Making A Dragon In My To Makers Shop 980709962

 

Completed wooden toy dragon ready to finish sitting on my Shopsmith belt sander table.

I make this dragon to order. This dragon is my latest build. You can order one of these dragons in my Goimagine Shop.

After collecting and cutting the wood to size, I attach the paper pattern to the wood and drill the required holes. I have learned that if I cut the body first and then drill the holes, and the bit catches, I can easily break the part.

The dragon's original design called for holes drilled through the neck, which was too weak. I now drill the holes 1/4 inch deep and pug them with contrasting wood that I cut and sand flush. Now, there are inlaid spots instead of holes, and the neck is much stronger.

After sanding the back so the pegs are flush, I cut out the body on my scroll saw.

This dragon's wings will be a different color from the legs. I am curious to know what kind of wood this is; it came from a box of cutoffs a friend gave me.

Cutting the legs for some 1/2" of dark hardwood is straightforward. This time, I tried some ipe wood. Using ipe turned out to be a mistake. Ipe is hard, oily, and tough on sawblades, but I didn't know I could not glue it with wood. I had to start over and make the legs from walnut. I glued pieces of 1/4-inch walnut together to make 1/2-inch wood. Laminating two pieces of wood together allowed me to use up some smaller pieces and made the legs stronger.

Before assembly, I sanded all of the parts three times. First, I sanded the flat surfaces with a belt sander. Next, I used a Mac Mop sander to remove the fuzzies and smooth the sharp corners. Finally, I used a sanding mop to finish sanding the pieces. Sometimes, a bit of touch-up sanding needs to be done by hand.

Now for the glue-up. The most challenging part of assembling a dragon is getting the parts aligned. If the legs are not aligned, the dragon will rock. I use an exact-size template and a straight piece of wood to align the parts, glue, and clamp them to one side, checking often to be sure nothing has moved. Once the glue has set, I glue it on the other side, but this time, I glue it aligned with the existing parts I previously glued on.

Once the glue is cured, the dragon is ready to finish.

The dragon's spots are hand-fitted, contrasting hardwood dowels cut to fit. Here, I am testing the fit.

 

 

After the plugs are glued and the glue has cured, I sand them flush on the back. A flat back is required to cut the body on my scrollsaw. The dowels on the front side will be sanded flush after removing the pattern.

I select the wood for the wings from my collection of cutoffs if there is a piece that will work. The wood does not have to be the perfect thickness. Close is good enough. If it is too thick, I will resaw it to get the proper thickness after cutting it on my scroll saw.

I cut the wings for the dragon on my scroll saw.

The wood selected for the dragon's legs is selected in the same manner as wood for the wings. For the legs, I had a piece of wood that was the correct thickness, so I cut them all from the same piece of wood.

For this dragon, I tried to use a piece of ipe for the wings. Ipe is a beautiful dark wood, but it is very hard and will rapidly dull saw blades. The scroll saw cut the wings, but these were thick, and when I tried to resaw them, I could not cut straight enough to get a usable piece from them. I ruined a bandsaw blade trying to resaw ipe.

Cutting a dragon leg on my scrollsaw.

I am using a paper template to ensure that the parts are all aligned correctly. Then, I clamp them until the glue has cured enough that the pieces will not move.

I use the first set of dragon wings, legs, and horns to align the second set. The challenge of the assembly is ensuring the legs are even so the dragon does not wobble.