Thread: Kinetic Art-Whirligigs, Wind SPinners and stuff that blows in the wind!

I forgot to mention....some of the projects I want to do involves using very hard timber, so the equipment needs to be pretty strong and heavy duty.......when I was renovating the farm I am on now I found in the paddock some very old railway things.....carriage is the wrong word...they are long flat pallets and once the Cranky Brown Snake and I settled our disagreement over ownership I had a closer look and it is the most magical wood I have ever seen....some of it I intend to turn into a garden chair for my mum and the rest of it I want to turn into some garden art and bring up it's natural grain.

Much of what I want to do will involve not the easy softer timbers but recycling older timbers which I know will make my life much harder...but the end results should be outstanding I hope!

I will start though with some softer timbers until I get into the swing of it....this though is a long term project and I do when I do anything like to do it right the first time especially concerning the equipment as I see this as an investment in my future....this was one of the first lessons I learned on the farm as I burnt out tool after tool...I do not want to do the same in my workshed!

Thanking you in advance for any helpful suggestions!

Ms. Miracle

Welcome Ms M.
Sounds like you need a bandsaw and, depending on the complexity of the individual pieces, a router set up in a table.
If you are using recycled timber a jointer and thicknesser may be beneficial to dress stock.
Buy the best quality you can afford and do your research before forking out the cash.
Use the search function on this forum to access a tonne of information from some very knowledgable people.

Welcome to the forum

I agree with NC

If doing some fancy work you might also want a scroll saw - used for fret work and such

I suggest that the timber gets run over by a top quality metal detector first and foremost.
Quite frankly, I don't care about your tools but if you get whanged in the noggin by a piece of saw blade. . . . . .

The mud-sucking, tree-hugging greenies up here will spike the trees just hoping for exactly that to happen.

Great advice thankyou......once I know the name of the tool i.e Band Saw, Scroll Saw now I know which direction to look!! As for the Router in a table...I have so much to learn...did not know that was possible <s> but you never learn unless you ask questions!! This means now I can search the forums...previously I looked at them at all the tools was a little overwhelming and had no idea which direction to look...so thank you very much

Robson Valley......your posting made me laugh...one of the first lessons I learned on the farm was to check for nails......I was splitting a piece of timber with a block splitter and encountered a metal spike...end result I lost most of the use of my right arm and shattered every nerve from the shoulder to fingers. ....stuffed me up bigtime but I so can understand your comment!! I am totally cautious with every piece of timber I use!!!