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These are my first cuts of the year. The patterns are by Sue Mey, cut from 5mm pine. They look brighter that they do in the photo and the noses are pink. Marg

According to Facebook Messenger Alex Fox was last online at 11:00 AM EST today. I take that as a good sign.

I was inspired to make this project by seeing a cowboy hat made by a lathe. This is a wearable cowboy hat. I thought that this was a bit of a challenge so I expected some re-dos. I did have some oopses but was able to recover from them. Since I have done bowls before, I thought just maybe I could do it. A hat's crown is the same basic shape. Just add a thin top, and a big thin wide brim. And "how to bend" wood. Oh crap ! I had to learn that and hope it came out okay. I bought thin project ready stock from Cherokee woods, 1/8 " thick. Then added 3/4" thick 10"x 24" board for bowl / crown. This is maple wood. So I cut a maple leaf topper using 45 deg table tilt. I have lots of pictures during the making of this Maple Cowboy Hat. But for now I will attach 5. This hat conforms to my head. I bought a drafting curve tool 30" and wrapped it around my head. Then traced it on paper and scanned into computer. With inkscape I created a curve path and made my head shape. With the "linked offset" tool I made 8 lines with 1/8" offset. This is my pattern. The 3rd picture shows 2 rings cut and the pattern. Yes I have an eggshaped head. I have about 20 hours into the project. Ok that was the intro. I did have inspiration from: OCTOOLGUY Dave Monk Also Ruth Niles from Niles bottle stoppers. Youtube "wooden cowboy hats". There is a song from Chris LeDoux named "This Cowboy Hat". I was so inspired by this project, I thought I could change the words to the song. If you are interest in a personal message of new words to the song. I can provide that. The last pic shows a quick small prototype / test, I did before I started this project. Small test used 1/4" baltic birch plywood. Me. Mark Eason

I have had a Festool hooked up to my EX21 since I got it. Years ago. Works great.

I had thought about posting about Alex's store and supporting him yesterday while we was gone to visit my daughter.. Here is a link to his etsy shop. Not sure if this is what Melanie was asking if we knew of his site or if she was saying something about the posting on FB.. Anyway here is his etsy shop link. https://www.etsy.com/shop/AlexFoxUA?ref=usf_2020

Some vacuum cleaners are designed for that, but they are expensive. The Festool vacuum that I plan to hook up to the Pegas-21 I just purchased has served me well turning on and off in conjunction with many many tools at many many job sites for 17 years.

It’s always been listed in the subsection of “Everything Else.” There are 3 main subsections in the Village forum area. There is the “Town Square,” “Pattern Central,” and “Everything Else”. Each of those subsections have multiple sub-forums in them. The 3 you listed are in the “Town Square.” What you “see” at any time depends on how deep you are into the forums, as well as what tool (phone, PC, tablet) you are using to view the Village on. These are the forums by subsections. Of course, there are also other sections and areas in the Village outside of these areas in the forum. Such as the Pattern Library, scroll saw reviews, tutorials, and User Galleries are just a few. and the “Resources” area which include these: this is just some areas and items. I hope everyone takes opportunities to look around at the Village and find all the things we have available here to us.

I made a mistake, part 2 (see part 1 under "Other Woodworks") Last year, in discussions in this forum about dust collection, we talked about vacuum cleaners for dust collection. Per the discussions, I installed a small Oreck vacuum cleaner for use with my scroll saw. I cleverly (or so I thought) wired it to turn off and on with the foot switch which also powered my scroll saw. The vacuum cleaner soon died and wound up in the trash bin. I now have another Oreck dedicated to my scroll saw, not wired to my foot switch. I turn this one on when I sit down at my scroll saw and turn it off when I leave the station. The first one lasted a few months and this one is now going on a year. Conclusion: Vacuum cleaners (Orecks, cannot say about any other brands) are not designed for frequent turning on and off.

I just ordered two patterns from Alex’s Etsy shop. Spent $19. My wife just ordered some cross stitch patterns from an Etsy shop based in Ukraine. They are urging to limit purchases to $20 or less. Apparently, $20 or less is easier for them to access. Let’s support Alex and other Ukrainian artists as best as we can!

There was a Craftsman power control module that you connected your power tool to, and then also your vacuum to a second outlet on it. Whenever you turned the tool on, a second or two later the module will turn the vacuum on. When you turn the tool off, the vacuum will continue a few seconds more, and then shut down. I have one of these, and use it with a Dust Deputy on a 5 gallon covered pail and a dust producing tool, like a sander, etc. The big benefit of this module is that both the tool and the vacuum are not starting and stopping at the same time, so one is not affecting the other. Brushes and switch contacts can get damaged when multiple brush type motors are switched on and off frequently at the same time and they are on the same circuit. Separating their start and stop times will prevent this. I can't guarantee that your vacuum will never die after connecting it to one of these modules, but it should make it last considerably longer. Another company is making these control modules. I've seen adds for them, but can't remember the company name. Actually, with Lowes now selling Craftsman tools, they might be selling these modules too. I did a search for it on the Lowes website, but they, and Google, have dumbed down the search engines so they find everything but what is being searched for now. Charley

Also take a look at some of the newer and smaller dust collection systems. Probably a lot cheaper than buying a new vacuum every few years.

I think another big factor in the life of a vacuum is what kind of filter and how often it is cleaned / replaced.

I've never heard of Anatoly until this topic.. Have not been into the FB groups much until recently.. Prayers to all that are involved in that area..

I don't think the MetroVac 5000 that Seyco sells as their Scroll Saw Dust Vac is really designed to turn on and off with a foot switch either but I've had this for two years now and run 400 hours on my saw.. still working very well.. I will note that.. while the dust bag doesn't really "fill up" since it has a dust deputy in the seyco kit.. The bag does get some really fine dust in it and really restricts the air flow.. I can tell by sound of the Vac motor that it's working harder by it being a bit louder.. I now take a air hose outside and blow the dust out of the bag every week or so and can surely notice a difference in performance and sound.. I guess my point is.. Is it possible that rather than the turning on / off with the foot switch that it could be clogged filter / air flow.. maybe a combo of that and turning on / off? If the air flow is blocked even a little on my vac system the vac body gets hotter.. in my system the air flow goes across the motor to "cool" the motor.. I also from time to time take the bag out and blow air with my air hose through the inside of the vac.. I notice sometimes the fine dust even escapes the bag and gets a coating of fine dust on the impeller and motor.. Anyway.. just some thoughts.. I'd certainly go nuts if the vac was on the whole time.. plus.. seems like it'd get hot.. don't seem like to me they're designed to run continually for hours either.. especially if some dust does escape to the motor.. could be a fire hazard if that gets hot enough with some dust on it.. Why I blow the dust out of mine periodically..

This is latest post on “Intarsia Nuts” Facebook group on word from Anatoly. It was posted Today, Sunday morning at around 8:00 am EST which would make them once again approaching evening on Sunday in Ukraine. Prayers Continue for both and all of Ukraine. I have been watching for updates on Alex Fox but Gary’s above is latest I have seen. I did see one post where it said Charles Hand had communicated with Alex (but I think it may have been earlier then Gary’s last communication above) which indicated that Alex had shared a layered peace pattern for free and encouraging folks to support Alex and buy some of his patterns from his Etsy store. The info, I saw did not have actual link to Charles Hand’s post so I can’t provide that here. Does anyone know anything on it?

It’s still there. It’s under “everything else” along with Coffee House and Hot Deals & Announcements . If you can’t find it, go to the very top of the page and click on “Community”, then click on “Forums”.

Didn’t we use to see that forum listed with the other ones (bragging, general, scroll questions)?

Thanks Gary for the update on Alex and his family. Glad they have stayed safe so far, I have not recently seen any updates on Anatoly since the last one from 2 days ago on the 24th. Prayers continue for both them, their families and all of Ukraine.

Here is the work bench hubby made for me. i use a bar stool for sitting plus I have the option of standing if I wish. It has three tilt setting and a shelf below for misc. He measured my saw for the top the saw is bolted to. Works like a charm for me. Made it out of lumber he had on hand. Hope this helps.

The missing socks become hangers

I started working on these in the last couple of weeks. I used a combination of scroll saw and Band saw. My Delta wasn't up to cutting these chunks of wood for the body - Had to use the band saw there. I used the scroll saw on the fenders. The truck was the first one I did. It has an ash body and purple heart fenders finished with 4 coats of Formby's tung oil. The convertible is black walnut with cumaru fenders and finished the same as the truck. I have the next 3 cut out just waiting on sanding and assembly. Two black walnut and I believe a red cedar. Here's the pics - Thanks for looking!

I saw this posted by Charles Hand on Facebook about 8:00 AM EST. "I spoke with my friend Alex Fox (scroll saw designer and artist) in the Ukraine yesterday morning and again this morning. So much fear there now as the Russian army is on the outskirts of his town Kherson. For the scroll saw community who might know Alex, your thoughts, support and prayers would be very much appreciated at this time, that he, his family and countrymen stay safe."

I made this for my wife for valentines day a few years ago. It's a band saw box cut solely on my scroll saw.

Just got a message from Alex. As many of us use his patterns, I'll post it. Things getting real there. "Hi, I am from Kherson town (center of Kherson region), this region borders with Crimea. Russian militaries already crossed the border and occupied nearest to border towns. Some time ago I heard explosions - my friends who live in the suburbs of Kherson town say that now is fighting at the entrance to the town. I am really scared."