Infestation!

[Jim Underwood]

Well lookee what I found in my shop today! :eek:


Dang critters were crawling all over the place, couldn't hardly get anything done in the shop today. Then they followed me into the house and were helping eat my cheese and crackers!:eek: They even watched Battlestar Gallactica with me... Dunno whut I'm gonna do!

[Roger Chandler]

Jim,

That is just too cool :cool::cool::D I would imagine that the kids will have a ball with those, and they would probably sell at a craft fair!

[Michael James]

Teach them fire and explain what happens to bad critters!:eek:

[Steve Schlumpf]

Those are really cool! Bet you had a smile on your face the entire time you were turning them! Pretty cool!

[David E Keller]

That's fun... I like the leather ears and tails.

[Robert McGowen]

Looks like fun. What are you doing with them?

[brian watts]

pretty cool.......

[John Keeton]

Jim, those are really cute!
Looks like fun. What are you doing with them?It's art, Robert.....art!!!;):D You don't gotta do nuthin' with 'em!

[Jim Underwood]

Those are really cool! Bet you had a smile on your face the entire time you were turning them! Pretty cool!

Were you there?:confused: How'd you know?;)

Cue the maniacal giggles. These are fun. I'll have to show you the cutter I made for the ears - makes it easy to cut them. I saw the idea over on the WOW website, and decided to make a bunch of these for the craft show I'm doing in a few weeks. Time to get crackin!:eek:


I still don't know what to charge for 'em though. I think that's the hardest part of doing a show. :(

[Bill Blasic]

On WOW it was Stan Jones from Sheffield UK who offered to send these to the children and grandchildren of those that read it. These were for Braedon, Ivy and Gavin. Stan must be a wonderful guy!

[Mike Peace]

Good luck with the craft show. I suspect those will be good sellers.

[James Roberts]

Excellent critters. Lots of possibilities with sizes and types of woods to be explored here.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Those are excellent Jim. Kids are going to love them.

[Randy Carver]

Hi Jim,

Those look like fun. Can you tell us more about the cutter for the ears?

Is there a flat spot on the bottom? How do you do that?

Thanks!

[Jim Underwood]

Well... I meant to take pictures, but just haven't done it.

I took a 1/2" galvanized pipe (some small diameter), cut it off to an appropriate length with a hacksaw, then mounted it in my small jaw chuck. Then I used a sharp scraper to cut a bevel on it for sharpening.When I got the shape I wanted, I used an abrasive bit in a drill to sharpen it. I then took a file and cut a notch in one side of the bevel so it would leave a "tab" when punching through the leather. Then I finish the "tab" with a utility knife. This way you can stick the tab down in the drilled hole, and glue them in.

I also went down to Hobby Lobby and bought several hundred black glass beads for about $2.00 for the eyes. I drilled holes for those too, and glued them in.

[George Morris]

Nice idea! Now you need a wood cat to get rid of them for you! G

[Allen Neighbors]

Those are cute as can be!!

[John Hart]

Glad this thread got brought back out in the forefront....

Jim...these guys are GREAT!!!

I want a handful!!:)

[Jim Underwood]

I'll try to take a couple pix tonight of the finished product, and the ear cutter tool thingie...

[Randy Carver]

Thanks Jim!

Do you turn those between centers? Or have a jam chuck of some sort?

[Jim Underwood]

I turned the blank between centers to get a tenon on it. Then I mounted it with the tail end in the chuck. Turn it into a rough cone shape, and start shaping from there. You'll want to drill for the eyes and ears before you get too far, so you'll not have tearout. Once you get the body shaped and sanded, turn half of a large bead for the behind, sanding as you go. Once you get it very close to parted off, then finish sand, and put your first coat of finish on.

Part it off and sand the nub away. Then place an centerpunch/awl in the center of the nub, drill a hole for the tail.

Not all that hard. Just a plain spindle turning. Hardest thing is to get the shape right so that it looks like a mouse...

Oh. And I was fixing a PC for a fellow turner who don't know squat about computers. Two major service packs and 40 updates later, I finally called it quits and came home. Have to finish updating Windows tomorrow. And I haven't even gotten to updating all the programs on this thing. I did kill the dang malware on the dang thing...

Anyways that is why I didn't take no pix...

[Randy Carver]

OK, got it. That makes sense and I think I can do that. I appreciate the description.

Malware! Now that's an infestation! Yuck. You're a good man for helping someone clean that up.

[Jim Underwood]

Malware! Now that's an infestation! Yuck. You're a good man for helping someone clean that up.


Well, I dunno how "good" I am..:o I'm going to charge him a contribution to my shop addition fund...:D


If you want a video of turning something similar to the mouse, look at the Youtube video entitled; turning a wooden egg in one minute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjDgr3fjy9M

[Jim Underwood]

Here's the pic of the tool I used to create the ears, and a pic of the mousies with their beady little eyes.

[Randy Carver]

If I try to do that in one minute flat, I'm gonna need some band-aids! Thanks for the link though, it does show the process nicely.

What's the metal material for the ear punch? Regular iron pipe ground down?

[Jim Underwood]

Yep. Exactly.

[Don Orr]

Do you sand a flat spot on the bottom ? Or turn the piece slghtly off center to leave a flat spot ?

I like the ear cutter. Great idea.