Walnut Cricket Cage

[Scott Hackler]

This little dude consumed a lot of time while piercing! I worked on it until the carpal tunnel would make my hand numb and then I would quit until another day! 3/32" to 1/16" walls 3" tall (total) x 1 3/4" wide. Walnut with African Blackwood finial. BLO finish.

Comments, critiques and complaints are always welcome. Thanks.


197280

[Kelvin Burton]

Wow! Did you count the holes? Do you really intend to keep crickets in it? Inquiring minds want to know!:eek:

[Scott Hackler]

lol, no I didn't count the holes but I would swear that there are around 5 million! I thought I would never get this one done. And I wont have a cricket it it (although I thought that would make a cool picture)!

[Tim Thiebaut]

Scott this is absoluty beautiful, you should be very proud of this piece, this is one of the best I have seen.

[Kathy Marshall]

Very very nice Scott! That's a great little box and the piercing looks outstanding to me! Great job!

[Richard Jones]

Scott,

Stunning piece, I know you're proud of that one.

And what a great photo!! Love the dichotomy..........

Thanks for sharing.

Rich

[Toney Robertson]

That is very intricate work and it looks great.

Cool pic too.

[John Keeton]

Scott, you have the patience of Job!!! Great work on this piece, and on such a very small scale. I just don't have that kind of perseverance, I guess.

Well done! Nice combo of woods, too. I like walnut and blackwood together - a very rich look.

[Doug W Swanson]

Scott,
IMO the piece doesn't really need a finial but you did a great job on it! Did you have to use a microscope on it?

[Steve Schlumpf]

WOW! Beautiful work Scott! Has a certain old-world 'Persian' feel to it! Thanks for sharing!

[bob svoboda]

Looks great! You have a lot more patience than I.

[John Hart]

I want to make one of those. But I don't want to do the piercing part. Will you do it for me? Thanks!!:)

Nice looking piece.

[Jim Burr]

But if your thirsty?....
That should make the cover of WoW...beautifully done Scott!

[Scott Hackler]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. This one gave me a new set of appreciation to the extremely pierced things I have seen on this and other sites.

[Jim Underwood]

Nice job Scott. It'd be nice to have a little bigger picture though...

Was this inspired by the AAW article in the last issue? I was just looking at that this morning...

[Bob Bergstrom]

Besides the carpal tunnel, I would think you'd be cross eyed also. Great job and great patience. Hope the crickets appreciate it.

[Scott Hackler]

Was this inspired by the AAW article in the last issue? I was just looking at that this morning...

I would like to say yes, but I have been playing with this one for 2-3 months! Pierce for 30-40 mintutes....hand goes numb....sit it back down for a week or more...rinse and repeat. Sometimes the ole hand problem doesn't bother me but detail work like this seems to speed the carpal tunnel deal up a bit. Plus there is only so much of this little work I can do without going cross eyed!

[Dick Wilson]

Come on Scott. Be a man. Turn another one about 2-3 times as large and pierce away.;););) It's good for the soul. :eek: I have done a lot of piercing as you can tell from my albums on sites. It does take a lot of work. I can only work on a piece for half an hour or so because it is so intense concentrating on not going so far that you jump into another piercing. When you are dealing with thin wall thickness it is very easy to do.

Oh, by the way, beautiful piece. I love the form and the finial. Very nice work.

[Scott Hackler]

Here is a larger picture of the project. Thanks.


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[Tim Thiebaut]

Oh that larger picture really makes it look even that much better, I think this is just awesome, I wouldnt be surprised if this did make the cover of WoW.

[Baxter Smith]

Great looking piece Scott! Although piercing is rather intriguing to me, I haven't learned a lot about it. (Other than it is expensive to try and you need "thin") Is 3/16 somewhat thick for a pierced piece? It probably wouldn't have been suitable for your application but would have something 1/16 to 1/8 speeded things up somewhat?

[Mark Hazelden]

Scott,

I like your piece. I can appreciate your pain as I have tried piercing myself.

I guess the sound of a dentist's drill doesn't bother you either?

Mark

[Scott Hackler]

Great looking piece Scott! Although piercing is rather intriguing to me, I haven't learned a lot about it. (Other than it is expensive to try and you need "thin") Is 3/16 somewhat thick for a pierced piece? It probably wouldn't have been suitable for your application but would have something 1/16 to 1/8 speeded things up somewhat?


Baxter, I am terrible with typos! It's not 3/16, its 3/32 to 1/16. OOOOPS ! And yes for piercing speed it needs to be really thin and consistantly thin. Thanks for pointing that out!

[Scott Hackler]

Scott,

I like your piece. I can appreciate your pain as I have tried piercing myself.

I guess the sound of a dentist's drill doesn't bother you either?

Mark

Mark, my NSK Presto is relatively quiet to my ears. Of course I have the roll and roll on the radio, air conditioner and the shop dust collector going at the same time so it gets drown out a bit!

[Tim Rinehart]

Very nicely done Scott. I'm guessing you got your pressure control...er...controlled after first experience with the tool?;) It sure makes me think when I next get out a similar tool I have (Powercrafter). Actually, it's the LOML's...so I dang well better take good care of it.

I had a carpal release a few years ago, so no problems there anymore...but geez, I have to agree with eyes going crossed doing that kind of work. That's where I get limited.

[Donny Lawson]

VERY Impressive. Now can you make 5 more just like it?LOL:D. I bet you don't want to mess with more holy boxes for a while. It looks very time consuming. Did you have a plan for the holes or just whatever came to mind?

[Scott Hackler]

Tim, thanks for bringing up the $139 booboo again! Yes I am NOW giving the tool 35psi as instructed, not 65+ psi as I had before! :) The tool is running well now (albeit not nearly as fast!) and HOPEFULLY the replacement turbo cartridge will last a while.

Donny, I didn't have a plan for the holes other than to riddle the entire piece with them. I dont use a template or anything, just eyeball a bunch of little squiggles and try not to repeat the pattern to close to each other. The real trick is when the holes are getting close to meeting the start point. I start a little planning then just to avoid extra long holes, really short ones or a place with too much wood left in between. Having done a few pierced Christmas ornaments (with a dremel tool), I was already familiar with the process. But I will have to say that comparing the NSK Presto to the dremel is like a sharpened rock to a knife. :)

[Steve Campbell]

Very well done sir. Wish I had the art skills to do that kind of work. Of course all I have is a Dremel to do it with.

Steve

[David E Keller]

Very cool, Scott! I'd have to double(maybe triple) my psychiatric meds to try something like this, but kudos to you for not ending up permanently cross-eyed.

[Scott Lux]

Want!!!! Spectacular!

[Scott Hackler]

Very well done sir. Wish I had the art skills to do that kind of work. Of course all I have is a Dremel to do it with.

Steve

Steve a dremel will work. I have pierced several X-Mas ornaments and some large bells with my dremel, so don't that stop you! I just figured that since I like to do decorations (piercing, carving, ornamental turning and pyro) I saved up and found a used high speed unit. Of course after the booboo I could have bought the darn thing brand new...but that is another story!

[Scott Hackler]

Very cool, Scott! I'd have to double(maybe triple) my psychiatric meds to try something like this, but kudos to you for not ending up permanently cross-eyed.

If I hadnt spaced out the work on this one over weeks, I would have had to bring it to show you and for an appointment for you to unclinch my hand from the stupid carpal tunnel seizing it up!!! :) My othro Doc here wants to start PT, but I have been putting it off.

[Dick Wilson]

Steve a dremel will work. I have pierced several X-Mas ornaments and some large bells with my dremel, so don't that stop you! I just figured that since I like to do decorations (piercing, carving, ornamental turning and pyro) I saved up and found a used high speed unit. Of course after the booboo I could have bought the darn thing brand new...but that is another story!

Scott, I have a Whe-Cheer that is on its very last legs. I have lost 60% of the RPM max. I am back using my trusty Dremel. Most of the pierced pieces I have done and do I use my Dremel. The bit I use is a Roto-Zip tile cutting bit. There are side cutting bits that you can buy from carving catalogs but they are fairly expensive. They dull, heat up and break. I have found the tile cutting bit stays sharper longer and side cuts well. The only thing you have to do is pre-drill a starter hole. Hope this helps everyone who is toying with the idea of jumping into the world of piercing.

[jwjerry w kowalski]

Scott, that's a beauty, the maze of piercings tantalize the eyes and the combo of woods is very appealing. This would be a real attention grabber wherever it is displayed. I can't imagine the work put into it, but the final product is proof it was worth it.