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Finished this one up yesterday. Wasn’t to bad to complete. My biggest piece yet. I need more wood, blades, and time!

Finished and ready to go. I used 1/2 inch Poplar . Works really well for ornaments. Very little clean up and takes stain very nicely. Two are done in Driftwood and the other (Sadie) in English ivy I believe. Thanks again Russ for the awesome patterns.

finally got around to getting these done yesterday. first time doing these type of bowls and they arent too bad to do. 2 from 1/4" BB ply and 1 from 1/4" solid red oak. the pics may show how 1/4" BB ply isnt always 1/4" and NOW i see i had a little burning!LOLOLOL

Just finished this one.

Black Walnut

A tray made from unknown, maybe cherry? --- just to pretty to let become smoke and ashes. The glasses are also a rescue from some desserts. It is about 16 inches long, 1/2 inch thick 3-1/2 wide and about 4 inches tall to the top of the glasses. I had actually cut the blank and had it lying in my way; not knowing at all what to do with it. I opened the drawer in the tool kit where I had stored the rescued glasses and then knew exactly what to do with it. It was just setting the hole drill the right size and going from there. The finish is merely enough spray poly to keep it from shedding. The feet ( also unknown--I think these are locust, but not even close to sure!) are pinned on with bamboo skewers-, I put cheapie felt feet on the bottom to be able to set it anywhere. My daughter-in-law saw it and said that and some beer will be a good birthday present for a family friend having a birthday this week. Fine by me-- just made it to MAKE IT anyway!

I have been cutting out Christmas ornaments for the past 4 years. Started out the first year on a Shopsmith jigsaw, then picked up a Delta 40-560. Then this summer found a Delta 40-540 vs and thought I would be happy with that. It does work pretty well as it has cut out most of this years ornaments including 9 of these ornaments for the grand children and their parents. This is a Steve Good pattern of a door ornament that I downsized for a tree ornament.

We live in Southern Arizona, as a lot of you know, and it is a mecca for people from the north because the winters are so much warner here. We have several people who own houses on our street that are from Canada. They have purchased houses here and come down every winter. Well. our nearest neighbors are Canadians and are really interesting and friendly people. So this year when my wife makes her Christmas cookies and takes them to the people on our street along with a Christmas card, I decided to cut some ornaments or something I can find special for them. These as a couple of items that I decided to give a couple of our neighbors this year, along with the cookies and their card. The first one is obviously for our Canadian neighbor and the music one is for a single man that moved into our neighborhood and has quickly become a good friend as well. He plays the base and is in a music group and has other musicians come to his house and jam with him, so I thought he might like the treble clef, I believe it is referred to, so this will be his added gift. Both items are Sue Mey's patterns. Dick heppnerguy

So being new to SSV, I haven't had much chance to post my "brags" in the Bragging Rights folder. I thought that I would post a few pics of some of my past scroll saw projects. Most of them, if not all them are Steve Good designs. Made this recently for a friend's Dad. Been a Cubs fan since I can remember, I had no choice but to make this. Made this rose for my Wife Navy Plaque for my buddy's birthday

Now that I have a few projects cut I'm curious how y'all go about finishing them. Sanding: I have a random orbital sander for the flat sides. I have been doing 220 grit (I think). How do y'all get inside the fretwork? Needle files? and around the outside edge of the piece? Staining: I have the Minwax Pre-Stain and a couple different Minwax penetrating stains. First one I did turned out blotchy. I left it on for a few minutes and wiped it off just like the directions said to. My other question here is how do y'all stain the inside fretwork? I was thinking a tray full of stain that I can dip the piece in. I've got a piece of Birch plywood that is ready for staining but there is a bit of fretwork that I can't get stain to with just the foam brush. Does anyone paint their scroll saw projects? If so what paint would you use? Thanks for your time! -Jason

There are so many options for finishing. What you use will depend on what you want the piece to look like and what the finish needs to accomplish. I use several methods, depending on the wood and the project. I rarely stain, but when I do, I pour a little stain in a tray and using an old artist brush or foam brush, work it into all the frets. Take it out, wipe it off, lay it on a paper towel and gently blow out the excess from the frets with compressed air. I do pretty much the same process when using BLO or Danish oil. My go to finish for most fretwork is shellac. I spray it on with a spray gun, but spray cans are available most places that sell finishing products. I like shellac for several reasons. It dries very quickly, so I can spray several light coats from different angles to get complete coverage, without taking days waiting for it to dry and without getting an excess build up that causes drips and puddles. Shellac clean up is a breeze. Denatured alcohol will dissolve dried shellac. I'll even use ammonia, diluted with water to clean the outside of my spray gun. Frankly, I don't often clean the gun all that thoroughly, because all I need to do is spray a little denatured alcohol though it before I start spraying. I have a couple spray guns that I dedicate only to spraying shellac, so I don't have issues with cross contamination from other solvents and/or products. I use cheap guns and they work fine. I have one from Grizzly and one from Home Depot. I think I paid less than $20 for one and no more than $30 for the other. Some folks say the spray guns from Harbor Freight work pretty well and they are even cheaper. You can add color to shellac by mixing your own using dry flakes. The flakes come in a wide variety of tones. You can also mix alcohol based dyes with shellac and apply it with the spray gun. I've never used the dyes, but I've mixed from flakes. It isn't difficult. Zinsser pre-mixed shellac is readily available from most stores that sell paint. It comes in clear and amber color. The amber is fairly dark, so sometimes I mix both if I want something in between. There are all sorts of options. If you are intimidated by the thought of spraying, don't be. Spraying shellac is easier than spraying paint. I often do it outside, as shellac isn't temperature dependent, like many other finishes. Just needs to be dry and relatively low humidity for best results. But I do occasionally spray in my shop. The fumes are mild and dissipate rapidly, so that hasn't been a problem. I contain the overspray with a make-shift spray booth made from an large cardboard box, but shellac dries to quickly that any overspray will be dust before it lands on stuff, so I don't get a sticky mess all over like you can get with slower drying spray products. Sorry for the long-winded reply. Hope this helps.

This whole time I was thinking you actually boiled the oil haha. Man I’m a complete newb! Sounds like there is no right or wrong way or better product to use. I can see myself with several shelves full of different oils, stains, paints until I find one I like. Such a rabbit hole!

Came across this Russian scrolling site. https://vk.com

Last one for the day.

. Coffeeholics. It's life's blood for us. A pot of real coffee in the morning and then decaf the rest of the day. I can't imagine a day without coffee. We are "addicts".

It doesn't take long to get the shelf full of finishes!

I have been using my Sakura 21" saw for over a year and love it. Service parts very quick from PScWood. Initially only bought a belt just recently got quick release. The problem now is the band saw market has accepted their Timber Wolf Blades . This is a small company and the blades have diverted their attention from the saws . That is how I initially got interested in their scroll saw. Also do Stained Glass and bought the Sakura for cutting stained Glass. I have fallen in love with saw and don't intend to cut glass until I find another for $100 to $125 like this one. would have no problem recommending it since thye have a good returnn policy, excellent warranty and free shipping. The big plus to me is availablity of parts .

Jason, if you use the proper blades for your project there should never be any sanding needed for the fret work. There may on occasion need to sand a bump down or something like that and people use needle files and some use emery boards if you can get in the area. Water stains do not work well with plywood or any fret worked wood as a matter of fact because it raises the grain. I too use only hardwoods and I am a huge Deft Danish Oil user. I have a container where I pour the oil in and just dip the project. I mainly use natural color. It is not clear but has an amber tint to it but for my projects it is perfect. Danish oil comes in colors but it does get pricey. I do not top coat because being I use hard woods I sand to 220 grit and when dipped the feel is a nice smooth luster and feel. No sanding after is needed. People do paint and some top coat with lacquer or poly. I will let them speak to that.

Sanding. One of the things that comes with cutting practice is smoother cuts that require less sanding. When I started out I used a variety of things to sand the inside of fret cuts; needle files, emery boards (for filing fingernails), sandpaper, sanding blades. Now a few years in I almost never use them. If I notice a part that needs sanding, I am as likely to put it back on the saw to clean up the cut as actually sand it. To remove the blade fuzzies from the back side, I use a mini butane torch to burn them then they sand off really nicely. some of my favorites were https://www.amazon.com/SC91262BL-Scroll-Sander-4-Inch-Assorted/dp/B00CTGMOT8 https://www.amazon.com/Olson-Saw-SC42101-Scroll-Files/dp/B000N6K39O https://www.amazon.com/Lumberton-12301-Sanding-Sticks-Standard/dp/B0039ZB24G Stain I don't stain often, so I am no expert. However, I find that if I stain the front and back with a really wet foam brush that most of the little frets get filled in. I think I took a q-tip once and got all of the little spaces, but it was too much work and the finished product wasn't better. From time to time I will stain a piece of plywood, then cut my project.

I'm anxious to see your saw and know how you like it. My friend has two and swears by them.

Jason, I can’t help you with staining. I use hardwoods for most of my scrollsaw projects. Also with proper blade use and technique, I don’t need to sand inside cuts and rarely sand the outside. I use hardwoods that have a pleasing grain pattern and color. Then use a 50/50 mixture of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits. This brings out the natural color and grain of the woods. When dry, I topcoat with Deft semi gloss spray lacquer.

Here is another chart that includes the other brands. Spirals are not as easy to use as you may think. How they perform is also affected by the saw they are on. Like Scrollsaw703 said, don't drive yourself nuts with blade selection this early in your scrolling hobby. Experience and practice will help that selection process as you go along. We all end up with some favorites that we are comfortable with. For me I use an Olson 2 or 2/0 reverse (28 TPI) teeth per inch for detailed stuff up to 1/2 inch thick. A Olson mach 3 13 TPI for most of my 3/4 stuff. Occasionally I will go bigger depending on the type of wood. I have been trying the Pegas Modified geometry blades. They are good blades and cut a bit faster. The Teeth per inch number determines how aggressive they cut. SS_BLADE_CHART_2-22-2013.pdf

Pattern from Paul (Grampa) is done and framed, ready to be given to the owner of the dog.

Same here,Mobile Phone ad.Love the pics though.

As long as it's good and dry, you can cover most finishes with shellac. That's one thing it used for is providing a barrier layer different finishes. From my experiences, poly goes over most oil finishes well, again as long as the first has cured. If the first isn't cured well enough the top coat can alligator... show crinkles and wrinkles. Poly and oil finishes share a lot of the same ingredients so they work well together.

The Danish oil should work well for you Ray. Get yourself a baking pan or dish and pour the Danish oil in. Soak your basket in the oil using a chip brush to wet what isn’t soaking. After about five minutes, remove the item from the oil and wipe off the residual oil with a clean dust free rag or paper towel. Make sure you use some rubber gloves to do this. Wipe off all the oil and let it dry. Pour the oil back into the can. After the oil is dry, you can spray whatever topcoat you like. Because of the cost of the Danish oil, I mix my own oil. I start with a quart size glass mason jar. If your wife does any canning, it should be easy to find a jar. I fill it half with the boiled linseed oil and half with mineral spirits. The oil brings out the color and grain of the wood, and the mineral spirits thins the oil so it easily soaks around your project and allow the oil to dry in about 24 hours. I pour the oil back into the jar for the next use.

that's funny because for some reason the Jackson Browne, Running on Empty song came to mind when I finished. Except it was "Scrollin' on empty" It is from Steve Good's website https://www.stevedgood.com/catalog/index.php

I've had them clipped on both ends or one end or the other... so I wouldn't rely on that clipped area to be top or bottom... it's not a marked blade that clipped area isn't supposed to be there... those blades that are clipped like that are defective blades... Though for the most part have been working great for me on any of the saws I have as long as I can cut the end off at the right length for my Hawk to have proper tension... So far these clipped blades have been all sorts of different lengths for me.. so I'm using them on the DeWalt and Excalibur.. since I'm not getting consistent tension with them on the Hawk due to the various length blades..

Hi everyone, I am new to this Forum and to the scroll saw, i have a scroll saw at home and i get to use the scroll saw at the Men_shed (woodwork Shop) i attend during the week. I get a lot of help from the other gentlemen that attend and have used the scroll saw. so look forward to discussing and getting help with the topics. Regards Karl.

i use medium CA glue. a dab on every other contact point around the perimeter

Look very nice. These bowls attract lots of attention.

Just my 2 cents and not worth even that, but I think a lot of the turn off on these saws is the belt changing speed control. I say this because I purchased a Nova wood lathe that speed control was done by changing the belt. I never had a problem with it and never had any expensive repairs because of problems with a VS control unit going bad. I did have trouble selling it, because the belt changing was a turn off to most people. Would not bother me, especially on a scroll saw because I do not change speeds often. They are built to have the belt changed and it is quick and easy. And I know it is hard to believe, but I could be wrong......

Well John, the problem is I don't drink coffee. Maybe that is the problem. I think hubby came home with dinner about that time and I didn't verify that it was correct. My bad. I promise to try and do better.

Those are beauties!

i always sand the wood before cutting with 220. after cutting it doesnt take much sanding with 220 to get rid of any little fuzzies. ive never sanded edges after cutting. the blades leave a smooth surface. there have been times ive had to stop and restart a cut and a little edge is left. in those situations i used the blade still in the saw to file/sand/cut that part smooth. as for staining, when i do decide to stain a piece i dont use the prestain conditioner. i find it a waste of money. first things first,though- i use oil based stains so my pre stain conditioner is mineral spirits. ill lay the piece on a cookie sheet and either spray or pour some MS on the piece. let it soak in for about 30 seconds to a minute, then take out ,set on rags.paper towel, and blow it off. then set it in a pan and use a brush and brush the stain on the piece. it usually ends up with all interior cuts filled to the top with stain. then take it out, set it on rags or paper towel, wipe down and blow out, then let it dry. i have a board with a couple nails in it i usually hang the piece on to dry. for the most part,though, i only used boiled linseed oil. no conditioning required but i use the same method as i do for stain.

I use watco oil most of the time applied using the dip, wipe method. I rarely stain because it makes such a mess and I suck at it. Painting is reserved for toy cars there I use rattle cans or brush on acrylics starting to use rit dye and food coloring then spray shellac.

Wow, all those straight lines, they are actually straight! Very nice. It sounds like you're really getting into the Christmas Spirit. Thank you for taking the time to post a picture for us. As for my cookies, you can send them here

Jason,where i cut with thin wood, 1/4 inch I have to do some sanding.I use needle files and I use emory boards,Staining I have an old cake pan that I lay my plaques in then wipe off the stain. No ones complained yet.

I too purchased his pattern disk last year. I forgot all about it. I'll have to dig through and see if I can find it. Thanks.

That is it for you Melanie, no more coffee for you!!! We can not have these mistakes here. Someone take her coffee cup away.

Very nice! Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse

You see, this is why online forums exist. Folks always have simple answers that you never thought of. Stain the board FIRST! Makes so much sense yet I never considered it. I’m leaning more toward the oil method anyway. I like the sanding sticks but I think the sanding blades would be a pain in the butt. I guess I won’t worry to much about it. Maybe I was just looking for a reason to use my orbital sander.

Nice job.

Ooops. I kinda misspoke.While I do like the pattern I would not expect anyone to share it since it should be purchased from Steve Good it indeed it is his pattern.

That makes me feel better about my purchase! I just bought a "Total Shop" labeled 21" scroll saw ($130)and found this thread while getting information about it. As parts are interchangeable with the PS Wood and Sakura, I'm figuring it was either a drop ship relabeled saw for "Total Shop". or a custom run. I say custom run because mine came with a quick release head that is a bit different than the current one. I may add the current one (quick release head/chuck) in the future, after I see how serviceable this one is. This saw is very quiet and some what heavier built than other saws. I'll post some photos of the Chuck and perhaps add to the data base of this saw. I need to order a new rubber belt and likely a spare 'V' belt.

You may want to clean the ends of your blades. There is a small amount of oil left on them from the manufacturing process and while not a problem for the finish the buildup of it on the blade clamps can be a problem. I use s piece of 400 grit paper and just wipe off both sides and ends of every blade I use. Others use solvents but I try to stay clear of them. Way to many baths is weird chemicals from aircraft and equipment than I really needed. Fredfret

One thing to keep in mind is that once the pattern comes off, most people won't be able to tell what it was supposed to look like, therefor slight deviations from the line are less noticeable. If you do wander off the line, try to compensate gently rather than make a sudden correction. Often this will be invisible to the untrained eye. When approaching a sharp turn/corner, use the waste area to your advantage by nibbling away some room to turn your blade without having to make the sudden turn, which can cause you to go off course. I like to cut sharp corners by cutting along one line to the point, then cutting across the waste area to the intersecting line and then back into the point. This gives you a place to start and cut out of the corner naturally, without having to spin the piece abruptly during the cut.

Love the contrasting colours. Very nice

Total Shop is or was a modular system much like Shopsmith. The modules would fit onto the drive unit that would power it. Pretty good chance that saw does not have a motor or if it does, it’s not an original motor