December extra - Old Time Sled

December 2017

Time to make: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"
Dec. 1992, page 65

 Original design: Jeff Springer





A fun little slide with a dual purpose. The directions called for 1/4 " pine to make this but I happened to have some extra thin plywood left over from another slide (yet to be published) and thought I would give it a try. I laid the design for parts out on the plywood and proceeded to cut them out using a pair of scissors. I did a quick look at how the parts would fit together and decided to add an additional support from the bed of the slide to the steering handlebar for strength. I then stained the parts using permanent markers. Next was the assembling the sled with some wood glue. I realized very soon after that I should have use the 1/4 inch wood instead of the 1/16 inch plywood because the plywood did not have the joint strength for the slide. Not to worry, I added some square wooden supports to the inside of the slide which gave me more surface to glue to and additional support.  The bed of the slide is decorated with a poinsettia design printed to white water slide paper and then cut just slightly smaller than the bed of the slide.  Sealed the slide with a couple of coats of poly.

What is the second purpose of this slide you might be wondering...

Slide of the Month - Vostok

 2017

Time to design: 2 hours

Time to print: 4 hours (your times may vary)

Finishing: 3 hour

Original designer: nemilya

Try it yourself: Vostok Spacecraft (Gagarin)






On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1 became the first man to enter space and made one orbit around the earth. Gagarin made only one flight into space as he died in a plane crash in 1963. The Vostok (version 3KA) had 6 manned flights including the first woman in space, Vladimirovna Tereshkova.

I got to admit this one had me a bit frustrated because every time I tried to print this on the Ultimaker 2 the print never came out right. No matter how I tried adding supports or other repairs would allow me to print this model. Luckily for me, our library also has a SeeMeCNC Orion printer which printed the Vostok capsule perfectly. The slide was painted with some green spay paint in the center and top and bottom are painted with sliver metallic craft paint. One thing I considered but was the antennas but I thought they would get caught in everything. The capsule has no markings to show it was from Russia just like the original. The only markings were the red CCCP painted on Gagarin's helmet which were applied shortly before launch. One source mentioned that this was done to identify him as a Russian pilot and not an American like Gary Powers.

From old to new - Dragon and Dinosaur

Nov. 2017

Time to make: 2 hours

Original design: Bill Macfarlane

 So back when I was making the Hound Dog slide, I had a few turkey neck bones left that I hung on to for future slides. What struck me is how much one looked like a dinosaur and the other like a dragon. So I went with it!

The dragon is painted with a dark green and has a black wash to bring our the contours of the bone. The eyes are yellow seed beads glued in place with crazy glue. The flames are a red feather I applied glue to and split  the vanes to form the flames. I also added a bit of the black wash to the feather in places. the feather was super glued to the mouth.

The dinosaur was easier still! I super glued a couple of air-soft bbs for the eyes and painted it white with craft paint. This time a gray wash was applied to bring out the contours.

 A couple of coats of Poly to seal them and a leather loop attached to the back to finish the slides off.

Slide of the Month - The "Old Scout" Mystery

November  2017

Time to carve: 3 hours

Finishing: 1.5 hour

Boy's Life - October 1996 page 52

Design: Jeff Springer






Here is an interesting slide but not because of the design (which I like) but because I can no longer find it online. Some years ago, I did find the article and made a copy of it for my notebook but recently when I went online I could not find the article on the Boy's Life "Wayback Machine" or using Google Books. How odd because I have a copy of the page (see below) from Boy's Life and there are outside references including Scouting magazine.

Carved from a scrape piece of Maple flooring, this was a challenging slide to make. First off the wood is very hard which means my knife has to be sharpened often. Secondly I should have been wearing my Kevlar carving glove when starting this slide. A trip to the emergency room and seven stitches later, I found myself using my "third hand" portable carving vice. (I talk about the vice in the blog another time.) Carving, sanding, adjusting, and more sanding to get the look I wanted to achieve. Painting with craft paints and given a couple coats of Poly to seal it off.

October extra: Zombie Apocalypse Plan

End of October 2017

Time to make: 1 hours

Original design: Bill Macfarlane

In this time of Ghosts, Ghouls and Goblins, I think it is time for me to show my emergency Zombie Apocalypse Plan slide. (What you don't have a Zombie Apocalypse Plan?)

When Zombies are near and everyone is clamoring for what to do, I will hand them this slide.

WARNING this is only to be opened in case of  Zombie attack!!! (Or while blogging about it.)

Made from an Altoids tin painted white and metal loop attached in the back with pop rivets.

The cover and inside are printed on water slide decal paper - chiller font on the outside and the inside has the smallest readable font I could find (It's a lot larger in the photo). Have fun with this and Happy Halloween

Slide number 1

October  1970?

Time to make: unknown

Finishing: 1.5 hour


Design: unknown








I'm often asked about my first neckerchief slide so I wanted to take this time to talk about it. Sometime in the late 60's or early 70's, as a young Scout, I saw a picture of a Turks head somewhere. Now I'm not sure where I saw it (Scout handbook, Field book, Boy's Life, World Book Encyclopedia  or somewhere else) but I figured out from the picture and description how to tie the knot. Tied from some spare clothes line I found in our basement, I must have kept going until I ran out of line. (Four wraps in some places and three in other places.) I wanted to harden the slide because it was very loose so I coated with some old fashion shellac my Grandfather had in the basement. The shellac was old, thick and dark but it was still absorbed by the cotton cord. It took a couple of days to dry and I have worn it a good many times since then.

Since that time I tied a good many Turks Head slide using everything from leather to paracord (and even a few boot laces in between).  In fact, every year I tie a Turks Head for each of the Webelos crossovers that joins our Troop and in a different color. Just some of the ones I've tied...

Slide of Month - Wood Water Bucket

October  2017

Time to carve: 2 hours

Finishing: 1.5 hour


Design: Greg Firestone








I really like this slide! It reminds of wooden buckets at my grandfather house. I'm not really sure if held water or maybe it was just the way my brother and I pumped water from the old well but it was a guarantee we both would be wet in the end.

I made this one from oak because the grain in oak give the slide a weathered look. The seams are v-cuts and an additional v-cut was used for the wire bands. I stained the bucket with some dark walnut stain which further brings out the grain. The bands are stainless steel wire used in the phone industry to lash phone cables to the support wire. The rope is an end pieces of 275 paracord to give it some color. 

Slide of the Month extra! - Scoutmasters run on

Fall 2017

Time to make: 1 hours

Original design: Bill Macfarlane












OK, I can't all the credit for this one since Dunkin' Donuts made it so easy for me but in honor of the first day of fall. I was in a Dunkin Donuts and saw a novelty coffee and pumpkin spice lip balm which looked like the makings of a slide.

The first step was to open the tops and to clean out the waxy material inside. Next I trimmed the labels to remove the lower part so it would look like a regular cup of coffee. I glued the tops on the cups with some super glue. When dry I drilled a couple of small holes on the side in the top and bottom of the cups. Next I super glued a small piece of wire in each hole to hold the cups together. When dry, I drilled a hole in the back of the cups for a wire neckerchief and glued the wire in place.

From old to new: First Aid Kit

September 2017

Time to make: 1 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

Sept. 1951, page37

Original design: E.F.S

The last of the film can slides from Boys Life  (that I know of) is a quick reach when you need a band-aid. While it's no replacement for a full first aid kit, I can appreciate a handy place to grab something for small cuts. The original kit carries finger band-aids, a gauze pad, some first-aid tape...

An aluminum loop is pop riveted to the back and the cross is painted on with model paints.

A plastic film can version

My updated version uses an Altoid Smalls tin which I painted white with spray paint. The decal on the front was a picture I found and printed on my home printer to water slide decal paper.  The contents of this kit are as follows;

Band-Aids

gauze pad

Tylenol 

first aid tape

Slide of the Month - Space Shuttle

  September  2017

Time to design: 2 hour

Time to print: 2 hours (your times may vary

Finishing: 3 hour

Original designer: DigitalSpace Corporation 

Try it yourself: Space Shuttle

The last slide in the American manned space program (for now). The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft and there were 6 built.  Although only 5 flew in space, they completed 135 missions for a total of 1322 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes and 23 seconds. (The Enterprise only flew in sub orbital missions for approach and landing tests.) Between 1986 to 2011,  Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour  served as a platform for the deployment of several satellites, the Hubble Telescope, the launching of deep space probes, conducted a slew of experiments. They also transported section for the building the international space station. In 1986 Columbia was lost during launch and Columbia was destroyed during reentry in 2003 resulting in the death of 14 astronauts. 

This slide is based on Atlantis which flew the last mission July 8, 2011 after which fleet was retired. I used the design from DigitalSpace Corporation because it was the only design I found with the cargo bays open. To be honest, I had a bit of problems with this print. The rocket nozzles did not print completely and the cargo bay doors were barely connected to the shuttle. I ended up using some more UV glue to help build up these areas. I used a sharp knife and sand paper to shape the nozzles and smooth the places I had to re-enforce the cargo doors. I painted the slide using white spray paint and the heat shields as well as the detail with a black paint marker. The cargo doors and nose of the shuttle were painted with silver paint. The decals were printed using markings I found on the Internet and printed on water slide paper. The Rassvet ISS module in the cargo bay was made from a barrel from a ball point pen and the end was painted with a gold paint marker.

Slide of the Month - Backpacks

Scout Camp 2017

Time to carve: who cares it's Scout Camp

Location: Rotary Scout Reservation #rsrbsa

Finishing: at home 1.5 hour


Summer Camp is one of those times when time passes effortlessly and I can just let the whittling knife take me to the things hidden in the wood.

I brought a piece of  9 x 1 3/4 x 3/4 inch piece of scrape maple from another project with me to summer camp with the intent of making a slide while I was there. Well three slides later I present the Backpack series. The first was a design in the Feb. 1984 Boys Life  Slide of the Month ( page 68) by Bill Andrews and consists of the carved backpack and an attached dowel for the sleeping bag. I painted the typical khaki color of BSA backpacks of the time and yellow  to match  the trim in the picture.




The second was a design found on the Internet but I can no longer find it so I cant give you the link. Based on a 60s backpack (I think) a sleeping bag strapped to the top and tent on the bottom. Its carved from a single piece of wood








The third design is based on the pack I used as a Boy Scout and still have today. If I remember correctly, this pack was a present and purchased in the early 70's most likely at the Big N (anyone remember those stores?).  An external frame nylon workhorse that has seen many miles and outlasted many a pair of boots. A brown dome tent (bought in the 80s in first go round as a Scoutmaster) is secured under the top flap. My sleeping bag in a stuff bag is strapped underneath. The one other item of note is the Knox Cannon Trail Relay patch. This slide is also carved from one piece of wood.


All the backpacks were carved from maple, painted with craft paints, and given a couple of coats of Poly.

Preview Backpacks

Scout Camp 2017

Time to carve: who cares it Scout Camp

Location: Rotary Scout Reservation #rsrbsa

Finishing: TBD










Just a quick preview of a set of backpack slides coming up that are being carved right now while at summer camp with our Troop. Its being carved from a piece of maple I had from another project and you might notice I haven't  cut the slide off the stock yet. This allows for a good hand hold and keeps my hand away from the carving. This slide is one off the Internet and the author wasn't sure where he had found it. Another pack (not shown here) is a Bill Andrews "Slide of the Month" #boyslife from February 1984. The final pack is one of my own design and mimics the pack I use as a youth.

Slide of the Month July - Apollo and LEM

July 2017

Time to design: 2 hours

Time to print: 2 hours (your times may vary

Finishing: 2 hour

Original design: Tinkercad

Original designer: xmbrst

Try it yourself: Mini Apollo Mission

Another in my 3d printed space series, the Apollo mission captured the imagination of many including myself. Today I find it even more impressive considering the computing power of both combine craft was less than a Timex wrist watch today. The fact we could go to the moon, land and return safely is testament to the thousands of folks dedicated to the mission and the astronauts who's quick thinking saved many a mission. For a great set of articles on Apollo 11 mission, check out the NASA webpage

I found a few designs out there but I liked xmbrst design because of the modifications he did to reinforce the LEM legs and to make the rocket nozzles solid which could have been a problem when printing. The funny part is when these were printed, I did have some issue with the Apollo capsule breaking loose when printing and the rocket nozzle on the service module was a bit deformed. Well since I was gluing the parts together, it really didn't matter to me that the capsule's heat shield did not print since you would not be able to see it. As to the rocket nozzle, I used a UV activated glue (like these) as filler and then shaped it with sandpaper.  All the parts were glued together using super glue and I drilled a couple of holes in the back for a wire loop.  I used paint pens and home printed water slide decals to detail the slide. 

From old to new: sewing kit

June 2017

Time to make: 1 hours
Boys Life "Slide of the Month"
Sept. 1965, page 64
Original design: Bill Poese









So continuing with the old film can slides here is a simple sewing kit than can be very helpful out on the trail for sewing up a button or a tent. The original design contained buttons, thread, needles, a paper ruler, safety pins, straight pins, a thimble, and a small jackknife.

The plastic film container version

My updated design uses an Altoids Smalls tin. I started by painting the outside white and when dry, I applied a water slide decal I had printed on a printer. Next I attached an aluminum loop to the tin using pop rivets

The contents are essentially the same but there are pre-threaded needles. I did leave out the knife because most Scouts have a jackknife with them or you could use (my dentist shutters) your teeth. I also left out the ruler because, well, who measures.

Slide of the Month June - Celtic Knot

May 2017

Time to set up: 5 days

Time to turn: 45 minutes

Finishing: 2 hours

Designs from: Dan Lecocq

Youtube:  Celtic Knot Pen









Inspired by another hobby, I thought turning a 4 ring Celtic Knot would make a great slide. I made the slide from red maple, white maple, and black walnut and turned it on a lathe. While I would suggest watching the youtube video for the setup, I'll try to describe it here.

I cut a piece of red maple 1.5 x 1.5 x 4 inches as the base wood of the slide. Next I cut some thin pieces of white maple (about 1/16 inch thick) and black walnut (about 1/8 inch thick). I glued the thin strips together, white maple- black walnut-white maple, with some wood glue, clamped the whole length of the sandwiched wood and let it dry overnight. The next day I cut the sandwiched wood 1.5 inch strips. Going back to the red maple, I next labeled each side, with a pencil, the first side with a 1, 2 on the opposite side, 3 to the right side of the first side, and 4 to the left side of the first side. Setting up my table saw with a 30 degree tilt and fence at 1 inch from the blade. The height of the blade was set so the was just a 1/4 inch left after the cut. I moved the fence just a bit so the slot was the width of the sandwiched wood. Using some wood glue, I glued the sandwiched wood into the slot, cut off the excess, clamped and left it overnight to dry. The following day I repeated the cut, gluing, and clamping on side 2. The process was repeated for sides 3 and 4. Twenty-four hours after the final glue up, its time to turn the slide.

While it looks very square and nothing like interconnecting rings, rounding the piece brought the rings out in wonderful spender. When I got the piece to the diameter I wanted, I cut a V cut on ether side of the finish length (approximately 2 inches).  Still on the lathe, I sanded the piece down using some very fine sandpaper. Using a finishing method I learned from pen making, I applied several layers of super glue wet sanding between layers.

Removing it from the lathe, I drilled a 3/4 inch hole down the length of the piece and then carefully cut the slide to size using the V cuts as a guide. Finally I coated the inside of the slide with additional super glue.

Slide of the Month May - Project Gemini

May 2017

Time to design: 2 hours
Time to print: 2 hours (your times may vary Finishing: 1 hour
Original design: autocad123
Original designer: unknown
Try it yourself: Gemini capsule slide

 
Another slide you can 3D print and paint! Fascinated by the space race as a kid, I watched every launch I could. Project Gemini was a test platform for testing many of the things and maneuvers, like docking,  that would be needed in our quest to land a man on the moon.  It was nicknamed the "Gusmobile"  by fellow astronauts because of Gus Grissom  deep involvement in its design. The design was so versatile and dependable there was going to be a Gemini-B and Big G versions.  The  Gemini-B version that was going to be used by the Air Force for a planned a Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL). (Great documentary on it called Astrospies on PBS)

The Big G was to be an extended version of the Gemini-B that would carry 9 man missions

I believe I found the original out at autocad123 and I brought it into tinkercad to scale and modify. (Note: The ring is kind of thin and you might want to enlarge the thickness a bit.) When done with my modifications, the project was imported into Cura to convert it into a printable file with the Ultramaker 2 printer at my local library,  Berkshire Athenaeum, to print. When done priniting, I cleaned up the model with a sharp knife and sandpaper. I painted the model with some white and black spray paint and detailed the windows with paint pens. The lettering and flag where done using water slide paper and a printer.

From Old to New: Fishing Kit

April 2017

Time to make: 1 hours
Boys Life "Slide of the Month"
Sept. 1951, page 37
Original design: E.F.S

...and now for another new part of the blog "From Old to New" were I will attempt to update older neckerchief designs from "Slide of the Month" to updated versions. First off the a film can fishing kit to my versions. I remember my dad having a few of these aluminum 35 mm film cans around the house but by the time I was taking pictures the metal film cans became plastic film cans. (see below)

The can was painted with model paint made for metal and a fly was glued to the front. The slide piece was a piece of aluminum flashing pop riveted to the can and then bent into a loop.  The inside includes fishing line, hooks, sinkers, flies, and a cork for a bobber. It all fits very nicely into the can.

Here is the plastic film can

Updated version

Time to make: 1 hours
Original design: Bill Macfarlane

When thinking about an updated version of this slide, I had a couple of options that came to mind. The first was the Altoids Smalls tin and the second was a contact lens cleaner (see below). Altoids tins of all sizes have been a favorite with hobbyists for a few years now and these make great slides.
I spray painted the outside of the tin white and, once it was dry, I pop riveted a piece of aluminum flashing loop to the back. The fly on the front was printed on white water slide decal film. The insides were also updated with day glow fishing line, a piece of foam rubber for a bobber , and a plastic lure. It also includes sinkers, hooks and flies. The same pieces also fit into the contact lens container.

Forget me Knot - Royal Carrick Bend

April 2017

Time to tie: days

Finishing: none though I might try Mod Podge

Designs from: Clarke Green
Website: scoutmasterCG.com

Knot Website:Royal Carrick Bend






How did I forget to post this knot with the others? Well my friend Clarke Green posted this neckerchief slide back in the summer of 2014 and it's had me gnashing my teeth for a while. I finally got it one night while staying at a hotel in Springfield, MA. (My apologizes to hotel staff who might have seen me carrying a coil of nylon cord, duct tape, and a utility knife up to my room. Nothing weird going on really.)

The first thing to do is to head over to Clarke's site and find the Royal Carrick Bend infograph. Next cut a good length (five feet is what I used) of nylon or paracord.  Now here is the part that just about drove me crazy, lay out the first weave of the knot. I found it was really hard to follow the pattern because the rope was sliding all over the place as I was trying to tie it. This is where the duct tape came in to play. Using small pieces of the tape, I taped each section down to the table as I worked so it would stay in place but also allowing for me to pass the next level through. Once you have woven the knot twice, pick it up and put the center around something round like a 3/4 inch dowel (or a hotel shampoo bottle) and begin to tighten the knot. Once it is tight it becomes a really intricate looking knot neckerchief.  Cut off the excess cord and fuse it with heat or leave on some tails for frayed ends. On mine, I tied the ends into a carrick bend (not shown) and fused the ends.

 For those of you who have never heard of Clarke Green, his Scoutmaster blog, or the Scoutmaster podcast, you really need to find him on the net! The Scoutmaster's Oracle, the podcast Commissioner and really nice guy, Clarke shares his thoughts, wit, and wisdom weekly to the folks that follow him world-wide. Always happy to answer a question for Scouter, his answers are spot-on relying on his many years of Scouting experience. On his site he shares his wisdom and thoughts on Scoutmastership, gear reviews, highlights some of the best books on Scouting, program ideas, and information on high adventure areas. 

Slide of the month April 2017 - Fusion Knots

April 2017

Time to tie: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Designs from: Decorative Fusion Knots
Author: J.D. Lenzen

Website:www.fusionknots.com

Available from: Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Nobel or your favorite book seller




No its not an April Fools day joke, these are all knots I found in JD book and had lots of fun tying each of these miniature marvels.

Using some nylon cord, I tied each of these using the instructions I found in the book. Next I  either sealed the ends, using a lighter, or left them frayed. The mounts are Formica samples and the loops are nylon webbing fastened to the samples with pop rivets. I use a clear epoxy to mount the knots to the background.

Knots from left to right

Jolly Roger Knot

Cloud Knot (I think its upside down)

Pipa Knot

Challenge Knot, Bloody Knuckle Knot, Maedate Knot

Triskelion Knot front and back

Triple Barrel Knot

Slide of the Month March 2017 - Mercury capsule

March 2017

Time to design: 2 hours
Time to print: 2 hours (your times may vary Finishing: 1 hour
Original design: NASA
Original designer: Michael Carbajal. NASA Headquarters
Try it yourself: Mercury capsule slide

Greetings, and welcome to the new Slide of the Month from Channeling Whittlin Jim. This month is for a new generation of neckerchief slides designers, those who want to design and print them on a 3D printer.

Being a kid during the space race, I always dreamed of being an Astronaut and one of my hero's was John Glenn. This slide is a design of Freedom 7 I found on NASA's 3D model resource page. The file was a 3ds file and what I needed was an stl file so I converted it using a free program called Spin 3D Mesh Converter. Next I loaded the converted file into Tinker Cad, a great free design program from Autodesk, and came up with the following model.

Now I could add the neckerchief ring to the model. Once I created the ring, it was a simple process to join the ring to the model

I then use the group function to make sure both parts became one model. Next I downloaded a stl file to import into another free program called Cura  which is what is used by the 3d printer I use called Ultimaker 2.

Once loaded into Cura the model can be converted into gcode that the printer can print from. In my case this file was copied to a SD card so I could bring it to the printer location. I also added supports to help stabilize the model while printing. One the printing was done the model looked like this and the supports were easily removed.

I  sanded where the supports connected to the model (around the heat shield and loop) and decided I liked the somewhat grayish look of the heat shield. Next was to paint the ring at the top and retro rockets silver with some model paint. I also painted the window to give it a operation glow with some paint pens. I also used a red model paint marker to paint the red ring between the heat shield and capsule. The final step was the marking on the capsule. For this I used white decal or water slide paper from Blinggasm.com and Microsoft paint to create a set of decals on my inkjet printer.

 
Once the decals had been treated with an acrylic clear spray paint, I could cut them out and water slide them on to the capsule to finish the slide.

A quick disclaimer here, I do not own a 3D printer (though any company who wants to give me one will be gladly accepted) but what I do have is a great local public library. The Berkshire Athenaeum
has 3D printers and classes to teach patrons how to use the printers. My thanks to Andrea Puglisi and everyone in the reference department for the patience and knowledge in helping me take a random thought and turn it into reality. Perhaps there is a local public library near you with the same kind or resources. For those who want to printing this design it is available on Tinkercad if you do a search of Mercury capsule slide

Bones and Horns (Horn - something special)

March 3/26/2017

Time to make: 2 hours
Finishing: .5 hour










...and now the final slide in this long journey.

When thinking about the last slide, I thought this would be a good time to both finish the Whittlin Jim slides and transition into other Slide of the Month projects along with my own versions.

This slide features a ram's horn I got from Petco that just fascinated me in the beauty of the contours of shape and color. I have also recently been experimenting with some decal paper so I thought of the idea of combining them both. I cut the horn to shape, using a bandsaw, being very careful not to cut all the way through on the sides. The shape of the horn lends itself as a natural neckerchief loop. I then sanded a smooth spot in the center for the decal and sanded the edges. I have my Troop's logo and printed it to some white Blinggasm decal paper using my inkjet printer. I then covered the decal with three coats of clear acrylic spray paint. A hint here, the paper is about a dollar a sheet so plan ahead and print several decals at once or cut the page into photo sized pieces (if your printer will take it) to minimize waste. After the coating dried overnight, I cut out the decal and placed into water into for a couple of seconds until the plastic decal loosened from the paper backer. I slid the decal onto the horn and made sure there were no air bubbles under the decal. A sweet slide if I do say so myself!

One addition note, when working with bones or horns, try to do it outside as cutting or sanding these items stinks to high heaven.

Bones and Horns (Bone Eight)

March 2017

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: .5 hour










Another piece of bone given by a friend which the bone was quite thick and this is a one piece slide. I sketched out the 8 on the bone similar to the 7 Ben used, rough cut it on the band saw, and drilled the holes for the 8. I then used the dremel tool to cut, using a diamond bit, and sand the slide. Some wax polish for a finish.