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This is from a painting by Terry Redlin, my favorite artist.

One of my older works - pattern from the very old book "scared mandalas" - birch plywood 1/6 inch, diameter appr. 9 inch. Approx. 800 entry holes - hope you enjoy!

IMPRESSIONS & COMMENTS AFTER 8 HOURS SAWING: I now have the saw fully set up with dust collect and rear slightly elevated. Here is a photo: I do need to do something about all the wires but, other than that, this is where the saw and it's paraphernalia will be. The points below are in no particular order, they will be just as I think of them. 1) I've spent 6 hours working on a real project (the one that you see on the table) and another 2 hours testing out things such as really thick wood and sawing with the arm tilted. 2) I like the dust collection. I thought that the noise of the Festool vacuum would bother me but, at least so far, it doesn't. 3) Notice that the two rear legs of the stand are sitting on a 2x6. Like many others I know, I like to saw with the saw's table slanted slightly towards the front. I had thought that the adjustable bolts at the bottom of the legs would provide enough slant for me, but they do not. 4) I really really like the arm that stays up when one pushes it up. It was very tedious to have to jam something (usually a paint can) under the arm of my EX-30 in order to keep it up. 5) I mentioned in my first report that I find the hard stops at certain angles to be cumbersome. I found another manufacture's saw that has the same tilting mechanism at a nearby store and that one is just bad. Oh well, not everything about the Pegas can be perfect. 6) The blower is excellent! I did install a similar blower on my EX-30, but this one is better. 7) The clamps, of course, are excellent. One of the reasons that I purchased a Pegas was the quality of the after-market Pegas clamps that I installed on my EX-30 some time ago. 8 ) What did surprise me was that the clamps are much further apart than they are on my (about 20 years old) EX-30. I measure the separation as about 89 millimetres on the Excalibur and about 114 millimetres on the Pegas. That's a difference of 25 millimetres (or about an inch). All of that and a little more is above the table and that allows me to work with thicker wood. 9) I find that since I can clamp the blades much closer to the end, blade installation is much easier and more reliable. This also means that I am much let likely to break delicate blades. So far, on my real project, I am breaking the, very delicate, 2/0 spiral blades at about half the rate that I have come to expect on my EX-30. If this continues to be the case, the saving in the cost of blades alone will pay for my new saw. 10) I can saw at a slower speed on the Pegas. I have already found this to be advantage when doing some very tricky sawing. 11) The table on my Pegas is slightly bigger and I like that.

I really enjoy being able to use my saw outside, just want to show pictures of my busy saw. Also I needed a small drill press because I used forstner bits to make miniature bird houses and they do not work with a cordless drill. I found that small drill press on Amazon and I really like it, great gift to me. LOL

Just finished this one today! When I first started this one, I believed the wood was red cedar or red oak. Upon finishing it, I think now that it may actually be cherry. The wood had some worm holes with I left - kind of remind me of rust spots on the car. The fenders are brazilian cherry. The car was finished with 4 coats of Formby's Tung Oil. Here's the pics of it along with the last pic that shows the 4 Fords that I have completed so far. One more to go in the series.

I set my stand up in the same way you did.. I have the front legs as low as they go and the back legs as high as they go.. but the 2 x 4 added to the back makes it about exactly the way I like it.. I do wish my whole stand was raised up about 4 inch or so more.. My stool doesn't go real low.. I suppose I could get a new stool or build a platform.. LOL..

For those who want to use a home vacuum cleaner for scroll saw dust collection and are the frugal type, stop in at a Goodwill Store. Not too long ago my audio system developed a loud feedback hum which I traced to my old 5 disc CD player. The current prices for a new one gave me pause, and while out one day running errands I noticed our local Goodwill store. Why not, I thought.. . . Long story short, I found another 5 disc CD player for $5. And it works as good as the one I had before it developed the feedback hum. While there, I did see several vacuum cleaners there as well. For those frugal souls like me who want to experiment with home vacs for controlling the sawdust, that's a frugal place to pick one up.

Been a few since I've done any Celtic knotwork, but here's a couple from not too long ago.

On last night's new, it showed Kherson being overrun by the Russians. Prayers going out to all of Ukraine.

Hello everybody, Spring is almost here for a few days, it gave me an idea (I found it on web) I added something I like. see you soon Eric

Pattern by Bruce Worthington

My new scroll saw arrived on Friday. Only the saw and the stand arrived, not the footswitch or the lighted magnifying glass or the blades that I ordered. Part of my order comes from Bear Woods USA warehouse and part from their Canadian warehouse. It’s curious that the part coming from he USA arrived first. I’m going to set up the new saw close to the old one located in the basement. The Pegas saw is quite heavy and my Festool dolly came in very handy for taking the box down the basement stairs: The dolly is especially designed for moving loads up and down stairways and it did its job very well. Getting the saw out of the box proved to be a challenge. The saw is heavy but not too heavy for me to lift. Sitting right on top of the saw in the box is a warning not to lift it by the arm. I very much appreciated this warning, because I would have attempted to lift it by the arm. However, when I did grab the saw as instructed, it did not want to budge. The problem was not the weight; the problem was that, somehow, the saw was wedged into the box. I ended up cutting one side off the box using a keyhole saw. (The black and yellow handle of the saw can be seen in the above photo). Once the box side was removed, the problem became obvious: The saw was bolted to a plywood panel. That’s a good thing but, maybe, the warning about lifting the saw should also explain about the plywood. The stand came in many parts with no instructions. But, it did have a parts diagram and an experienced person can assemble the stand by close examination of that diagram. I do think that it is a good stand. Here is a photo of the saw on the stand: The saw itself did come with a manual. Very few tools come with good manuals; the best that one can usually hope for is an adequate manual. The manual with this saw is just, barely, adequate. The biggest problem I had with the manual, is that there is no description of how to either assemble or to use the tilting mechanism. Most of the machine came assembled but the parts, including a gear, that comprised the tilting knob and locking components did not. I figured out what and how to assemble the parts from a parts diagram and it seems to work OK but I am not certain. In particular, there is a way to utilize hard stops at certain angles, including 90o of course, and that seems cumbersome the way I have it set up. I need to find a machine that is set up properly and compare what I have done to that machine. But, I don’t know where to find such a machine. Maybe a made-in-Taiwan Excalibur or Excelsior has the same mechanism and I should be able to find one of those at a nearby dealer. I’ve only used the saw for about 10 minutes, but my initial impression is that this is a very good saw. It certainly is quiet. When I first turned it on, I thought that there was something wrong because I did not hear anything. Then I looked and saw that the blade was moving up and down. This photo gives a better idea of how my overall scroll saw area will be set up. I will take another photo once the remaining parts for the Pegas have arrived and been installed and once I acquire a part to connect the small hose on my Festool vacuum to the larger dust port on the Pegas.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JW9BFRF?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_dt_b_product_details

I have volunteered to do a series of sessions on scrolling. With the members who have never scrolled - I first discuss the basics of patterns, blades and basic techniques and then get into cutting techniques. I have the basic template below which does all the corners etc. They will get 2 key chains (cat and bear). 1. I would appreciate any comments on the template. 2. Then - I need a basic project to do that would be a good take home project. I tried to do a keychains with their name and it was too difficult for some of the students. Probably have about 1/2 hour or so to devote to section. I will glue up some extra small stuff for the real keeners. (Always happens) Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Funny you should mention the duck, Ray. Thats how I got into this whole scrollsaw thing. I wanted to cut out a little wooden duck and tried it with a jigsaw. It looked terrible so I reserached what tool would do it better. Thats when i discovered this scrolling world of ours.

Yes, there is button that you push as you tilt. I think it could be designed better. I'm certain that I could design it better. The upper arm is parallel.

I did mention that the saw has adjustable bolts at the bottom of the legs. But, they did not adjust enough to give me the slant that I like.

Thank you for the report. 5) I mentioned in my first report that I find the hard stops at certain angles to be cumbersome. I found another manufacture's saw that has the same tilting mechanism at a nearby store and that one is just bad. Oh well, not everything about the Pegas can be perfect. Just Curious, Why Cumbersome? The EX that I have has the button you push in as you tilt the arm. Yes it is a two handed operation, I use it only when I bring the saw back to 90 deg. the rest of the time I use a Wixey on the arm to set my angle. You mention that the clamps are further apart. Is the upper arm parallel to the table?

3) Notice that the two rear legs of the stand are sitting on a 2x6. Like many others I know, I like to saw with the saw's table slanted slightly towards the front. I had thought that the adjustable bolts at the bottom of the legs would provide enough slant for me, but they do not. It almost looks like the stand has adjustable legs on the front & the back. Is that not the case?

I went to Steve Good’s site. I just typed in ‘easy’ in his pattern catalog and got easy animal puzzles. I’m sure there will be enough in that section for you.

Thanks for all your input. When I did lessons before I used to have a whole section of squiggles and waves but I found that students got bored quickly (they are woodworkers ya know). I will remove the snow flake (thanks Sycamore67) and replace with a simple fish. I am also going to replace the teddy bear key chain too. Thanks Denny for the idea about Scroll Saw Workbook. I was able to get the ebook from our library and his ideas are really great. I haven't read completely but there are some great patterns especially for the follow up sessions. As Ray and Katie discussed it is nice to have a take home to say to the significant other "Hey honey- Look what I did - I need another tool". I may do the cell phone stand from Steve Good with an easy pattern in the middle or a simple puzzle. Thanks PS: I just need the mask mandate to be eased in Ontario so we can schedule the sessions. I did a survey for interest and so far 8 for never scrolled and then 8 that want refresher and then lots of interest in other topics like bowls, puzzles etc. I probably will do weekly session from now to Christmas.

When I first started I found the practice patterns were boring. I found some simple objects like cars, boats, airplanes etc were far more fun even if they looked like dung when finished. I still have my first cut, a duck, signed and dated so I can look back at where I started. Thanks for promoting the hobby and keeping the interest going.

I use a re-purposed whole house vacuum cleaner, installed with inlets in several places in my shop, upstairs in the shop attic, and one to the outside next to the passage door, for vacuuming my cars and trucks. Between the piping and the vacuum is a Dust Deputy with a repurposed 25 gallon grease barrel below it. I use it for all of my fine sawdust producers, the sanders, scroll saws, drill presses, etc. and for vacuuming much of the floor. My shop is too small for a real shop dust collector, so the chip producers and table saw get shoveled out with a small shovel frequently. I'm more concerned with the fine dust getting into my lungs anyway. The vacuum is located upstairs and the exhaust from the central vac exits just below the roof soffit, so the dust collected never gets back in my shop if it should somehow get through the Dust Deputy and vacuum. Since adding the Dust Deputy, there is nothing but a trace of micro fine dust inside the vacuum. It's all in the 25 gallon drum. Since I'm not in the shop every day, I can go about a year before needing to dump the barrel. I do my planning with a DeWalt 735, outside in the driveway, using the original hose and barrel cover that was once available for the 735, and I found a 60 gallon plastic barrel with an open end that I collect the chips in. It resides upside down behind my shop when not being used. Charley

Hi Every one, It's for my Valentine (for 43 years, I've been lucky) Who said not her? I saw the pattern on Steve Good's site but when I started cutting I thought I'd stop there. I like simple things. I think it's not bad. Eric