By Carly Glasmyre Haas
When Scroll Saw Military Designs came out in 2000, there was nothing like it on the market. Fox Chapel Publishing received a lot of requests to reprint this book, and Mindy Kinsey, Bob Duncan, and I took on the challenge!
We began by changing the title to U.S. Military Designs for Woodworking & Crafts, adding a few missing specialties, like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and including patterns for veterans from other scrollers like Judy Gale Roberts, Dirk Boelman, and Steve Westfall. We also incorporated designs for veterans of more recent conflicts, such as Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Here’s an example of what the patterns looked like in the original book, and how we updated them for the reprint—notice the added shading and the thin lines that make for easy scrolling. This also shows mistakes we caught in the original pattern. Do you see them? (Hint: look at the eagle’s wings, olive branch, and arrows.)
Then, we decided to redraw the original patterns with crisp, thin lines and shading—and found some mistakes in the original patterns. These mistakes weren’t caught in the first printing, and we hoped to remedy that by not only correcting patterns but also expanding the Getting Started section. We included detailed cutting and assembly instructions (complete with exploded drawing).
Now we’re excited to update another of Mike and Vicky Lewis’s books, Scroll Saw Police & Rescue Patterns. You can expect updated and new patterns, a revised and expanded Getting Started section, and inspiration for honoring more of your hometown heroes! Look for this book in Fall 2016.
U.S. Military Designs for Woodworking & Other Crafts is available now for $14.99 plus $3.99 S&H from Fox Chapel Publishing, 1970 Broad St., East Petersburg, PA 17520, 800-457-9112, www.foxchapelpublishing.com.
