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My brother sent this to me, I thought it was pretty interesting. Probably take some talent to get that wire bent just right to make it work. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1245252096030105?fs=e&s=m

Working on a new kind of project. Building a Pug planter for my sweet neighbor. Still have some coloring to do and putting it all together. The colored pieces below are not attached yet. I might still change the coloring on the face a bit and still looking for the perfect color to stain the body pieces. I'm having fun. Making a Bulldog next for one of my oldest friends.

Today's offering is another Steve Good pattern. Cut on 12x12in BB and a #1 FD polar blade. Normally I'll use a spiral on these sort of patterns but I'm trying to practice my control,hand placement and accuracy with a straight blade. Ive been at this scroll sawing about 4 months now if you take out a forced vacation due to a injury, and I've only just realized how important hand position and pivoting is! I've spent all this time trying to feed my wood round corners and recently discovered how much easier it is to use one hand as a pivot and one to drive... Duh At this rate I'm going to have to spend a month finishing a lot of this stuff ive been cutting. Any how fresh off the saw pattern on and off. Thanks for looking! Comments welcome

My son sent me a link to this video. A test was set up to determine if oily rags used to apply boiled linseed oil will actually self combust. The video is 30 minutes long, but if you use boiled linseed oil, you should watch this. Even the person performing the test was surprised with the result. Link to video

Commissioned for the birthday of a friend who has taught at the same university for 40+ years. It is the formal logo of the university and is only the fourth I have cut. This one is approximately 7.5 x 9 inches of 3/4" cherry from Ocooch. Base is two pieces of 3/4" buckeye from another project. Cut this with Pegas #3MGT blades and finished with satin lacquer. As a bonus, I glued the final blade to the bottom of the base.

Not scroll saw related, my wife likes to collect the saucer and tea cup and after coming back from Florida, her friends brought some over as gifts. She said I need another display. As the saying say”happy wife is happy life”. I used red oak and minwax stain. She likes it so browny points for me. The first picture is the one that she purchased years ago, the next two are the one that I made.

I have a very small countersink that I "open" up the drill holes on the under side. Then I take a black marker and dot all the holes. It's fairly easy to see them without having to stand upside down. Far easier than top feeding as far as I'm concerned.

The better half asked me to cut this for her. I'm more comfortable cutting trying to cut something like this on the hawk as it's more forgiving, but I thought I'd give it a go on the more aggressive Delta. Just to make it more difficult I decided to use the more aggressive MGT blades too (normally I use a less aggressive blade on the Delta) Well I must admit I struggled with this Steve Good pattern but I did manage to get it cut even though it took me a while. Fresh off the saw

I saw this pattern somewhere before, maybe it was one Etsy. It is so cute and your neighbor will be head over heals when you finish it and give it to her, as people are so attached to their animals. A perfect gift. Nice job on it too. Dick heppnerguy

Another way that helps a lot to find the drilled hole on the bottom of the pattern is to take a pencil and twirl it while it is inserted in the bottom of the drilled holes. You won't believe how much easier it is to find the hole that way. Dick heppnerguy

You can also use a larger drill bit as a countersink. I sometimes have done that, twisting the drill between my fingers gently on the hole to provide a small relief and deburr it, so to speak. I am a bottom feeder from the very start, and have never tied to top feed. I just loosen things up, lift the arm and lock it, tilt my head if necessary, and feed in the blade sort of like Travis does, pinched just shy of the end. It's the only way I have ever done it, so, for what it's worth.

How unique! Great idea..

Being a fairly new scroller I think it's something we all struggle with when we start. I've had times where it's took me longer to thread the blade than cut the hole

I read about that somewhere, there is a magnet involved somewhere.

Not surprised at all! I didn’t have to see the video as I’ve known this all along. It hasn’t happened to me because I take precautions to prevent it. I don’t use rags anymore. I use blue shop towels. I lay them on the edge of a plastic trash can till they dry, usually over night. Then they are safe to toss into the plastic trash can.

So I am going to do what I think is called "fret work" and I am trying to figure out the best way that will work for me. I get how to top feed but I would like to try bottom feed...However, I do not know how to feed an itty bitty blade into an itty bitty hole without climbing under the board. Since I am new I would at least like to know what tips and tricks to try before totally giving up on it. So why would someone bottom feed vs top feed? Does the board look better because there are no scratches on top from top feeding? Thanks ahead of time. Marie

Me and my best friend milled the tree this board came from back in 1998

Couple of gnomes I just finished gluing up. The wood is Hickory. Used a #5 FD ultra reverse blade.

Some darn good remedies in here. Never thought to do any of them - though I did just start trying fretwork. Man I'm glad I joined this village! Everyone is so helpful and friendly!

The magnet and battery are located in the base, with a proximity sensor to fire the magnet when the ball reaches the right position. The magnetic pulse kicks the ball just enough for it to jump and land back in the bowl, so not at all "perpetual motion". Charley

I do not see where there could be a magnet. it the balls themselves were magnetic they would attract each other at the top and then they could not go down the hole. That leaves the only place a magnet could be placed to attract the balls would be in the bottom of the round piece of wood and it certainly could not attract the balls coming off the wire below. If a magnet was strong enough to do that, it also would attract the balls to stay together. Dick heppnerguy

Today's post is a pattern that I have had for quite some time and I fell in love with it when I first saw it. This cute little project's pattern was made by Sam Custodio and had me hooked from the get go. It seems that I forget about it way too often and a couple of days ago I spotted it and had nothing pressing in my 'to do list' so I printed the pattern and took it to my shop. I only had about a half dozen small cuts left to have it all cut out, so I jumped on it this morning and finished it. I decided a quick and easy frame would be better than the over lapping backer board that I often do, so I found a piece of scrap wood that I thought might do the trick and made a glue on frame and used a piece of black poster board and threw on a coat of spray finish and it is ready to hang on my shop wall. I cut it from 1/4 lnch BB Ply and used a #3 Pegas MGT blade. Dick heppnerguy

All the above. I can lift the upper arm on my EX, but I still take an awl and open up the holes on the back side a little.

It is a lot easier to do if your saw is one with an upper arm you can raise. Also when I had my old Craftsman SS I would drill all the holes and then using a small countersink bit I would dimple all the holes on the backside.

Interesting. I wonder how long it took them to get the right height and curve.

Not just linseed oil does this.. all oil base finishes and most chemical finishes too.. motor oil and many other things are the same way.. As Dan said I use blue shop towels.. I set mine on fire when I'm done so it's a controlled burn rather than a wait and hope it doesn't catch fire when I'm not there.. I live in the middle of nowhere so I have a burn barrel just for doing this.. once done finishing they go in the barrel and get lit while standing there.

Nothing new. The boiled linseed oil I have tells you that on the can.

All my finishing rags, towels, etc go outside immediately after using. They are spread out away from the house.

I havent been in the shop as much these last few days. My sons house got hit during these Mississippi tornados so my wood working has been with a chainsaw and a backhoe. His family was good, no major structure damage but he did lose both vehicles. I have managed to make a couple little saying plaques. Hope you all made it through any storms okay.

Here is a springtime gnome, that I cut it is a Steve Good pattern.

Marie, if you can top feed, there is no reason to bottom feed! When I first started scrolling, I had a bottom feeding saw. Oh how I hated changing from on hole to the next. When I got my first DeWALT saw, I took to top feeding immediately. It is so much easier to top feed. I would never go back to bottom feeding.

Love it !!

Very well done. With all the sharp points on the maple leaves, I can understand why it took awhile to cut. However that patterns that take us a long time to cut, are the ones that are always the most satisfied when we finish them. One question for you... How do you go about cutting those sharp pointed areas? Just wondering as I have done them so many different ways as I have been doing my scrolling and it seems every once in awhile I change the way I do them Dick heppnerguy

I got at a big box store. They had several different sizes.

Yep. We saw antifreeze freeze solid in the can at -52.

Thank you. Great idea about adding a counter sink...I will have to look for a small bit with one of those attached to it. The smallest one I have is way too big...

very nice

Thank you MarieC. I'm pretty slow too. I like to use different blades throughout a project to test them out as well. I really enjoy this art! Looking forward to seeing your stuff as you grow. Cheers from Alaska!

Sometimes I have to duck my head under too. But I do like Kevin does and tilt the project up a tish to feed it under. I also pinch the top of the blade so about an 1/8" or so is above my thumb. I find it easier to find the pilot hole. A lot of it is done by feel. Kinda like sewing or embroidery, you have a rough idea of where you need to be and you eventually find your home.

Very cute, no matter how many I see I still smile each time. I need to make one fro my shop, have someone to talk to.

It is a great reminder for all of us, and also we have a lot of newer members so I am glad you brought this up and as you mentioned, you knew it but didn't realize how quick it can happen etc.. This is the reason I set mine on fire and do a control burn.. even just setting them up outside to "dry" they should be watched over to be sure the wind doesn't carry them into the yard or a neighbors house etc.. I'd rather stand by a fire that I light and watch for 5 minutes than to get side tracked and forget about the rags drying out in my driveway or wherever..

I watched that same video a week or so ago. I've long known about the risks of BLO rags and spontaneous combustion, but this video really highlighted just how quickly things can turn bad. Also remember that many stains are also linseed oil based and pose the same risk.

So glad to hear that your family was not harmed. Mother Nature can sure be a real b*#*^ at times. Love you sayings, especially the second one. Marg

The pattern suits the grain in the wood very nicely. Well done Tj

Well done Jim

Welcome, from Eastern Washington State... I am pretty new too...I am crazy slow at scroll sawing but I don't make as many mistakes that way. I have been part of the village for a couple months now and have learned a ton from the folks on here. I really like looking at the "Bragging" section to see others ideas. Glad to have you on here! mc

Glad you are safe as well. The plaque "but for the Grace of God" is beautiful and very appropriate for what you have endured. Is that your pattern? Bruce

Great job. I love the frame.

My message for Those that struggle with and do not like spiral blades is forget about them. I get the feeling they are trying to justify to someone (?) why they do not like them and I do not understand why they feel the need to. Use what works best for you and do not worry what others like and use. It is like trying to explain why you like one tool over the other. What works you you is all that is important. I use and feel there are purposes for both. If you do not like what another scroller uses than to think it is different from what I use and it may be worth a try The end results is whats important, I, frankly use what ever blade is working for me, I never think about what someone else may think. Like I bottom feed, I do not care if you and others top feed and why should I? It is about what works for me and what works for you.

Great work!