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I started making these for apprentice lineworkers once they completed their training (4 years) and became journey level lineworkers. I retired back in September and didn't wnat to leave out apprentices that I hired and started their training while I was still there. I plan on still making them as workers complete their training. May not be able to give in person but hope they like them.

You guys are doing math for fun? There is so much other fun stuff you could be doing instead, like taking out the trash, or cleaning the cats litter box…

Gone Fishing - my latest project, some of my customers asking me who I coming up with patterns. Sometimes idea of the pattern and finished pattern are very different. This pattern is nice example: fistly I wanted to make just a pike, then I remember that one of my customer asked for "gone fishing" pattern, so I added this sign, but this scene looks not finished, I added fishing rod, but it looks not realistic, I added fishing line with bait, it came out too fragile, I added seaweed to make more connected areas. And here is final result Video of making project Gone Fishing pattern

Wife and I talk about something similar.. just the two of us so we don't need a huge 40ft travel trailer.. Was actually thinking about going with a toy hauler and have the minimal tools in the toy / shop section of the trailer.. this way we can ride together instead of both having to drive.. no need for two trucks trailers etc. etc. I suppose if you're not going all that far away maybe not a big deal for two trucks etc.. I'm just not sure why one would want to hit the open road driving alone somewhat.. Like I said though may work that way for a small 3-5 hour trip.. but if you're traveling the states and going distances.. doesn't sound fun at all to me.. Another option is to haul a 5th wheel TT.. as with a 5th wheel you can also haul a smaller enclosed trailer attached to the 5th wheel.. that way still one truck.. Then again.. if you have that spouse that never stops talking and drives you nuts.. then the idea of two trucks is genius..

Did a portrait of my sister. She likes it so I guess it's a win. 1/2" red oak.

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!

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.

This would not be a dilemma for me. I would keep both! For me, it’s important to have a working saw at all times. If something went wrong with my primary saw, I have a backup till I could repair it. Yes, it takes up space, but at least it’s there if I need it.

How's this:

Although a different situation tha yours, my wife and I spent the best 3 years of our lives out on the road. We had a 1 ton crew cab dually Chevy Duramax/Allison pulling a 36 foot Hitchhiker 5th wheel trailer. We sold everything except a few family things which were in a 6 x 8 ft storage unit. We thought at first about work camping but soon gave that idea up as we did not want to be on anybody's schedule but our own. It was wonderful. Have fun.

I have the Delta pegas chucks and I had to put lock tight on the set screw to keep it from moving out from use.

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

Sheila Landry Pattern Measures 12x16

What do you all do to maintain your blade chucks?? I've been using my Excalibur since around November and the last week or so I've noticed the lever to apply tension to the blade seems stiffer to move and sometimes has a slight squeak. I've read somewhere there really is no maintenance really required for them? Anyway it got me to thinking.. there are moving parts to these and honestly it's going to wear out something at some point. Now I do know there is replacement parts such as the spring and the pin / shaft etc.. What did I do? I have this can of dry lube that is recommended for my CNC and Laser to lube the slides roller wheels etc. that move the router / laser head etc. It's actually just garage door track lube. I have used this stuff for a lot of different applications from my lawn equipment too? it's awesome stuff. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blaster-11-oz-Lubricant/50320173?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-hdw-_-ggl-_-LIA_HDW_214_Auto-Batteries-_-50320173-_-local-_-0-_-0&ds_rl=1286981&gclid=Cj0KCQiAosmPBhCPARIsAHOen-PjE2fCIKrbgsnie_HMvpKzhNSX2KdJa0qyKgLaHdys7O17WIAIti8aAl3tEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Anyway.. I was as careful as I could be and had towel in hand to catch any of the drips from getting onto my thumb screws etc. as that would make blades slip for sure probably. I sprayed just a drop or so onto the upper parts of the lever and moving parts to that upper clamp.. All I can say is WOW!! that thing works so smooth and easy now.. I would guess that doing this would certainly prolong the life of the wear parts for sure.. I was a little worried since it works so easy and smooth that it might make the lever pop up and loose tension of the blade because it feels like so easy that it would but so far not a problem.. Other maintenance I do periodically is to remove the thumb screw and clean up the threads and a drop of oil on them because over time the dust works its way into the threads and it gets gritty feel to them when tightening the blade down etc.. Also pull the little pin out and clean it and the little O-ring and re-apply some lube to the O-ring. I use a very small dab of Vaseline on the O-ring and re-insert it into the end of the thumb screw and spin it a few times to work it around so it works nice and smooth. Years ago when I first got my dewalt saw people talked about making sure to purchase a extra set of blade chucks.. because they always strip out etc.. so I did that.. but in maintaining them the way I do I never did have to use the spares.. I think sometimes people look over the small stuff when doing any maintaining of their tools.. Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience with the squeaky blade chuck.. maybe lubing it with some dry lube of some sort will prolong the life of the wear parts.

I guess I do things the easiest way. When I start cutting I marked down the time When I finish I mark down the time. Now for the sanding applying the pattern tacking off the pattern and spraying the part with liquor it takes 8 minuets no matter how large the part is but 8 minutes is the average time. If the run time is 30 minutes that takes it to 38 minutes . I charge 40 cents per minute which will bring it up to $25 per hour.. I just go to shows I enjoy the people I get to talk to and do not charge for this time. I have been doing this for 55 - 60 years and it has worked fine ever since the start I just change the 40 cents every once in a while to keep up with the times. I am 82 now and plan to keep doing this till I am 90. I have seen some big improvements in all those years I ;am hoping for 90 years . IKE

I worked at a National Lab (BNL) in a variety of capacities (loved my job) but primarily a Technician. managed a semiconductor processing lab, a machine shop and got to design and build one of a kind gadgets. I can't think of a better job, That said the Physicists would walk into my office with crazy ideas for things that did not yet exist. They and many of the Engineers where absolutely brilliant but had never built anything. Talk about over complicating things. That is where my moto below kicked in. We had a great balance their brilliance kept me challenged and employed.

This all made my brain hurt at 7:46 in the morning and I even had my coffee!!

I did similar when mine started to feel stiff and stick a little. Just a drop of oil along the shaft that goes vertical through the clamp body and let it work its way down the hole and the clamp was moving super smooth again.

I figure if I don't get something finished, hopefully, their's always tomarrow.

Commissioned heart shaped box made of Padauk and Maple with a velvet bottom.

Hi Barb, when we built the garage and put bay doors in, the doors came with an extra slat (I think they used it to pack the doors so they wouldn't get damaged) well we use that slat for a bench in the shop. It's not very wide, but it's very long and works great. Maybe you can find something like that?

But the bean counters say since people don't use the upper half we can reduce cost. And charge the same or more.

Every time I have ever tried Olson blades I have hated them! They were so darned dull that they hardly cut and they wouldn't cut straight. I found Eberle Scroll saw blades and I instantly fell in love with them. They were super scary sharp, they cut straight and they cut smooth. They never wandered and they lasted a very long time before they became dull or broken. Sadly, the last batch of Eberle blades were not worth a darned. I am now using Pegas Blades and I am extremely happy with them. I have only been using them for a few weeks now, but I am more than satisfied with them. I do go through a lot of blades per year because my scroll saw sees a tremendous amount of use. Last year I went through approximately 13,824 blades to make all of the gifts that I gave away and also the projects that I sold to keep my shop supplied in wood and blades for my Band saw, Table saw, Cut off saw and of course my Hawk Scroll saw!

Did you calculate your time figuring all this out, I guess I take the easy way out by just adding an hour meter to my saw so that it turns on / off with the saw.. LOL You'll find that with fretwork type of work that hour meter is actually going to be a very small portion of your "real time" ..

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.

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.

Keep the more user friendly "to you" one.. while the two are very similar.. the Delta has a device to keep the arm lifted while changing blades or threading to a new hole etc.. But that also said.. used Dewalts seem to hold a resale value better and more likely to get more money from it than the Delta even though basically the same saw.. If you have room etc.. keep both..

Keep Both

Are you close to the Restore in Winnipeg. I bought hanging cupboards for $20 each. They had all sorts of older kitchen cabinets. Nice kitchen stuff in expensive but the cupboards that are out of style very reasonable. You never know what you can find.

I have been looking at base cabinets from a kitchen. The space I am changing out has my "shop" sink in it. The area used to be my old laundry room and it is very handy having the sink there for cleanups.

I guess since I have been sawing for 20 years I have a pretty good idea of what I need to charge per-piece.. I'm not desperate for custom work and much of it I just turn down anyway because it takes time away from "normal production" that I end up loosing money by doing custom work.. what I mean by custom work is doing something I don't normally make and do not have proper finishes etc. for that, for instance I get asked to make outdoor signs a lot.. It's best to use certain lumber and finishes etc for outside items.. I can make it but it's not what I make so I kindly turn it down. I'm not so worried about my hourly wage or production, while I'm in business to make money.. some products I make don't make me a large profit on a per hour basis but other products I make I make very good profits from.. Some of those products that are not money makers for me are in a round about way.. as they grab attention to my store.. people come in and see "other cool things" that are cheaper.. and buy that instead.. so they are profit at the end of the day.. Keeping track of time for each aspect of a project from start to finish is a job by itself.. you need to calculate the time it takes you to keep track of your time and be sure to price accordingly.. If you work for a company do they make you punch out to use the bathroom? LOL I think estimated times and pricing is plenty sufficient and yeah sometimes you don't charge enough and you learn not to do that again..

You might be able to be hired for classroom for teaching / demo scrollsaw techniques. Bring the feild trip to the outdoor class.

Beautiful, for sure!

As Kevin pointed out, the cutting is a small part of the time you consume especially when doing fretwork. That becomes very saw dependent. It literally takes me seconds to switch holes on my Hawk G4. If you have a lower end saw with clamps that require tools that time goes up dramatically. Blade TPI and of course experience will also impact the cut times significantly.

No, it's an itch I HAVE to scratch. Until I found the method to figure it out I just had to let it itch, now? Down the rabbit hole.

I've had this made but unpainted sitting in my shop for months. There are several more in the series currently suffering the same fate.

Been playing around with modifying existing patterns to make them into things that others are not doing.. seems everyone selling the puzzles so I make clocks, LOL Also shrink them down to make ornaments.. Did a larger wall clock design but I broke it trying to cut the hole for the insert, so might try redesigning it from thin stock and adding a backer for strength.

Sue Mey pattern Colored with epoxy resin

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

do a search for the excaliber scroll saw stand, all including mine are 4 legs and mine is rock solid

I just decided how high i wanted it and just cut the legs off of my Polymax's stand didn't take me 1/2 hour to cut the three legs ( used a square to keep them square )- i popped the inserts out the cut offs and popped them into the stand -easy peasie ( i have another heavy duty stand for a polymax if i ever want to go back to the high stand ) ( But i wont )

The one with the Lavender backer is Spray Painted. The other is My attempt at Painting with a lil brush. So what u think? Danny :+}

Just finished cutting this piece. A big shout out to Don for doing this pattern for me so quick. This is for my grandson who's getting married in a few months. It's about 10 inches long and 4 inches wide.

Here is what I have done so far this year. The two bears are for the grand-kids for Valentines day. Steve Good pattern cut from Sapelle, Maple & Aspen. The Gnomes are from Gayle at Scrollers Cafe. Cut from an old MDF baseboard, and sapelle for the heart. The segmented rose is from Steve Good as well. Cut from pine. Tried a couple of different techniques. Overall, please with the results except the backing. That was a big fail, but shushhh, no one needs to know!!!

1951 Bullet Nose Studebaker Champion I keep getting drawn back to the Studebaker car series. I have done a 57 Hawk and a 54 Champion (thanks to Charles Dearing design) The ’51 Champion and Commander models were one of the more innovative post WWII designs coming out of Studebaker. Raymond Lowey offered some interesting design elements to make it stand out from the Ford and Chevy models of the same year. The wrap around rear window and the “bullet nose” on the front grill gave the appearance of a recip. engine reminiscent of WWII fighter aircraft and added to the design. The Champion coupe model had a straight V-6 85 HP engine and the 4 door Commander had a V-8 120 HP engine. 1951 was one of Studebakers better selling year but their focus was changed with the Korean war that redirected production from commercial vehicles to military trucks and equipment. The Commander, with its larger 232 cu. Inch engine was later modified to become one of the earlier “Hot Rods”. The design is on the SSV library but I decided to do my own. I did my “paint in” technique on the tires and certain bridges. The grill was a challenge, more so because the size of the pixels didn’t allow for even holes and I had to draw them in and to nibble them in to even them up. Pattern is 1/8” BBPW on ¼” PW backer with shellac and Gloss Lacquer finish.

You won't recognize this unless you're a pretty big Lord Of The Rings fan. It was an Inn/Tavern in the first movie. I cut it from an image I found on Google. *Decided to add a little brass and hang it on our barn quilt.

When I was thinking about my next pattern I noticed that my cat was watching birds outside the window, so my choise of new pattern was easy, here is the result. Making of cat project Cat pattern

You can't tell much from a head shot. And that was taken about 12 years ago. I've put a few pounds on since the pandemic hit. I've been 6' 2" since I was in the 6th grade.