Need Some Gift Ideas

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woodwzrd

woodwzrd

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Baraboo WI
I am looking for some gift ideas for my Engineering team. I have a team of twelve mechanical design engineers and support staff that I make Christmas gifts for every year and I am a little stumped on what to do for them this year.

Two years ago I made EDC Anvils for everyone and last year I did Pentel conversion pencils for everyone. What are some ideas you have for something different this year?
 
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woodwzrd said:
I am looking for some gift ideas for my Engineering team. I have a team of twelve mechanical design engineers and support staff that I make Christmas gifts for every year and I am a little stumped on what to do for them this year.

Two years ago I made EDC Anvils for everyone and last year I did Pentel conversion pencils for everyone. What are some ideas you have for something different this year?
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I am guessing you are talking pens? If that be the case then do some sort of casting weather it be decals or logos or do a watch part pen or key fobs. Bottle stoppers. look through PSI gift ideas.

https://www.pennstateind.com/store/turning-project-kits.html
 
I'd go with the multi tools or small screw ended boxes with key ring attachments for them t9 keep little knickknacks in.

Or make some puzzles like the mouse in a cheese or solid wooden arrow through a glass wine bottle for them to argue over. Worked a treat at my model engineering club show and tell evening. image.jpgimage.jpg
 
howsitwork said:
I'd go with the multi tools or small screw ended boxes with key ring attachments for them t9 keep little knickknacks in.

Or make some puzzles like the mouse in a cheese or solid wooden arrow through a glass wine bottle for them to argue over. Worked a treat at my model engineering club show and tell evening.View attachment 363165View attachment 363166
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please explain further? I love making puzzles.
 
The multitool, puzzle or a circuit board pen might all be cool. I'd probably drop the multitool to the higher end of the list as something different. They have a pen and a pencil now, everyone needs screwdriver handy.

Depending on the crowd you could also give them all bottle/can openers for their chosen type of fortified sprecher. (iykyk) The Ruth Niles openers are a neat design that appeal to this engineer's heart.
 
bugradx2 said:
please explain further? I love making puzzles.
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bugradx2 said:
please explain further? I love making puzzles.
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treat yourself to the book Wood turning Wizzardry by David Springett, now sadly deceased. He showed me how to hollow,out the cheese using a small scraper. You then make the mouse with its leather tail and it is ever so slightly larger than the hole entrance Make it in a different wood ( important or someone will claim you e carved it in situ ) and using a hollow nylon drift you gently push it home into its hole.

You then hand them the cheese and let them try to extract the mouse which, as it's tapered , is extremely difficult / impossible.

The arrow through a bottle needs the book to explain properly but the difficult part is drilling the hole through the glass bottle without breaking it.

I was very lucky to know David and made one to his design. Caused quite a heated discussion at the engineering club.

Several more in various stages awaiting finishing. If you want I can fish out my original and photograph it for you?
 
howsitwork said:
treat yourself to the book Wood turning Wizzardry by David Springett, now sadly deceased. He showed me how to hollow,out the cheese using a small scraper. You then make the mouse with its leather tail and it is ever so slightly larger than the hole entrance Make it in a different wood ( important or someone will claim you e carved it in situ ) and using a hollow nylon drift you gently push it home into its hole.

You then hand them the cheese and let them try to extract the mouse which, as it's tapered , is extremely difficult / impossible.

The arrow through a bottle needs the book to explain properly but the difficult part is drilling the hole through the glass bottle without breaking it.

I was very lucky to know David and made one to his design. Caused quite a heated discussion at the engineering club.

Several more in various stages awaiting finishing. If you want I can fish out my original and photograph it for you?
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I would love to see any of them you have! Projects like that fascinate me. I've noodled around with a 3D cube design off and on over the years. I've never quite gotten it right. Done a few other puzzles too.


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Do they have to be pens? Any chance some engineering-themed christmas ornaments might work?

I've been trying my hand at something called "inside out" ornaments, with some thing hanging inside once they are completed. Might be interesting turn some inside-out ornaments, then hang, oh, maybe a gear, or a sphere, or some other shape or abstract shape that might be intriguing to engineers.
 
They are large and probably more of a show pen, but how about the steam punk line? a single or double barrel pen with steam punk blanks?
 
jrista said:
Do they have to be pens? Any chance some engineering-themed christmas ornaments might work?

I've been trying my hand at something called "inside out" ornaments, with some thing hanging inside once they are completed. Might be interesting turn some inside-out ornaments, then hang, oh, maybe a gear, or a sphere, or some other shape or abstract shape that might be intriguing to engineers.
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There would be discussions on the technique involved with creating the ornament for sure. That's a great idea.
 
jrista said:
Do they have to be pens? Any chance some engineering-themed christmas ornaments might work?

I've been trying my hand at something called "inside out" ornaments, with some thing hanging inside once they are completed. Might be interesting turn some inside-out ornaments, then hang, oh, maybe a gear, or a sphere, or some other shape or abstract shape that might be intriguing to engineers.
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I have been playing around with "inside out turning" too, but havent gotten close to anything I would be proud to show off. Not giving up though, still enjoying the challenge.
 
howsitwork said:
Now that looks like a whole new gopher hole to try !!!!
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LOL - you're not kidding!

Sorry to Woodwzrd for the slight hijack of his post too. Although - 3D puzzles would be a very unique gift for them. If you did one with 2 cuts it would be very quick and avoid some of the problems I've had when adding a 3rd cut. You could segment the cube to add a little more pizazz too.

Howsitwork - I hope both photos I posted show up for you.

I need to get back at that one and really perfect the design. My son is in HS and took one of them in for his engineering class and their teacher to look at. They found it very intriguing. In full honesty, the inspiration for the design actually came in part from seeing Scott Phillips on the American Woodshop do a giant question mark puzzle on the bandsaw. That started me down the road with bandsaw boxes. Once I had a few of those done I figured why not try something frustrating and make 3D puzzles from scratch. The two main problems are to space out the cuts so you don't chew up the middle of the puzzle and not have a straight line on one edge.
 
KenB259 said:
I have been playing around with "inside out turning" too, but havent gotten close to anything I would be proud to show off. Not giving up though, still enjoying the challenge.
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I just watched a video today that showed how to use 120/60 degree cuts on blocks of wood, to get 3-sided and 6-sided inside-out ornaments. They looked pretty cool. The thing I have learned, is that you need to be pretty darn precise with your initial brown paper-based glueups. If there is any shift in the wood when you have the inside out, then when you flip them around the corners of your internal carving wont line up properly. Apparently, that is compounded with the 120/60 degree configurations.

I turned a couple, but I did indeed have problems with getting those corners to line up properly. I think part of it was that the block of wood wasn't actually truly square, so I'm going to be trying to fix that with the table saw on the next one.
 
I realize this is an old thread, but gift ideas are needed all through the year. The double detachable keyring kit makes a nice gift.
 
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KenB259 said:
I have been playing around with "inside out turning" too, but havent gotten close to anything I would be proud to show off. Not giving up though, still enjoying the challenge.
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I make these ornaments. I also make them for baby gifts with a photo of the baby in a little gold frame hanging in it. Makes nice "baby's first Christmas" gifts. Once made one for a first Christmas with a picture of the bride and groom. Sometimes I use a little silver bell instead of a turned bell. I also have some "ornament hangers" that allow ornaments to be displayed year round.
 

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