Log Cabin Hitty Day Three

Today was a very productive day.  My mom and pop came to visit, and pops basically ran circles around me in the shop.

First, about the shop, it’s a large building that has one huge work area, an open area for the tractor to sit under and a small room off to the side that we use for storing old tools, nails and just basic junk.  In the small room, there is a band saw that has been “broken” for the past 15 years.  We never threw it out because of the sentimental value of it.

Well, pops got it operating again today, and worked wonders on the wood using it.  The next images show a pretty messy work area, so forgive those.  Pops worked in the small room because it would have been too much trouble to un-blot the band saw and put it on the work table in the shop.  I’ll move it into the shop later this week when I am ready to attempt the cuts he showed me how to make to create Hitty Blanks.

Now the fun part!  Here’s Hitty Dot anxiously waiting for pops to begin his work.

And here’s pops posing for the camera.  He’s also a bit camera shy, but he did allow me to take one photo of him holding one of the blocks that was cut on Day Two.  The saw isn’t running because he didn’t want his picture taken with him wearing his safety glasses.

Here he has trimmed the bad wood off half the side, he then stopped the saw for the photo.

He took the block and trimmed the sides, then cut it into 6 separate smaller blocks.

Here is one of the smaller blocks with the leg blank template drawn on it already.  To the right you can see some of the other blocks, these are what we’ll be using to make our first Hitty Blanks.

Here’s the same leg block after holes were drilled for the dowel that will be used later to assemble the Hitty.

Here’s the legs after pops cut them with the bandsaw.  They are super thick, and will be cut in half to make 4 seperate legs.

Here are the completed legs, ready to be carved.

Next I draw the body on another of the blocks, and drill the holes so that pops can cut a basic Hitty body blank.

Here’s a shot of pops cutting the blank using the band saw.

And here is the completed body blank.  Now normally one would cut the sides so that it would be shaped all around, but since this wood is super hard it’s near impossible to cut the side cuts.  We may try that later, but right now, this makes a near-perfect blank for me and since it’s something I can easily carve down, we move on to the arms.

Here I have drawn the arms on yet another block.  The large chunks of waste wood are being placed in a container to make Bitty Hittys with at a later date, so that very little wood is wasted.

The arms have been drilled to the side already, and are ready to cut on the band saw.

And here we now have four completed arms.

Pops cut one more body, so that I would have 2 complete sets of blanks to make 2 beautiful Log Cabin Hittys.  Here’s Hitty Dot sitting with her new sisters that she has been anxiously waiting for.

The blanks look pretty rough, but I am very pleased with what pops has made for me.  These are blanks I can work with to make beautiful and precious Log Cabin Hittys.

I thought pops would be tired and done for the day, but after resting a bit he was ready to cut some more, so back to the shop we went.

Pops suggested cutting thinner planks of wood for the arms and legs, where I could hopefully cut arms and legs on the scroll saw as he cut more bodies.

Here’s the completed planks, pops is still in the small room cutting bodies as I prepare to cut legs and arms using the scroll saw.

Here I have traced the leg template on the plank, and I see I can get four regular sized legs from one plank.  The excess wood will be set aside for Bitty Hittys.

Here I have drilled the holes in the legs, and am now ready to cut the legs out using the scroll saw.

I was amazed at how well the scroll saw did when cutting the legs out.  It cut them very well indeed with no problems whatsoever.

Now that we know the scroll saw can cut the wood if it’s thinner, then we can continue using it for legs and arms while using the band saw for the bodies.

Here I have drawn the arms on a second plank, again with excess wood to be used later for Bitty Hittys.

And here the arms have the holes drilled, and are now ready to be cut.

Here the arms are completed and ready to be carved.

Here sits Hitty Dot with 4 completed blanks ready to be carved into Log Cabin Hittys.

Pops attempted to cut one body on the scroll saw, when he saw it could be done once he thinned the wood down properly, he cut my some more blocks and planks so that I could cut more on the scroll saw after he leaves.

So by the days end, we have 4 completed blanks, and enough wood cut where I can make 5 more blanks using the scroll saw only, with no problems whatsoever.  I should be able to 10 or more Bitty Hitty Blanks from the left-over wood as well.

This should keep me pretty busy until mom and pops comes for another visit.

Now that I have some blanks to work with, the carving will start once mom and pops has gone back home.  Although I am tempted to get mom carving with me, I figure that I would be pressing my luck and instead will grill them a nice dinner tonight, and let her show me some sewing tips tomorrow instead