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"Michael 'Squints' Palledorous walked a little taller that day. He had kissed a woman, and he had kissed her long and good.” Squints, from The Sandlot. Awesome coming of age movie about a group of young baseball players in the summer of 1962. Originally the glasses were just going to be cut out, leaving the eyes as floaters. I decided to save the glasses, add lenses and put them back in. The water drops are clear JB Weld. Pattern in library.

Commissioned project. Enjoyed making although it took some time being everything had to be cut to size with opening parts having a snug fitting. A.bit of thought has to be given to how to open the two hidden drawers. Some people are able to figure it out quickly while others have no idea. Box is made of walnut and ash. Size is 9 ½” L x 4” W x 3 ¼” H.

My last online auction had some scrollsaw blades so I bid on them and won. Just priced out the blades and not counting the partial packs of coping saw blades I got about 75.00 worth of blades for 21.00. Not a bad deal! Most of the blades are Olson but I got two packs of Pegas.

Just bought a Dewalt DW788 scroll saw. Been trying to learn woodworking since I retired last year. Was kinda proud of my first attempt.

I tried the Pegas blades on my Seyco and Pegas, and no matter what I did, I continued to break blades. I always try to determine what it was that I was doing wrong before I blame the blades. I then tried the Pegas blades on my old Type 1 Dewalt and while I still broke a few here and there, it was not as often. It came to my attention that the Pegas are tempered harder than other brands and with the Dewalt I was able to sneak up on the tensioning. But in my opinion, because the blades are tempered harder, they may also be more brittle and the real reason I was breaking blades is that I am a bottom feeder and tend to slightly bend the blades as I place them into the pilot hole. I tried top feeding on a project and didn't seem to break as many but still snapped a few which as we all know can be nerve racking to say the least. While I did like the Pegas Modified Geometry blades, I went back to using Flying Dutchman and that solved my problem. I still won't say that it is the blade that is or was the problem however. It seems to have something to do with the tensioning, or the way I saw. The answer? Try a variety of methods and brands and whatever works best for you is the best way....no matter what anyone else says.

Pegas chucks fit. I put a set on a 1983 ex19

Well, I don't have any wisdom to impart, regarding portable DC, but want to be the first to congratulate you on this new stage in your life. Building a new shop is a dream most of us never get to realize, but have to experience vicariously through others. Hopefully you will post pictures of the progress during construction.

When I got my first batch of Pegas blades I found them to be way too aggressive for me and did not use them for awhile. After some time I tried them again and started to enjoy them more and more. The last two projects I cut were entirely cut with Pegas #1 spiral blades and I think they just might end up being my 'go to' blade for most of my fret cutting. I do not experience the breaking of these blades on my 30 inch Excalibur saw. I love those blades now Dick heppnerguy

Ok, I have a question for everyone regarding “portable” dust extraction for use with in particular my scroll saw. However, to better understand my need, I need to give some background on what’s been going on lately in my life. I’ll try to take a long story and make it as short as possible. but I tend to be “wordy” so I apologize now. So, hubby has had an oversized woodworking workshop in our home we built 18 years ago. He tends to do larger furniture type projects and also has a lathe he uses so he has the typical larger woodworking tools, and most of them. He allowed me to “move in” to share his space 6+ years ago bringing in 2 scrollsaws, a smaller bandsaw and more sanding equipment. We were wall to wall. We have had had a large dust extraction system with conduit to each tool station. Back in the middle of March, my FIL, who was 95 (3 months short of 96) and in pretty good health and still living in the family home independently for the most part and doing well, was out walking with a friend and fell backward hitting his head and passed away. My MIL was already gone so family is going to sell the family property and starts process. Long story bit shorter, we decided to downsize from our house, get out of a subdivision, and buy his siblings out and buy the family home and its acreage with a mountain view and maybe get him closer to retirement and definitely a bigger shop. House was built by his parents and is almost as old as my husband (he is the baby.) it is well built but will need to be remodeled. Plan is to move into house while we build a new larger shop building which will have a living space. Then once shop is built, we will move in that living space while we remodel house. So, since end of March, we went on previously planned trip out of country with our kids, came back and went through that decision process and then I have been decluttering and cleaning out our house from 18 years and getting it on the market. We broke down the shop the past couple weeks as he had time after work and moved it all to “store” in the basement of family house. We have now sold our house and will be out in next few weeks. Needless to say, I haven’t been able to do any scrolling or carving or anything else since March, so about 5 months already. We figure if we are lucky, shop will be built and moved into in 6 months. (Crossing my fingers, but not holding my breath). So, I don’t really want to continue to not be able to scroll while we continue this process and I’ll need something to do once we are moved so I’ve been trying to figure out best option to scroll with portable dust extraction for my saw. My thought was it would be useable with other tools too perhaps during that time (small bandsaw for example). I would have to scroll in the basement or garage probably. Once we were in new shop space, I could continue to use with scroll saw rather than run scroll saw with big dust extraction that runs all the time and is quite loud. I was thinking a Festtool portable system might work as I envision or maybe there is another choice. I had hubby look online but I wanted to get some insight or input from my scrolling friends to see if anyone was using a portable Festool sawdust extraction system or something similar and, if so, which one might be Pros and Cons and thoughts from you all. Thanks if you read through it all, now you know why I’ve had nothing to show for awhile and may not for a while longer. I really don’t want to have to wait on the new shop space before I can scroll again so any insight anyone can provide would be appreciated.

RIP Pee-Wee. Wonder who got the bike?

P40 WAR HAWK. Woods used were maple and ebony.

I decided to create a new puzzle for my kids. I wanted it to be a 3D puzzle that is a bit more difficult to do as opposed to traditional 2D projects. And this is what came out in the end. Wooden Tuck 3d puzzle pdf plans.mp4

I got a used Somerville Excalibur 30 (Model EX30VS, made in Canada) from an estate sale. It's a great saw to work with, but there are some things that need to be fixed or replaced. I contacted Ray at Seyco, but he didn't have the parts for it and made it sound like it was a lost cause. I believe my saw is from the late 90's. The biggest issues are that (1) the tension lever is snapped off, (2) the blade cuts at a 2 degree angle when the plate is level, and (3) the blower doesn't work. The more minor issues are that the press foot is really hard to adjust and it is missing the belt cover. Any advice on parts that would be compatible with this machine, or sources for parts other than Ray? Thanks!

"As you wish" is what comes to my mind.

Thanks! I love Princess Bride!!! Yes, very quotable. Bet your girls would like these.

What Bill said. I will say this though, I have on-board dust control on each of my Ex saws that work well. We discussed this a couple of years back. I incorporated the MetroVac 500 and small cyclone cannisters. To cut down on the noise I fabbed a muffler of sorts from an empty Tropical o/j bottle. I can take either saw anywhere and still have dust control. I've got about $75 ea invested.

Black patches under the eyes give this troublemaker a masked appearance. Raccoons are cunning animals with great dexterity and an abundance of curiosity. They venture from the woods at night stirring up all kinds of trouble for farmers and home owners. This project utilized a piece of polished African Sapele 18" x 12" x 1", cut on the scroll saw and then carved. It was painted with artist oil paints and acrylic paints with a water based satin Minwax Polycrylic protective coat. Thanks for looking. Dick Mira

That looks great, and a neat movie, RJ

Charlie, nice work!

Charlie, that turned out great! what a creative way to capture him....You are quite the artist! Thanks for sharing the link to the movie as I have never seen it...made me laugh! My girls with their friends have a movie they watch like a cult movie..."Princess Bride" they seem to have all the lines memorized. Thanks again for an excellent piece

Great cutting and idea to add the glasses!

Thanks for sharing the trailer.............It cracked me up.

I would jump out of my skin turning a corner in your shop while seeing this realistic looking critter looking at me. You get 5 gold stars for this creation!!!

An other great pattern and cutting. Glasses and water droplets are a fantastic touch.

That is so very cool. No idea of the movie, never seen it, but I love your portrait. Awesome work. Marg

@Dave MonkHa, thanks Dave. I left the eyes as floaters in the pattern since his glasses are so much of his character. Then I decided to save the glasses and paint them and put them back in. THEN I decided to add lenses. THEN I decided on adding water drops. (Clear JB Weld cement). Had a ball ️ making it.

Great pattern and what a great idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love it.

I have posted this before but we have a number of new scrollers to the site that may not have seen this before. I have used the key chain maker over 200 times and each time I give away some key chains everyone really seems to like them. He is my latest that I have done. My oldest Grandson baseball team is representing Ontario in the 13U National Championship and wanted to give the boys something for their back packs. The Video is at https://youtu.be/HEL5kpdgwNI and the download is in his blog https://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/ but you have to scroll down to near the bottom.

Found this image on-line and just could not resist converting it into a Scroll Saw Pattern. The cut panel is 5/32” x 11” x 17” solid core Birch Ply mounted to a 1/4” x 11” x 17” BB Ply Backer. Both the Backer and cut panel are Hand Painted mainly using an Air Brush and Artist Acrylic Air Brush Paints. A little regular Artist Acrylic Paints and brush work was used for some details and the gold belt buckle. The painting work was quite difficult and time consuming due to the many colors and the necessary drying time between colors so adjacent areas could be masked with tape. I’m feeling good about how well II was able to use the Air Brush. You will notice I was even able to get some light blue shading in the eyes and light gray shading in the white fur of the coat and hat. Pretty close match to the original color image I was attempting to duplicate. Cutting was done with Pegas #2/0 Spiral blades. The assembled panel was protected with multiple coats of Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish. The frame is my typical 1 3/4" wide Premium Pine, primed and painted bright Red (It is a Christmas Piece, you know!). If this fun piece does not sell quickly, it will hang in in my home for the holidays. Comments and Critiques always welcome. I put the Pattern in Pattern Exchange

Cute. Excellent work Frank. Marg

This is my version of Steve's golf cart pattern! Hot Wheels interduced their version earlier and I thought I could come up with something of my own! A life like version could be built using fiberglass to mold the engine and instll the electric motor inside the fake engine and go one more step and put in a sound system of a dragster! That might not be a wise thing to do, might get the person banned from the club! All comments welcomed! Erv

Wanted to see if I could do a decent job on a Dog portrait. Found a bunch of stencils and images of various breeds. This Pitbull Portrait with a Heart, caught my eye. I converted it to a scroll Saw Pattern and sized it to fit on an 8x10 Panel. The panel is 5/32” solid core Birch Ply. Using my Air Brush, I painted both the 1/4” BB Ply backer and the cut panel with Artist Acrylic Air Brush paints. The Panel was cut using Pegas #2/0 Spiral blades. As usual, after painting and assembly the panel was protected with multiple coats of Krylon Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish. The panel is mounted in a very inexpensive 8x10 frame I purchased in bulk on Amazon. I think it came out fairly nice, if I have to say so myself! Comments and critiques always welcome. EDIT: I posted the pattern in PATTERN EXCHANGE

Just learning to use it. Was trying to get some very fine lines but couldn't. Had to speak with my son. He said I needed to lower the pressure. Had not tried that. Still lots still to learn.

I'd say it's not a bad batch of blades IF, you're only experiencing it on the Hegner and not on the King.. More like a picky saw needing a more precise tension.. in other words a nice way to say user error .. No worries though most of us have been there.. some of us twice.. ie I learned to saw on easy to use ( tensioning ) saws.. then I had to re-learn on the Hawk saws again.. I've seen on other forums, and probably even did this myself back in the day complaining how Hawk and Hegners are crap saws because I didn't know how to use it correctly.. been so bad with others that they've sold their saws to go back to a DeWalt.. LOL... It took me a good maybe year of switching back and forth from the DeWalt or Excalibur to the Hawk before it finally clicked what was finally right. I'm now thankful I am not a person to give up easily LOL.. Love these saws now.. however a EX type saw will always have a spot in my shop too as I like to use that different style cutting from time to time..

Thanks for the reassurance. Sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake starting a thread. For me it's never meant to be argument provoking or confrontational but some of my topics cause this nonetheless. It's good to know that it was helpful.

Sometimes you forget what you read a while back, so always good for a refresher. Jerry

Me too. This was a very helpful thread even if it went on a tangent. Thanks James for starting the conversation!