My friend Heidi asked me to help her boys cut out their pinewood derby cars for the upcoming derby. They came over last night and we got it done. They both had pretty cool designs and it gave me an excuse to go and pick up some new blades for the scroll saw and to play with it some. I like some of the things you can do with that saw. Anyway Natty, Jack and Andy all watched at various moments in the process and it wasn't but two minutes into the deal that Jack had a block of wood of his own with a car shape drawn on it. He actually opted to go with a pick up truck design.
When I was finished with Miles and Ethan I got to work on Jacks. Then I was handed a block from Andy. His car was a very special automobile that was actually made in the shape of four letter - Andy. It was pretty cool. Natalie was right there next with a block of wood with a car drawn on. Well, then she decided she wanted it to have wings like the batmobile. Hey, this is a scroll saw we are talking about, just about anything is possible and the batmobile had its wings.
It was fun to play with the saw and become more familiar with it. I had only used it once when the blade that was on it broke. Anyhow, I was enjoying it and picked up a few things during the process. One thing for sure, a portable plastic fold up table is not the ideal working service for this saw. We managed but it got a little bouncy. Once the shapes were all cut the kids disappeared and the shapes remained. I guess the excitement wore off pretty quickly.
This afternoon was the 2nd of 3 Activity Days meetings that I am doing. I believe I mentioned previously the little boxes that the girls are making. They are all doing very well. Today they hand sanded their boxes to smooth out some of the wood filler and then the power sander finished off the boxes. The girls even got a base coat of black paint done on their boxes. Well, more painting needs to be done on these and some other things as well. The girls are doing good and we are having a good time. With the base coat painting complete I grabbed a couple of cars that were cut out and painted them as well. Might as well move things along. It didn't end there. Two hours later we were putting custom paint jobs on these items.
Perhaps it just took a day for the excitement of these block carvings to kick in. Jack was extremely excited about it and will have me cutting out wheels for everyone in no time I am sure. Anyhow, grateful for the strength a little block of cedar has and look forward to Jack's first Pinewood Derby whenever it may be. He will definitely be ready.
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