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I had made this box pattern a few years ago using Paduak wood and the bane of Padauk is eventually gets darker. I had some pieces of 1/4" Bubinga and wanted to try it again. I had enough pieces for the top and sides but the pieces I had for the bottom was cupped pretty good. I had read a few articles on straightening out cupped/warped wood and thought to give it a try. I put some hot water in a plastic storage tub with a weight on top and left out side in the sun for several hours. It did straighten it out. I then sandwiched it between 2 pieces of 1/4" glass with 40 lbs of weight and kept it there for a few days. Amazing! It came out straight. I used a #2 skip tooth blade and it also worked well for the veining. I built the sides of the box first and they have two tabs that insert into the base and that also helped from further cupping. I finished with shellac and some light sanding and a few coats of Clear Gloss lacquer. I posted the book I had gotten the patterns from. I have done several other boxes from this book and I like their patterns.

Straight-up Stencil pattern. Font is "Pirate Scroll" from dafont.com (with a lot of editing....the font, if enlarged, includes a lot of "weathering" to give it that rusty, barely-maintained, out-in-all-elements look...which is straight-up cool, but not really ideal for scrolling). Used a piece of the 2x12 beam for this, and considering the number of blades I went through to cut that thing, I believe I"ll use the remainder for a shelf. LOL At least two Pegas #7mg's and a #5mg snapped or twisted on me, and the last #7 was cutting more out of habit than out of any sharpness remaining on the teeth by the end of it. Still, I'm happy with it, and seeing as this was cut from the original pattern, I was able to make some tweaks to the design to space out a few letters to prevent them from running into each other.

This is my project to put me out there. I did the sighns for his hoby shop as he has a small place to have coffee and sandwich or something . He had no sighn so I did it. He was very happy as he said not many people do something for him.. when he heard it was cut with a scroll saw not lasser he was even more happy if you can understand. I did take much longer than you guys might but you guys put yourself out there all the time so i am trying. Barbara

Ok, so worked through the first few exercises in “The Scrollsaw Workbook” and produced these magnificent works of art....I may take a stall at the next village craft market! Actually, it was a good learning curve for a complete beginner like myself. Spent way too much time on the butterfly thing, straight lines are never quite straight, corners are the devil’s work... Also attempted to use plain ended blades but couldn’t seem to get the clamp tight enough to hold them in for more than a few minutes. So switched back to pinned and just made the entrance holes bigger! I plan on carrying on with more easier stuff and when I get bored (or have enough cat/fish/butterfly things) I’d like to have a go at compound cutting. Frank

I was asked to make some pins that were in fashion years ago, used to hold hair or/and shawls. Got a pattern from Sue May and made the followings. I enjoyed making them and my wife not so much of painting them. I hope the customer will be happy.

My mom enjoyed this for 3 days before she passed

Antique pine stain and spray lacquer to follow for me looks great. Roly PS: NICE RED BACKER BOARD

My craft shows are in November and December. My best sellers are Christmas Tree Nativities and Dragon and Dinosaur puzzles. Jim

Very true. I was watching Charles Dearing cut one of his original designs on youtube and he messed up and cut off the line. Someone asked, "now what??" Charles simply smiled and to paraphrase his answer he said "this started out as a custom original and now the customer will receive an even more custom original" Usually only the person who is doing the cutting will notice most mistakes. Now what I have to learn is to stop pointing them out to people.

Keep an eye out for people throwing out cabinets, wardrobes, cabinets etc lots of free wood ply & hardwood & softwood. Also check out your local sawmill. Roly

I did that bike for my wife because of her love for biking ( as me ) This is the more delicate cuts I made so far, the wood is 3/16". planeur

Some puzzles cut from 3/4 poplar using #3, #5 and #7 FD reverse blades. The colored puzzles were done with aniline dye mixed 80% alcohol/20% water. The rest are oil based Minwax stain. The frames are all oil based Spar varnish (because I like the amber tone) and the puzzle pieces are several coats of clear lacquer. I used flat blades to get the pieces to fit tighter than with spirals, but that created some fit problems when I colored them due to the smaller kerf. They took a good deal of time with the mop sander to get the pieces back in. I need to pay more attention to the kerf in the future.

Military Items (Crosses, ornaments, etc.) Plus anything Nativity related. I do about 6 shows a year all after October and these do the best for me.

Looking good! As for your question "Now what about ideas for finishing, this and others using B/BB. Natural piece with dark backer...stain darker piece with light backer? If natural (Poplar, Birch, etc. ) what do you use to give it the nicest finish? Do most of you make a frame for a wall piece or sand the edges and hang it?" I have a feeling the replies will be mostly, yes. Many leave natural, some stain, a few paint some pieces, frames are optional lol You'll find what you like. There's some brilliantly finished pieces here and some very unique ones as well. I spare no expense and buy a lot of frames from the local 99 cent store. I figure being that I gift things instead of selling them, they can upgrade the frames themselves. You should see how many pieces I have stacked in my spare bedroom. LOL I may have to break down and do a sale or two. Really hate doing that though.

Hands down for me would be Ornaments. 3.5 in to 4 in in diameter and about anything you would like to make. Angels have been good for me. I have hundreds of different ones . What sells good this year might not sell the next year. The public can be finicky at times. I attend several shows in the fall and try to take some different patterns to each show to give them a choice. Hope you do well with whatever you decide to make. grizz

Loads of good advice and my two pennies worth is the pattern is there as a guide if it gets to small go wide no one will ever notice. Roly

You did a great job on that. Like the finish and backer also.. Really nice. I have cut two of his ornate patterns so far and have three more to do.. I really enjoy cutting them. I like to have one ready and use it a filler work from working on other things. I dropped the ornate tigras one the other day, broke the lower jaw off, so I get a do over on it....

I noticed that and thought you two already knew each other. I use to live in Tucson several years ago (on Grant just a couple blocks off I10) and have been to and through Casa Grande tons of times. We had close friends that lived on a golf course in Mesa, we would take the motorhome and park in front of their house for the weekend at least once a month. And we went to Tombstone a bunch also! I'm like you...I like Blues, the more recent stuff, but my wife doesn't. I didn't see Buddy Guy being in Casa Grande...but he will be in Chandler next March! I thought about going to see him in Tulsa this Thursday at the Hard Rock Casino...but wife doesn't want to and I don't want to go by myself. I wonder if there are any scrollers close to me to meet? Small world when I see scrollers from other countries on here. Guess that makes us all "Village People"...lol I couldn't resist.

don't know the answer to that but I fixed it!!

When I 1st started scroll sawing there were no YouTube videos and not many people even had computers. I saw a scroll saw and thought it looked interesting, so I bought it. I checked out the blades available and it simply seemed to make sense to me to use spirals. That's what I started with and stuck with for many years. Now I use both types but spirals are my go to blades. I need to be challenged or I lose interest. I started doing fairly tough fretwork patterns from day one. It's only wood and some time. If I fail, big deal. I just move on. I think you should cut what you like. Don't limit yourself because someone tells you "that is too hard for a beginner". It's not as if you're going to hurt yourself or wreck your saw because you decide to challenge yourself with a hard pattern. If you will be happy with simple "beginner patterns" then by all means cut them. But if you would be happier cutting something that you aren't sure you are ready for, I say take the challenge and try to hide that smile you'll have on your face when you find out all patterns are cut one hole at a time and Wow, you impressed yourself!

Friend was just on one and was given this. Posted it in case some of you would like know of the small gift to our Vets.

See, you just customized a customized pattern. I started using Rapid Resizer for stained glass patterns back around 2008 or so. It works well for sizing scroll saw patterns but I need to use other software to actually attempt to create something. Like someone once said. so much wood, so much glass. So little time. lol

I have only cut puzzles, not creating them. I think (another mistake I often make) one could do as you say just making sure the pieces interlock. Might have to try your idea.

The verdict is in and I agree with Jerry! Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse

Side note on mounting the hinges. I buy them from Woodcraft and the screws are 3/8" long. The majority of tops I cut are 1/4" thick. I measure the depth of wood I am drilling and mark with tape on the drill bit. Then I wax!!! the screws and pre tap the threads into the bored hole until they stop. Then its off to the grinder to take them down to the proper length. I've developed a technique that has worked well for me to mount the hinges on the base. I mark off location equidistant and measure the folded thickness of the hinge (1/8"). My exacto blade set came with a supper fine saw blade and I will cut down to the thickness of the hinge on both sides and then score the length several passes and then chezel out the middle and file flat. (if you mount the hinges before assembly of the base, you can do this with a scroll saw) I drill and pre tap the screws (wax). Here is where the 2 sided tape is a god sent. I place a small piece on the base side and a larger piece on the top side of the hinge. I position the top to the proper location and press against the hinges. I use a small blade to lift the hinges off the base and keep them adhered to the top and mark the drill holes. I then go to the procedure mentioned in the beginning of the side note for the top. This procedure will also work for the 9mm stop piano hinges too. Hope this helps.

i saw very delicate lines on leaves after enlarging image What a micro fantastic jop

Welcom to the vilige Brandon I have not done intarsia yet but There is lot of intarsia art here You came to beatiful place

It doesn't matter how long it takes to cut, it's what it looks like when it's finished that counts. Marg

Beautiful work Kirk.

Fantastic scrollsaw work. looks very time consuming but worth the effort. grizz

That is fantastic! As Rocky said, the message is also very meaningful. Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse

Dynamite job you did. I'm sure the recipient is delighted!

That is beautiful and the pattern is very meaningful. A great reminder for me. Will you be placing the pattern in the pattern section?

Nice work indeed and I can see why the shop owner would be pleased. Thanks for showing.

Hello from another Newbie

Yea...we managed a couple of retirement homes in Austin about 12 yrs ago. I think even Dairy Queen has live music in that town! Tucson did have a bunch of restaurants that had live Mariachi bands.

"Terrific" seems to be used a lot in this thread. I see why. It fits well that really looks,,, ah,, er terrific..! Awesome works also.

Most of us use BB plywood for scrolling, although poplar seems popular along with other woods. I sometimes pick up the odd table or set of drawers from second hand shops quite cheaply as 'hardwood' furniture in the main is kept by the 'older' generation and when they've gone the kids just give the house contents to charity shops. The wood can then be sawn, planed and used for scrolling.

I would really like that. I too like blues but my wife does not. With the 75 mph speed limit I think it is more like an hour between the two cities. I go your way about 4 times a year as like to take people to Tombstone because I love that place and the history of Arizona so much. Dick

I have reached the age that it is very hard to offend me. lol I'm not an exception, I'm simply extremely stubborn. When I see something that interests me, I don't think wow, I wish I knew how to do that. I tend to think, hey, I bet I could learn that. Doesn't always turn out, but it did for scrolling, turning wood, stained glass a bit of wood carving etc. Certainly not an expert at any of that, but I can fake it a bit. I failed miserably at the guitar, painting with oils and watercolors just to name a few. I'm originally from Minneapolis but retired early (56) and moved to Panama City, Panama. From there to Mazatlan, Mexico for 6 years and finally Tucson. Never been to Casa Grande, but I'm a Blues music freak and I noticed Buddy Guy (from Chicago) is playing in Casa Grande. Got my curiosity up and I noticed Casa Grande has some pretty good looking music venues so, me visiting one day isn't out of the realm. Looks to be an hour and a half away so maybe we'll meet some day.

you are an exception person with the mind set we all would like to have. For me to succeed at something, gives me the incentive to try further. If I try my hardest and fail, then I immediately decide it is something that I can not do. I wish I was more like you but I am not. Being willing to accept my limits but understanding that if I go easy I WILL IMPROVE, helps me to want to learn as I go and then try new things as I progress. That is the way I am built, I guess. I understand that it is OK to be different from one another but at the same time respecting others view points. That is what I like about The Village, is I have learned that there are many ways to do the same thing. Everyone has their own blade, saw and wood favorites. Everyone is a little different and has their own personalities but everyone is always friendly and helpful to one another. I hope I did not offend you, I was only pointing out going slowly with something new is sometimes a better way for some people rather then feeling like a 'I can't do this" and quitting at the beginning. I always encourage new scrollers, even if they are struggling and having their own doubts about themselves and their abilities. I don't always like the way I am but I am always willing to give most things a try. Not so much now that I am getting older though. In ending, I want to say that I truly admire your attitude and willingness to tackle things head on and not worry so much about the results but that you know you can do whatever you decide to tackle. I will I was more like that, but I am not. Don't get me wrong, I like to accomplish what I set out to do, but I have learned for me, not to set my ambitions too high at first. Glad we had this discussion as you pointed out to me that there are more then one way to look at things and so once again I learn from someone I do not even know. One last thing, I see you live in Tucson and I live in Casa Grande. If you are ever coming up to Casa Grande, send me a note and plan to come to our house so we can meet and get to know each other. I would really enjoy that. I have made many friends here and spend time with them whenever I am in their neighborhood. Most of them live in Oregon so I do not have a lot of opportunity to do so but I cherish it whenever I do. Dick heppnerguy

My granddaughter and her husband finally bought a house, and have moved in. They are giving a house warming party tonight, so I made this for them. The backer is pine, the overlay is cedar and is glued on. There are also a couple of small brass screws holding on the overlay, just in case. It is finished with gloss spar varnish. It is about 14" long.

terrific job, it's beautiful

I haven't done a craft show in years... so my answer for a craft show seller is probably irrelevant.. My best craft show seller was ornaments..when I did crafts shows... angel themed ones sold very well back then.. Now with that said.. my online experience is most my shoppers are women looking for unique gift themed things for men / boys.. so car themed things sell well.. So with that said.. make things your shoppers would be looking for for the men in your local area I guess would be my best advice.. but it really depends on your local shows and what type shows they are..

Amazing Kevin, Thanks for putting me right. Picture I mean. Ha ha.

Incredible scrolling skills!!! What a intricate pattern and finished work!!!

Heres more of what I,ve been doing

That is what keeps the sport alive very much in our country

I've given more than my fair share in life and haven't suffered much so i guess your right Bobscroll.Thanks buddy!!!