Thursday, October 30, 2008

MY CUSTOM BUCK 110




My friend hand makes knives and they are fine pieces of work so I thought, how about me making a one of a kind knife and here's what I come up with. It's made from cherry and it opens and closes just like the real thing with the click sound when locking open or closed. I took a Buck 110 apart and used it for making my patterns. I designed the engraving on the handles for a more elegant look. I haven't sharpened the blade as of yet because it sits in a stand on my desk and everybody seems to like it the way it is. I set up the engraved handles with two places that I can remove the leaves to put initials in their place, makes for a personalized gift for the knife collector.


A Box is a Box or is it a Box when it's Cherry



One of the items I like making are these box's, for all occasions ,ring box, jewelery box or flower box. This one is in a Queen Anne style made from 1/4" thick solid cherry, it has a lot of relief work which would be good for fragrance's as well. Many uses or just a nice piece on the night stand. I can make these in any size (this one is 2 3/4"x 5 1/2"x 3" tall) and I have several different styles, I'll post some others soon.

What a Steal Stainless Steel that is !


I've been doing a lot of metal tags and I.D. labels for a electric company that rebuilds electric motors and generators. Most of them have volt and amp numbers as well as date and manufacturer's name and of course a cool logo for their company. These are made of brushed stainless steel with the image lasered on using a chemical called Thermark that I spray on with a air brush then laser. A heat reaction with the thermark leaves a permanent mark/print on the metal. I've tried to scrape, scrub and sand it off but it's on their to stay. A lot of tool companies use this for their products. Well I couldn't resist I had to make one for me, the picture is a little out of focus but you still can see how it looks.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Everybody loves to sit on a Harley



I had a brainstorm one day. I thought what better throne can a man have than a Harley Davidson Toilet seat. I bought a unfinished seat from Wal-mart and inlaid it with walnut. Now look at the letter A on Harley-Davidson and see if you can figure out how I cut the inside piece of the A and fit it into the seat, no gaps on that inlay work. I like doing inlay work, I even done a Harley badge six times smaller than this and still no gaps. Like they say it's only fun when it's a challenge.

Personalized Wood Box of Hand Made Plugs


This is a personalized hand made gift I did for a Friend of mine. He had me hand turn the wood plugs (fishing Lures) from some of the Famous and Historic Wood Company's collection of wood. I used three types of wood, Ash, Cedar and Cyprus. I had another friend turn the brass nose weights and I polished them and the brass tips used at the small ends. I then lasered the plugs and made the divider stand and installed the green velvet liner. The box was bought unfinished so I lasered the top and applied a clear coat and latch. The plugs were finished with linseed oil so they don't contaminate the fish.

Scroll Cutting with Laser

This is a sample of how small and detailed I can cut with the laser. The train is one I made for a guy from the hobby shop I also did a larger one. The candle sconce is one of six different designs I have, they differ where the butterfly is, some have birds some have flowers just about anything you can imagine or want can be cut their.

You Name it

This is another popular item I make with my laser. Name Plaques and stands for your desk made of solid wood relief engraved. This one in the picture is actually a blem that's why I still have it you can see the burned edges along the bottom. I've done several styles but I like these the best.

Dads Home Away from Home

I made one of these for my Dad. He has a wood shop in his back yard where he spends alot of his time making stuff for his children and Grandchildren. It's all laser cut and glued together then a clear coat is applied. The screw heads are inlaid, makes for a really nice sign.

Christmas is on the Way


This is one of the Christmas items I sell on e-bay. They are a really nice addition to anybodies Christmas Tree. I get a lot of orders for the whole family that way everybody is on the tree. Some are for couples and some I do are for promotional work for different companies. I mostly only use Red,Green and Blue because the color contrast shows the engraving the best.

Lasering with lights "Maglights that is"

It's raining today and I have some time so I thought I'd post a few of the things I've lasered on. This is one of my favorites it's a Mini Mag Flashlight that I cut into the anodized finish with a rotary attachment with my laser. I call them my "Flamie Mag" I mean how cool to have flames on your flashlight at the car show. I've done all kinds of personalized work one these. Most of them are people putting their names on them but I've done some for some racing teams as well.


I always loved the mirrors with pictures in them like the old Coke-Cola adds so I decided to try some of my own and found that it really works quite well. The two lower ones are laser cut (vector) and the top one it a combination of engraving (raster) and cutting with the help of some spray paint it comes out in full color with a great shine. I do all the work on the backside so the front is still smooth as glass. The rose mirror is the same art work as the wood version and can be personalized as well. I can do custom work on these also, makes a really nice gift.

Monday, October 6, 2008

How it all started in the Laser Biz




These are two of the first pieces I worked on when I first purchased my Laser Machine. They where part of some furniture that the Famous and Historic Wood Company did with the help of the Amana Furniture Company. Lasering these and some Quotes on some banding material was my part. The Famous and Historic Wood Co. has a collection of some really cool wood that has either famous or historic background. The Robert E. Lee engraving is made with some Oak wood from Stradford Hall Plantation Lee's home. The Alamo engraving was done on wood from the court yard at the Alamo. No trees are ever harmed, only trees that are trimmed or in some cases blown down by bad weather are used. To see some more Historic Wood's items look up Browning Knives Living History Collection, they have several really nice collector knives with all the handles made with their wood.