Leaderboard

The pattern is by Sue Mey and found in SWWC Winter 2017 issue #69. I used 3/4" plywood stained walnut for the backing. The stable is 3/4" quarter sawn Sycamore. The figures are 3/4" Flame Maple, which I didn't know until the finish was applied. The animal are 3/4" Walnut. This was a fun project to complete. I used FD Polar #5 blades and finished with spray Shellac. Comments welcome.

This is the first puzzle that I cut from Ash hardwood. Will not break like other hardwoods when dropped. You have to cut very slow because the wood is very hard. Recommended for uses where high strength, stiffness and good appearance are desired.

I don't know that particular pattern, but since you are only cutting 1/2" total, a FDUR-3 will cut right through most anything with more than acceptable results. There are mail order sources for quality blades. Bosch is not one of them. Get Olson or Flying Dutchman and if you are an average to above average cutter, you can get Pegas blades. I would not recommend the Pegas for a novice cutter, but they are great blades also. Wayne was right on the money about letting the blade do the work. I find that if I am putting a deadline on myself, I tend to push and end up with blade troubles until I get my mind right about the "deadline".

FDUR#3.

# 2 or 3 FD Ultra Reverse.and as stated above,take your time.

Just got home from the second day of a two day show. This annual show is a Christmas Botique that has been going on for thirty years at a local church here in Moorpark, California. It is all hand crafted items. There was even a guy selling beautiful hand crafted cutting boards. This was my forth or fifth year. My average sales. Is approximately $700 each day. Yesterday, I sold $1003, and today, I hit my average of $700. I don't post a lot in the bragging section because I know I will be posting pictures of my shows. So, here they are.

I use fd#3 ur. I also used a #5ur on 3/4 stack.

I use a #3 Ultra reverse Flying Dutchman blades for this. Take your time, and let the blade do the work.

High would be finishing a very detailed piece and getting the pattern off with out breakage. Low getting the last of the pattern off and dropping it High when a customer walks up and says I love that and want it Low when someone asks me to accept $50.00 for a &200.00 piece Low " What kind of Laser or CNC do you have " High the way their eyes go wide when they find out it is done by hand and scroll saw Low When you finish cutting a custom piece and realize a word is mis-spelled and nobody noticed. I will say that the highs out weigh the lows by far. Just the enjoyment of sitting at my saw and working is a huge high.

High: Finishing the last tiny cut in a piece of fretwork and knowing that for the rest of the project you wont have to re-thread your blade every 5 seconds. Low: My wife's cat deciding it doesn't like the way my intarsia project looks all put together and scattering the ready for sanding pieces across my garage.

High: new pattern, new blades, new something to try on the scroll saw that you haven't done before. High: making someone happy because the piece just made was personalized just for them. Low: Random problem with the saw, not broken but must be addressed before work can progress Low: Cleaning up. Thanks for the post. loved reading the comments.

I am a perfectionist (If you don't believe it, ask my sweet wife). The slightest imperfection on a difficult piece will scream at me until my ears hurt. Have thrown away a number of things that a lot of people would have kept. I'm darn careful with what I put my name on. It's a curse that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Highs - Give a large part of my work to the Stephan Ministry at our Church. They give them to select people that come to the Church suffering from depression, dealing with the loss of a loved one, divorce, medical problems, etc, etc. We hand them to the Church secretary & she gives them out. We don't know who gets them, but she hugs us and says, "You have no idea how many lives you've touched." Makes it worthwhile.

High: Lawson is correct, the peace and quiet of my workshop Low: "PAUL, WILL YOU BRING ME SOMETHING OUT OF THE FREEZER!!" "PAUL, WILL YOU SEE IF THE CLOTHES ARE DRY IN THE DRYER AND BRING THEM TO ME!!!" "PAUL, WHAT SHALL WE HAVE FOR DINNER!!!!" well you know what I mean.....

This is a plaque I designed and scrolled for a dear friend. The plaque is cut in .45" Jatoba and is finished with danish oil and wipe-on poly. The font used for the word Redeemer is Parchment with massive simplification for the capital R to make it scrollable. By comparison to my last project, this was a relatively easy pattern to cut. The plaque measured 12.5 x 7 5/8. If there is interest, I will upload the pattern. (Edit: I have uploaded the inkscape file pattern)

I've done this cutting a few times over the years, but haven't cut it for a while. I'm trying to get my inventory up, and folks seem to like this one, so I cut this today, and got halfway through another one just like it. The pattern is by Steve Good and is cut on a Kennedy Half Dollar. Steve actually featured a prior cutting of this on his Blog a while back. ------Randy

I had so many problems with the spray pain the mess made on the floor from cans leaking as spraying ,clogged tips and cans.I should have baled out but no .Now the customer tell me her husband said i spelled her name wrong.Back to the bench i go.Fixed it by making it over and knocked out a few more while I'm at it.Gabriella was spelled wrong.

Yes you will get twice what you paid for it.But I don,t think you will sell it

I have a few different ways I "brand" my projects. I have address labels that match my business cards that I put on the back. When using this I still sign and date it. I have a friend that laser engraves wood "coins" with handmade by and my name on them. If using these I drill a hole in the back or bottom if turning bowls and glue in. Or I have a wood burner with fine writing tips I will sign my work with that. Everything I make except pens and other small turnings have my name on them.

I just reread your request. Will tell you this it will will will will warp so you are better off using baltic plywood. 1/4" is not thick enough for that unless you are going to encase in a frame to keep it from warping. You will not be able to put biscuits in a 1/4" piece. All these things are factors and if you do not have the tools to mill your own lumber than you are at the mercy of outsourcing and good luck with that. They can not control wood movement as well as you can. I see you mention backer board. Again if the backer is not plywood it too will warp. 2 different woods acting against each other makes for problems when getting into wide widths such as the 8" needed. You may want to step up the outer piece to 3/8" at least. Will help in the warping.

I've never done glue ups. Do you do it with biscuits?

Ray, there's no issue with using a glue-up, as long as you pretest the wood to make sure that one piece takes finish the same as the other. So as long as you test for color change and other characteristics, you shouldn't have any issues. This is what I do when I have to use a glue-up, I hate ending up with a two tone project. Len

Ocooch Hardwoods and Heritage Woods sell nice stuff. However my experience has been., 1/2" thick is fine, any thing thinner cups. Has happen with every piece I have purchase from Ocooch Hardwoods. I have not purchased from Haritage. You may be able to "un-cup" it, I have not tried yet. I think you would be better with a glue up, alternating the grains. Just my opinion, I am no wood expert. I just know I have several 1/4" pieces of wood I have to figure out what to do with. I will not buy less than 1/2" in the future and then plane it to the thickness I want. Not ranking on Ocooch. They have a great reputation. Just stating my experience.

There are a ton of lumber yards in your area. Hardwood dealers too. Look in the yellow pages or do a google search for your area.

I would use a #3 either olson or flying dutchman. Olson blades can sometimes be found in local hardware stores like Ace, but I don't think that home depot or lowes carry them. Both brands can be found online

I made this with MS Word. Cut with scissors outside the lines. Cut out a 1/4 circle at each corner with a hole puncher. Lay it face down on wax paper and apply Elmers glue, spread with a credit card. Scroll Sign with border.doc

Told you I would be back: High: getting to join Scroll Saw Village and meeting all the fine scrollers Low: Not knowing my wife is standing behind me when I wrote my last response to this thread!!! I may be gone a while.... Just kidding...

High.....Trying a new technique for the first time and it coming out good. Low........Gluing my project onto a backer upside down. Especially if there is lettering.

High: Having a customer really happy with a custom project. High: Seeing your work proudly displayed by the recipient. Low: Seeing one of your projects destroyed by someone's careless behavior. High: Setting down to an expensive scroll saw a seeing how well it performs. Low: Having a blade break on the expensive scroll saw and have the bottom blade clamp fall out and disappear. Really!!!?

High my Wife bought me a new Delta SS350 at our clubs wood show. She says I have a "happy walk" when I get a new toy. Low cutting a design that I disliked from the minute I started it until the end. A large Honda gold wing fretwork. High first sale of an ornament High First ribbon. Real High, New Hawk G4 High seeing my first clock project on the cover of SSWWC When the scrolling luster diminishes I stop and do some turning or other project. Back to High when I fire up the saw again.

High, cutting a detail fret work, removing the pattern and getting the first real look at what you accomplished. Low, having to clean the fuzzies and applying finish. low, making a frame for the picture. High, giving away a finished piece to someone that really appreciates it. Low, what to do with all these finished pieces. Running out of room. Note, on one hand I feel excited to finish cutting a detailed picture, yet there is a sadness, because I enjoyed the cutting and me and the piece have spent considerable time together at the scroll saw, now it is over... I'll think of more, I'll be back.

The first high that came to mind Pealing a pattern off the wood in one smooth piece. The low, only seeing that one spot of a finished project. you know the one, no one else can see it but it screams at you. a spot something broke and you tried to hide it or a wavy spot in a straight line or the one corner that isn't sharp.

spontaneous idea, spontaneously cut

I just received another request for a "2nd Amendment" plaque for $125. This will be the third one I have sold, fourth one I have made. I also received a request to make one and donate it to an upcoming "Friends of the NRA" banquet for their auction. That could bring in more sales. It's a high for the money, but a low because I really didn't want to make anymore of them.

Wow! You hit on one heck of a deal. I have been watching Craigslist around here but so far nothing that good has come up. I did find my Fein vacuum there though. Got it for $17 like new. Ray

Good idea and you went for it Monti! Looks great! Thank you for showing, Bob

I'm with JT. Anything that thin is near impossible to do a glue up with & get satisfactory results. Yes, you can attempt it, but w/o hand plane experience, you'll wind up with a bigger mess than you'll want to contend with. My suggestion would be, no offense, but seein's how it's your first plaque, I would use 3/8" baltic birch w/1/4" backer. 1/4" & 1/4" together is guaranteed warp. Or, you could use hardwood w/1/4" backer. Do a search on local lumber stores that sell hardwoods. Sometimes they will plane it the thickness you need. If that's the case, let it set in your shop 3 or 4 days to acclimate before you start your project. But stay away from ply agin' ply! That's just asking for trouble! just my 2 pennies worth.

Cute one Monti. Jeff

Never tried it that way.I usually stay away from them.I will have to give it a try.Thanks for the Tip.

Some stunning hand crafted projects there and clearly shows why you did so well. Thanks for sharing photos of the show. Show us more as you cut. We don't mind ooh-ing and ahh-ing more than once!

So what ur saying is ur scroll skills are so incredible u can even make a bad pattern look great? LOL. I 100% agree with that. it really looks great!! Your son should love it.

Fantastic!!

Holly smokes! Do you have a stable of elves that produce all that wonder cutting? Can't imagine one man doing all that.

Awesome job Dan.

i have a branding iron for large projects and still sign it with my signature or initials and date it. For smaller items, i either sign or put initials and date with a fine point marker before sealing the project. I recently got a wood burner with pen tips and have used that as well. I need to look into the stamp idea for small items. For those of you using stamps, could you share a photo to let us "see". @kmmcrafts - Kevin, I would think that with the heavy paper tag on the hanger, many people would tear them off and/or they would be torn/lost over time.

I use a printed label.

I use a rubber stamp from vistaprint. Roly

I wish we had a Menards here in TN. I have bought from them on the net and they seem to have some good deals.

High: Finding the perfect pattern for a project. Low: Turning a project into designer firewood on one of the last cuts.

High - cutting the wood Low - getting the wood ready to cut Larry

Welcome sir!! Nice work!!