Leaderboard

I heard from my wife when she called from the airport in Tri-Cities, Washington, that she was in the airport waiting for her boarding time to arrive. I was so excited as her nine days away seemed like at least a month. I received another call at about the time the flight should be in the air that it had been delayed but it finally started loading about 35 minutes late. As it turned out, I was really glad that my wife, Sharon, happen to have chosen this time to fly back and visit our girls once more because while she was there, her brother in the Portland area had a coronary arrest and was taken to the hospital and put into ICU. His heart had stopped for about 15 minutes, was the report I heard but efforts to revive him with CPR finally brought his heart back into motion. He was put on life support but never came out of his coma. He died a couple of days ago. Sharon was able to be there by his side several days only because she had decided to return to Oregon for another visit. So yesterday as I was awaiting her return, which was scheduled for approximately midnight, I took advantage of the time I had and instead or 'welcome home' balloons I was going to get her, I made this cross and bought her a dozen roses. I expected the cross to take me about 3 hours to cut but instead it took me 5 1/2 hours to cut . But I got it all cut, painted, glued and finished before it was time to go pick her up. As I went out the door, I picked up one of the roses and a bottle of cold water for her when she got off the plane. I also stopped and bought her a sandwich to eat, as I knew she would be thirsty and hungry when she got back to Arizona. So happy that I have such a wonderful Wife to love and have love me. Dick heppnerguy

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....

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.

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

Bugs have learned over 100s of years if they follow lines it will get to food. Follow a cafeteria line, food at the end, go to a fair and stand in line, food, follow a highway line, eventually fast food. I could go on, but I think I'm milking the joke. RJF

I have not yet received my most recent copy so I cannot say anything specific about this issue in particular yet. I will say that this is a conversation that is had regularly. If you don't do Intarsia, even one article is maybe too much for you. if you don’t do fretwork and prefer Intarsia, only one or two Intarsia patterns in an issue may not be enough. Some complain there is too many “easy” patterns having been scrolling for years. Newbies, think patterns are too difficult, and want more easy patterns, I can only imagine how difficult it is to try to make everybody somewhat happy most of the time when trying to put out a magazine for such a wide variety of areas in a hobby that covers so many types of work. I am just happy that we have a magazine and always find something in most issues that I am willing to try, Sometimes we need to go outside our comfort zone and try something new. When you consider how much a pattern can cost, I figure as long as I find one an issue, (and I usually find more than one), it has paid for its self. Do I always like everything in every issue, no but I don’t expect to. But I will say, thanks to the magazine, I have also tried things that I might not have otherwise.

I've been trying just what you said. It does help! Last night I started cutting across the scrap to the next line...then coming back from another direction to clean up the corner. Scrappile brought that up to me. That works much better also. I don't know why I had it in my head to always follow the lines and take the scrap out in one piece...??? It's starting to take shape now...lots of work left. I was scrolling along...doing better...when the line I was cutting looked like it was moving! After a few seconds I thought "man...I've got to take a break, have a beer, relax, and try it later!! Then I leaned back away from the magnifier light...and noticed it was a tiny bug on the underneath side of the glass! He just happened to be following the same path as the line I was cutting!!! Contrary to what some people think...I'm not really losing my mind!

That brings me to a story. When I was 8 years old, my parents asked me if I would like to learn a musical instrument. I said yes, I wanted to learn the guitar. So, they bought me an accordian. After I got old enough to quit, I did. And I never picked it up again. They both loved the German music and polka dancing. I hated every minute of it. I am now 76 and I still want to learn the guitar. True story.

Received my Winter issue of sswc magazine, and the last couple issues seem to have more Intarsia then scrolling, I do not do Intarsia, has anyone else feel that way, just curious.

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.

An eagle portrait by WhiteWolf. I think I got the pattern from the pattern library but going back to look for it I cannot find it. Perhaps just my bad eyes. Cut from 1/4" BB, 50/50 BLO, #2/0 Pegas MG blade. I will say the Pegas blade cuts like a charm but dulls quickly cutting plywood.

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

Yep, that is looking good. Try out all the suggestions mentioned and find which one works best for you in which situation. I switch around all the time. The urge to follow the line and get the scrap out in one piece is something I always use to struggle with, but I got over it in time.

Well, really don't want Dick to take care of Patti, that is my wife. I just didn't want her to know how thoughtful Dick is to his wife... I'm afraid Dick is a much better husband than me.

I quickly removed the toilet seat cover, on mine. Didn't want to hear my wife yelling about leaving the toilet seat up!,,, oh never mind, that was something else,,,, but ya, I removed that cover from my lights.

Collected this afternoon, over the moon with it. Got to be doing something right.

Tension, tension, tension. I can't conceive where I want a bending blade. In fact you'll break more blades with looser tension because stress points develop in the bending blade. To me, feed rate and blade speed are more important, especially for sharp angles. As to the E. I've played the guitar for 63 years (even perform once in awhile), and still have the ability to hum a perfect E for tuning purposes. Of course the hearing is slowly going (darn rock and roll) as well as the dexterity, but it is still a great passion in my life. And Ray, it's never too late. Even if it's only to play Mary Had A Little Lamb!

Very much off topic, but I'll add my experience and may even get back onto the topic: as a boy I played piano by ear, then asked for lessons, which I hated. That put me off playing (my mum said I didn't touch the instrument for eighteen months), but I did then get into playing guitar, again, by ear. I still don't read music but as we had an electric piano in the house and I could bash out some tunes, I took lessons a couple of years ago, and found that playing from the sheet music was like playing a completely different instrument, and I didn't really get into it. Back to guitars: I do have a couple of clip-on tuners, so I'll see what pitch my scroll saw blades produce, and how well they cut at those tensions, to see if it's possible to set an optimum tension by this method. Regarding tight angles: if there's waste material (i.e. not cutting a single thin line), then I'll often back up into the waste and not attempt a turn, but come back into the corner from the other line. If the waste is outside the angle, then I'll loop around.

Pickup the accordion again and mount a hose. You can play it and use it as a musical blower. RJF

Blade should not move sideways more than 1/8 th inch. I set mine for about 1/16 th inch. I like very tight blades

I do like Les does about the tension, I use a very tight blade with the exception of #2/0 and 3/0, those I back off slightly and adjust the wood feed into the blade. When I am cutting 1/4 inch wood or ply with a #1 blade and it is a 90 degree turn I can make a quick turn and get a sharp corner. This involves coming up to the corner and apply pressure by slightly pulling the wood toward you to the back of the blade and quickly turn the wood. With practice you can make those sharp turns. If the turn is in a "v" cut up to the end of the line back out and turn the wood so the teeth of the blade will be facing the waste part and back into the "v" and cut out the new line. As I stated I use a lot of tension and it works for me. You don't want a "limp" blade, just try more tension till you find the amount you are comfortable with. Erv

For those hard of hearing, there are electronic tuners for pianos, guitars that have mics. They will listen and show on the display the note your tuning too. Don't need it if you can hear and compare notes, if not, this is one adaption for hard of hearing. RJF

When I was new to scroll sawing I would cut up to the sharp corner back out a small ways and then cut or like shave the waist area to make the kerf a sight bit wider so the blade can spin around a bit easier.. Hope that makes sense to somebody, LOL.. Anyway.. doing it like that somewhat still gives you practice in doing those tight curves.. eventually with more practice in cutting you'll start just cutting along without making the kerf wider.. That might be quite a long time though depending on what saw you use.. My DeWalt was quite aggressive cutting.. so i did this method probably about 6-7 years of the 10 years I owned that saw.. Going from that saw to the less aggressive saw.. doing those tight corners is sooo much easier.. LOL

I'm deaf (practically) so I can't hear a twang so I flip the tension lever on. I press down on the upper arm firmly. If I see the slightest bow the blade is not tight enough. My blades are very tight. Perhaps that is why I break a goodly number of 2/0 blades.

Haunted House Table Ornament Pattern This funky looking haunted house is fun to build and just right for a Halloween display. You can download the pattern below, which includes the outline for the house and the window frames. The frames have to be cut out separately and painted black. The house is painted purple and stands about 10" tall. Cut from 3/4" pine board. I also cut out some slats from 1/4" birch play about 2" wide and measured five sections of the roof to cut the lengths. Painted them black and then attached with glue and brads. The whole shebang is attached to a segment of the cut out painted black for a base.Download free pattern on my Free pattern page: http://baggetta.com/pebooks/puzzle_patterns.htm

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)

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

This baby is so big that I am going to cook and eat, once my wife catches and kills it for me. I saw this one on Steve Good's site and just had to have a go at it today. I'm not sure what I will do with it but when my wife gets back from Oregon, I am sure she will let me know. A really quick piece to cut and finish and it is a rather cool Halloween pattern, I think. If you are looking to make an additional Halloween decoration, this just might be one you might enjoy putting out every year or giving to a family member for their decoration Dick heppnerguy

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

Yes the car magazines are both.. you get a print copy as well as a digital copy.. basically a login on a website.. I do agree with the digital sometimes being hard to read.. In this day and age though.. if you're not digital or online.. nobody knows who you are.. My brothers lumber mill.. as an example.. he's not online.. people don' t look for stuff very often in the actual phone books yellow pages anymore.. they go to their phone to look up stuff online.. Most of the younger folks don't even know what the yellow pages are.. The other thing with digital.. you can clip certain topics that peek your interest.. and save them to your clipped topics.. Sort of like cutting clips from magazines.. There is a place for physical copies.. but there is becoming a bigger place for digital copies.. having both to transition gradually would be best of both..

I left it on mine just so I could protect the lens when I'm not using it. But most of the time I forget to put it down. Same as the toilet. Lol.

I agree to some extent with what you say. I see Woodcraft has gone digital. My problem with digital is reading online is very hard on my eyes and makes me sleepy very quickly. I can read my old Kindle for hours but if I read anything on my newer Kindle, same problem. But, there is absolutely no reason not to offer both formats and if it's more costly to publish, charge accordingly. It's no different than going to a restaurant and being able to order food the way you want it.

ya know the phrase "turn on a dime?" welp, in scrolling to make a 90 we have to turn on a pin head. the blade has to be the pivot point and corner had to stay at that point on the table through the turn. whenever my cut starts going off like that its either because i didnt keep that pivot point or i didnt give the blade enough time to clear out material to start cutting again.

I liket!

It looks like you're getting the hang of it.

Yah, I have a sub and agree more Intarsia these days - I still like getting some of the patterns though - like the x-mas tree and the other puzzles in this mag. Also like the toy patterns

Thank you for the kind comments. We do have each other and I am so thankful for that. I would be lost without her. We have been together for a long time and she is definitely my best friend. We started going together in high school Dick heppnerguy

Are trying to get me in trouble Roly? Patty is Paul's wife. I would be in deep do do with both Sharon and Paul if I took your advice. Just kidding with you.. Thank you for the kind thoughts. I do appreciate them and you. Dick heppnerguy

I always felt that they had too much fretwork. I like the Intarsia. But to each their own likes and dislikes. I let my subscription to for a number of reasons. The biggest one was some folks got there magazine a month or more before I got mine. I was always among the last. I also did not think the projects were ones I wanted to do and they had too many that required painting. I think it is only a matter of time before the magazine goes under.

I was at a 2 day craft fair last weekend. ”have you got a lion?” No, but I can get a pattern! I printed it off at the end of the day. Gave the lady the copy the following day. Rang me Monday, “yes please” just need to make a frame. Steve Good pattern. 1/4” ply, satin black backer.

Steve Good's site has Good Jigsaw Puzzle info. and even the Piece format pattern. Danny :+}

What a wonderful thoughtful person you are. Sorry for your wife's loss.

You are both are good to each other and share with other family. Sory about your wife's loss but you still have each other. What a lovely gift you idea.

You are blessed my friend!

Spiders creep me out. I deleted that pattern so fast!

Just how tight? I set it about E on a guitar...the smallest open string if you don't play. I've tried to learn guitar off and on for several yrs. but am really, really bad...lol

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.

Majestic! Nice cutting.

Just having fun Phantom, Thank you!!!