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I cut these three after a six-month layoff. Harvest Time - Back Porch - Bucket Harvest Time was changed a little by me and took the most time.

Yip the Insane Dust Maker ( Don Bedggood) is at it again, had to get the right size and keep everything in proportion on this one which makes it harder to cut because of the reduced size, but you will understand my madness when all the animals are cut and added to the Lion in a 3D arrangement. I will have to make changes to the outer cutting of the pattern because there must be no wood back round visible just the Buffalo profile.

My Lawn guy has a early 50's Chevy Pick Up he keep "rustic" pristine and he is very proud of it. Thought I would surpise him with this plaque. 1/8" BBPW with 1/4" backer finish is shellac and lacquer. Used my "paint In" method on the tires and grill.

I prefer the Flying Dutchman blades because Bill Nighy packs each set himself.

Sea turtle - one more silhouette pattern to my collection, it is 6th one. I made two variants: silhouette and framed, as an example added colored variant. Which one do you like more? Pattern - https://www.etsy.com/shop/AlexFoxUA

My latest efforts.

I converted and resized this original White on Black image into two (2) slightly different 11” x 14” Scroll Saw Patterns. Being true to the original, for the first pattern (which I consider a Nighttime view) I simply inverted the image so that the cut out areas, that would show the White, would be Red outlines with grey fill. For the second, using a copy of the first pattern, I reworked the area around the Moon (now to be a Sun) so the image is a Daytime view, which allowed me to add color. The conversion work also included the removal of a lot of unintended bridges created by Inkscape. Since most of the cut panels would be painted, I felt the panel did not have to be the normal better quality solid core ply that I typically use, I decided to stack cut two pieces of 1/8” BB Ply that has been hanging around in my workshop for a very long time. Unfortunately, the stack was bowed slightly which made cutting very difficult. The stack cutting was completed up to a point where the area around the Moon/Sun had to be done. The two panels were then separated, and the areas cut separately. As usual, all cutting was done with Pegas #2/0 spiral blades. For the Nighttime version, the cut panel was primed and painted with Krylon spray can Black and the backer primed and painted with Krylon spray can White. The assembled panel was set into a Painted Black Floating frame. For the Daytime version, both the backer and cut panel were both sealed with a clear Krylon sealer and then painted with Acrylic Artist paints using an Air Brush. The assembled panel was finished with multiple coats of a Clear Acrylic Protective Coating. The assembled panel was set into my usual 1 3/4” wide Pine Frame that was primed and painted with Glidden Spray Can Max-Flex, Earthy Cane Satin (Glidden likes to use fancy names. This is just a light cream color.). Comments and critiques always welcome.

Under the resources tab at the top you'll see "suppliers" There is a long list..

There are literally hundreds of posts about blades. Some like Pegas and others FD. You will get lots of opinions. I do not look at the costs but buy what works for me. I use what works best for me and the type of scrolling I do.

It's a nice wood to work with. Here's a neat article on making love spoons and includes a pattern. What I found interesting is that he carved the spoon bowl first, then cut out only the spoon section and then carved the back a little. Then went on to cut out the rest. It makes sense. It would have made my job a lot easier than how I did it clamping in my vice. The other interesting thing is he uses 1/4" thick wood. I used 1/2". https://www.woodcraft.com/blog_entries/carve-a-tradition-rich-welsh-love-spoon

I was trying to determine where to put this but then I thought, yeah, I'm darn proud of this and yes, I think it's something worthy of bragging rights. After 6-months it finally arrived. Denny at artcraftersonline.com gave me a great deal and I tried not to pester him too much as to when it would arrive. He sent me an email late last week saying the ship was in port and this weekend another email came with the tracking numbers. It was delivered today and I anticipated putting everything together tomorrow during the 4th holiday. But..... after I got home from work I couldn't stand it and went out to the shop. The new Pegas 30-inch with stand!!! This thing is a beast yet quiet and smooth as silk. I still have to get use to the blade clamps and I need to check all the settings but after a quick glance I don't think anything is very far from true. Thanks again, Denny!

I have this hour meter on my Excalibur.. it has two resettable hour meters and one that isn't so it keeps track of total time. I didn't care for it for the purpose of keeping track of project times because for one, it doesn't show minutes it just has a 1/10 scale.. but 1/10 of an hour is 6 minutes and being digital you can't really tell if it's like half way between numbers or if 10 more seconds might change to the next 1/10.. at least with my analog ones I can see just how far that 1/10 digit is so to get at least a close estimate.. 6 minutes off on that digital one can add up a lot of time if your off at each start or finish of a project. https://www.ebay.com/itm/293600942454?epid=18041883585&hash=item445bfad976:g:KSgAAOSw6tte1wrS&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4L2KGJprcVZhk6M3evug%2FCZbr%2BxeeWEkqaFjRVnLHk4G02%2BiQleIZ9ICtGRrf%2BzOpiWCeLyB4vx%2FdtNiar8Iid8CUzTp3NcrLxDAmJa%2BwXGJaCIyH9pkBNptjIWuI7%2FWmIuq2qp%2F3BhaBJd%2FULWZ5U%2B%2FMcir2cS2txS4Wl%2FnCEMws%2BXE0LEkTfHA%2BD9lRZp4IBJQGXwU%2B81%2FeTWmfKNgEXEpqthaAI%2Buada0FIDfn57W5iXsBDH8NsAm%2B2PuTZxvzl146J0%2FafYGjRhDUl4uLPvQU10vfHaa5gtLoQU7sWnc|tkp%3ABFBMuq7Kt6Ri The first time I had issues with bearing noise the saw had 175 hours.. I took it apart and just cleaned and repacked grease in the bearings to buy me some time. I reset the first mode to track how long before I get a problem which was only about 30 hours.. then I rebuilt the entire saw which had just over 200 hours on it at that time.. I reset the 2nd mode for that rebuild. The saw now has just over 500 hours on the meter.. starting to get some slop in those bearings again but not making too much noise yet. I probably should pull it apart and just do a clean and regrease so I don't have to buy a whole link arm assembly again but, I kinda want to push it just to see how many hours I get from it, LOL.. The new Hawk I bought has just under 500 hours.. no parts have been needed yet, I oil the spots it tells me to in the manual every 15 - 20 hours and about every other time I take the wedge off and inspect it for wear.. It's getting a slight rounded edge on it but have yet to sand the wedge to make the point nice and true like it was new. The Hawk Ultra only has about 130 hours on it.. and that new to me Hegner has 2 hours on it just from playing around with it when I first got it. I stopped using it because I need a dust collection set-up on it because the factory bellows works well but the blower hose is molded into the saws upper arm and aims the dust right toward me.. Not one of their brighter ideas in my mind but the rest of the machine seems well built. Once I get the new system I bought set up on it I'll run it more.. Anyway, I prefer the analog meters.. that digital one also has a battery to make it work.. which is not replaceable so once that battery dies the meter is trash.. no battery to deal with on the analog one so it'll last forever.. Believe the digital one was guaranteed to last 5 years.. I put it on my saw in 2017 when I first got that EX.. actually might have been last 2016.. anyway it is still working well..

Should have wrote Resonance frequencies, can be more than one involved.. I do not know much about it, read about it when a kid about a number of horses in a military organization crossing a bridge all at the same pace, could or did hit the resonance frequency and caused the bridge to crumble. May have never happened but I picked it up somewhere and that term has stuck with me the rest of my life. That term must have hit my resonance freqency!?

Even on my Hegner, there are sweet spots and there are not so sweet spots... I found that on all the scroll saw I have own, except the Craftsman it did not have any "sweet spots". That puppy was all "Not so sweet spots", but I got scrolling done on it. I have not bolted my Hegner stand to the floor, I have the bolts, may do it one day, probably the day before we move...

It's not finished but this is my first attempt at a love spoon. I scrolled out all the shape of it and used a combination of knife and rotary tool for the shaping. I need to do some more sanding and shaping to get it right.

So, I know I'm probably opening up a can of worms here. And I also know that this subject is highly relative to preference and opinion. But that being said, I'm wondering where everyone is ordering blades from and if there's really much difference between Pegas and Flying Dutchman. The reason I ask is that I was about to click purchase on some blades from Bearwoods (I've placed several orders before) and this time it struck me that the shipping was a little high so I thought I'd see what else was out there and compare. I went to Mike's Workshop and the blades are around the same price but shipping is free. The difference is Mike's is Flying Dutchman and Bear woods is Pegas. Come out of your corners swinging but let's have a fair fight. LOL

I can't take credit for the idea, I saw it on YouTube some time ago. I think it was Jim's fix-it shop or something like that. Anyway, I finally set mine up. I know some will find it silly or not at all useful but I think it's neat. It's an analog clock that is attached to my foot switch. When the saw is running the clock is running. I can simply set it to 12 and count how long I've worked on a project. I can take a break, eat a sandwich, take a nap and when I get back and start again the timer goes again. I suppose you could use this to price your work, but for me it's more curiosity. I just want to see how long certain projects take. I found the clock on ebay for $10 so to me it was worth it. I will say that there weren't many analog clocks on ebay when I got this one though so it could be hard to source. It has to be analog because digital would reset every time you killed power to it.

Herd of Alpacas pattern by Jaeheon Yun and found in his book 20 Minute Scroll Saw Puzzles. I used 3/4" Hard Maple approximately 8" square. Cut on the Pegas Scroll Saw using Pegas #5 MGT blades. After sanding with a Mac Mop, dipped in diluted Shellac and then lightly snded again. Comments welcome.

I've got more than one clock, so If I need to cut something in the middle of a longer project I can still keep track of the hours I also started keeping track of times so that hopefully I can start extrapolating how long a project will take based on the inches of cutting in the pattern (inkscape: select the object(s). go to extensions > visualize path > measure path... ), this will show you how many inches of lines are in a pattern. For me, its about 25 seconds an inch, for fretwook and that includes blade changes. My clocks. Thrift store finds.

In case anyone was wondering. Since my post I've wracked up almost 2 hours of cut time. Sure seemed like more. Lol

I buy Pegas from Denny here and FD from Mikes workshop eventhoug that Mikes past away awhile back his service was superb and it is cheaper than anybody else.

Both look great prefer the black coloured one.

That's some very clean cutting! I'm sure your lawn guy will be tickled. I purchased one to restore but about a week after I put it in my backyard another man came along and offered me twice what I had in it... my backyard was empty again.

A quick comparison. 6 UR #1 blades today from MWS to NYC(ish) is 22.68+0=22.68, while the same order from WTB is 25.86+3.95=29.81. So in this case the blades *and* the shipping are more expensive WTB vs MWS. Wonder how long that'll last. I was surprised to see that neither charge sales tax. I thought everyone added sales tax for out of state orders these days.

Just some clarification, Flying Dutchman are rebranded Niqua blades. So, if you use FD, you are using Niqua. A few years before Mike from Mike’s Workshop died, he sold his business to The Wooden Teddy Bear with the stipulation they followed his business model of low prices and free shipping. So, if you order from Mikesworkshop.com site, you get free shipping for blades. If you order from WTB, you pay for shipping. As for Pegas blades, Denny at Art Crafters has the best price and fastest service. I use both brands plus Olson blades with FD UR blades the most.

What, you shouldn't be scrolling at 80! I well admit, it is not as easy as it use to be. My hands don't alway do what I think I am telling them to do.

That is a beauty, Bernd! Great job, I had one of those, in fact it was the first pickup I owned. Loved the old thing.

I use to buy FDs from Mikes then wooden Teddy bear took that over, so I use to figure it out which one I would say between those two. Mikes or Wooden Teddy bear, because they each had different pricing. Then I just decided it was not worth the effort to save a dollar and just started going straight to WTB. that is where I order all my FD blades, and Artcrafters for my Pegas blades and my drill bits. I use both brands.

At age 80 I am not to interested in keeping track of time spent on my scrollsaw and see a timer as just another gadjet to fuss with

I have had dwalt now have a Seyco both verugood saws for me and both had a speed spot where vibration is the highest.

I use both pegas and niqua from Garnet Hall (Sawbird) as he is local to me ( Saskatchewan, Canada)and shipping costs are reasonable, then so is Denny at Artcrafters as he also sells Pegas and has reasonable shipping and is a fellow scroller. I think Niqua blades are made in Germany they seem more flexible, Pegas sharpness lasts a bit longer but are more brittle. Bearwoods are a good supplier as well but bigger companies have higher overhead.

You probably won't bring anyone to blows with this topic, but you may get a lot of varied opinions. I usually buy my blades from Wooden Teddy Bear (Olson and Flying Dutchman). They will let you mix & match sizes within the same brand, if you buy a gross, to get a better price, (maybe mix brands as well, not sure). I've watched the trends of blade preferences over many years. When I started scrolling some 25+ years ago, I used Olson. Guys in my scroll saw club started migrating to Flying Dutchman about 15-20 years ago. The past few years have seen a similar move to Pegas. I did notice a fair difference between Olson and FD, at least in some of the sizes/types. I've tried a few Pegas and frankly haven't noticed a big improvement in speed, durability or cut quality over FD, but that is only my general impression with a very limited sample size. Many others swear by them. It is very much a matter of personal preference, as I am not aware of any sort of controlled testing that has been done that would objectively prove one was better than another.

Wow, I scroll so slow .... at about the slowest one can possibly scroll, so I have never had an issue....I don't even know if there is a sweet spot or not a sweet spot on my Excalibur since I drive it at about 10 miles per hour (so to speak) no matter if I am in a hurry or not!

Very nice Bernd. Not to date myself, but I remember those pick ups very well. Jerry

Good info. Thanks. I agree 100% with the wood moving. I think that would be a concern. I'm blessed to have an air-conditioned shop where the humidity and temperature stays at a fairly consistent level but others might not have that set up. I'm also in South Louisiana so cold isn't an issue. We're lucky if we get a couple of weeks in the 40's each year.

Yeah I kind of figured that but figured I'd reply about the vibration from a stand that isn't set properly to the floor it is setting on. Over the years I have bought many used saws and even parts saws from cheap Harbor Freight style brands all the way up to the most recent Hegner that was given to me just to tinker with and or to rebuild / restore just to give it another life and make someone a good saw when I sell it. I can't tell you how many saws I went to "look / test" and a quality saw would dang near vibrate across the floor.. My first Hawk they was asking $350 for but when I went to look at it they had the saw bolted to a big piece of warped plywood and was in a shed with a wood and also very warped floor.. The saw vibrated horrible, I didn't know whether to buy it or not since I never had any experience with one of them but I had seen how they was supposed to be top of the line. I talked to seller about how smooth it should be and I thought there was something wrong with it. Seller not knowing either as it was his father's who had past a few years prior. He ended up saying if I want it I could take it for $100.. Brought it home and removed that warped plywood planform they had it bolted to and set it up on my concrete floor it ran quite a lot smoother.. That saw there really taught me how important having the stands legs planted to the floor good is just as important as having the blade square to the table or any other tune-up for a saw. I know a lot of folks make wood stands but as much as wood breathes and moves I don't see how they can be vibration free at all speeds.. Get a real humid day and the wood expands a little.. I'm assuming the shear weight of the wood stand helps a lot with it all, I've never had a wood stand and I know a lot of folks use them that are happy with them so they must work. Same thing goes for stand that people put wheels on.. I don't see how they can keep them from vibrating. I've had a saw with wheels and tried my best to get the wheels planted to the shop floor good.. I never could get it to be nice and smooth running.

Mine is mounted to a countertop made out of 2x4's (think butcher block) lined up and glued together with 3/4 plywood on top and bottom. The counter is screwed to the wall and has 2x6 legs. It's not moving at all. LOL It's not really a problem. I didn't mean for it to sound like it was an issue. My saw is butter smooth and I love it. I'm just pointing out a little quirky thing that happens at a certain speed. Thought it would be interesting to see if everyone had that experience.

My 1996 226vs came with the shelf kit. When I bought my 220vs a couple of years ago I went to the web site to order the shelf kit it wasn’t there. I still haven’t got around to making my own.

Been a bit since I have finished a project. SOOOOOOOOO much going on. Garden in full swing, tractors and a backhoe that need fixed, a little camping and fishing. My Mother-in-Law passed away this last week and my wife is just beyond sad. I finally got in the shop yesterday and today and finished the frame and put this together. It is a H.Botas Pattern. The piece is poplar strips glued together and planed down. The frame is some teakwood that is used in pallets of things coming from out of the country. The splines are Dark Walnut from here on the property. The stain is Golden Oak.

Congratulations on your new baby, hope you both have many years of pleasure together. Marg

I think all saws have this issue, but that being said.. if you're on a 4 legged stand it's really hard to get all 4 legs planted onto the floor with exact even pressure so there is no rocking movement at all.. The smoothest saw I ever had was my DeWalt that had the 3 leg stand.. The Hegner is really smooth too with that 3 leg stand. I find with the 4 legged stands it's best to loosen the bolts to the stand and wiggle it around to get it settled into the permanent spot and then tighten the stand back up.. This helps a ton with those harmonic speeds to keep vibration and sound to a minimum. Last week I built a shelf inside the stand legs of my Hawk BM-26 and used some 1/8 thick aluminum angle cut to size and bolted into the already stamped holes in the stand. One of the Hawks I used to have that I bought used came with a shelf like I built. Those aluminum angle pieces I added stiffened up that stand a lot and it's running smoother than I've ever been able to get it. I'm surprised or maybe not, LOL that Hawk doesn't have some bracing on the lower part of the stands to stiffen it up, I mean the holes are there for it but the two new saws I've bought never came with any bracing. I always thought that first saw that had the shelf was a factory shelf option.. as i see similar on other saws on marketplace etc.. I don't see any shelf kit or anything from Hawk so maybe it was at one time.. either way, I'll be adding the shelf to the other Hawk soon to if nothing else it stiffens up the stand a lot. Every other saw stand I've seen / had has braces on the lower portion of the stand.. I never gave it much though I guess until I seen the difference in performance just by add that shelf brackets.

Okay, I re-read your post and that makes sense.. I thought you was saying to plug the clock and saw etc into the power switch and when done sawing shut off the strip but you're saying to power the strip to the foot switch. Took me a minute to understand that concept for some reason, LOL..

Maybe it is time to increase the "SSV Gold Supporter" limit from the $5. Everything else is increasing I would rather give it here. I am here many times daily, as opposed to a magazine that comes out 4 times a year. There are hundreds more free patterns here, and the interaction with "friends" is worth a huge amount more. I do not think there should be a limit to SSV Gold Supporter. I think it should be what a member feels they can comfortably afford. Maybe there is not a limit. I just saw the $5 but I have not tried to give more.. Scrolling is my main hobby and takes up a large part of my life... If we make @Travis a wealthy man, better him than Bill Gates or George Soros! Besides he lives in my state, if he is wealthy, I could arrange a visit and he may buy me a beer as opposed to @heppnerguy and me thinking we would try to take him to lunch (McDonalds) someday. Maybe he would instead take us to "The Black Angus". I think there is one still in Vancouver, Wa. My way of saying a celebrating (maybe a little too much) 4th to Travis for all he does for us here! Seriously,,, increase or do away with the limit.. Another little secret,, I just talked to that blond in the clip in Travis' telethon ,, got a date!!

This is the wording I was looking for. Is that what it is? Might be. It's a small window between 70% and 80% or so. Then it's great again. I just work below or above that speed. Not a big deal at all. Just a peculiar thing that I wondered about. Sometimes it's good to ponder. Lol

Resonance frequency?

My old Hawk will vibrate if I turn it all the way up but I never cut up that high so it’s not a problem for me.

I swear I am going so slow I think my mind is actually moving the wood. Maybe people who are good are really Jedi.

The switch on the power strip would remain in the on position. No need to turn it off.

Those are great!

nice job on making the pattern and cutting it. Very good likeness. Dick heppnerguy