Wood to practice with

[OCtoolguy]

Ok, here comes the silliest question of the day. In order to become a proficient scroller many hours of practice are required. My question is, where do you get the scrap wood to practice with? I have gone to HD and Lowes and even a few cabinet shops but can't seem to find anything that is suitable for scroll sawing. What do you all use and please, where do you get it? I can't believe you are all buying boards and cutting them into small pieces. Thanks for your patience.

 

Ray

[Phantom Scroller]

Ray you can use old orange boxes and old pallets I think you can clean up most wood unless it's soaked in oil and as for practice it makes perfect as they say but I've been at it 40 plus years and I'M STILL NOT PERFECT. .Roly

[Rob Roy]

Ray you can use old orange boxes and old pallets I think you can clean up most wood unless it's soaked in oil and as for practice it makes perfect as they say but I've been at it 40 plus years and I'M STILL NOT PERFECT. .Roly

FORTY YEARS Roly!!!! IS THAT ALL????         .

Rob Roy

[Dan]

Ray, drive around after people put their trash out. You can get a lot of free wood.

[LarryEA]

I am going to say, 'Don't use junk wood! If you 'practice' and it turns out nice,

have it turn out nice on a good piece of wood.'

To me, "There is no practice wood."

That said, boxes and pallets are still a good source of wood.

Just clean it up, make it look nice so that when you finish

cutting a scroll piece on the wood, it will be nice enough that

you would give it to your spouse.

[amazingkevin]

i have built in radar for finding wood.Bulk pick up trash day has been a gold mine for hardwood furniture, I just break it up on the site to get it i the car. Baby cribs are the best for high quality polished hardwoods, perfect for name stands or key chains.Lots of oak chairs that are wobbly thrown out,cabinet backs are great thin stock to make clocks,dresser drawer sides are nice wood for names already the scroll saw size to use.Also the dresser drawer sides have a groove in them for the bottom piece of wood on the drawer that i make my little people stands out of them ,two peas in a pod here ,perfect fitI photo a person, copy to 8" x 10.75 ,glue them on the drawer bottom cut out around them glue them to a cut out drawer side groove and makes for a nice show piece.If a piece of thrown out wood looks to good it's probable particle board ,pass those up ,harmfull saw dust.when cutting..I never get pallets the wood it to hard and to hard to take apart to use,plus all the nails .i go for easy clean stuff.
Lots of plywood from cabinet shops.But if you have a casket making shop they throw out the best wood ever.They are very picky

[Phantom Scroller]

i have built in radar for finding wood.Bulk pick up trash day has been a gold mine for hardwood furniture, I just break it up on the site to get it i the car. Baby cribs are the best for high quality polished hardwoods, perfect for name stands or key chains.Lots of oak chairs that are wobbly thrown out,cabinet backs are great thin stock to make clocks,dresser drawer sides are nice wood for names already the scroll saw size to use.Also the dresser drawer sides have a groove in them for the bottom piece of wood on the drawer that i make my little people stands out of them ,two peas in a pod here ,perfect fitI photo a person, copy to 8" x 10.75 ,glue them on the drawer bottom cut out around them glue them to a cut out drawer side groove and makes for a nice show piece.If a piece of thrown out wood looks to good it's probable particle board ,pass those up ,harmfull saw dust.when cutting..I never get pallets the wood it to hard and to hard to take apart to use,plus all the nails .i go for easy clean stuff.

Lots of plywood from cabinet shops.But if you have a casket making shop they throw out the best wood ever.They are very picky

Kevin you sound like your really Stig of the dump.      Roly

[Fish]

I used 1/4" underlayment. They have it at Menards, Lowes, any store like that. It's not as good as BB but has one decent side. You could buy a 4x8 sheet for less than $20.

[Travis]

I am going to say, 'Don't use junk wood! If you 'practice' and it turns out nice,

have it turn out nice on a good piece of wood.'

...

 

 

I think I'd have to agree with Larry.  I'd hate for you to create a cool project on substandard wood.  Nothing builds confidence more than creating a finished work suitable for display.  I'm not sure what kind of projects you're interested in cutting, but you can buy boards pretty cheap online (http://www.ocoochhardwoods.com/).  Lowes sells 1/4" birch plywood (not as good as Baltic Birch and may have voids) in 2x4' sheets.  They might even cut them down for you if you don't have a tablesaw.

 

I have some practice patterns you can try just to "warm up" before jumping into a project.  But once you spend 10-15 minutes doing a couple of those, jump into a project.  There are lots of easy projects in the Pattern Library.  Here are a few:

 

 

Maybe others have suggestions for some easy patterns.

[ike]

HD has sheets of 1/4 plywood at 4$13 pr sheet.

[LarryEA]

I want to suggest a couple easy but very satisfying patterns to cut.

Search the Village patterns and be sure to check out Steve Good's site.

1) Crosses   Crosses are a teacher. There are easy, medium and hard ones.

2) Bowls    One piece of wood. Just cut in a circle. Most are very easy and

                   all look good when finished.

                   Teach you blade selection and cutting curves.

[Clayton717]

check out cabinet shops, they may have scraps, old pallets work well too. I have used them before.

 

I am going to say, 'Don't use junk wood! If you 'practice' and it turns out nice,

have it turn out nice on a good piece of wood.'

To me, "There is no practice wood."

That said, boxes and pallets are still a good source of wood.

Just clean it up, make it look nice so that when you finish

cutting a scroll piece on the wood, it will be nice enough that

you would give it to your spouse.

I AGREE. You could check out local cabinet shops, or old pallets. some pallets have some nice wood. I have made a few things from them.

[stu]

No practice just do you get better as you go and if something goes wrong as Bendita said you have designer kindling

stu

[OCtoolguy]

i have built in radar for finding wood.Bulk pick up trash day has been a gold mine for hardwood furniture, I just break it up on the site to get it i the car. Baby cribs are the best for high quality polished hardwoods, perfect for name stands or key chains.Lots of oak chairs that are wobbly thrown out,cabinet backs are great thin stock to make clocks,dresser drawer sides are nice wood for names already the scroll saw size to use.Also the dresser drawer sides have a groove in them for the bottom piece of wood on the drawer that i make my little people stands out of them ,two peas in a pod here ,perfect fitI photo a person, copy to 8" x 10.75 ,glue them on the drawer bottom cut out around them glue them to a cut out drawer side groove and makes for a nice show piece.If a piece of thrown out wood looks to good it's probable particle board ,pass those up ,harmfull saw dust.when cutting..I never get pallets the wood it to hard and to hard to take apart to use,plus all the nails .i go for easy clean stuff.

Lots of plywood from cabinet shops.But if you have a casket making shop they throw out the best wood ever.They are very picky

This all sounds great but where I live in SoCal we have to fight the Hispanic junk collectors who get out in the middle of the night and scrounge through everybody's trash. At one time, I used to service a Harley Davidson shop and the bikes all came in on fantastic palletize wooden crates. I would go by in the afternoon and knock them apart. I built my entire work bench and woodworking shop with the clean 2x4's that I gleaned from them. It was great. I had a wood supply that lasted me years.

[OCtoolguy]

Thanks to you all. I get the idea. Practice can turn into something worthwhile. I'm still at the point of learning the basic directions and turning etc. I have not really cut anything out yet that could be regarded as a picture. Still doing the straight/zigzag/circular stuff. I'm signed up for a marquetry class in Nov. so I better get going on practicing. And while I'm doing that, I'll be reading here. This seems like a very friendly, helpful forum and a great group of folks.

 

Ray

[DWSUDEKUM]

There be wood out there.... look for pallets, shipping crates, look at Home Depots trash pile near their saw, same for Lowes, drive around on trash day and you see wood everywhere.... old cabinet doors, furniture ( dressers, etc ).  I just had a neighbor that redid her flooring and gave me 3/4 of a box of 9/16 in. thick 4" wide, 36 in long bamboo flooring that she had left over. Once your neighbors realize that you use wood it will start showing up for you to use I bet.

 

DW

[Phantom Scroller]

There be wood out there.... look for pallets, shipping crates, look at Home Depots trash pile near their saw, same for Lowes, drive around on trash day and you see wood everywhere.... old cabinet doors, furniture ( dressers, etc ).  I just had a neighbor that redid her flooring and gave me 3/4 of a box of 9/16 in. thick 4" wide, 36 in long bamboo flooring that she had left over. Once your neighbors realize that you use wood it will start showing up for you to use I bet.

 

DW

Your so right about the neighbors they were throwing out a chest of draws and ask me do you want them. oh yes I said they are pine. Roly

[LarryEA]

OK..... Buy your wood. 

The little Hardware Stores usually have 'cutoffs'. Partial sheets of plywood that they sell reduced price.

Search around... call them but better to stop in and ask.

And everywhere you go see if they can refer you to other places. Not asking, keeps the door closed.

[Lucky2]

Geez Larry, you went back a long ways to bring this subject back to the forefront. I read it all thinking it was an up to date conversation, to my dismay, it wasn't. Are there no newer topics that interested you, rather than rehashing 17 month old subject. Not complaining, just asking.

Len

[WayneMahler]

Normally around here, you can a lot on craigslist. FREE ! I use it for some projects depending on what it is.

[LarryEA]

Geez Larry, you went back a long ways to bring this subject back to the forefront. I read it all thinking it was an up to date conversation, to my dismay, it wasn't. Are there no newer topics that interested you, rather than rehashing 17 month old subject. Not complaining, just asking.

Len

..

Len, If you read it again, a little slower, you will notice ...

Wait a minute... I didn't rehash it... I just brought it up front.

I had a reason,,,but  it escapes me what it was......sorry for wasting your time...

Edited February 7, 2016 by LarryEA

[hotshot]

Since the topic is old, would be interesting to get an updated perspective from octoolguy.  I find that after your start looking for free wood, is appears everywhere, then you have to start being selective, else you have to kick the kids out of the house to have a place to store it.

 

-------Randy

[NC Scroller]

Since the topic is old, would be interesting to get an updated perspective from octoolguy.  I find that after your start looking for free wood, is appears everywhere, then you have to start being selective, else you have to kick the kids out of the house to have a place to store it.

 

-------Randy

or move to a bigger shop/storage area like I did.

[Chris_2009]

I just bought 5 12 inch by 8 foot pieces of pine from Lowe's for 25$.  Some of it is pretty rough but a good amount of it is usable.  They have a cull lumber rack in the front of the lumber department and they are willing to go lower on the price to get rid of it. 

[kywoodmaster]

Since the topic is old, would be interesting to get an updated perspective from octoolguy.  I find that after your start looking for free wood, is appears everywhere, then you have to start being selective, else you have to kick the kids out of the house to have a place to store it.

 

-------Randy

 

And the problem with that would be?