Scouts' "Cross Over Bridge"

I have a nephew who was in Cubs and was "Crossing Over" to Boy Scouts. His Pack wanted to have a crossover bridge, to symbolize the transition from Cubs to Boy Scouts

They sent me some ideas from a Pack that had made a bridge, and we did some mods on that Bridge design to make this. It is made from soft maple, and was routed with a 60 V Carve Bit, using Times New Roman as the Font, for all the letters. The logos were copied into a drafting program from web sites and then I redrew each of them and crated a DXF file for them. They are cut with a 1/4" clearing bit and a 1/16" tapered round nose bit. ( Beckwith Decor... IIRC)

There are two "steps"- one at each end- that form the ends of the bridge. And three "stringers" onto which are V Carved these main points of the Scout Oath: "Duty to God and Country". "Duty To Others". "Duty to Self".

Then, on 12 removable planks of this cross over bridge, are carved the tenets of the Scout Law: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.

On the side plates for the steps, I carved the Cub Logo on both sides of one end, and the Pack number. Then, on the other end, since a lot of boys split up after Cubs and attend different Troops, I put a representation of the BSA with the Eagle and Shield with the Fleur d' Lis. Surrounding it. Of course all the edges were routed with a round over after mfr. And we found the guy had some issues with his plan, so it needed some mods after initial assembly.

One thing that I did was to set up to drill the "cleats" that would allow the removeable planks to be kept in place by making a special jig that held the cleats (with a wedge on the side to ensure it did not move)... well. It did. So some of the cleats did not seat exactly as I wanted. In the future, I would predrill the recess for the screw head and then clamp the plank in place and would "match drill" the cleats manually while on the assembly. This would ensure a custom and proper fit.

I poly'd everything after carving and then sprayed the relieved area with black spray paint. When dry, I sanded away the black paint from all the flat areas, and poly'd one more time.

I ran out of time and have one letter ont he BSA end where the machine was not Z Zeroed properly and it carved it too fat. I will be sending them a new end for the step! But I ran out of time for tonight's ceremony.. so you will see it in the photos.

I also cut custom plugs for all the counter sunk holes. Everything is Screwed together. Nothing is glued. ( In case they want to change anything). SO when I send them the new side plate, they can simply drive a screw into the plugs covering the side, and the plugs will pull out. I will send them new plugs for this, as well!

You guys do wonderful work, and I usually don't have pretty things to post on here that my ShopBot has done- so I am posting this. I figure the Scouting program has done a lot for the people who have grown up and are now ShopBotters, so a few of you may appreciate this idea.

I really appreciate the fantastic stuff I get from my ShopBot. And the fantastic PEOPLE at ShopBot and the support on the Forum.

Fantastic job

Here are a couple more shots of the pieces to the project.

Beautiful Job! Especially like how trestles line up on stage. Seems like so many years ago when I went through both programs. Very worthwhile effort and cause. Actually the "3 match/start 1 fire/in a heavy rain" lesson saved my life once when I went through ice alone. Good work!

Thanks Scott.

It does not show in the photos, but you folks all know how beautiful a v-carved letter can be. And Maple with a black letter inset into it??? Gorgeous. My father had a look at the photos, and was very complimentary. THAT made any effort worth while!

And I really enjoy Scouting. I know they are doing a lot of transition right now, but I think they do such a great service to our boys. Very few programs do for the young men in our country what scouting does (IMO).

Anyway- I appreciate you folks on here and I appreciate the attributes we get form the ShopBots that we use!

Monty

Thanks for posting this! I had not even thought of building a bridge for them.. Now I will have to build one for area use here. Our packs here are small so i will also leave off the pack# so it can be used in more that one pack ceremony

I think its great to spend time to show

The project looks great did they clear coat?

Kevin,

I clear coated all the tops of everything before I packed it up and brought it to them. ( Before the black paint was applied. Then again after the black was sanded off the main flats areas)

I did not have time to flip it and hit all of the underside. Most. But not all. They will have to do that as a "service project"!

Monty,
Your bridge looks amazing, great job! I have been asked to "help" build a cross over bridge for my son's pack. I think the pack leaders are interested in a bridge very similar to your design. Now that you have used the bridge a couple of years is there anything that you would do differently?
Thank you for any information and again, nice job!

Brian