Project Information
For the Surprise Swap of 2020, I had the distinct pleasure of drawing the leader of the swap, my friend Tony aka GR8Hunter. Tony got my name in my first ever swap - the Box Swap of 2018 - and he proceeded to show my how a swapper should act! He blew me away with his generosity so I knew that if I ever got his name, I was going to try and live up to those standards.
I looked no further than his projects for my inspiration for making this sign which I hoped would find a special place in his shop. I started out with a 14" wide piece of pretty clear cedar and used the state of PA to get the proportions (ended up with a 25" long piece to make it fit). I modeled it all up on Aspire which is an incredible 3D program for CNC creations. I went a lot deeper with my design than I usually do because I wanted the toys to almost jump out of the frame at you. Extra depth adds time to the cutting process as the machine really slows down when Z moves (X moves go left to right, Y moves go top to bottom and Z moves go up and down, in and out of the wood). All told I think the finish cut, done with an 1/8" tapered ball bit, ran for about 6 hours but it was well worth the time it took!
When it was all done it was pretty obvious that there was not going to be any paint added to this project but rather a little bit of walnut glaze accentuated the details. Hope you all like it! I know Tony was pretty excited when it showed up and he didn't even know about the bonus gifts yet…
Hope to see everybody joining in for the next swap!
I looked no further than his projects for my inspiration for making this sign which I hoped would find a special place in his shop. I started out with a 14" wide piece of pretty clear cedar and used the state of PA to get the proportions (ended up with a 25" long piece to make it fit). I modeled it all up on Aspire which is an incredible 3D program for CNC creations. I went a lot deeper with my design than I usually do because I wanted the toys to almost jump out of the frame at you. Extra depth adds time to the cutting process as the machine really slows down when Z moves (X moves go left to right, Y moves go top to bottom and Z moves go up and down, in and out of the wood). All told I think the finish cut, done with an 1/8" tapered ball bit, ran for about 6 hours but it was well worth the time it took!
When it was all done it was pretty obvious that there was not going to be any paint added to this project but rather a little bit of walnut glaze accentuated the details. Hope you all like it! I know Tony was pretty excited when it showed up and he didn't even know about the bonus gifts yet…
Hope to see everybody joining in for the next swap!