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After seeing Smitty's puzzles, I knew I had to make some for my 3 yr old great granddaughters. One has her birthday tomorrow, and the other is in a couple of months. They are both from 1/2" Baltic Birch with a 1/8" BB backer. The colors are craft acrylics and they have a coat of clear gloss poly over everything. I cut these with a #7 blade so the letters are easy to get in and out. The font is Herkules. Tom

Here is a custom unique piece at the request of a customer. It's a name in Arabic. 1 1/4" X 1/3/4" x 1/4 unknown wood, probably a maple. Cut with a FD polar # 2 followed by a spiral blade. Used bits of toothpicks to support the center of the right hand letter, used superglue to attach the piece; then a light coat of superglue on all surfaces, buffed and then 2 coats of clear, gloss, spar varnish:

I know I have seen the work of others who have done this 810+/- hole pattern called “Two Wolves by R. Beard, but this is my enhanced hand painted version. It was slightly modified to fit on a 11” x 14” backer with a 1” border. It took me 7½ hours of machine run time which equates to about 16 hours of sitting behind the saw. In addition it took at least an hour to just drill all the holes. The pattern was cut in 1/8” BB ply using about a total of fifteen Pegas #2/0 spiral blades. The cut panel was hand painted using Acrylic Art paints. Approximately another 10 hours of painting time in between drying times. About an overall three week project while doing other projects in between. The cut panel is affixed to a ¼" BB Ply backer painted with Krylon All-in-one paint and primer spray Flat Black. And, like always, the assembled panel was protected with multiple coats of Deft Clear Gloss Spray Lacquer. (Deft vs. Minwax and others - possibly a subject for a future discussion post in General Scroll Sawing.) The custom frame is once again made from 1¾" wide poplar and finished with three coats of Minwax Pecan Poly/Stain. Wanted a light color frame for contrast with this very dark piece. Don’t forget critique of my work is always welcomed and appreciated. PS: You might be inclined to ask what happened to the cut frame that is part of the pattern. Suffice to say, things happen, but it was not cutting related. If you get a chance check out my recent post "Gonna be gone for a while." in the Coffee House Forum.

I spray the wood with a light coat of glue let it get sticky , it takes about 30 sec. when the cutting is done I dampen the rag with mineral spirits , wipe it on the paper and the pattern almost falls off. wipe the board with the same moistened rag . no problems I have been using this method for the past year and have had no problem. It's faster than the above methods and cheaper. A gallon last about a year . IKE

It's finished. Perhaps I should post this in the bragging section but since I started here I'll post it here. Travis may wish to move it and that's fine with me. Went together well. There are things I will do differently on the next one. I have 2 daughters. I immersed each piece prior to assembly in BLO. I used plain old Elmer's white glue. Worked well. Sets up fast and is strong. At least strong enough for this application. 1/8" cut with 2/0 Pike jewelers blades. 1/4" cut with 2/0 PegasMG blades. Lots of pieces with straight edges I cut on my table saw and Dremel table saw. I need to do a complete overspray but not sure what I will use. I did not keep time on the project. Too many interruptions. I think wood was well under $100 including shipping. Some wood was for other projects.

There are so many versions of the Corvette and you cut a truck load of BBPW cutting them all. Thought I would go for an early classic.

Put them on my DeWalt when they first came out and still working like new. I put them on my Excelsior a year and a half ago and haven't had to sand the tips at all. I didn't like the original on my ex as you can't see the top of the blade when installing. Best upgrade I've done

Wow! Fantastic job! someday maybe I'll get brave enough to attempt something that amazing. Thanks for sharing!

I see the nice old english letter "G" right in center. "GRRRREEEAAAT" work.

Rocky, that is beautiful, you have done an excellent job cutting, RJ

Les, I'm stunned. You knocked it out of the park with this project. You should be proud of the work you put into this clock. Love the contrast of the colors and the crispness of the the detailed cuts.

Beautiful work Les, you should be proud!

Been cutting a large mandala for a while (in between honey-do's....11 layers....) and decided I wanted to cut something quick, just needed to feel like I completed a project. LOL Found a cool tattoo pic on Pinterest, nothing I could find as far as accreditation, so I figured why not. Lion is about 8" tall, maybe 5 or 6 wide. 1/8" BBply, Minwax Dark Walnut stain. Backer is some 1/2" ply with "natural" stain. Pegas #3 reverse blade.

Hello All, I've been scrolling now for about three months. I find it to be very relaxing and quite pleasing to complete the various projects. I'm a retired law enforcement officer but continue to work for a farm manufacturing company that distributes worldwide. I live in a very rural area with my wife, dogs, cats and various wildlife that visit my property. We did have horses when we first moved here but they have passed on and we decided at our ages not to get any more. I say all this because you'll notice most of my projects are animal related. I look forward to learning from the experience of the members of this forum. God bless and keep scrolling!

#25-28…..these have been popular

WOW!! That is just Down Right Awesome!! I have often thought about painting my work. Now I my give it a try.

Very nice! I love how you painted it. I appreciate all the details on how you made it. I would have used about that many blades also. I always thought I was doing something wrong because I needed so many blades, but maybe not. Thanks for sharing!

Agreed. I did the same.

I had used the Contact brand forever and thanks to Charles Hands suggestion I switched to the Duck brand. And have had no issues. As the others have said I also pre sand to 320 Especially if I am doing delicate fretwork. wipe of the dust to be safe apply liner, run pattern through the Xyron, put it on the liner. No issues!

You are doing a wonderful job maintaining this site for us “ Dust Makers” . You make us to come on site daily to gather the village info.

Travis, Thanks for your efforts to maintain this site. It's been a great asset to me in my entry to scroll sawing.

Frank, I had two reasons for the superglue; 1. when I glued the small piece in it was not possible to just glue the piece, there was some overflow, so I just continued and coated the whole piece. 2. I wanted to toughen and stabilize the piece. The superglue absorbed into the wood very readily and I didn't stick my fingers at all.

Nice...Very Nice !

Whats not to like. Great work as always. Marg

I converted a free stencil version of this image I found on-line into a scroll saw pattern for mounting on an 8” x 10” backer. I cut the image using Pegas 2/0 spiral blades in some scrap 1/8” BB ply. I positioned the cut image on the 1/4” BB Ply backer on a diagonal for a more pleasing visual effect. After deciding how I wanted it to align on the backer, the cutting and the exposed cut out areas of the backer was hand painted using Artist Acrylic Paints. Again the painting of the cut piece was tedious and time consuming. And again as usual, after the cutting was affixed to the backer, the panel was finished with multiple coats of Clear Glossy Spray Lacquer. The frame is 3/4” wide Polpar finished with Minwax Classic Black Poly/Stain (I see in the photo I have to clean a few fuzzies off the frame that went undetected until you get up close with the camera.) This piece uses an additional leftover cardboard kick stand backer from a cheap frame I had purchased way back when for another project, making it a Table Standing Piece. I decided to do this piece to replace a similar but different piece, that I had previously made, which has been sold. Critique of my work is always appreciated.

Elegant. Great job. Marg

That is really great. Your painting skills are excellent. Marg

Love it, both with the colored lights and with the plain white ones. Marg

Fab4, The ripples are painted blue. The photo just doesn't show it. The only thing painted black is the silhouette of the top horse. I took the photo in direct sunlight when it was setting. If you notice, there is a shadow cast with the sun to the right. The thin cuts for the ripples only shows the shadow and not the blue. As I've said in this and other posts, I appreciate criticism. Believe me, I don't take it harshly. You're right that I liked the finished project. And the person I showed it to less than an hour after I took this picture liked it well enough to purchase it. I chose this pattern because it was rather simple and I was new to scrolling. In Steve's catalog he painted this project as an all black silhouette. I thought I'd try to make the reflection stand out by painting the water blue.

I went out and bought a roll of Duck brand removable adhesive clear laminate. I'm pretty sure it's the right stuff. I'm going to give it a go. I'll let ya'll know how it worked for me. Thanks for the replies...very informative stuff..forrest

Well it's not exactly a clock yet. I've started by copying the two sided plans on individual sheets so I can cut them apart. I've made the base. Sometime in the future I will make a couple of more pieces. I start this needing a lot of advice. 1. What kind of wood to use. I would like to use hardwoods but that can be expensive for an experiment. I don't have a planer or flat sander along with other things. My wife says, "Why don't you buy them?" Duh, at my age who knows how long I can use them? So I have a lot of 1/8 and 1/4 inch BB which I plan to use. 2. That brings up the problem of finishing. Should the pieces be stained after cutting and before assembly or after assembly? 3. What adhesive should I use for assembly? I have no idea how long this project will take. I did cut the base on the table saw and trimmed the edged on the router. Before I go further I'm waiting for advice.

It looks great! Thanks for sharing!

I like it! I need to use more color in my projects. Thanks for sharing!

The next time I leave my county, I'll have to pick up a gallon. Darn, I was just in Tennessee and never gave it a thought.

Les, this project turned out beautifully. As I knew it would. I expect nothing but the finest from you. Great job. Now, on to the next one. Tally Ho!

Hi Rodney: Here's my 2 cents on this You did not go far enough with the blue - The water ripples around the bottom half should be painted also This will add to your great cutting Side note: Constructive criticism is always good. Everyone looks and sees things differently Voicing ones opinion (when said right) should never be taken as an insult How else are we to improve if everyone is afraid to offend someone Take what is going on here as a compliment - All replies mean that they took the time to look at what you did and comment After all is said and done, the bottom line is, If you are happy with it, then that's all that matters O.k., I'm done Keep up the great work Rodney Fab4

Always have used shelf liner. Much cheaper than painters tape. As others have said, the trick to keep from lifiting wood fibers is too sand well just before applying the liner. I use 220 followed by eithe 600 or 1500 grit to get a VERY smooth surface. I have two palm sanders fitted with these grits and it only takes a few minutes with each to get that really smooth surface and follow with a clean tack cloth to remove all dust before applying the liner. I also agree that it is not a good idea to leave the liner on too long and keep it out of the sun and high heat. I use a lot of BB Ply and the solid core project panels from HD. For projects with the natural wood exposed, I prefer the Maple or Walnut Solid Core product as it is a little harder and much less like to have any fiber lift. I mostly use BB ply for backers and cut panels that I will paint. Nothing to do with fiber lift, but I do prefer Maple Solid Core Ply to the BB Ply for it's nicer color and prettier grain for many of my projects.

I just use a very light coat of super 77 on the pattern. wait at least 3 minutes and put it on the wood. Sometimes might need a few more minutes, just depends on how tacky it is. i think uit should be just barely tacky, it stays on long enough to do the job and comes right off without hassle. Its a fine line though between tacky and too tacky. Nothing more irritating than it sticking on the wood/ I have never had the pattern fall off mid scrolling even though I think it might sometimes.

I finish sand before I scroll any wood. That includes Baltic Birch plywood. Sometimes it takes me a while to complete a project, like this one. Baltic Birch plywood, I had no issues. It took me over a week.

Hi everyone, just thought I would stop by and say hello. Haven.t been on in a while with all this moving. I'm finally in my new house in Florida. Still unpacking. My last pod is coming today. Still don't have my workshop set up yet to really do anything but I'm getting there. Hope to see you all soon, Ralph

Freestanding Seahorse Puzzle made several years ago.