I had a little time today to play in the shop, and I finished the parts for the sconce body. I ended up cutting two of the piercings with my fret saw, and I borrowed a scroll saw from a buddy to do the other two. It was faster, with less cleanup, using the scroll saw. But if I could saw accurately with the hand held fret saw I don’t think it would have been much faster really. Most of the work was clean up with a tiny chisel and my little home made sanding sticks. WIth the scroll saw there was a lot less clean up.
Anyway, I expect a scroll saw is something I might want to add in the future. I want to do some Greene & Greene style inlay, and I’ll need it for that. In any case, I’m starting to glue up the parts for this sconce. I still need to make the top and the hanger brackets for the leather straps. And the Ebony inlay bits. And the stained glass. Plenty left to keep me busy.
I think tomorrow I’ll be able to add the ebony plugs and inlay bars, and glue up the rest of the body. WIth a little luck I’ll bet the rood shaped, although I’m still scratching my head on how to shape that.
Scroll saw .. I always wondered how you’d make those. Do you have any idea how they did G&G by hand or is it a style that’s only done with power tools?
I haven’t seen any good information on how the original pieces were made. My guess is that the piercings in G&G work were just done with a hand held fret saw.
Frankly I’ve always been afraid of powered scroll saws. Not for any rational safety reason, but more because of the association with “scroll art”. Scroll-sawn cats, dogs and unicorns scare me. Scroll sawn wall hangings with quant sayings leave me terrified and trembling.