Creative Woodworks & crafts 2003-08, страница 36

SUPPLIES

Wood: Finnish birch, plywood, mdf or wood of choice—one piece )/4"x2-l/2"x 14", one piece 1 /] 6" x 1-1 /4" x 32", one piece 5/8" x 1 -1 /8" x 84", one piece 1 /8" x 1" x 24" Tools: scroll saw with assorted blades; drill

with bits 3/4"-Dia. x 24" long dowel 3/8"-Dia. x 24" long dowel l/4"-Dia. x 6" long dowel 1 /8"-Dia. x 6" long dowel Sandpaper, assorted grits Acrylic paints to make the following colors (Example: Navy Blue + White = Light Blue); Black, Brown, Cream, Fawn, Flesh, Gray, Light Blue, Navy Blue, White, Yellow Acrylic gloss varnish Fine point gold marker

1 Patterns Located in Full Size j Pattern Section No. 1!

Civil War Chess Pieces

Make the soliders

Take a scrap piece of wood and cut out a piece to make a shoulder on it 3/8" from the end. Use this as a gauge to mark a center line on the 3/4" round rod. Turn the rod around and mark another center line directly opposite the first. These lines will be used as reference lines for the nose, ears, etc. Twenty-eight heads are required, but making them end-to-end will make handling the small pieces easier, so cut fourteen 1-1/2" long pieces from the rod.

Cut small triangular pieces off the ends of the head pieces to form chins. Use a traveling jig made out of scrap timber or mdf, as shown in Fig. 1. Allow a piece of the jig to hold the round rod tightly at each side. Keep the center line uppermost and turn the rod to make a cut at the four corners.

Bore 1/8" holes for the noses. Here, a simple jig will position the round rod correctly (see Fig. 2). Glue the 1 /8" dowel rod in and cut it off 1/16" from what will be the face of the chess piece (see Fig. 3).

Cut a "V" with sides at 45° in a piece of scrap wide enough to clamp fo the table of the drill stand. Cut a similar "V" in a narrower piece. Clamp one of the head pieces in between the two "V" cuts, position it under a 3/8" drill bit, and bore a hole for the neck piece 3/8" deep (see Fig. 4). Keeping the wide piece with the "V" clamped to the stand, turn the head piece round, clamp the other "V" to it and bore again. Repeat with the other head pieces. Cut the heads and sand them round (see Fig. 5).

To make the ears, use a plane or sandpaper to flatten a short piece of l/4"-Dia. dowel. Cut 1/16" long pieces from the rod. Glue these to the head. Transfer the patterns and cut the bodies to shape (see Fig. 6) bore 3/8"-Dia. holes to recieve the dowel which will attach the heads. Attach the heads to the bodies.

14 • Creative Woodworks S. Crafts August 2003

Make the hats

For the kepis of the Union soldiers, stack pieces of 1/16" plywood and cut twelve to the pattern of the combined peak and base of the hat (see Fig. 7). Cut the tops, 5/8"-Dia. at the widest part, out of 3/8" thick material with the scroll saw table tilted at 15°. Glue the bases and tops together and paint them. Then glue them to the heads. When the glue has set, put the heads into a holder and with the aid of a traveling jig, cut off the top of the hat, leaving 1/4" at the back and 1/8" at the front (see Fig. 8). Complete the painting.

Before cutting the brim and base for the slouch hats of the Confederate soldiers, a curl to the brims is to be formed. Take two pieces of aircraft-grade 1/16" plywood, each 1-1/4" wide and at least 8" long. Put them in water, bring the water to a boil, take them out while hot, and bend them in a former. This consists of two 1/2" strips glued to a base 1" apart. With the plywood in position, it is clamped down, two pieces at a time, with a 5/8" wide block (see Fig. 9).

Cut the plywood into 1-1/4" lengths, stack the pieces, and cut the 1-1/8" diameter brims. The tops are the same as those of the Union soldiers. Glue the parts together, paint them, and glue them to the heads.

Make the arms

These are cut from 1/4" plywood. First cut a strip 1-1/4" wide, then cut it at right-angles into pieces 1/4" wide. A total of forty of these arms are required, four others, 1 -3/8" long, are needed for the two kings. Mrs. Lincoln's arms are thinner; make these when you are ready. The left arms of the

by Ralph Sinnott