Snowflakes

A simple project that is just in time for the holidays. The idea was taken from an article in FWW many years ago. They made a huge hit. I ended up with so many that we were tying them to the bow on presents. I still had so many that I made mobiles out of them. Now all I could find was this small collection of cast offs and one lowly stick, so I drew the stick assembly in CAD.

To start, select a clear grained board about 6 to 10 inches wide and about 3/4 inches thick. I used basswood. Tilt the TS blade to 30 degrees. Crosscut the board to end up with parallelograms where all four sides are equal. (Don’t rip as you want the flakes to be long grain.) You will know you get the stop block or fence set to achieve the perfect size when the cut off piece can be flipped and then placed long grain next to the original board’s end grain and they are the same height. When this is set, crosscut away. You need 6 per flake.

At the router table, use a variety of bits to route grooves in the sticks. You just need to do the same groove on both sides, so that’s 12 grooves per bit set up. I marked the inside and outside of the end of each stick to keep it straight. Raise and lower the bits, move the fence, use combinations and bits you always wondered what you were going use that for. Cove and Vbit were the most used. I made an angled sled pressed against the fence to help hold them.

Apply a thin even coat of yellow glue to the inside edges. Glue the sticks together and clamp the bundle with masking tape. When dry, cross cut them on the bandsaw. I used another sled here to help hold it. Drill a small hole and insert a loop of fishing line.

For the mobile hangers I turned half inch wide by eighth inch thick rings of various sizes, say 4 to 10 inches, and even suspended one inside another. I found it easiest to use one long piece of line and sewed it up and down through the flake then the hanger then the next flake, etc. Now you only have to tie one knot and you can adjust the flakes to be different heights.

If you have any kids in the house, this is cool:
http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/

Steve

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon