Time for this old dog to learn a few trick.

[Papatch]

Hello ladies and gentlemen I'm Ed. In 1968 I was a spanking new apprentice carpenter, so I've been working with my hands all of my adult life. I framed houses for few years then went into the residential remodel business, later my son and I switched over to home building. All this time I did the drafting and design for our projects. Eight years ago my son took over and I decided to do drafting and design full time. In order to compete I had to give up the drafting table and learn Computer Aided Design, tough work, but in time I became quite proficient. With the bursting of the housing bubble work became almost non-existent, design jobs fell from two or three a month to three or four a year. I took up bicycle repair to supplement my meager income, that took a little bit of learning too, but it is very enjoyable work. I still need more income, so now I'll give the scroll saw a try. I took up the scroll saw four weeks ago, I've watched a couple of hundred hours of video and became fascinated with the beautiful portraits some of you guys do, amazing! So that is the direction I'm headed, I plan on learning how to do scroll saw portraits. That's how I fell into this web site. I didn't get a saw until two weeks ago, finances being what they are I bought a nice hardly used Craftsman .21610, only $50 with a sturdy stand and a light. Ignorance is bliss, I can find no fault with this saw. So far I've drawn the patterns for eleven portraits, cut them out, backed them with black board and oiled them. I'm slow as all get out and have a hard time staying on the line, but as with everything, practice makes perfect. This web site is a treasure trove of good information which I hope to exploit to the fullest. In time maybe I can contribute something useful for the other members. Thanks for having me, Ed Sr.

[Messman]

Ed Sr.

 

Welcome to the Village. I think you will find us to be a friendly crowd. Now I will tell you one thing about us scrollers, we believe that it didn't happen unless there is a picture so please post pictures of your work. Also the other thing to remember about scroll work, in most cases (depends on the type of work) it really don't matter if you stay in the lines or not, because you are the only one who knows where the lines were. Enjoy yourself with your new used saw.

[amazingkevin]

Hello ED,Were glad you found us!Show us your saw dust you've made,lolYeah the work out there 's slowed down but once you get bit by the scroll saw you'll have more than you can do.I've collected a stack a patterns thats allmost as tall as me!Portraits are beautyful and we'd love to see your hand at scrolling them out.Glad you've learned to pattern .Your going to be one of the best to contribute to the club sooner than you think.All inputs are welcome .Ask away when you need to know something ,machine repairs ,patterning problems,downloading problems.somebody has allready been there done that and will be happy to share with you all they know,Just ask in the correct forum.Glad to have you as our newest member!

[Papatch]

Thanks for the warm welcome. What a great site, I didn't know how to upload photos, no problem, there is a video that explains everything. This is quite a challenging experience for me. I have never used a scroll saw, I have never drawn a picture of anything, and I haven't a clue about art. Fortunately I have this web-site to reference, and two very good friends that have natural artistic talent, they have been a big help. Time permitting I try to draw a new pattern and cut it out every day. I'm slow, two hours or so to draw the pattern and about two hours or so to cut it out and mount it. This is probably cheating but I had island that fell out on my last effort, I just glued it to the backer board. You guys will probably spot it. I have corrected the pattern and made a number of other refinements that should make it easier to cut out. My artist friends tell me that less is better than more, which is good because pierce cuts really slow a fella down.

 

Yesterday I stopped in at WoodCrafters, after using my Craftsman for two weeks I can now see the advantages of the more expensive saws, I would kill for an Excalibur. I am using Flying Dutchman Superior Puzzle blades from Mike's Workshop. They cut slow, but so do I. Two things I have figured out, if I keep wandering off the line, I tighten the tension and or put in a sharp blade. My projects take five or six blades to complete, is that normal? I don't have a problem with criticism. If any of you see a way I can improve my patterns please feel free, I'm a student at heart.

[amazingkevin]

Him Ed,I see your getting into the thick of things now!Congradulations on that.Blades have broke on me trying to thread thru projects by bending to much.Also so from not enough tightness.To hard of a wood and pushing to fast will heat them up to break.Too thick a wood for the blade can cause it to break .Try to have at least four teeth of a blade touching the thickness of the wood at anyone time too.A rule of thumb is four teeth per 1/4 "of wood .Loose blades break far faster than a blade too tight .Hope this helps .Your doing a great job for a beginer .Glad to help if this help you out!

[jteagle77]

Ed welcome to our little family of saw dust junkies. I started ss back in Jan. with a 16" Ridgid ss. Since then I found a 20" DeWalt 788 on craigs list for $175. a diffrance of night and day. Most of the guys and gals that live around me it is the saw of choice. Not to mention about half the price of the Excalibur. I like using FD R Spiral blades # 1 and 2/0 mostly. If no one hasn't told you yet that we like pictures almost as much as saw dust, we do.

 

Happy Sawing,

John

[Papatch]

I appreciate the encouragement and the advice. I fixed my air pump today, that should help some. I the bladder had a split in it. Well, I repair flat tires on bicycle quite often, I just ruffed it up and glued on a tire patch, works great. Let's see if I understand the blade rule of thumb, four teeth per 1/4" would translate to sixteen teeth per inch, for 1/8" would you double the number of teeth per inch? I watched CL for a long time waiting for a better saw, folks around here don't sell good saws for cheap, John paid less than half of what DeWalt saw sell for here in Oregon. Now that I have a saw I feel like I can wait for a good deal on a higher quality saw. I did post some photos, you fellas are welcome to critique them, I'd appreciate any advice I can get. I found that if I lighten my touch I don't force the wood into the side of the blade so much, just enough pressure to keep the wood under control, maybe even a little less. I also started using the biggest bit I can for pierce cuts, what a difference that makes, an 1/8" hole is a lot easier to thread than a 1/32" hole. I did a portrait yesterday that took only three pierce cuts, less is better. I'll post it in a minute or so.

 

Kind regards,

 

Ed Sr.

[rjR]

HI ED,

 

I am Ralph From Aloha, OR --(Beaverton)

 

I have run scrollsaw for 55+years and learn new things all the time

 

I will happily share ideas/patterns etc. Here is a link http://aeontoys.weebly.com/ to my website.

 

My email address is there and advice on it and new ideas for me are really appreciated.

 

My blade supplier is http://www.pozsgaidesigns.com/ He is good/ fair/ and does know a bunch about scrollsawing!

 

Here is a picture of a light modification I did to get better light placement than the original by far.

 

That is on my drillperss and I use the other one like it on the scrollsaw to both aim for some of the hard to see things!

[Papatch]

Ralph,

 

I like your lamp fixture. I have the same lame, the clamping fixture ain't worth a hoot. When I get to it I'll make something similar but maybe just a little different. I may saw the thing in two after drilling the holes then bolt the halves back together with wing-nutted bolts for a real snug fit so the dang lamp won't spin and flop like it does now. The fellow selling scroll saw blades sure has good prices. Good to hear from someone in Oregon. I'm in Veneta, just west of Eugene.

 

Ed Sr.

[ratilal vadhwana]

Dear & Near

I have posted some pictures of my work, please comment on it so I can improve my work, I am new in this field, as I was working as doctor for last 35 years in India, This field is very new and unknown for me, even tools are new for me

Thanks

Raj