Carving More Basswood Necklaces

I've been carving on so many projects during the last week that I haven't found time to post the progress so I'm going to  try and play a round of catch-up.

The first update is found in the picture to the right where I'm currently working on carving ten new basswood hippie necklaces that I will give away at our upcoming Conclave Scouting event on the North Carolina coast later this month. You can find more information on how I carved them here. The kids in woodshop class have expressed a LOT of interest in carving this project so I'll be getting that set up for next sessions classes too.

The picture to the immediate right shows the beginnings of several new necklace ideas that are in the earliest stages of development. From left-to-right I'm holding a flower, and a heart to wear on Valentines Day. Next is a tiny totem pole that I'd like to replace the "stamped" out Indian on my Scout service necklace. The simple "O" necklace will be a tiny dreamcatcher necklace. Remaining are the American flag, a four-leaf clover, and a cross. I will show the progress of each necklace as they are completed.

I never imagined having so much fun making wood necklaces from small pieces of basswood scraps but I stand to be surprised yet one more time!

Carving The Classic Hippy Necklace

One of the funnest parts about most major Scouting events are the various themes selected by competing sections. Competition can be fierce between these sections who are competing for the events  spirit award so having a good costume or props is a plus.

The theme for our section at Conclave this April will be the psychedelic 60's so as you can see from the pictures to the right, I've been busy carving up a hippy necklace. This was a very easy carving project that probably only took about an hour to design, cut, carve, and paint.

Since woodshop and Scouting classes have been centered around the upcoming pinewood derby race, there were plenty of basswood scraps lying around so that's what I used for this project. I started with a piece of basswood about 7/16" thick, 1-3/4" wide, and 1-7/8" tall.

Although I could have used a compass and pencil to get a "perfect" circle, I just sketched out the circle freestyle thus giving it a more handmade appeal. Using the scrollsaw I then cut out the design in preparation for carving. As you can see from the pictures to the left I allowed for a small block protruding from the top of the the necklace where I then drilled a 1/8" hole for the cord.

As seen in the picture to the right I then just smoothed up all of the rough edges left by the scrollsaw, then used my small V-parting tool to etch in the notches seen around the "chicken-foot" peace sign. I decided to use hot pink acrylic paint for the peace sign, then I chose a variety of rainbow colors for the surrounding circular frame of the necklace. I completed the necklace by applying a satin polyurethane then strung a piece of black leather lacing through the hole as the lanyard.

This was a very fun and quick scrap wood project that has now inspired even more ideas for future necklace projects, perhaps with a different theme. The possibilities are limitless so I've already started brainstorming a list. Basswood was also an excellent choice for this project since the open spaces between the peace sign and the surrounding frame could be a fragile point using soft wood. Basswood also has the strength to withstand drilling the small lanyard hole.


I'm looking forward to Conclave 2010 which should be a premium Scouting event where everyone can have a lot of fun. The little hand-carved hippy necklace is small but I hope that it will generate a few laughs and to help us bring home the award for most spirit!

Making Simple Wood Cross Necklaces

Once in a while there is a great woodshop project that comes along and today was that day again. This is one of those projects where the greatness can  easily be lost in the pure simplicity of making it.

It began last week when one of the court counselors who is associated with our program asked if I could repair a couple of small wood crosses that had come apart. It looked like a simple enough job so I finally got a moment to play with it today and discovered an absolutely fantastic new project for the students in my woodshop classes.

When tapping the tiny dowel rod into the two pieces I broke one of the crosses which ended up being a fortunate opportunity because I then had to make another one from scratch. Doing so, I had to figure out all the measurements then take it from the bottom up and I thought about what a nice project this was.

I first cut a small square of oak on the table saw 1/4" X 1/4" then cut one piece 1-3/4" long and another 1-1/4" long. On the long piece I then used the drill press to drill a 1/8" hole for the necklace cord. Next I used the bandsaw to cut two overlap notches on each piece, then connected the "cross" pieces with wood glue and pressed them together firmly with pliers.

I then switched out the 1/8" drill bit for a smaller 1/16" bit which I used to make a hole "top dead center" straight through the "cross" in the two pieces of wood. The last remaining step was rolling the dowel rod in a bit of wood glue then carefully tapping it firmly into the hole. I broke the first cross because when I was tapping the dowel rod I had left way too much dead air space underneath for support. I corrected this mishap with the remaining crosses by drilling just a 1/4" hole in a piece of scrap wood for the tapping of the dowel. That made all the difference giving the cross plenty of support during this conjuncture in connection.

The best part of this relatively simple
woodshop project came this afternoon when I was showing the crosses to my students and saw their initial excitment. Three of the nine students asked if they could make one so another very popular project has been discovered. I gave them the measurements and one of my completed crosses for a visual aid and they did a grand job of making three absolutely perfect crosses.

As seen in some of the pictures above, they cut out the measured overlap notches on the scroll saw until the two pieces fit together snug and firm. Just one of the kids failed to get a snug fit on the first try but he stuck with it until it was right. The kids leave Thursday on a short home visit so it was an exciting afternoon completing unfinished projects and making new ones for their families.

On top of that the woodshop atmosphere was just right. As you can see in the picture to the right the snow was falling again all afternoon and we got another 4" of the stuff. Inside the shop it was warm and snug as we just went about our way making great stuff with our hands and a few simple tools. Just don't get any better than that!