Noah's Ark

I finally completed the Noah's Ark Maypole.  I liked the Nativity one so much I bought this plan also.  I am not as excited about this design.  It is flawed in many ways.  Here are the problems with the design:

• The sides I would thin up.  This would allow the base to be lower to the bottom.  Right now it sits about 3/4" above the base so the noses of the animals don't hit the ark.
• The top of the ark does not allow the base to to spin very much.  
• The animal legs are so thing they are attached with 1/8" dowel.  So the animals are glued into place instead of being removable.  
• The strings tend to catch on the top stopping it from turning.
• I would probably use a lazy susan base if I did it again.

It works and look nice but the finished product really did not excite me.

A couple of weeks ago my company sponsored us in a color run.  I took my younger son and we had fun.  I turned out looking and feeling like a Cheetos.  On the same day in the area was the Wood Working Show.  I wasn't really impressed again with this show.  It has become extremely small.  The majority of the show space was Peechtree and Wood line vendors.  The only tool vendors that showed were Jet and Bosch.  There was no good deals.  I was talking to some of the clubs to see if there were any in my neck of the woods.  Supposedly there is but I cannot find them.  I will have to email the contacts I made to see if they have phone numbers.My son loved the show.  I think it was the first time he saw some of the tools being used.  I was disappointed that we were not able to see the lumber mill band saw demonstration.

On a more upbeat note I did learn a new trick from the scroll saw group.  It was probably in the instruction manual but I didn't get that far.  When doing inside cuts I always loosened the top arm and blindly put the blade through the starting hole on the back side of the part.  If I loosened the bottom arm the top arm has enough movement to pull the blade all the way out.  I can now see the end of the blade and the hole, making it much easier to thread the blade through the small starter holes.