy Ribbon, all gluing is end-grain to end-grain... there is no way to clamp parts together as all parts are curved. Hand holding joints when there is just 2-3 components is not hard... but adding parts after that, gravity pulls the joint apart when I set it down. I spent 3 hours trying to get one joint to hold!! I finally gave up for the night, but then I had a great idea that made everything easier the next day. (styrofoam blocks and bamboo skewers!)

  Being just a hobby, it isn't important for me to log the time... that would make it more like work, eh?

  I suppose this might make a good forum question:

"Once a project is completed, do you know how long it took to make it? How do you know?"

Nice job

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Greg
Scroll Saw forum host

http://www.thesawdustfactoryga.com/