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Here is a piece I just finished. More sanding to shape than carving, just playing with different techniques. The only carving was the bowl. I included a couple of photos of the slab of 3/4" dark walnut I cut it out from. You can also see the amount of shaping and sanding I did in the last image.

Seems like all I am making lately are memorial items for friends and family. A good friend up in Kentucky Mom passed away recently. We had trip planned to go North with Kentucky being one of the stops. I saw barbs "Wings" plaque and thought that it would be nice for her. Made from 5/8'' Maple with 1/8" BBply for the backer. Used my go to blade FD UR1. The first pic was when it was laying out to dry, second pic was hanging on my shop wall,, pics didn't turn out well. I swear I spend more time finding the correct placement for patterns than cutting! I was trying to get the birds flying into that "light", ( the lighter spots of grain)

So I did something a little different. I engraved lines on the backer so I could do two different colors. Not 100% sure I like it or not. My wife said I need to dry brush some brown into the green area and dry brush the blue like I did on the Michigan one in the photos above post where it’s not plain blue but has streaks of darker blue and white in it. I might give that a try later. Thoughts on this one?

Agree with most of the above, regarding sharp blades (I use Pegas MG blades, 0/2 if I'm single-cutting, #1 or #3 if I'm double/triple stacked). Speed.....medium to med-high, on my cheap Wen 16". Reverse-tooth blades do wonders for trimming up the out-stroke fuzzies/feathers, and another trick I picked up here is to spray the back of the blank wood with shellac. That'll be the side that sits on the saw table. The shellac gives enough extra "stiffening" to REALLY cut down on fuzzy edges (har..."cut down"....yeah, I know, I'm not quitting the day job). I've also heard of folks wrapping the whole thing in packing tape to help cut down on edges, but that seems like a mess and a lot of packing tape, to me. But if it works for someone, I'm not gonna knock it. Slow down, take your time, have fun. Usually there's no time limit on cutting, and if I cut three pieces out of a pattern in one day, sometimes that's all the sawdust time I get and I'm happy for it. Find patterns YOU enjoy looking at, don't look at the number of holes (EVERY pattern is just one-hole-one-cut-next-hole), and have fun with it!

I made a wrinkly old man fishing for my pond out of tree limbs I was bored well I did scroll saw the fish. Roly

Just got this cut and I can't get out to the shop until tomorrow ( 93 in the shop ! ) to finish it. What color do you like best? I also have silver, but it didn't photograph well ( and maybe for the moon ? )

It was the mid 80's when I started wearing prescription safety glasses, frames and lenses, and I never stopped. My eyesight is really bad uncorrected ( 20/500+) but 20/20 corrected. So, in order to see I have to be wearing safety glasses. Your eye irritation may be from the organic vapors released when you scroll. The current allergy tests only test for reaction to the pollen, not the OV. 3M makes a product that is a flat sheet with activated charcoal in the filter media, I have one on my box fan. Also you could try and OTC allergy medication. If the OTC works then discuss with your MD.

What kind of dust collection do you have? It sounds like an allergic reaction to me. I think you should avoid cutting any wood which cause allergic reaction and have good dust collection.

I like the painted Michigan one. I would also agree with your wife about the dry brushing on the Washington one.

I'm color blind. Or my wife says I am. Who says stripes don't go with plaid? Anyway, sorry. I can't help.

This is my shop buddy Rose cooling off on the cement of my shop. She likes to come in and steal the cutouts when they fall on the floor and chew on them.

Some of my greatest memories from when young, were the time spent Jack Rabbit hunting. Walking through miles of sagebrush, cheatgrass and around cactus. Driving my Dad's old jeep through the same with buddies on the front fenders, and on the roof, hunting Jack Rabbits. My Favorite of all my hunting experiences. This place was over run with them.. Then the farms moved in and the farmer did not appreciate feeding their crops to the Jack Rabbits. So they started poisoning them. Now days I get more excited seeing a Jack Rabbit than I do a deer, fox, coyote, or wild turkey. They are almost all gone. So when I received my Woodworker's Pattern Book by Jacob and Wayne Fowler, and saw this pattern of a Jack Rabbit, I stopped all other projects and cut it. My memorial to Mr and Misses Jack Rabbit. "Thanks For The Memories" Cut in Monkey Pod. Added a little of a dramatic background for affect.

Cut with spiral blades from a beautiful piece of mahogany that is 12" x 10 1/2" x 1 1/2" thick. Dick

My box fan with a furnace filter does way better than my ceiling mounted air filtration system.. putting it on the floor about 2 - 3 foot from the saw on the side that the air puffer blows the dust towards seems to pull a lot of the dust "down" toward the ground instead of sucking it up to the ceiling and hopefully getting into the filtration system. I also do have the Seyco scroll saw dust collector..it seems to work pretty decent. but the box fan is quieter than any of them and also moves more air.

I wear big clunky bifocals made from shatterproof lens material. Additionally, I always use my 5x magnifier, which is another barrier. From there, I have a WEN air filtration unit going as well as my filtered a/c that blows across me and keeps dust in the air moving away from me to the WEN. Of course, I have top and bottom vac to get most of the dust away. many people just use the 'puffer' and that blows dust right on you for the most part.

That is so beautiful and I love the Elm.....I also agree with the others regarding the more earthy tones or black background for an animal. That is such a beautiful cutting that the more gold tone or earth tones would really make it look richer from my humble opinion.

I have the DeWalt set up with a #9 for cutting to size.

Be hard to find a state color, since all the different college fans would lobby for THEIR school color. Imagine here in Indiana where IU, Purdue, Notre Dame and others all wanting their color to represent the state. (Except Notre Dame doesn't know if their color is blue, green or gold.) And the inevitable blue/green discussion in Michigan.

Here ya go. I used a small piece for clarity, I don't use them for anything that small

Well, they all make the details of the cutting pop.. I've never been one to put colors behind a animal that wasn't more realistic.. those bright colors would be neat behind a car / motorcycle cutting.. This looks like it's cut from walnut and so once finished the wood probably going to darken up a lot.. As they are right now I like the blue.. however I think that gold color once the walnut has it's finish on it might look pretty neat.

Thanks Ralph. You’re welcome anytime and in turn maybe you can show me some.

When roughing out blanks, I use what ever blade is already in the saw from the previous cut. If there is no blade in the saw I would use what ever blade I use the least. It matter not what blade to use for roughing out.

When I need to rough cut something I use my bandsaw or table saw. For using the scroll saw, I would use the biggest coarsest blade I could find and run the saw at the highest speed that won't vibrate the saw off the table. Tom

Whattya mean I can't wear desert came pants with woodland tops with a white t-shirt.

James, I have these small spring clips, they're smaller than a clothes pin and the tips are latex coated, you can use these to hold the samll blade while you are threading the blade down the slot.

Robert, I am pretty much the same as Rodney @Dak0ta52, I like the smallest sharpest blades as well. And Ron @Ron Johnson is so right on about the wood....Nice wood is soooo much more fun to work with. On blade speed, I would say my blade speed is medium-slow, and I feed it slow because that works best for me. I used to do things so fast, work, eat, run , whatever.... and now that I am retired, I say to myself, "Self, what is the hurry?" when I feel I am rushing.... and these days I do so much better. Hope to meet you someday soon.... From one Eastern Washingtonian to another

I think you’re doing just fine Robert. I think it’s the material you’re using that appear to be giving you fussies. Try the same pattern with maple, cherry, etc. in ¼” or ½” using a #5 blade cutting at a steady speed you can control. Speed is fine as long as you have control and the blade is not burning the wood. Everyone has their preferences in blades. Mine is Olson, double tooth, skip tooth, and precision ground in #3,5& 7 used most often.

I guess I'm a little different than others that have commented. I like an aggressive blade that is sharp and cuts fast. That's why I use the Pegas blades. The rate of cut is not going to be any faster than the rate you feed your material into the blade. The reason I like the sharper blades is because, in my opinion, it cuts straighter (between clamps) rather than creating a bow as you feed the material. Also, I have a tendency to use the smallest possible blade for the material I'm cutting so that I geet nice, crisp corners. I've found to get the sharp corners with a larger blade you have to "nibble" your way into the corner to make your turn.

If I let my puppies in my shop I wouldn't be able to get anything done. I'd be telling them to "Get out of that," or "No, don't do that there!" You have a great shop mate, though. I bet she keeps you busy.

Thank you very much, Jerry. If you would like to see more pieces, check out my posts on this forum or look at the Member Gallery where more projects are posted, To see the largest collection of carved fretwork projects', go to pinterest.com/dickmiraglia, and click on Wildlife Interpretations in Wood. I have published articles in Scrollsaw Woodworking & Crafts, Creative Woodworks & Crafts, and Carving Magazine. Most of the articles are detailed instructions with loads of pictures and show how to do the power carving with a Dremel or Foredom rotary carver and which bits and burrs to use after the pattern is cut with the scroll saw,. Unfortunately, the publishing company of Creative Woodworks and Crafts has ceased publishing all of its magazines and the old copies can be hard to find, Sometimes, Google search or Etsy can help locate these older copies. The below listings might help: Scrollsaw Woodworking & Crafts Fall 2008, issue 32 Tiger Creative Woodworks & Crafts April 2010, issue 147, How to Choose the Right Scroll Pattern for Carving CW&C, March 2011 issue 155, Blue Fronted Amazon Parrot CW&C, MAY 2011,ISSUE 156, Pride of Africa, Lion Head CW&C, March 2013, issue 171 African Giraffe CW&C, Feb 2012 issue 162 Gold Canyon Bobcat CW&C, June 173, issue 173, Claudia's Grand Canyon Elk CW&C, Dec 2012, issue 169, Great Horned Owl Hope this helps locate some of these detailed instructions for you. Dick Mira

Robert R. A couple of things, we do not criticize we comment, guide and suggest things that can be changed to improve our work. The first thing looking at you piece is , as others have suggested, use better wood and a better quality blade. That will give a you a cleaner cut with fewer fuzzies. What saw and blade did you use for your project?

All things I would not have thought of, at least as of to date. I will keep these in mind, and my wife has a lighter magnifier on a stand and I don't think she uses it. I will have to borrow it, she won't notice.

From what I see you need to slow your blade speed down a bit, and also slow down how fast you feed your wood to the blade. Go really slow, let the blade do the work, do not push. Pause frequently and back up a little. Speed will come later. Blade speed you will need to adjust depending on thickness and hardness of wood. Also, try using real wood as that looks like a composite. The glue will mess you up as you learn right now. Baltic Birch plywood is another good learning wood. Start with 1/2 inch. The thinner the wood, the tough it is to control at first and you get those blowouts you see on some of your lines. The main point is GO SLOW... nail those lines splitting them perfectly. Going slow you will also get smooth lines, focus on those two things first. Plan your cuts and turns too, know in advance if you are going to back up, change directions, do a nibble cut, or sweep into the waste area and then turn back to nail a 90 degree. Note the 3rd image and how I go past my line into the waste area and nibble out an area where i can turn my blade to the opposite direction. This way I get really sharp corners. Also, if you do not have a 5x magnifier I would recommend one. (4th image) See the image below. I go REALLY slow to nail lines.

I love the detail in your patterns and as always a beautiful job cutting them. Thanks once more for sharing your work with us Dick heppnerguy

Kris, as always, amazing work!

I like the blue best. Not so much for the color but to my eyes the contrast is better.

Here is a list of the states that have official Colors List of U.S. state colors - Wikipedia.pdf

You might try using the colors from the state flag, if it's not too complicated. For instance, most of them use red, white and blue, so that could be a possibility. Some use a white background, with a seal or symbol, so a white background might be used. Tom

Yep, @MarieC is correct about Washington being called the evergreen state.. But whomever named it that has never been to the part of Washington I live in.. I live in the everbrown part. Use to be very arid, very dry, sage brush and cheatgrass, Jack rabbits, lizards and rattlesnakes. The only part sorta green is the color we that have lived here all our lives glow do to the atomic reactors that were built and operated here since WWII. But we are changing do to all land is being taken up with vineyard. Yep, changing our climate for sure. So there you go, eliminate wine and save the planet! I'd rather drink wine and enjoy the change. You can search state colors and not get much of an answer. Seems odd, every state has a state bird, state flower. Why not a state color? But back to the point, they are all nice, but I like the blue background the best. It just is prettier to me. More cheerful and I think you can pick the colors, most people would not have a clue about state color, state flower or state bird.

Beautiful job, excellent cutting, RJ

Wow! Those are really cool! If you do Washington state, I would say green for us since we are the Evergreen State! Can't wait to see it!

"Hobby", if looked up in the dictionary, means " empty wallet".