*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 02:58:19 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Donate

We Appreciate Your Support

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 1686494
  • Total Topics: 118102
  • Online Today: 857
  • Online Ever: 2235
  • (October 29, 2023, 12:32:45 AM)
Users Online

Recent

Author Topic: Blue Creek  (Read 2146 times)

Online FifteensAway

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4605
Re: Blue Creek
« Reply #15 on: September 18, 2019, 05:45:53 AM »
A simple power jig saw will cut wood nicely though a plain old cross-cut saw works just fine - practice a little with scrap wood if you haven't much experience cutting wood, draw on your mark in one direction only until you get a solid start and only then get going with the back and forth sawing motion.  If using the jig saw, rig up a "fence" to cut a straight line - but you will still have to battle the likelihood of the blade bending while cutting, bit of a PITA.  Or use a manual powered (muscle) jig saw, they work just as well but slower. I use an overarm radial saw and a table saw plus my electric jig saw but a lot of people don't have the space for such tools.

There is - or was - a Stanley brand saw with a handle and pretty low teeth to length ratio (big teeth) that I use for cutting insulating foam but it is still a great mess.  If you are going to buy any kind of power tool get a really good shop vacuum for cleaning up the horrendous mess that results from cutting foam.  Very serious.  And never - EVER - buy beaded foam!!!  And don't let anybody give you any neither.  An even worse mess by a factor of ten or more.

A recommendation if you decide to travel a similar path for a future project where you need a 'deep' river: buy a thin sheet of the insulating foam and use a 'cookie cutter' approach to cutting it to shape and then glue it to your thicker 'core' board.  That will yield a nice flat interior to work with - much easier to seal and then paint before pouring any resin.

Hope that helps for future projects and feel free to ask questions for any clarification if needed.

I applaud your use of deep sides for this project to allow it to work double sided.  A very nice touch. 

Offline Coolfrood

  • Schoolboy
  • Posts: 6
Re: Blue Creek
« Reply #16 on: September 18, 2019, 04:57:01 PM »
Thanks for the advice! I'll probably invest in some sort of a powered jigsaw (or bandsaw if I can find one at a decent price), that'll be handy around the house as well.

I'm thinking about my next project, that'll probably involve some precise cutting as well. I'm a bit sorry I didn't get one before starting the project though, the insulation material I used does get a nice clean cut when using a bandsaw. But like all things in hindsight I would've used a different type of wood for the sides as well.

Online FifteensAway

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4605
Re: Blue Creek
« Reply #17 on: September 20, 2019, 03:05:20 AM »
Another visit to the thread and took note of the lovely little mud puddles in front of the church (third photograph).  That's a tremendous little bit of added detail.  Grand kudos, to you, sir.