Creative Woodworks & crafts 2003-03, страница 40

continued from page 39

For the Amish buggy seat, first cut out the material from between the sides at the bottom of the seat. Next, do the side view and tape the block. Finish with the rest of the front view cutting.

For the Amish buggy body, cut out the material from between the axles in the side view first. Then do the front view. Be very careful to keep the vertical cuts straight to form the two sides of the buggy body. Tape the block and finish the side view. Fig. 1 shows the items after the 3-D sawing has been completed.

Using one corner of the 1/16" thick piece of basswood, lay the back of the buggy body on the stock and mark the size needed for the back panel. Keep the wood grain vertical for better strength. Note: the back fits in between the two sides. Draw the window shape on the back piece. Bore a Plade entry hole and cut out the window (it is important to cut out the window while the back is still part of the larger piece of material). Finish cutting the back piece and then carefully sand the vertical edges until it fits neatly between the sides. The top edge can be sanded after the back is glued in place with the super glue.

Lay the buggy body upside-down on the 1/16" thick piece of basswood and mark the shape of the top. The wood grain should run from front to back. Keep about 1/16" overlap on the sides and the back. The front edge should be even with the front of the buggy body to make the roof area over the seat. Saw out the roof and sand the edges. Glue the top in place. The seat will be glued in place after the painting has been done.

Cut the wheels

The wheels are cut about 1/16" thick from the end of a 3/4"-Dia. dowel rod. Use care in selecting the dowel rod to bo sure it is as near round as possible. Some dowel rods are poorly made. The wheels can be made with a scroll saw and a No. 5 blade (see Fig. 2). A 3/4" thick piece of scrap wood can be clamped to the saw table to make a fence (the fence can also be seen in Fig. 1). Note: when scroll saw blades are manufactured, the teeth are sheared from the saw blade stock material and, as a result, they have a burr on one edge and not on the other. This makes the blade cut as if it had set in the teeth on one side but not on the other. In order to make the perpendicular cuts in the dowel rod, it must be fed into the blade at an angle as seen in Fig. 2. This angle will depend on the burr for the individual blade being used. For the No. 5 blade used in the setup shown, this was about 15 degrees.

Initially, set up the fence at about this angle and about 1/16" from the blade. Be sure to keep the end of the dowel rod perpendicular to the fence while cutting. Make a trial cut. If the wheel gets thicker as the dowel is cut, the angle is too small. If the wheel gets thinner as the dowel is cut, the angle is too big. Adjust the fence until the sawing produces wheels that are uniform in thickness.

After adjustments have been made, it will help to cut about 2/3 of the way into the dowei and then to rotate the dowel without moving it forward while finishing the cut in order to avoid tear-out at the end of the cut. Smooth the edges of fhe wheels with an emery board before painting. If the sides of the wheels need sanding, slide them across a flat piece of sandpaper.

Finishing

Initial finishing details are similar for all parts. After each item has been cut out, there will be some fuzz on the edges where the saw blade exits the cut at the bottom of

the saw stroke. This can be removed with light sanding by using a fingernail emery board or a narrow strip of fine grit sandpaper. The sandpaper will be easier to use if it is folded over along the length of the strip so there is grit on both sides. This also makes it stiffer and easier to use. A rotary sander can also be used if one is available. A small diameter (about 1 /8" or smaller) fine stone is best for finishing.

For the horses, round most of the details of the legs, body, neck, etc. Slightly rounded edges and corners on animals make them appear more natural. This can be done very easily with a rotary sander. A course stone, about 1/4" diameter, will quickly round the corners of the body where more material is removed. Finish up with the small diameter fine stone. This finishing can also be done with emery boards, strips of sandpaper, and small needle or riffler files.

The top of the seat for the surrey needs to be narrowed and slightly rounded. The rest of the finish work is done to remove fuzz at edges. Round toothpicks are used for the shafts. Use a fingernail clipper to cut off the sharp points on the toothpicks. Glue the back ends above the surrey axle and along the sides of the floor area.

Remove any fuzz from the Amish buggy body. Some of this may need to be done when fitting the back and top in place. Drill the two holes into the front of the axle, just below the floor of the buggy, for the buggy shafts. Note: the holes need to be spaced so the space between them matches the widt-i of the horse's belly. Use an awl to make a starter hole for the drill bit. They also need to have a slight upward slope so the front ends of the shafts are about at the middle of the horse's belly and match the harness around the horse. This can be seen in the photo of the finished items.

Painting

Give all the parts a coat of clear polyurethane spray to seal the wood grain. The parts can be held with long sewing needles poked into the bottom of each item. After spraying, push the head end of the needle into a piece of Styrofoam while the item dries. Paint the various items as shown in the finished project photo or as desired. The Amish buggy and surrey can have various color schemes. The buggy seat can be red, brown, etc. The surrey should have lots of fancy trim paint.

The wheels can be left natural and the rim and spokes added with a permanent black fine tip pen. In that case, mark 16 spokes in each wheel. First do vertical and horizontal spokes. Keep dividing the space between the spokes to get 16. Make a black or gold center hub. Don't paint the hub on the inside of the wheels where they will be glued in place.

The horses in the photo are white with black manes and tails. The hooves can also be black. The harnesses can be black, brown, or gold. The eyes are small black dots.

Assembly

The wheels can easily be glued to the ends of the axles if a gluing fixture is used. Fig. 1 shows the surrey setting on the glue fixture in the position for gluing wheels in place. The glue fixture is simply a 5/16" thick piece of wood that is narrower than the axle length. Note: the wheels are glued on after the oainting is completed. Clean any paint off of the ends of the axles before gluing. Be careful to keep the ends perpendicular to the axle. Setting the bottom of the axles on the wood strip will hold them at the

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