Where do I start?

I guess I should start out by saying that I'll be doing one last sign before I head back home to Provo in the coming weeks. But this has an interesting story, so sit back and enjoy.

This sign is actually a gift to a coworker that I have been closely working with over the summer. The way things work when you get to Intel (where I have been interning), they give you a "buddy", which is really someone who is experienced and can answer all of those questions that a newbie would ask. In my case, I feel like I asked my fair share of questions, and probably drove Deepika up the wall sometimes. I don't know if I will be returning to work full time to Intel, but I thought I'd show my appreciation in one of the best ways I can.

I had made one sign already with my current setup (Stelter), which worked out fairly well. The saw I was using belonged to Ken Carlson, a member of my church congregation that I met one of my first weeks here. He was more than gracious about letting me use his tools, which was great news for me. The first sign went off without a hitch, so I expected the same for the second.......NOPE!

If you look closely, you'll notice the small clamp that holds the blade to the arm of the saw is broken off. Marvelous. I was 95% done with the sign and I went to remove the blade to cut a inside piece when that clamp snapped off. Much to my dismay, I called Sears and found out that they no longer manufactured parts for this saw, this would be due to the fact that the saw is ~20-30 years old. So I talked with Ken and came to the agreement that I would help pay for a replacement saw. Luckily this model is only ~$110 and it was in stock at the local Sears in Portland. I picked it up and it looks surprisingly similar to the original. It actually cut a lot better than the old model, and will accept both types of scroll saw blades.

All in all, I feel good having left the situation the way I did. My father taught me to always bring something that you've borrowed back better than it was given to you. In this case I just helped buy the guy a new saw! He actually made the remark that he is going to try and make a replacement piece for the original, and if he does, I could just have the new one if we end up back here. I don't want to say here's hoping, but here's hoping!

I have to get this sign finished before I leave on the 24th, so I'm on a tight schedule. I don't know if I'll put updates up through the week or wait until it's finished, so just wait and see I guess.