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Cut on a cool piece of oak.

I’m trying to support Alex Fox as much as possible. This is my 3rd new piece from his patterns in the past couple of weeks. I made this one from a 1/4” piece of Lacewood that I had around, back piece is Baltic Birch.

Last year I purchased Business kit 2021 edition hoping to generate sales of a new product at my local craft fairs. Unfortunately all the shows I usually sell at were all cancelled once again. This year the shows are a go and I was at one last week where I sold 12 and I am absolutely amazed with the response. I also just purchased the 2022 edition pattern set. Really looking forward to my next show this upcoming weekend. Many thanks to Travis for the program Regards Brian

First is a 11” x 12” Russ Beard Pattern that I cut well over a year ago, simply called “Leopard”. Coloration was done using Artis Oil paints at that time. However, I was not happy with how it looked, so it sat on the shelf. I only revisited it a short time ago and with some improved painting skills I have developed and a little work with the paint brush, I believe it now looks better. Its been some time so I’m guessing, but I think the cut panel is 5/32” solid core Maple which has now been affixed to a painted black ¼” BB ply backer. The Fame is 1 3/4” Pine with a black Lacquer finish. I think he has his eyes on you! The second is a “Wile E Coyote – Standing” image I converted into an 11”x 17” scroll saw pattern. Since my previous “Wile” project left my collection for a new home rather quickly, I decided to fill the void with another, but of course, a different pose. The cut panel is 5/32” solid core Birch, hand painted with Artist Acrylic Paints. The frame is also 1 3/4” pine with a primed and painted gloss Black Finish. The third is also of a free, non-credited image, simply called “Sketch of a Sailboat” that I converted into an 11” x 17” scroll saw pattern. I found this image, although very raw, very intriguing and works very well as a piece of Scroll Saw Art. The cut panel is 5/32" solid core Maplet hat was left natural and only the backer was hand painted with Artist Acrylic Paints. The frame is once again 1 3/4” pine with a primed and painted gloss Black Finish. All cuting was done with various Pegas regular and spiral blades and all assembled panels were protected with multiple coats of clear Gloss Lacquer. My work has been coming in groups because I tend to leave the frame making until I can do more than one. Comments and critiques always welcome.

I cheated and put 3 Scroll Saw projects on top. This is my project that I finished today. I have been saving wood and designing over and over in my head for about a year. All of the wood is either grown and cut right around the house or reclaimed from a local barn that was built in the 1890's. The woods are Oak, Pine and Cedar. All were rough cut and either planed down or lightly sanded. Some of it had worm holes and I thought it added some character. The finish is sprayed satin Poly. The size is 36"x54", Bences are 19" tall. I only used 8 brads for the leg pillars and 8 screws to hold the top on. Everything else is glued and doweled. I am hoping to make memories with this table and my Son and Granddaughters.

Here are a couple more for my wife's cousin's Christmas order. I have two more to post and I should have them packed and ready for the post office on Monday. I thought they were a little the way she ordered them so I framed one and added a little color to the other one. I am happy to be getting these finished and on their way soon Dick heppnerguy

Not a scrolling project but one I am proud of. The rest of the photos are at the link below in the challenge for the month.

Hard Maple? Best blade I've used is a chainsaw. I cut a Trucker ( semi truck ) puzzle from one of the patterns Iggy sells from Hard Maple.. Never again.. Next mistake was doing the next one from Hickory..

I have posted a few of the results of my first Christmas order and I stated that the request involved several patterns that I was not fond of myself but a customer's request is not to be argued with. I add some of my own colorization and backer boards that were not part of the pattern as well as framing some that really was not part of the item either. In these last two item I added both a frame and on one, corner decorations to try and help it to be a little better appreciated by the receivers of these items. Dick heppnerguy

@Travis - I just sent you an email with my 5 ornament patterns. I try to aim for the Beginner level with mine so that we can be of help to many. While I have put the year on several, and the place for "name" on them, those can easily be left off for anyone who wants even more simplistic ornament and/or to wood burn info on. It was kind of cool today when i was on the SSWC magazine forum and someone there shared photos of the ornaments that they had cut for a show and two of my previous patterns I had provided had been cut. The hot air ballon and the cupcake. Their Woodworking group has shows where they make donations from the sales of their work to charitable organizations so it is a win win there for charity. I look forward to seeing what has been submitted by everyone this year. Hopefully we can beat last year's submissions.

The tension rod sits under the cover plate as the picture shows. The tension rod sits on the cover plate. Here is copy of instruction for adjusting tension rod. Note instruction shows when part #80 is removed you will see the tension rod and a small bearing sleeve..... 1) Tension Rod Adjustment. Referring to #24 (Rod, Draw), it threads into the Wedge #23. Typically, it needs one or two more turns (clockwise) to enable sufficient tension with the tension lever. In order to get to the rod (it is pretty easy, just takes a couple of minutes) Take off the plastic cover (#71) by taking out the 4 screws (#44). Just loosen the whole assembly and move it out of the way. Remove part #26 and part #80. You will see the tension rod and a small bearing sleeve on the "L" end of the tension rod. Set the sleeve aside. The rod is flexible enough to turn it without removing anything else. I suggest one CLOCKWISE turn, partially reassemble, test the tension and take up another turn only if necessary. I set mine to get proper tension at a 3 to 3-1/2 setting on the tension lever gage.

Honestly I've never cut anything over 7/8".. But yeah a FD-UR is not a good blade for this type of thick wood.. I've seen people mention using skip tooth blades for thick hardwood.. I never liked them myself.. also see mention of FD Polar, I have not tried those.. I did try a sample of sharktooth blades from PSWoods .. If I was attempting to cut htis I'd go with those Sharktooth blades.. Not cheap blades though and no reverse teeth soo you'll have a bit of a rougher cut on the bottom side..

I made this napkin basket for as a gift for my wife a few years ago. She usually receives many compliments on it when we have guests.

Hi I got asked to make something for our American friends by my Mum and Dad who have been invited to there wedding in America. I have 1week to make some thing no pressure LOL Here is what I have come up with so far.

Hey Kev Check out the reviews before you buy. I think that is the one that everyone was complaining about being so loose a couple of years ago,

I have never used soy wax for anything. The first that comes to mind is would the wax chemically bond with mineral spirits ? Soy wax is a lot softer then bee's wax so what king of protection would it offer ? Maybe someone can give you a definitive answer for this. I know my wife shops at Michaels and you can definitely beat their everyday prices. So Cindy will watch for coupons sale ads etc. I'm going to try and follow this out of curiosity as to what others opinions or experiences are.

I cut hard maple frequently. Pegas skip blades work well, just stay on top of sharpness and note you will consume more blades than normal. As mentioned, cut slowly and watch your side pressure.

I found this free Dragonfly Pattern on-line and realized it would make a good box type Nightlight Lamp. I used solid 1/4” thick Red Oak for the body and connectors, and 1/2” thick (planed down from ¾” thick material) for the Top and Base. The four body sides are 5 1/2” wide x 11 1/2” tall and were stack cut with Pegas #1 MGT R Blades. All chamfering and mitering was done on the table saw. The Top sits loose on the top of the body to allow access for bulb changing. The natural Red Oak color was darkened with one quick wipe on wipe off coat of Minwax Red Oak stain. All stained surfaces were finished with multiple coats of Clear Gloss Lacquer prior to installation of the Amber Cast 1/8” thick Translucent Acrylic panels. The panels are held in place with small dabs of Gel Superglue. I originally intended to use a 25W LED bulb but found that it was too bright. I replaced it with 10W clear nightlight lamp bulb. However, I plan to add some translucent velum sheets, attached with spray adhesive, to the inside face of the Amber panels and see if the lamp has a nicer soft glow with the 25W bulb. I was very unhappy with the much too transparent plexi with either the 10W or 25W bulb. Applied Translucent Velum using spray adheasive to the inside on each side. Now with the 25W LED Candlelabra bulb the glow is much softer amd you can't see inside. Next time I make a lamp like this I have to remember to apply the velum to the plexi before inserting them . Comments and critiques always welcome.

Nice! Has a kinda "Banksy" feel to it.

I made a set of Bible verse plaques from it. Nice to work with and finishes very nicely. Would love t0o get some more.

All the pipes I made for my street organ are made of recycled redwood that was on my deck... It was esay to work with, kinda like working with clear grin cedar, only a little harder. Little harder than cedar little softer than mahongany.

I recently cut some 3/4 it was killing my FDUR blades, I found Pegas MGT blades were the best even though I'm not the biggest fan on softer wood, they were the blade for the job on that hard maple!

This Alex Fox pattern is kind of haunting, what with everything going on in his home country. I cut this out of the suggested 1/8” the first time, but I just didn’t like it. I ended up using a piece of 1/8” mystery wood that I had around for the back piece, then 1/4” BB for the other layers. I used Natural Danish Oil on some parts, and Walnut Danish on others, trying to give a bit of subtle contrast. Additionally, I made a solid Walnut base so it can sit on a shelf and also put a link loop on the back so as it can hang on the wall.

I was at my local Michael's store, which is similar to Hobby Lobby, and was wandering the aisles. Dangerous, I know. I stopped in the candle making section looking at the beeswax granules. I noticed they also carried soy wax granules. The soy wax was about $10 less than beeswax for the same weight. Has anyone used soy wax with mineral oil for a finish? Any thoughts on using it as a substitute?

Thanks Ray - I appreciate the feedbck Rick

They are all great, Well done! But that sailboat

After reading info at Rick's Scrollsaw, I found that the upper arm can be hitting against the bottom of the plate. That is where removing some of the plate bottom can help. Larry

So here are a few pictures of How I think the cover plate is assembled. Please feel free to point out if I don't have this right If we agree this is correct then the grinding of the leading edge of the bottom side of the cover plate (as shown above) doesn't seem to have anything to do with the tension rod - at least directly. I have seen this grinding operation recommended in several places but never have seen a why? Rick

I have had luck with FD Polar and Pegas Super Skip blades. You need to go slow so you clear the sawdust. Also, I have had luck in wrapping thick maple with packing tape.

Beautiful !

Beautiful. Love it. Marg

Oh wow. Awesome work Dick. Marg

Nice!

Excellent! Delicate work!

Have you gone to youtube and search dewalt knocking or something similar there are several videos about it maybe one would help.

That's a very deceptive picture. I don't believe there is any way the tension rod can be assembled under the cover but I'm going to take a second look in the morning Rick

Yes. I used some 2 x 2 redwood to make a couple of wands. I really didn't like the wood; the difference in hardness between grain lines was quite striking, and the sawdust was "stick", the blower couldn't move it.

That's a really good deal. Jim

excellent work

I have tried every method and 3M 77 with the pattern applied directly to the wood is now my go to method.

So I started this multi-layer papercutting-lightbox pattern last year....then a bunch of family drama hit, and my cutting has been slowed down. Finally finished the pattern a month or two ago, but I really dislike cutting frames. Nope, dunno why, just don't care for it. So I finally got the frames cut, trimmed to size, a couple of pieces of opaque plexi sourced, LED strips applied, and final assembly done. One less project stacked up and moved from convenient-horizontal-space to convenient-horizontal-space in my shop. Stack-cut these, stained one with Minwax "Natural" and one with "Honey", and then alternated layers so that each layer stands out from the layer above and below. Still waiting on a power supply for one LED strip (the box that Amazon touted as having two....did indeed have two strips, but only one power supply with two ports to plug in both light strips to the one supply...so, technically, it works. But these two are going to be 20 miles apart and I doubt the cities of Austin, Cedar Park, and Leander would look kindly upon an extension cord of that length), but the one that's working is now up on the shelf at work.

Maybe I need to make TV trays with a dowel rod for a roll of paper towels..

That's our house. When were you here?

Good ideas I have painted puzzle pieces and diluted the first coat to help with the fitting proble, of paint build up. second coat is limited to the surface

Those napkin holder seemed be "all the rage" a couple of years ago, but dropped out of sight pretty quickly.

I finished cutting this yesterday. Pattern by me.

I have watched every one of his videos and he is amazing. His mind just never stops finding ways to do things. This is a simple video on how to make better picture frame joints using bamboo sticks. Enjoy, and then check out the rest of his stuff. You'll be amazed.

Hi All. I just added 2 new special interest groups: Craftmakers and Food & Drink. Craftmakers is a discussion group to share other crafting, DIY, home improvement, making, etc. Food & Drink is a discussion group to share recipes, kitchen gadgets, meal planning, etc. For those who don't know about Groups, this is a fun little corner of SSV for SSV Silver & Gold patrons. They're usually off-topic discussions about other interests. Right now, we have 4 groups: Laser & CNC Woodturning Craftmakers Food & Drink You can access the groups under the Community Tab, there's a link to Groups. If you want an overview of groups, you can find that here. If you are a SSV Silver or Gold Member, you can browse the groups here. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new areas!

I have made many of these turkeys based on a Patrick Speilman pattern. The turkey is one of those patterns that doesn't look like much on paper and then looks excellent after you cut it and put it together. I made the first ones for a preshool that wanted them for the kids to paint, and I have been making them ever since.

Here is a new version of the hockey Gnome - properly attired. Maybe he will bring the Maple Leafs luck after 55 year drought.