A Friend I have known all my life and his Wife live in a small country Town about 5 hours drive from me.. They have 4 Grand Children all under 7. I thought an Old Fashioned Alphabet and Numbers set, would be a good way for them to learn to spell and practice basic Maths. They are made from 1/4 inch almost marine grade ply, which is free of voids and easy to work with.
I found a pattern on the net I could down load with Alphabets and Numbers. Then Photo Copied more than I needed for spares and also in case I ever needed to make another set some time. The Pieces were all cut on my Scroll Saw then edge and interior sanded with a sanding blade. once completed, I made sanding sticks ....These were Paddle Pop/ice cream sticks .... I have a big bag of these...they are handy for spreading glue on projects....
To make these Sanding Sticks, I turn a piece of sandpaper upside down and spread it with glue and place as many as possible sticks on it and place a board and a weight on them until the next day. This sounds easy, but when the sand paper decided to roll up by itself while gluing....I invented a new language...and was wishing I had 6 pairs of hands.
Once the sanding sticks were cut from the sand paper there were many sticks to use. I spent many late nights at the kitchen table with the radio playing and a coffee at hand. Sanding away to make sure there were no sharp edges for little fingers.
Eventually all finished. Then packaged up and taken to the Post Office.
I didn't apply any finish as the ply was quite good quality and looked quite presentable after final sanding.
There are 8 of each letter of the Alphabet making that 208 Letters. There are 6 Numbers from 0 to 9 making that 60 numbers.
Cliff a great idea, and a lot of work, many letter and numbers to cut out then sand all of those little buggers, wow. I think you missed 2 sets of number there. Well done.
I know you pain with the cutting and sanding, made up some puzzles / name boards for my grandkids for Christmas last year. Thinking LBD will chime in about the laser at some point.
I like the idea of the sanding sticks, I always wrap the paper around a stick, I do have a few hardboard pieces with a full paper glued to it for the flat work.
Eric-the "Loft' Thanks Eric. It certainly was a long Job. But well worth the effort.
Yes I had thought of doing 8 sets of the numbers. But thought with 6 sets they will be able to do plenty of Maths. Where as with the Alphabets they would need 8 sets so as to make sentences.
Cannot imagine the time spent cutting and sawing all those pieces. Would take a lot of patience and dedication that I'm not sure I would have. So, WELL DONE and Uncle Cliff should get a few hugs and thankyous for all of the work. Great project.
SplinterGroup. Thank you....That is a great idea regarding Full Stops , Exclamation Marks etc...and Lower Case. Yes I have found the sanding sticks really come in handy. Regards......Cliff.
Thank you. I certainly felt I was a part of the machine ( SCROLL SAW) Its a fun machine to use and after awhile you just chug along with it....but care and attention...I wouldn't like to poke my finger into the blade. Many years ago when I was a first year apprentice I pushed my thumb into a thick scroll saw blade...the Boss washed the wound with a rubber hose attached to a sink tap. Dried the wound and wrapped it up with sticking plaster. Then wagged his finger at me and said...Back To Work....I think I can still see a scar to this day. That is 60 years ago...
