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About a year ago I lost my wife to complications with cancer. I took a few months off to get used to my new life ... shown are a few samples of some of the work I have been doing to get ready for some craft shows this fall. I have a variety of crosses and other layered items. I will be posting more items later .... I feels good to be making sawdust again.

A few more layered projects. As I tell everyone, working in my shop keeps me off the streets at night

I put a request in earlier today. A couple hours later there it was! Awesome people here without a doubt. Here is the request and story; My wife and her sister just got new matching tattoos a couple of days ago. I asked the artist if I could have one of the patterns that she made and didn't use, it was just a larger version of what they got. Not sure if this can be made into a scroll saw pattern or not. If someone has the time to try I would appreciate it very much. There is a third sister that lives out of state and didn't get a matching one. I would like to make all three of them a cut out if possible. Here is the pattern cut out. Not sure how I will finish them yet. May just put a little bigger painted backer on it and have it hang or make a little leg on the back and have it set on a table. It is 5"x7". Here are the completed projects. (Store bought frames)

I met just a few nice scroll saw patterns of a ship, so here is my next layered project Video of making Ship project Ship Pattern

He appeared to be a horseman of large dimensions, and mounted on a black horse of powerful frame....Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of hurling his head at him. Ichabod endeavored to dodge the horrible missile, but too late. It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash,—he was tumbled headlong into the dust, and Gunpowder, the black steed, and the goblin rider, passed by like a whirlwind. I still remember the chilling scene from the novel projected in the amazing Disney animation from when I was a child. This legendary figure can now be cut on your scroll saw. I cut mine from a piece of 3/4" pine and painted it a flat black, using the cutoff for a base. I then painted the pumpkin head with orange acrylic paint and sprayed the whole project with a sealer. Save the story clip above for when you put our this display on Halloween and read it to some young and imaginative goblin you might know. Or better yet, read the whole story of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Download the free pattern from my Free Pattern Page: http://baggetta.com/pebooks/puzzle_patterns.htm

You can cut to the point , back up turn the blade in the waste area , back into the point then continue cutting the line instead of making an on-the-spot turn. Just another way to do it. Practice on scrap using the different methods until you find the one that works best for you. You will gain skill with every attempt if you take your time and think about what your doing.

Welcome. I have been scrolling for close to 20 years and use Baltic birch for most projects. With sanding and some imagination with staining some great results can be achieved. From small to large projects. As shown here I find it becomes a Zen thing you, the saw and the wood i

I take my patterns to Office Depot and have them copied in red. At the same time they can enlarge them for me if I want. I don't do inkscape. I used an LED magnifier for some time but now only use the magnifier for an excellent light source. I have discovered I scroll better with a head magnifier. I don't have to swing a light out of the way when changing blades and there is nothing between me and the pattern. The head magnifier is cheap, has excellent optics, comes with five different power lens and is very comfortable. They are available on ebay for $10 - $16 depending who is selling them. They are all the same.

Karate: Respect and Confidence When I saw the movie "The Karate Kid" many years ago, I was impressed with the theme. Most people think of Karate as only a weapon, but the movie impressed upon the viewer that it was more than that. It was pictured as a whole way of life and the elements of respect and confidence were a part of that life. I thought it would make a nice table sign, so here it is. The lettering has an Asian look to it and I attached a dragon's head to the right side of the the sign. It is cut from cherry wood, but sits upon a custom cut top layered base of curly maple and that in turn sits upon a rectangular mahogany base. Used a round over router bit to shape the edges. Makes a nice piece for the student of the art. Free patter can be downloaded from my Free Pattern Page: http://baggetta.com/pebooks/puzzle_patterns.htm NEW VIDEO: I recently had a request for a small half urn that can be used as part of A craft project. I decided to make the urn using a compound cut, so I designed a small pattern and worked out a system for cutting these Half Urns. I thought maybe someone else might like to use the idea, so I offer the pattern here and also made a video of the process you can check out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASDmwqOwyKo&t=24s

Like several others on here,, I can not cut with a spiral blade! I have only used Olson's #2 in the past. So recently I ordered some Olson's #0 and FD New Spiral 2/0. I test them both out today. I drew up some straight lines and then made some curves. This was done on 1/8" BB. I tried the Olson #0 first. The first attempt on the straight line I was all over the place. The second attempt a little better, the 3rd better yet. All three of these attempts I was pushing the wood straight into the blade. Going from the 12:00 position to the 6:00 position. The next cut was the curvy line. At first I turned the wood when I came up to the first curve like I would when using a flat blade. Then I thought, "just slide the wood, don't turn it", that's what spirals are for. Next I tried the FD New Spiral 2/0 blade. My first attempt was better than my third attempt with the Olson. Second attempt better, by the time I got to the third attempt it was a pretty straight line in my opinion. On the curvy line I didn't turn the wood at all, just changed my direction of push. It came out decent I thought. Both blades were very close in size. I would have expected a bigger size difference with the Olson being a 0 and the FD being a 2/0. The FD cut much cleaner also and it only had 35 TPI where the Olson had 46 TPI. In conclusion, the FD cut much much better than the Olson. I may have to try some of their other blades. I have only used Olson's since returning to the scroll saw about 2 years ago. My go to blade in the Olson is the #2R reverse tooth,, I use this blade for about everything and love it. Just my $.02 Barry

I can only add one thing. Blade tension. Without sufficient tension circles and tight corners are difficult.

Everybody pretty much has said the same thing but with great explanations. I was just going to add, it's not necessarily your blade choice as much as it "technique" and that is something that only comes from experience. Believe me, you are asking all the same questions that the rest of us have asked but the simple answer is "practice". And every project is practice and you are gaining experience. I just picked up a couple of pointers here too.

If the holes are concentric, I tend to drill them.

Remember when you turn the blade cannot turn a quickly as you can turn the board. You have to wait a fraction of a second or maybe it is a second, for the bladed to "catch-up". Go to the line you want to turn at, add slight back pressure so you stop cutting forward, turn the board and hesitate long enough for the blade to catch-up and then proceed forward. Another thing I do if I want real sharp pointed turns, and I am cutting next to a waist area, is scroll to the line to stop, back the blade up and cut around so I can cut in from the other direction, to make a very sharp point or 90°. You can cut where ever you want in the waste area, it is not going to be part of the picture. I do the same on outside points that I want to be real sharp, cut past the turn point loop around in the waste area and come back to the point from another direction. If you can, try to figure out my picture below on how I would get "sharp" corners. #1 I would scroll to the spot where I want to make the sharp turn, back up and cut past that point to the horizontal l line and continue. I would do that on all places that need a sharp clean point in this one cut. After getting back to my starting point, remove the waste piece than go back and finish cutting the sharp point coming from the other direction.... On the outside cut #2 I cut past the point loop around and come back from another direction to cut the clean point. Hope this is some what understandable. I am not good at explaining and graphics. But remember, you object it to make clean sharp points and corners, you do not have to follow the line from start to finish, you can cut any direction you want in the waste area to accomplish you goal....

I have built a lot of sleds with different runners. I now use the Incra miter Sliders. They are more expensive but work great and you can adjust the fit to your miter slots. When I am done with the sled, I take the bars off and use them on another sled. With my saw and the miter sliders, I only use one of the slider bars. Note: sorry about the strange wording but spell check/autocorrect got me and I failed to see it.

I do wish they would have the patterns on their site for subscribers.

I'm no expert on spirals, I've only done two pieces with them, however, after getting tons of help and advise from the Village I actually have my spiral blade somewhat 'tighter' that my flat blades, this makes it so much easier to control. Not sure I could have done this with a loose blade. https://www.scrollsawvillage.com/forums/topic/35129-gorilla/

I would consider that to be segmentation, the eyes are fine.

Not true for me. I put more tension on spirals. I do it by feel and sound of the blade when I "pluck" it.

I put less tension on the spirals than I do on the flats. Is this true for everyone else? I have a Dewalt, on the flat #2 blades I tension to setting #3. On the spirals I only went to tension setting #2.

I use glasses to read, and also use the 1.5 glasses for general use. When I am scrolling, or doing other detailed work, I switch to 2.5 glasses, which let me see the little lines better. To try them, you can get a pair for $1,00 at Dollar Tree. If you don't like them, you're not out much.

Hello everyone, not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but I wanted to share a birthday present I just finished for a great friend, he is going to go bats. The pattern is by Gayle, the record album was dug out of the basement, I made a frame to allow me to install LED lights and mounted the record on the top. I'm am computer illiterate so I hope these pictures will be in this post. Thanks for looking.

Made this some weeks ago as a trial. Just plain old pine. Have been told the eyes are too “staring”

Got my copy of the winter issue of SSW&C today. Happy to see Harvey has been included in it.

I removed the image of the pattern since it is a commercial pattern.

Never heard of miter sliders. Sounds interesting. Where did you get them?

I would like a saw low enough to use an office chair. That can only happen by building a low stand which I won't and can't do. I think saw stands are tall to accommodate scrollers that saw standing. The Hawk can only be purchased with legs because of the way they are constructed. However, they should make them available with adjustable legs. The legs could be two piece with a series of holes for adjusting. The Hegner is sold with the legs optional.

Thanks Scrappile! That would probably be easier than trying to follow the lines! That pattern has a few small circles...flower centers, hummingbird eye...do most people cut it as the rest or use a drill of that size?

Just curious as to why????

Scott, I am pretty sure that Harvey will get his own copy since he is one of the expletive “published,” it is my understanding from comments I have seen from those who do articles or do test cuts for issues, they get a copy or copies of the magazine before anyone else. i am still waiting on my copy in the mail. Looking forward to seeing this article and the two Intarsia designs I hear are in it. Maybe today. you can also check Lowe’s and Home Depot. They carry the magazine usually. i too hope Harvey’s health is doing better. Still about a week left to take advantage of your donation to Harvey right? Need to fine time to take a look.

I don't even know what tension I use on a blade because I just go by the feel.. When I had my deWalt I rarely ever plucked the blade for sound because I got to where I could just tell by the pressure I was pushing on the lever I guess.. Not really sure how I did it actually as it just came to me naturally.. .. I still to this day struggle with how much tension with the other saws I use when switching to a different blade.. the good thing about that is.. I don't switch blades very often and the saws stay at the same tension all the time unless I move the knob at the back of the saw. The FD new spiral is the way to go as far as the ease of use for newbies especially.. in my opinion.. I do like the Olsen and Pegas spirals too now that I have a little experience with spirals.. Even so.. I pretty much still use the FD ones.. I never use any larger than a #1 and almost always use the 2/0.. even cutting 3/4" hardwood.. Goes a little slower but easier to control a smaller blade for me..Also the smaller the blade the less rough the edges of your cuts are..

nice work, looks great. jim

Not to put down a Hawk or Hegner but if you love the Excalibur so much and you sell off the Hawk.. why not just look for a second Excalibur if you want two saws.. I like the Excalibur enough that I'd probably buy another before i spend the money on another "New" Hawk.. That said.. a used Hawk is more appealing to me than a New EX Pegas etc saw because of the price points.. Now that I have finally dialed in my Excalibur I find it cuts much like the Hawk does.. but I do like the way Excalibur adjust the blade aggression over Hawks method.. The one place the Hawk shines much more is the durability..and easy rebuilding if one ever needed rebuilt .. The Excalibur rebuild is much easier and quicker than the DeWalt too.. Going to keep my eye out for a Hegner deal.. Should be a lot of them out there right now since i have no extra funds for one..

I use a mini bungee cord to hold the toilet seat up. Put a hook in the groove, wrap it around the goose neck and then the other end back in the groove. Works great.

No problem

They do have a light but use a couple of batteries which make them too heavy to be comfortable.

I'm a FD New Spiral 3/0 fan for sure. My other go to spiral for larger areas is the Pegas 2/0. It is a wee bit smaller and a little more flexable than the FD New Spiral 2/0, at least it feels so to me. I have never use any spiral bigger than a 2/0. I rarely cut any thicker than 3/8. Have done it but prefer the 3/8 thickness. Either 3 - 1/8" pieces stacked or 1- 1/4" + 1- 1/8".

Just look at those piercing eyes. Lovely job.

Mmm, several reasons. 1) Did you have what you wanted to print on the 'page' as it only prints what it can see. 2) I always do a ''trace bitmap'' of my pattern and work on that if it's not a PDF.. 3) If it is a Pdf then click on the colour you want the main pattern to be (I use grey) and then ''right click' on the colour you want the outline (stroke) to be.

Can you make a platform for the foot switch to set on? Jim

I think you may find a bit of a problem using the instructions as the Gimp version you have will not be the same as the version Travis uses in the lessons. May not be too bad though give it a try. Don W

great job

I have a magnifying light like Ozark sawdust has, I got it from mansards for $40 and it works rine gives off plenty of light. ddI have had it for about 5 years now and burnt out one bulbat the cost of $10 It's the only way I can cut any more, These old eyes are getting pretty old IKE.

+1 for the advice given by Brenda (Foxfold) Don W PS You can make the lines any colour you like. I use red as it gives a good contrast but green or blue are pretty good. PPS @ Brenda, I don't think it is a cheat.

I cheat and put my patterns through Inkscape, that way I can change the lines to 'red' as I find them easier to follow that way and I can also make the lines a little 'wider' too without compromising the overall pattern.

Great cutting, love the framing. x

That is fabulous, very impressive cutting. Great frame too. Well done. Marg

I have a magnifying light.. Like this: https://www.harborfreight.com/fluorescent-magnifying-lamp-60643.html They are considered good especially for the price. There are better ones and I am sure worse ones. I have this one and expensive one (around $120) I don't think my expensive one is that much better.

You must live a good clean life. Glad you are OK. jerry

Glad to hear that all is safe, now get back to those puzzles, RJ