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A couple of items that got cut this summer. The segmentation piece was more experimental so not my best piece. Both are Steve Good patterns

A friend of mine asked me to make these for him. The barber sign was for him to give his own barber as a retirement gift.

My latest work, inspired by a deepening relationship with our Savior.

At the Illinois State Fair there is a size limit of 12"wide by 20" high by 8" deep. Depth is relevant and can be more. I say this because last year the Fair was shuttered. I had downloaded a pattern of the Victorian sunburst Clock to enter last year in their Scroll Saw division. That didn't happen so the pattern sat in my shop. But this year the fair was open. Unfortunately this clock pattern was 15" all around leaving me two solutions. Downsize the pattern which means some of the cutouts would be so small they may not work out well. So I opted to size each side of the clock. The result was very different, but turned out somewhat satisfying. The clock was cut out in Dark Walnut with a layer of light pine behind the body facing front. The Actual Sun was cut out of a large block of Hedge Apple plained down to 3/8 width. I have some Hedge Apple Wood left, but have no desire to work with it again unless nothing else will do. It was somewhat sticky and left a yellow residue everywhere, and my shop vac bag both bottom and top had to be washed and bleached to get the stain out. Still, it came out beautiful as the sun. Two years ago they had the fair and I won first place with a Dutch Box, last year the fair was Covid Cancelled, and this year? First place again with this Sunburst Clock. This piece with all its small cut outs will indeed be a monstor dust collector so I will eather need to make a shadow box for it or a cover of some type for over it on the wall. Saws: Jet 22" for the fretwork, and a Porter Cable 18" for some sanding. Blades: various Pegas, Sharktooth 2/0 and FD Superior Puzzle [Spiral blades used for Initial circular cuts] If your going to work with Hedge Apple you will need to use a small blade, slow it down a lot, and be patient Thousands of people go through the buildings during our Fair each year, and this is an opportunity to get more folks interested in Scroll Saw work. I hope I can get the images to load

I've always 'cut' as a hobby. Something to keep me entertained through my retirement. I've usually cut whatever took my fancy. I enjoy seeing 'something' appear out of what is essentially a plain piece of wood, it gives me lots of pleasure. However, I was asked to do this for a friends wife, but, not only that, I was told on Saturday evening that it's her birthday on Wednesday so would it be ready by then ??? I've cut a 'simpler' version of what was required. I must admit though that 'rushing' to get it cut/glued/oiled/varnished. was not enjoyable. This picture is what I've done today, and the pieces are just resting on top of one another. I now have a tremendous respect for those that do this for a living. Cutting to order and working to deadlines is not for me. I take my hat off to all those 'workers' out there. !!

We also sell online and the weekends can be a problem. Even though we are closed on Sunday and Monday, I go into ArtCrafters and fill any orders and reply to any emails. It is only good customer service. If there is an unhappy customer, I try to solve the problem quickly.

Sorry to hear that Les. Stay strong. Marg

Well I am back once again. For those who remember me, Howdy once again, and I am glad I am back with the hopes to be actually active. For those who don't know me, Howdy to you and nice to meet ya. So to bring you up to speed on my first absence: Went through a divorce and a job change. I met a great gal and we both started driving a big rig together. We got married last year and bought a house with 15 Acres in North East Texas. We both have quit driving so we can spend time at home and develop our property into a homestead. So if you want to swing by and meet us, just let us know, there is plenty of room for a camper, tent, and we even have a spare room. (You will have to PM me to see about meeting us.) There is an excellent Bass Fishing lake just minutes from the house and a couple of camp grounds you can use as well. I have managed to get my stuff out of storage and I am also in the process of getting things set back up to start up my woodworking again, and I am planning on getting back into making patterns. I just need to get back into it slowly. While I probably wont be as active as I was the first time here (I was a former mod) I do plan on being active. Good to see you all, and have a great day. Chris Messman's Woodworking

Been playing around with some random cellphone wallpapers and various cliparts of grass and bamboo, to put together my first layered pattern. Couldn't decide which samurai (layer 2) looked better, so I did both. The bamboo/tall grass (layer 3) and short grass (layer 1) were a pain to cut, and I ended up doing a lot of on-the-fly adjustments since I didn't have a drill bit small enough to get some of the pilot holes for details that would've made the grass blades make more sense. I tried to make sure that any sharp blades had a line that could be traced back into the lower regions, so there wouldn't be any grass tips poking out of another blade with no extra body to connect to the "ground". These were fun cuts, though, for a week off of work. 1/4" BB ply from Lowes, four layers. Layer 3 (bamboo) took probably a day and a half to cut on its own, cut the short grass (layer 1 in another half day, then the two samurai and the moon took about three hours total. Layer's 1 (short grass), 3 (bamboo), and 4 (moon) were stack cut. The two samurai were solo cut, but only had two interior cuts so those went really quick. Layers 1, 2, and 3 were stained Minwax Honey, frame and layer 4 are Minwax Ebony. White plastic sheeting over the moon was a protective cover for a laptop privacy filter that I saved after installing for a user. LED strips wrapped around the inside of the frame came from Amazon for about $12...the red moon is a newer strip, it is multi-colored and cycles through the color spectrum. Yellow-ish white LED's are single-color only. Used Pegas #1MG blades for this one.

When I had it back in November, I was hospitalized over night. But that was due to dehydration.

Hmm, Being an online business myself and primarily communicate through emails / messages. I will say Mondays are a crap show.. because you have all your orders to package up from the weekend because no package deliveries on the weekends. That said I do try to reply to every email and I almost always check them and reply by the importance.. something like this.. a existing customer issue is my top priority rather than the new customer asking if I can make something custom etc. or those that seem to not read my item description and ask dumb questions that is already in the description such as size or wood types etc.. get a lot of that and it's really annoying but also is a part of being a business and dealing with customers. IMO, they should have or at least I would have made sure to message back Sunday night / Monday on a issue like this.. A good customer service is considered by etsy and amazon as replying to messages within 24 hour period. If I were a pattern seller mailing out physical patterns. I'd roll them up and send in a tube. Also would roll them in a way so they'd lay out flat on a surface and not try to coil up on you when you try to scan / copy them..

How about taking your phone and give them a call! I would thank that in your situation, taking with a live person will get a much better response than waiting for a reply, that most likely will not happen, over the internet! Just my 2 cents worth! Erv

Sorry to hear. Hope for a full recovery.

get better soon

Really sorry to hear that. My daughter and husband just got over Covid. She took the Vaccine, he did not. I'm with you. No shot for me or my wife. So far so good. Speedy recovery Les. Ben

No, and we will not!

Last week, I headed back to Montana to visit my family. It has been awhile since I've been home. We had a great time reminiscing about the good ol' days. So I think this month's scroll saw challenge is about nostalgia. Post a project that brings back memories of the good ol' days. This is pretty open to interpretation. Old cars, trains, farm houses, scenic, etc. When you post, let us know what kind of memories it brings back for you. It will be fun to see what people come up with.

Barb, you did a beautiful job on both of them, RJ

I get my wood from Paxton Woods in the Cincinnati ares at about 1/2 of what I would pat at Loews or HD. The only difference the the thickness is 7/8 not 3/4 and the edges are not finished and either one makes any difference in puzzles, I do have to drive 15 miles to get it IKE

Nice job on both of these patterns. Always dreamed of having a Corvette, now that I can afford one, my 75 year old body would let me get into it....but I my wife would have to call the fire rescue department to peel me out of there. Is the emblem a layered cut? I couldn't tell from the picture.

GREAT pattern Kris, your work is always outstanding. With all that is happening in the world right now, we could all use some of GOD'S abundance love. Thanks for sharing.

Wonderful projects. I might give the lighthouse a try.

These turned out very good. There is nothing wrong with the segmentation piece, we are always our worst critic.

Are you still buying lumber from Lowes and Home Depot? You will save in price and increased quality by going to a local hardwood source. A local sawyer or a hardwood lumber yard will give you much better quality wood, probably at a much better price too. I think we had this conversation before. Charley

Very nice job, Barb. I'm new to scrolling and haven't tried intarsia yet. I'm sure that's down the road but I have plenty to learn with just basic scrolling.

Beautiful. The LED really adds color.

Fantastic job

Nice cutting

I like both; but, I like the lighthouse the best.

Happy to hear the Pegas Chuck Heads are working for you.

That is pretty cool!

Well done, Barb. I want to give that segmented one a try this Winter.

Segmentation experiment is a succuss. Looks pretty decent. Better than my first butterfly Intarsia piece. What did you learned from it?

Looks really good.

Excellent, and the cuts are so clean.

awesome job

Welcome back again Chris, it's good to see you. Thanks for the invite but it's a bit far for us to travel, plus we are not allowed out of Australia at present. Marg

Very clean cutting. Wonderful job.

PM sent

The Vette is Fantastic!! Love the Barber sign. Awesome job on that one.

Now that is just Awesome. Beautiful job!!

I like whimsical projects. You did it beautifully!

I really like the barber sign, very well done! Chris

Nicely done.

Sorry to hear that Les. Prayers for you both to make a quick and full recovery with no lingering issues.

I want to thank @Jim Blume for the great pattern. I used 3M 77 spray glue to attach 1/8" BB to 1/4" BB backer. Frame made of poplar and stained Minwax black along with the backer. My first fret work project in quite a while.

Just finished another great pattern from Steve Good, Flying Eagle. 3/4" thick White Oak finished with Danish Oil.

They will never know how unhappy you are until you tell them. You know the old saying, "a happy customer tells their friends. An unhappy customer tells everybody". Believe me, it's true.

could try a clothes iron on low temp. I'd send them back

Took a week off from work, since it was pointed out that I had to "use it or lose it" by Dec 31. No prob, more sawdust!!!! So I start in on a multi-layer project when the wife mentions that she was serious when she said she wanted me to make a large sign for the tortoise enclosure. Oh, and the daughter wanted one for her bearded dragon terrarium. Me pointing out that signs wouldnt' do much good, as neither tortoises nor beardies are noted for their reading abilities. So Sunday was spent making signs. Nugget is the Sulcata Tortoise, and Yuki (Japanese for "Luck", I'm told) is the beardie. Yuki: Nugget: