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A few new ones I finished up and finally took some photo's of them. The Cheetah is by Russ Beard, the hawk is one by Ian Thorley, the crow is by Kenny Hopkins and the LA Kings helmet is by Jeffery Flick. Thanks to all you pattern designers for letting me have so much fun. The Cheetah, LA Kings and Crow are done in 1/8 A-4 oak plywood. The hawk is done in 1/2 inch oak strips that I glued up to make a blank for cutting. All work done with flat blades from a bunch of different manufacturers. All cut on a King Canada 20 inch saw.

New segmentation project. Pattern by Worthington House

I think I am Well into using Acrylic Paints on my Projects lately. Was Only a thought to only add A Color with mostly the wood showing. Anyway here is a Couple Wishing Wells. And As Usual.... Pros and Cons Always Great to read.... Danny :+}

Pattern by Brenda's Wood Creations purchased through the Wooden Teddy Bear. 3/4" oak.

Yeah still getting orders for Christmas ornaments. This one the customer sent me a clip art image of a BMX bike rider and asked if I could make an ornament. I thought it might be cool to put the image into a bike sprocket shape so this is how that came out. Cut from 1/8 BBply with a #3 Pegas blade. These measure about 3.75 inch diameter.

Hello folks as you can see from my title I am scrimperuk from England. I have always been a scrimper, more to do with making do and mending rather than saving money. Most of the things I do are done with stuff others have thrown away. I have been a fretworker since I was a young boy, both my late grandfather and late father were fretworkers and I still have my grandfathers original Hobbies treadle machine he bought back in 1900, although nowadays I generally use a Hegner machine. My main fretworking interests are in the history of the UK Hobbies and Handicrafts companies and their early fretwork designs of which I have a large collection. For quite sometime I have been working on my website entitled The "Fretworker" however I am not ready to publish it yet as it isn't finished. I am sorry to be going on a bit but if you want to find out why my friends think I am an oddball you might like to have a look at my Youtube channel which you will find under my user name scrimperuk. you will find over 200 of my videos on lot's of subjects but many on fretworking and scrollsaws, plus the first four parts of my history of the Hobbies and Handicrafts companies. Thanks for taking the time to read thus far.

Getting back to the question, I prefer Acrylite, a framing product much like Plexiglass. I use it for same reason as Kevin, dust protection.

Mike, I am in the sanding inner rings step on another bowl right now. Here is 2 pics showing a board thickness of 0.3 inches and a wall thickness of 0.125 inchs. My angle was 26.65 deg. I had a too thin blade. I had issues controlling the cut on the line. So sanding shows lower wall thickness. blade #1 on hard oak 0.3 in thick was a bit too small of blade. After I am done I will post this project. But for now I dont want to show the shape.

Mike, great your asking questions! If you use the same space between lines you get a 45 deg angle. Ok let's go thru some numbers... thickness 0.5 inchs lets say you want 30deg angled side. tan angle = offset / thick. tan 30 * thick 0.577 * 0.5 = 0.288 offset. so the spaces between circles or (ellipses) would be 0.288 inches. The thickness of the blade does not really change the offset but a little. Unless your using a big thick blade. So consistency is good. Stay with the same blade thickness. As others have said. It is not terrible if you have to change blade types. The offset between lines 0.288, is the bowl wall thickness. The number of rings times the thickness is the height of the bowl. The next picture shows the cut rings as they were cut. The 2nd picture shows reverse stacked rings. Please note this was an experiment of changing angles. This shows changing wall thicknesses because the angle changes. As you reverse stack the rings the wall thicknesses line up on the previous ring. If you cut perfectly, there is no sanding. But expect sanding. As your cutting at an angle it is easy to put pressure left or right on the blade. This pressure will effect the cut angle a little bit. Pay attention to the blade pressure left and right to reduce sanding. Glue the rings together don't glue to bottom yet. If there is no bottom it gives easy access to inner rings. Sand the inside rings smooth. Then glue bottom on. Then sand outside. Me. Mark Eason

If I'm understanding your question, yes. What you will be doing is cutting concentric circles or elipses from a flat board. You have to experiment a bit to find just the right amount to angle your saw table. For 1/2" material you're going to be roughly 5 degrees. Once you have all the rings cut, turn them all over and start stacking them one atop the latter until you get to the last piece which becomes the bottom of the bowl once it's all stacked and glued. Once you're done with that, the sanding (the no fun part) begins. As mentioned you will be drilling an entry hole for each ring at the same angle as the table tilt for the blade entry hole. Try to use a drill bit as tiny as possible just enough for the blade to pass through. Those holes will leave a line that will have to be sanded off so place the lines all in a row or you'll be having to sand them all in different areas. I usually try to put them on one of the ends if the bowl is oval, on a corner of square or whatever. If it's round just line them all up. Here is a pic of one I made that was cut all from 3/4" stock except the bottom. It was 1/2" because of the inlay. Bowls are fun. There are lots of videos on youtube too.

Hi (Mike) ? I do like to make bowls. I have not made segmented bowls. I do use the technique of board to bowls. Any shape can be a bowl. In the board to bowl technique the ring height is based on material thickness. The bowl wall thickness is based on the angle you choose and the material thickness. Use the tangent equation. tan A = opp / adj . "opp" is the material thickness. Here is some pics that might help. This shows a fixed angled bowl. As for patterns, pick a shape then add properly calculated offset for each ring. I suggest you start from the center. The more the rings the higher the bowl. Also the corners get bigger. You can start with the outside ring and add offsets inward, but you can run out of bowl height. And have bottom too small. Like I did. This ellipse now looks like and egyptian boat. Ok, on the pattern pic a spot to drill tiny holes. I choose the end. Drill these holes at the same angle as you calculated. Drill bit size gets tricky. you want the smallest size of hole. But the drill bit has to be longer than the angled thickness. The bigger the hole the more sanding. I hope this helps. If more info is needed then ask more questions. Me. Mark Eason

I like the composition Kev, Using the sprocket as a frame, good stuff. My patterns are like yours, I do enough so I know what I'm doing and that's where they end.

I took a short break from the normal picture type projects and completed this at the request of my niece. This is a Steve Good pattern. I was wanting cedar planks but the only thing Lowe's had at the time was pine. They were very rough cut so I sanded them to knock off the rough edges and saturated them with Thompson water seal. The letters are cut with Pegas #3 MGT from 3/4 pine ply since they were going to be painted. The bell topper is cut from 3/4 pine and painted also. I also cut the bell topper with the #3 Pegas MGT. The Valentines topper is a Steve Good pattern I modified. It is cut from 1/4 pine ply using Pegas #1 MGT. To switch out the toppers, I placed a rare earth magnet in the top of the picket and attached a 1 X 1 metal plate on the back of each topper. I also have a gnome for New Years but it is drying after gluing. I have patterns for most other American holidays that should also work as toppers. Hope you like!

I normally prepare my stock for cutting with Walmart "Duck" self adhesive shelf paper, then comes the pattern printed on full-page adhesive labels. Finally apply 2" package tape over the pattern. This does a good job of minimizing the tendency for the pattern to delaminate and lift in those small sections. Unfortunately the clear package tape gets slippery with the fine sawdust that is missed by the dust collection system. I soon find myself pressing down way too hard to move and hold the workpiece. This brings on so-called "scroller's palsy" I have found a trick that helps. I apply double-stick tape (aka carpet tape, seam tape or golf grip-tape) to the back of used sand paper and cut these into 3/4" x 1" squares. I then remove the protective paper to reveal the sticky surface. I stick these in strategic spots on the surface of the work piece (see picture). I have found this allows me to work comfortably with very light finger pressure to the board. It has cut down fatigue, increased accuracy moving the work piece and no "scroller palsied" fingers. NOTE: If this is simply restating someone else's earlier post I will claim "Senior Moment clepto status". With my 74th birthday now in the rearview mirror I am entitled!!!!!

Very nice work and a great appropriate desk sign. Well cut from very nice looking Oak wood. BUT, just have to ask: Who the heck is Grace and who did she save? ......

I have a 3 Diopter 1.75x and am suddenly struggling a bit. By the way, the most common lenses are 3 diopter, 5 diopter and 8 diopter which translates to magnification of 1.75x, 2.25x and 3x. I would probably opt for the 5 diopter (2.25x) as that is roughly twice as much magnification as I have been working with. I found an outfit that sells one with 3, 5 and 8 diopter interchangeable lenses. https://bolioptics.com/smd-led-3d-5d-8d-led-clamp-magnifier-mg16304110/ I am dwelling on it for a bit but that looks interesting to me.

It's hard to beat Harbor Freight's magnifying light for the price; probably around $35 here in PA. I bought mine around 4 years ago and I use it almost daily, no issues.

I second the recommendation of Carole Rothman’s books as great resources. She also participates on the magazine’s forum and is always willing to answer ?s there. https://forum.scrollsawer.com If you don’t have it, you can order the magazine Roberta mentioned on their website here: https://www.foxchapelpublishing.com/scroll-saw-woodworking-crafts-issue-80-fall-2020.html

Here are two of Carole Rothmans books that are a great source and have plans in them. I checked them out from my local library. I recommend them highly for learning how to make bowels.

Carole Rothman has an article on a type of bowl done in corian in Scrollsaw Woodworking and Crafts magazine. Fall 2020, issue 80. Page 60. I would love to get some.

I frame quite a few of the things I make. I get 1x2 pine or oak at Lowes, I rabbet the back for the scroll sawn project and cut a 1/8" groove near the front of the frame. The groove holds a glass panel to keep the dust off. I cut the miters, slip in the glass as I'm gluing the frame together. The project is then inserted into the rabbet in the back. I use a sawtooth hanger to hang the piece.

Yes it does Kevin. The blade's kerf enters into the equation. I was using a #5 Pegas MGT and if I recall I was at about 4.5 degrees. I had to change it just a smidgeon for the bottom cut. It's been long enough now that I just can't recall all the details. If I make another one, I'll have to go through all the experimental cuts to find out what angle. Bowls are fun to make. This one came out a bit longer and narrower than I had liked so the next one I'll alter the pattern some and make it a bit wider. I'll leave the length alone.

Beautiful work there Ray, I have a boatload of spalted maple that just doesn't work well for the things I normally make as all the streaks of dark color wood distracts from fretwork type projects.. Anyway, I might have to try making bowls to use that wood up.. I've never done a bowl before, but did make some coffee cups and boxes out of some of it. Won't the size blade also affect the angle you use? In other words if you start out with a #3 blade you should finish cutting with the same number and style blade?

Preprius I hate to sound stupid but I still don't understand. The Corian is 1/2 in thick. Does this mean the walls have to be 1/2 in thick? That is a 1/2 in space between each ring?

Excellent work, Chuck. The segmentation gives the piece a lot of depth. Your coloring is great.

If you design you portrait panels to be 8x10, 11x14 or 16x20 (all standard photo sizes) or 8.5 x11 or 11x17 (standard paper sizes) you can use commercial frames from places like Walmart, Michales, and Hobby Lobby. The less expensive frames usually come with glass and a cardboard backer which are discarded. However, I ahve found more and more of my portraits are not any of these standard sizes, so custom frames are necessary. My custom frames are usually simple 3/4" thk x1 3/4" wide and usually Poplar, rabbeted 1/4 x 1/2" and mitered on table saw, no glass. I use a homemade miter sled to get relatively neat accurate miters. I glue the miters with Titebond Ultimate using a frame making strap clamp and reinforce the joinsts with frame V-nails. I have standerdized my portrait panels to 5/32" thk cut panel and a 1/4" backer, so the 1/2" deep reabbet always works well. Frame finish depends on portrait subject. I have done almost every thing from distressed to, most recently, high gloss Black Lacquer. Most often I use various Minwax stains and finish/protect with either Clear Spray Poly or Wipe-on Poly. I have use Polycrylics, but not a big fan. Application of a pre-stain and a lot of sanding makes for a quality frame. My portrait panels are set in the frame loose using framing points (glasier points also work). Since Scroll Work portraits look best when hung flat on wall and are very lightweight, I install just one small saw tooth tap-in picture hanger centered on the back of the top rail. A very small headed nail is all that is required to hang on wall and they do almost no damage to wall.

Full 3/4" thick. I did mine from Walnut and Maple.

For my personal use, I frame with glass to help keep dust contaminates off the piece. If you've tried dusting a detailed fretwork piece you'll put glass in it to help from having to do the horrible dusting job, LOL That all said, portraits I sell.. I do not frame at all.. Selling online has it's benefits and my conclusion on frames or no frames has come from being able to "offer" just the piece and framed and framed with glass. Over the years I've only sold one piece that was framed.. I think it has to do with a few things... 1) shipping cost is substantially more with a framed piece 2) homemade frames aren't as cheap as a dollar store or even hobby lobby etc. and I'm not competing in their category for frames 3) customers personal decor style.. Before I gave the options for unframed.. they'd ask if I could make a dark wood, light wood, painted black, blah blah blah.. and then offering different prices for unframed vrs. framed and not selling any framed.. well.. one less thing I gotta make to sell it. LOL I have thought about re-offering framed again to see if maybe things changed in the last 8 years... 10-12 years ago portraits was the main things I sold aside from ornaments.

That be me!

terrific job

I was commissioned to make this pair of Chinese Dragons panels. The client chose this Dragon from a group of different Dragons I provided. The patterns were found on-line and had to be only slightly modified to make it scrollable. The original had the “ribs” (for lack of a better word) bridging to the opposite side making a multitude of dropouts. The cut panels are 1/8” x 20” x 30” BB ply mounted on a painted black 1/4" x 20” x 30” BB Ply Backer. The cut panels were stack cut to make mirror images with good side up. Shelf liner was applied to both sides to minimize possible tear out. All cutting was completed with Pegas #1 spiral blades. A number of blades broke, mostly because it was difficult to thread the blade from below without kinking the blade. Keeping the panel flat while cutting was difficult, especially so after some of the larger areas were cut out. Used a lot of blue tape to hold cutouts in place to help keep the panel somewhat rigid while cutting. Yes, the little piece in the Dragon’s nose had to be glued back in after the panel was affixed to the backer. The 20” x 30” BB ply panels were special ordered from Ocooch Hardwoods. I did not find the prices to be too unreasonable for this special order. They responded to my request quickly and the order was received within just a few days. Great service. Now here is where I need some help and opinions. I need to make frames for these panels and cannot decide what width rail/stile I should use. I typically use 1 3/4" wide, but not sure if that will look the best for these panels. Often large frames are narrow (3/4”) or, like large paintings, use a much wider (2 1/2” +) that may be more appropriate. Please provide you opinion on what size I might use and tell me why. You might want to let me know what color the frame should be also. Thanks for you help. EDIT 12/22/21 I made the frames from 1"wide x 3/4" thick Poplar. I think the 1" frame width works well for these Chinese Dragon mirror image panels. I did a significant amoiunt of hand sanding to obtain a very smooth surface. I then applied two coats of a Rustolium Black Primer sanding between coats, again to a very smooth finish after which I applied multiple coats of Rustoleum Black Lacquer. Just as I was finishing the final coat, the nozzle on the spray can stuck in the open (spraying) position and made a mess, but fortunately not on the frames. After drying almost 24 hours, I found there was some areas of blush. Two light coats of Deft Clear Gloss Lacquer did a nice job of getting a bright uniform finish. This commission project was difficult in many respects, but I feel it came out fairly well and am hoping the clients are happy. I'm not sure I would want to tackle a large panel project like this again. Thanks again to all that offered comments and advice. When appropriate and a black frame is needed, I think I will be using Black Lacquer again.

I didn't really complete the pattern as in this case I didn't clean up the wheels / spokes and also didn't make bridges for where to stop cutting on the wheel profile and the riders head. I don't normally share my patterns because I almost never make a completed pattern. I knew what I wanted to do with it so I don't take the time to make a cleaned up completed pattern. With that said you're welcome to use it if you can.. or have someone finish cleaning it up to make it a more comprehensive pattern. I should take the time to do this on many of my patterns but I don't because I don't sell them or typically share them.

Nice work. The whole world can use all the help we can get now!

My wife and I made the kid's Christmas toys again this year. My son is 10 and daughter is 8. I do the scroll work and assembly and she does the painting, craft and detail work. The truck and helicopter came from toymaking plans. The doll high chair is a Steve Good pattern increased to 300% size. The washer dryer is modeled after the american girl doll version. Good friends gave her the American girl dolls a few years back and its been fun to make the items that are a bit out of our price point. The fun part about the truck/trailer/helicopter is I used my father-in-law's (he passed 10 years ago) craftsman scroll saw and the oak for the truck came out of some old shelves from their house that were to far gone for anything else. Wife repurposed the lower half for a butler pantry. They have had those shelves for over 40 years. All my wife's brothers were in town for the first Christmas together since he passed. Wood used for the truck was walnut, maple and oak sizes ranging from 1/8 inch to 1.5 inch. 1/2 inch plywood for the chair and washer/dryer. I struggled with the 1.5 inch maple interior cuts on the scrollsaw. I'm not really sure how to do interior cuts on thick hardwoods without bending the blade. Side note: I've been following everyone's brag posts for a few years now. Yall are amazing. Your talent and skill is often results in me sharing your uploads to family and friends.

Thank you. They have both enjoyed them so far. I love the suggestion of the date on those. Knowing my memory, I'll need to do that before I sleep.

Awesome toys to be cherished. Might I suggest you write the date on the bottom of each toy for future reference.

Fantastic! I hope the children appreciate all the work you and your wife did on these heirlooms. God Bless! Spirithorse

Those are really great projects. Well done and much more meaningful than store bought items, for sure. You and your wife's work is something the kids will appreciate even into their adult hood. If they do not hang on to these pieces as they get older, they will still enjoy showing the photos of these items to their own children and telling them how their grandparents made these for them.. Dick heppnerguy

All Fantastic work!! I really like your Welcome sign.

This design was popular here last year,, the grain in your piece is cool looking.

Awesome work Frank. Something simple and black for the frame. Marg

My theory on frames is that your eye should go to the portrait and not the frame. Therefore, I would use a simple frame and a narrow matt to further set the portrait off, something like Dave did there with the wolf.

Amazing work on all projects, well done. Marg

Wow some of them must of took ages lots of blade dis mounts.

This was a good project. This is 3/4 Alderwood. Cut with a #2 Reverse tooth blade. That was a lot of turns! LOL

I want to use up some Corian scraps I have and decided to try my hand at making some bowls. Having trouble finding patterns. I don't want fretwork style, just simple closed bowl. Also since the Corian is 1/2 inch does that mean that I have to have 1/2 inch rings? ANY help and suggestions appreciated.

Thanks Frank, also I was looking at the one picture is that a ball or round object above the couple as well? The picture cuts it off..