This T-Rex skeleton diorama is what my Turkey is going to look like at the end of the day. Mr. Rex is over ten inches long. Disclaimer: All characters in this diorama are fictional. Any resemblance to any T-Rex either alive or dead is purely coincidental.
If you are a dino expert please don't email to tell me he is suppose to have 25 tail bones instead of 20. Only Mrs. Rex cares. I drew him from instructions on a cartoon site.
No T-Rex's were harmed during the making of this pattern. Had enough bad jokes yet? I thought so. Go have a Turkey sandwich and watch the Redskins and Cowboys game.
To all my readers in the U.S. have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I recently won the WWGOA blogger award for best Projects and plans Blog. What follows is the interview they did with me and posted on their website and newsletter. It was because of all of your support that I won so I wanted to share this with those of you who might like to read it.
Meet the Woodworker: Steve Good
Meet Steve Good, winner of the “Best Plans & Projects Blog” category in the 2016 WWGOA Blogger Awards!
This October, WWGOA hosted a competition dedicated entirely to all
those talented woodworkers out there who share their work with the
blogosphere. We asked you to nominate and vote for your favorite
bloggers, and now we’re thrilled to be able to announce the winners!
Steve’s blog, Scrollsaw Workshop,
is dedicated to using… surprise! The scroll saw! He’s made a vast
amount of patterns and projects since he started blogging in 2007, and
continues to provide the online woodworking community with quality
scroll saw information and education.
We asked Steve to share a little about himself, his blog, and his work
so the WWGOA community can learn more about this talented woodworker.
Read on.
Q: When did you first begin woodworking?
Steve Good: I am 58 years old. Like so many of my generation I watched
Norm Abram on the New Yankee Workshop. I drooled over the power tools he
used to create those fantastic projects. It amazed me he could build a
Queen Anne Highboy in 30 minutes. In the mid-1980s I started to buy what
tools I could afford. That was the beginning of a hobby that would last
a lifetime.
Q: Who taught you how to woodwork?
With the help of Norm and other TV personalities like Roy Underhill and
Scott Phillips, I slowly started to understand how little I knew. I
bought books and sought the help of friends to advance my skill. This
was before the internet. We had to actually leave the house and go to a
bookstore, library, or local woodworking group to feed our desire to
learn. I guess you would say I am self-taught but the reality is I am
still just starting to learn.
Q: What was your first project?
The memory of my first project is lost in the cobwebs of time. More
importantly to me is the first project I made for my blog. On May 1,
2007 I posted my first project/pattern online. It was an all wooden
decorative handsaw with a patriotic scrolled theme. That first post
started something that would change my life forever. I never imagined at
the time that nine years later I would have produced thousands of
patterns with tens of millions of downloads. I get to converse with
people all over the world and have a blast every day.
Q: What is your favorite type of project to make in the shop?
Obviously the answer to that question is scroll saw projects. I spend
more time in front of the computers designing patterns than I do in the
workshop but I still love making saw dust. Other than designing and
making scroll saw projects it’s always rewarding to make a toy box for a
child in the family. I have made wedding gift boxes and other personal
family and friend projects that I enjoy.
Q: What is your shop like?
A mess right now! I have full use of a two-car garage, and it is wall to
wall tools. Because I am primarily a scroll saw pattern designer my
shop is geared toward that work. My scroll saws are the Excalibur EX21,
Jet JWSS-22, DeWalt DW788 type 1, and a DeWalt DW788 type 2. The rest of
my tools are all geared toward taking rough lumber and turning it into
scroll saw ready boards, with the exception of my CNC machine. It is a
fairly complete workshop with table saw, 14″ band saw, 6″ jointer, 12″
planer, floor model drill press, and router table.
I also have a full assortment of sanding machines. I enjoy all the tools
in my shop but they all have to take a back seat to my collection of
computers. For a blogger and content producer these machines are my
connection to my online presence. I sit in front of six 24-inch monitors
attached to three high end computers. All the computers are network
connected with one keyboard and mouse. This setup allows me to edit
video, write a blog post, and design a pattern all at the same time
without having to wait. The more content you produce, the more hours it
takes. Having the computer resources available to multitask those jobs
is critical.
Q: What are you currently working on?
I am currently in the holiday season. The last three months of the year are everything in my niche. Many of my daily patterns are holiday themed. I also design a set of custom name Christmas ornaments
every year. I take orders for those and customize the pattern with
customer’s names. They are a huge hit every year and take up quite a bit
of my time.
Q: What project have you been most proud of?
That is a very difficult question! I have designed and built thousands
of projects. Some are more successful than others. I recently designed
and cut a pattern of the Statue of Liberty, which is a current favorite. I also design and sell two books of Wooden Vases
built with the scroll saw. Both of these eBooks are self-published and
have done extremely well. I am proud of that project and the many hours I
spent making it successful.
Q: What woodworking tool could you not live without, and why?
For me that’s an easy question. It’s the computer. Without my ability to
be very prolific with my designs my blog would not exist. I produce a
new project almost every day. I can and have designed patterns by hand
with pencil and paper, but trust me when I say it is way easier with a
computer! My workflow is designed at every step to be quick but not
rushed. Almost all the time spent on a new pattern is in the concept
stage. Once I have the idea I can design the pattern in 30 minutes to 3
hours.
Q: What’s your favorite species of wood to work with, and why?
I have used many different species of domestic and exotic woods. I guess
if I had to pick a favorite it would be walnut. I also like to use soft
maple as a contrast to walnut. They may not be the most sought after
woods but they are easy to find, cut great, and look nice when finished.
For scroll saw projects you need to pick woods a little differently
than traditional woodworkers do. Most of the time we are not as
concerned with the beautiful grain pattern, instead we look for color
and contrast. If you buy a board with incredible grain then cut it all
away with fret work you have not used that wood to its fullest. If I
build a fretwork box with contrasting walnut and maple then that wood is
shown in its best light for that project.
Q: What would you say to someone who is just beginning woodworking?
Wow, I could write several paragraphs on this subject. I promise I
won’t. As bloggers we get email questions by the hundreds a week asking
for help. I get way more email than I can answer so I tend to triage
them. I always try to answer questions from people who are just getting
started. That is simply the most rewarding part of being a blogger to
me. It’s also the hardest because of time. One theme that runs through
many of those questions is the fear of taking on a project they think to
too difficult. If you want to get better you have to push yourself past
your comfort level. Don’t be afraid to fail. Failure almost always
teaches you something. Look at a perceived failed project as a question.
What could I have done better? Study the parts that you think are not
right. Make a plan to change those areas and try again. One nice thing
about most scroll saw projects is they don’t require large amounts of
expensive lumber. Starting over on a scroll saw project is usually not a
financial disaster.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about woodworking?
I am a maker at heart. I have a never ending desire to make something
new. It is my passion. Wood is a building material; it just happens to
be the most beautiful material there is. Wood is the most basic stuff on
earth to make something from. Think about it. If you have a block of
clay you can make a beautiful sculpture. If you have a slab of wood you
can do the same. If you lay each side by side the block of clay looks
drab and cold. The slab of wood looks beautiful with all its colors and
grain on display. I just prefer to start with wood.
I want to thank the WoodWorkers Guild of America for sponsoring this
Blogger Award. In my case it is especially important to see the scroll
saw niche recognized. The scroll saw can be a very creative and
rewarding machine. There are many scroll saws sitting in the corner of a
workshop not being used to their fullest. I just want to challenge all
the woodworkers out there to take a closer look at the potential of the
machine.
Last I want to thank all the people out there who voted for my blog. All
of the blogs are winners. It’s very nice that you took the time to vote
for me. The bloggers in this contest put in endless hours to produce
great content. I follow almost all of them. The few I did not follow I
do now. I encourage everyone to bookmark all of these blogs.
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Visit Seyco.com for the best customer care and quality products in the scroll saw industry. The scroll saw Specialist.
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