Splintering of wood on the scroll saw. If you want to prevent splintering of the wood you are cutting; clamp it between two pieces of scrap wood. that way all the splintering will be on the scrap wood.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL.

Splitting Wood stirrers; I asked my husband about the problem of splitting wood stirrers. His suggestion is first make sure your drill bits are sharp and not dull. second of all start the hole with a smaller drill bit and then go with a larger one. I would imagine for blinds you would need a very small hole. Therefore make sure your drill bit is very small and sharp

Bonnie in Montana

Glue gun: As a person who spends a great deal of time doing dhs for others I find that glue guns are good for a quick hold when I use regular types of glue. It holds the pieces together without gluing until the glue sets up.

I also use the glue gun when I know that windows will be removed later for people that just for some reason don't want to put on wall paper at this time. It's easier to remove stairs and windows so they aren't in the way when you put on carpeting mouldings or wp.

Deanna from beautiful downtown Thiensville

Lead Web Sites:
http://www.acnem.org/journal/15-2_december_1996/skin_absorption_of_lead.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/c1-98112.html

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/hwtr/demodebris/pages2/leadsummary.html

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/lead/homes/downwall.html

http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/lead/

http://www.aafp.org/afp/980215ap/stauding.html

http://www.info.gov.hk/dh/useful/ltod/fs_lead.htm

In summary, avoid the use of lead, and if you must handle or work on older lead items, be sure to practice safe housekeeping/hand washing etc. Especially avoid grinding or mechanical sanding! We don't want people to become paranoid, but at the same time not become complacent, just educated as to the dangers and taking extra precautions.

Randall

Strip Shingles: I assume you are referring to the What's Next strip shingles. I just got through using them on my granddaughter's Alison, Jr. LOVE them! They went on so fast and can be cut with scissors. This roof had lots of angles and I just put the strip in position and then marked the back of it against the angle with a pencil. Then, just cut with scissors. They sure do go fast! They sure do look like real shingles. The quarter scale strip paper shingles are great, too. I painted them with my window trim color, then sponged on a cream color very lightly - aged them nicely.

Carole Pierce in TN

Strip Shingles: The asphalt strip shingles are fabulously easy to apply. You can cover a roof in a couple of hours. The wooden strip shingles are ever so slightly thicker than single wooden shingles; to get them to lay down properly you need to place them in closer rows -- instead of 1" intervals, 3/4" spacing looks better.

Sally Cook-Thomas

Corrugated Metal Roofing: You can make a nice press for creating corrugated metal roofing by gluing a row of 3/32" dowels spaced 3/32" apart. When glue is dry, overlay a piece of extra heavy aluminum freezer wrap them, starting at one end, press between bottom dowels with similar dowels from the top. Remove top dowels and tip up to drop out a nice piece of roofing. Practice a bit to get desired sizes right so you do not need to re-cut after pressing.

Mel Koplin - Las Vegas

Corrugated Metal Roofing: I think you could probably use corrugated cardboard (flap from a cardboard box?) for that roof if the cardboard is corrugated on only one side, as some cardboard is made. I'd begin by cutting out the roof to the shape/size you want. Then paint it with white glue (Elmers) to strengthen it. When glue is dry, spray paint with silver paint.

Viola

Corrugated roofing: Take some corrugated cardboard from a box and remove one side of the cardboard paper. Sandpaper the remaining bits of paper off and you are looking at brown corrugated "metal" roofing. Paint it rust Or it can stand in for bamboo.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL.

Raised Tables: Just thought I would respond to your post regarding table risers. We have been raising our table almost since we got involved in miniatures. Not only does it relieve our pain :-), but we've had many compliments from customers regarding the ease of seeing everything at this elevated height. Mike (Georgia's husband) cut 4 PVC pieces of pipe about 2 feet long and we insert the table legs into these pipe pieces to raise our table about a foot. They are easy to carry, easy to attach to a table and easy to remove. It does require the dealer to stand most of the day to converse with the customers but we prefer doing that anyway. Wheelchair people manage just fine. They can't look down on our display but from their seated viewing spot, they are almost at eye level and we of course don't mind at all if people want to handle our trees so they are free to pick them up and look closely at them. A Big plus for us is that we are standing and we are interacting with our customers. That's important to us.

Jean, GJ's Christmas Trees