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When I saw this pattern by Kenny Hopkins I knew it was a must cut. I am just starting to try to learn to make frames so I hope to have some good improvements with them as I go a long. I will try to make a frame for all my future cuts so some day they will hopefully be much better. I cut this one with Pegas #2 MG blades on 1/4 inch BB PLY. I am pretty satisfied with the end results. Dick heppnerguy

Its been awhile since I have posted any of my works but just wanted to put this one on! This is a Jim Blume pattern and it has been a few years since I have cut any portrait style with just using spiral blades, fd 2/0, 3/0! The cutting is 11"x 14" using 1/8" bb mounted on 1/2" mdf. I cut 2 and they will be given to 2 different animal rescues. Erv

Got two Russ Beard patterns done, both were a lot of fun but each was over 400 cuts. The wolf one is done on a 3/4 inch oak TV tray. the 2 tigers are done on oak also but it is several strips I edge glued up for a cutting piece, it is about a 1/2 inch thick. Blades used were on the 3/4 piece #5 UR dutchman and for the 1/2 oak # 3 UR dutchman blades. All worked good for me. Had a small issue on the large 3/4 inch oak but Charlie Hand helped out and gave me a couple of tips that worked great. My thanks to Russ for both patterns I really am happy how they came out.

Another goblin. I saw a photo on google and decided to print it to make my pattern, here is the result. I painted it with watercolors so as not to lose the grain of the wood Thank you in advance for your comments, greetings to all!

A few cutting in the new shop. The Ice skate, Dream Catcher and Cupid are cut from 1/4 inch Furniture Grade Pine ( my new favorite) . I bought the pine at Johnson workshop and I really like it. It cuts easy and there is very little sanding. Has anyone else used this wood? Thoughts?

Needed a break from cutting puzzles and with icing conditions outside decided to cut another Americana Series from Jim Blume. I cut #1 yesturday. I had cut #2 last week. First time using sprial blades. Thanks Jim Blume for great patterns. Going to do more of the series. I have #12 ready to start on. Now to make frames.

I tried the blue tape for stack cutting, then one day someone mentioned hot glue, so I tried it. For me it works so much better. I put a dab of hot glue on each side, by the corner and the middle while clamping the wood together. A razor knife separates them when I am done and a small block plane removes any left overs.

I found a new website called Cute Cutter. It's primarily for making patterns for vinyl cutting machines but I've had fun playing around with it and made this simple pattern of my grandson. Although it's a free sight you can donate if you want to. Well worth it.

A few pictures of my She Shed. The Scroll Saw part is finished. I still have to bring up the Stained Glass stuff.

I lowered my 2008 Hegner stand by cutting four inches off the legs. I can now sit as I do inlay on this saw. I had to bolt it to the concrete floor to control the vibration.

Hi Ray: You must like weird things, you posted 3 times on this one.............LOL Fab4

I'm pretty sure I've read in this forum that if you cover a pattern with packing tape - it will lubricate the blade and thru prevent burning. I've tried that a couple of times and I get so many reflections from the lights in the shop that it's near impossible to keep focus on the pattern line. What am I doing wrong??? Thanks for reading.

I ran across this line image on-line and just had to convert it to a Scroll saw Pattern. I sized it to fit centered on a 5/32” x 12”x 12” Solid Core Maple Ply panel that I affixed to a Hand Painted ¼” thick BB Ply backer. The Tree of Life pattern needed a bit of work to eliminate a lot of dropouts. Also a lot of bridges added to the font letters. The lettering font of the lyrics to the song “Trees of Green” was very irregular shapes which made cutting with a spiral blade simple. Pegas #2/0 and #0 blades were used to do all the cutting. The Panel is set loose in a 1 3/4” wide Poplar Frame stained with Minwax Dark Walnut Stain and protected with multiple coats of Minwax Clear Gloss Wipe on Poly. Comments and critique welcome.

It took all year so far to choose and make a project. Any shape can be a bowl. So I decided to make a boot bowl. More specifically a desert boot bowl. Bowl: Wood is from a free source of discarded wine aged oak slots. I had to glue up 3 slots to make a boot. The cactus is Baltic birch plywood with a really thinned down green acrylic paint. The white oak slots were 0.3 inches thick so I needed a few rings around to make a decent height of a bowl. White oak is a bit different than red oak in ways of grain structure. The glue up of oak slots was bad because not all slats are the same thickness. I don't have a planer so I attempted with palm sander. Lot of work. Hard to get a straight edge without a table saw. Anyway not having a perfectly flat wood to start with causes issues when gluing the rings together. This bowl will NOT hold liquid. I had to use baking soda mixed with saw dust any instant glue to fill in big gaps. The cactus had some really sharp turns. I had to go very slow around the tight turns since I was using stack cut inlay technique the thickness was 0.55 inches. With really tight turns I decided to use Pegas #1 mgt. Some of my learnings from this site was to make super high tension on blades and go slow. General Finishes finish "Armor R Seal" was used. I still have 2 more coats to make it shinier. Bottle stoppers: Niles Bottle stoppers web site has a gallery of customer art work. So I noticed that some of the turned pieces look like bombs and missiles. Of course you get other ideas in the middle of a project. So I came up with a play on words "Lets Get Bombed" and used that idea on 2 bottle stoppers. There was no "bombers" on her gallery. Since these stoppers are used for alcohol consumption. I had to play with words "How can you get bombed without a bomber" ? So I had to make a B2 bottle stopper. Oh your doing shots !!!! Then the A10 is the best. Ok someone else can make the AC130 gunship. Actually this would be a great theme for military bars. B2- wood black walnut. Armor R Seal for final finish. Since this was a quick 1 day project. I only did a silhoette. I needed thickness to mount the bottle stopper. Since you getting higher I wanted to point up. So thickness on bottom does not match the actual thin wind trailing edge. A10- Red Oak shows some good grain that indicates wind around the wings. I should have made dowels for the engines. But this was a quick get it done project. Again thickness of the wood is needed for bottle stopper usage. I don't drink but I can always find someone that likes the stoppers. For once I already know what my next project is. It will take a long while to make. I only have weekends to play. And it will be something I have not done. I know there will be re-starts. My order of wood from "Cherokee woods" gets here tomorrow. I am getting excited. Me. Mark Eason

He must be in politics Dick.

Yeah, I'm weird. I thought by now you knew. Lol.

I know this is an old post, but was wondering if anyone as done marquetry and can post their projects, thx RJ

Ike, what and how can you use a vice on your patterns when cutting them? I am completely confused by what you say. Can you please explain this or show a photo of what you are talking about? Dick heppnerguy

I have saved the wire. I don't save all of it, but I usually have a few pieces laying about. It occasionally has some craft applications. For example, one year I made some snowman decorations to give as Christmas gifts. One a couple of them, I fashioned a corn broom for the snow man to hold (the others held a snow shovel). I made the broom out of some short strands, cut from a full size corn broom, then attached to a dowel. I wrapped the strands with the fine wire to hold it in place and give it an authentic look. Ever since then, I have tried to save some of the wire, in case I find another use for it. Doesn't happen often, but occasionally it comes in very handy.

I did not know this. I tried packing tape a couple of times and found it to be a problem with it catching the saw dust and making the cutting lines difficult or impossible to see. Thanks for the tip. If I ever feel a need to try this idea again, I will definitely keep this in mind. Dick heppnerguy

Clear packing tape has a really good sticking effect but don't you find it will remove some of the wood fiber if used on BB Ply? Just wondering as that is the problem I see in this method. On a hard wood I do not see this to be a problem. Dick heppnerguy

He came out really good Charlie. Love the one on the wood.

Great job Dick. I know the stars are to hardest to cut. You did a great job on the frame.

awesome job

Good patriotic project. Was the stars hard? The cuts look good and consistent. Me. Mark Eason

Thanks Dick. It’s kind of hit and miss on this site depending on the picture. Some translate into a pattern better than others. It’s a lot of fun playing around with the different setting trying to get it right though. I spent hours on it today and came up with some decent patterns of family members. I really like this one of my sister though I’ll have to do a little work to make it scrollable.

Our scrap metal yard is a free to dump site, no cash exchanged. Marg

I love the wood portrait idea in scrolling. it is one thing that I really have wanted to master but never seem to take the time to learn it. Will check out the sight and see if it is something I would like to pursue. I love how good it looks on the wood and it is really easy to tell who it is Dick heppnerguy

Hi, I use them to “floss” the saw dust in the tight spots.

Nice work Charlie. I came from the paper crafter/vinyl cutter world. I have always said, most patterns for that and scrolling are quite interchangeable between the two types of cutting. I have used many scroll patterns in the paper cutting and vise versa over the years. Good to hear about this site. Will have to remember to check it out.

I was rolling mine in a ball. After many times picking it up after finding it on the floor. I gave a toss to the trash can didn't roll out of that.

I watched a rifle maker (is there a term for that?) do some inlay on the stock. He used various types of fine wire to embellish the wood. I guess one could incorporate it in some work. Oh, I toss mine too. No hording in our house, except for wood and sawdust.

There is a salvage yard about 10 miles down the road. The last time I passed by they were paying $8.50USD per 100 pounds of misc scrap. I think that is about 20 lifetimes of scroll saw blades.

Save it! Roll it up into a ball. When you open a new pack of blades, connect the ends and continue to roll it into a ball. Just think, one day people will come from miles away just to see the world's largest scroll saw blade wire ball. Better hurry. My ball is up to a half inch!

I am happy to see that I still do this all wrong.

No, you are not the oddball. I see these methods being touted all the time and since I have been scrolling for, well let's just say a couple of years, and although I tried those methods, I find no appreciable difference, and essentially save steps and money simply using a repositioning adhesive to affix my patterns to the project. I do lightly sand the top piece though which helps the adhesive to better bond. I am not simply a sceptic either. Whenever I see a new method or idea, I do give it a fair test to see if it works. I did that and found it to be a complete waste of my time and money. As to lubricating the blades as some say, I find the opposite. I do use blue painter's tape on the edges when stack sawing to hold the pieces together, and when I hit some of that tape, I notice it being harder/slower to cut. Slower means friction to me and what dulls blades in my opinion is heat. But, as I will always say, people should do whatever works for them. And I will never say that this way or that is best. What's best is what works for each person. I am sure some will disagree, and that of course is the way of the world. Regardless, enjoy the journey.

Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins. One of my favorite pieces so far. I love the Lord Of The Rings movies and I think this quote pretty well sums up the moral of the movies. Not a bad quote to live by. The symbol under the quote is a symbol J R R Tolkien made up. It is made up of his 4 initials. The cutting is 9" X 11"-1/2" red oak with some mystery pallet wood I glued together and planed for the backer. I nearly wrecked it a few times including a piece that broke off, that I was able to glue back. And worst of all, I put it in my chair while I was working on the backer, and sat on it. Can't believe it survived. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6C8SX0mWP0

I used to swear by the blue painters tape on my wood and under the pattern. Later I saw a person who glued the pattern directly on the wood. I tried it and liked it except for the glue residue left after using mineral spirits. I did find that a cloth dipped into the MS would quickly take off the residue. Then I discovered something more.... (one thing I was skeptical about}, only using a very light coat of spray glue on the pattern and not on the wood itself, and waiting for 3 minutes before applying the pattern directly on the wood. My thought was...the glue wood be too dry and the pattern would raise off the wood while I was cutting it, especially if it was a small holed fret piece. To my surprised it worked better than any method I had previously used. I also found on most of the patterns I was cutting, I was able to peel off the pattern quite easily without using any MS at all. This was a blessing because I also did not have any glue residue left behind like I did with the MS. Another good thing using this method was sometimes when I did use blue painters tape on BB ply it would sometimes lift some of the wood grain and the new method has never done that on me. It is extremely important that I always sand the wood smooth and make sure there is no sanding residue on the wood before I place the pattern on it. I even run the palm of my hand over the wood surface to make sure I see no sawdust on my hand and only then am I assured it is clean enough to place my pattern on it. heppnerguy

Ha,,, "cheap plastic/rubber bellows is like $45". that is not cheap to me! But you could look at it this way, my Hegner is 11 years old,,, been rode hard and put away wet, but the bellow still looks fine... So if I get a few more year out of the bellows, say, 3, just to stay with even numbers....... 14 years (get it?, even numbers), that is only $3.21 a year. Now figure that with repairs on other cheaper saws that may not and probably will not last the long, with as much use, needing major repairs or replaced... I will keep my Hegner.. Hawk probably averages out about the same,, I do no know.. Really, to me the major differences are simple preferences.. The Hegner will not top feed.. the Hawk will. Maybe the Hawk table is bigger, I do not know. Maybe the Hawk table will tilt more in both directions than the Hegner, I do not know.... Both are work horses, both are great saws and for what I do scrolling, I would be happy with either, I think. I have never had the privilege of scrolling with a Hawk... I sure would like to.. The major things to me on my Hegner are, if I need help/customer service for my Hegner it will be there, if I need parts they well be there.. Maybe/maybe not so much on the current Hawk... but the seems to be improving..

I agree Paul. I think the Pegas blades may be a bit harder and may snap a bit quicker than other brands.

First I would try a little more tension. Second try a different brand blade. Third I would try adjusting saw speed and feed rate. One thing I have found in 13 years of using my Hegner is once you find the tension sweet spot you stop most of the blade breakage

On my Hegner, at the top of the stroke, the point of contact with the bottom of the wood is about 1 inch above the bottom clamp. It would make sense for blades to commonly break there, heat and stress would be highest at that point.

You don't need a vacuum press table to glue the project like in the video and yes Scrappile it is the packet type cutting that I had stated about as being one of the easyest to do...

I m a spray glue guy all the way. No tape or other stuff, no time, money or patience for that stuff. Just a super duper light coat of spray glue on the pattern. Then you have to let it sit for at least 20 minutes. srs. It wil be barely tacky. Put it on the wood. and cut. Will come off when you are done and stay in place for cutting. Takes some fiddling with to figure it out but once you do you will never go back,

Only thing I use the clear tape for now days since I started using the shelf liner is taping around the edges to hold a stack together..which in my case is daily use but still.. I also use it for making my boxes to ship my order in.. I do use the Duck brand "easy peel? I think.. It is a thicker tape and peals off the roll easy.. some of those tapes if you don't leave a tail on it and it gets stuck back to the roll you play heck trying to get it peeled back again without tearing and breaking many little pieces.. and the easy peel or maybe it's called easy start? anyway. it's the easiest best tape I've found..

Nope, it lifts off all in one piece. I know when I first used it I was amazed and ran and showed Tony. He laughed and said ''my goodness, you're easily pleased''

When cutting our native timbers such as Jarrah, Marri etc I always use clear tape on top of the pattern. I use practically the same method as @dgman Dan. When I first heard about doing this to reduce or even eliminate burning, I had my doubts, however I find I it does as advertised. I also have a magnifying lamp and and another on one side of the saw.

I do use clear packing tape over the pattern. The trick is to apply the tape tightly without air bubbles. Do not wrap. I then use a small block of wood to burnish the tape to remove any air bubbles. With the tape tightly applied, you won’t get any sawdust under the tape. A far as glare, I use a lighted magnifying light and an additional light to the side of the saw table. With this setup, I don’t get any glare.

Brian I agree with Chris. Corel Draw is a big program to download. If you dont mind me asking.....what do you want to do with Corel Draw? This is a pricey program and injkscape will do just about everything corel will do and its free. If your planning on doing just pattern design I would stay away from Corel because of the price. If you plan on doing alot of graphic art design then go for it! I do use Corel x3 and love it. I only had the program because I used for t-shirt printing.

How long are you waiting after it gets to that point. Alot of downloads will verify its down load prior to saying complete. Other than that I have no idea.