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I finished this Jim Blume pattern this afternoon and the wife dubbed it as being one of my best pieces. I'm not so sure about that but I will say it is an outstanding pattern and a lot of fun to cut. I tried to find my directions to count the number of cuts using Inkscape but never could locate them among my "never lose anything" filing system I have set up on my computer. This was cut using the Blonde wood I had located at Lowe's with a Birch backer. The piece is stained with Ipswich and the backer is stained with Ebony. Four coats of Polyacrylic and pre-fab framing material provided the finish. I do spline my frames. Despite the many holes, the piece is quite easy to cut. There is only one delicate area, that being the lower part of the eagle's neck... the part just under his beak. I encourage you to give it a try.

You may or may not recall a couple of weeks ago I posted a paper cut pattern of a little house tucked in among a lot of foliage. Well I received a lot of nice comments. I found still another paper cut pattern that was a little more challenging than the first one and showed it to my wife who immediately wanted me to cut that one with a matching backer board color. So I printed the pattern and set out to cut it for her. She was pleased with it and we hung it yesterday beside the first paper cut pattern containing the little house. I again cut the entire pattern with a #1 spiral blade and after a few hours had it finished. I used a 1/4 inch thick solid core Baltic Birch covering, of which I do not like the wood I used but it came out alright from the front side. Now my wife is happy having the new item on the wall and I was thrilled to find a project that challenged me to cut. Dick heppnerguy

I gave intarsia a try. It's not perfect but I had fun.

Simple name cutting for my daughter’s college friend. The right piece of wood turns something simple into something beautiful.

Made this for my Son-in-law who is a big fan of sports and this team. I figure he can hang it in his Game room... It is segmented in 1/2" mahogany.

Spent this weekend starting my nativity work. These will be gifts. I will be giving them out at Thanksgiving. One goes to a Spanish officer I work with. The 3 smaller ones were cut from 1/2" Walnut and Cherry wood. This smaller is a Steve Good Pattern, which I really like as simple, yet classy. Though I have to say, all those straight lines do make it a bit of a challenge. The larger more intricate tree was cut from Canary Wood and is a Sue Mey design. I really like her designs, they are challenging for sure, but you come out with standout pieces. Combined with unique wood this is an heirloom piece in my mind. Lots of hours cutting this! Canary wood is really nice to cut as it seems to be a little "oily" so blades cut true and last a long time. I think I only had to replace the blades because I bent them when threading my pierce holes! I started with #3 Flying Dutchman Ultra Reverse, then moved to a #1 for the inside. I used a #3 for the outside perimeter which I did last. Sue's design is nice as it stays true to the Christmas story "The Shepherds and the Angels ~ Luke 2:8-21". All of the pieces have a semi-circle 'bulge' behind on the base, they also have a 'cup' drilled with a Forstner bit. This way the tea lights sit right in. I finished all of them in raw linseed oil, this is my preferred finish. Now comes the curing time, and then I will go over each piece with 3000-grit sandpaper. Then a tac cloth to get rid of the lint. I will be cutting a few more of the smaller ones, but need a rest first.

Finicky little things, but sell okay. 17 keys done. The 18th one met with unfortunate sanding mishap . Oak, from a friends scrap pile. Painted with craft acrylic paint. I didn't put a top coat on.

After 6 weeks with my new hobby I was hoping to be a little faster at it. I did have some issues coming up with the correct blade to use but I'm totally embarrassed to admit it took me almost six hours to scroll this yesterday.

Simple and easy ghosts.

So I haven't been very active here for a while. I have been pretty busy of late. I got my work into a local store and it's keeping me pretty busy. I'm not complaining though, it has been a great little side gig. Anyway, thought I'd post a few pictures of my latest stuff to try to catch up.

Sorry no wood projects. But Travis says anything holloween goes. Chicken wire, White paint, and DJ lights. @Travis you can delete this if it is disqualified.

I have made several of these skeletons. My grandson loves them.

Thank you Marie. One of the tricks I learned is to try and cut as much as possible with the "waste" area to the right of my blade. I use Flying Dutchman and noticed that it favors the right side, and that's where it will drift to. I find I have the best control and best lines using this rule. Plus, if I screw up, most of the time it will be in the waste area and not the "live" area.

Halloween projects/decorations are great fun!

Latest work... Didn't care how long it took this time. Mutant Baltic birch 1/4" had many variations of tight and loose in the layers and was a challenge. Even with touch up sanding it still doesn't measure up to the pattern. Guess I gotta keep practicing !

I cut this once before, a couple of years ago. I looked up the difference between thankful and grateful then and had to look again to get it straight in my mind. As I understand it an example would be, while you’re thankful for the food you’re eating, you’re grateful that hunger isn’t really a problem for you.

Very Different that all my others, but at first sight I knew I had to give it a try. I do like the outcome. Adding the words can after cutting the Stack of Three and finishing the one with Red. Any Comments is Always Good...............Tks Danny :+}

Hey Everyone! In this fun scroll saw project we make a neat Jack-O-Lantern Themed Candy Dish for Halloween! This Steve Good Design is cut from 3/4 inch pine. I think this is a fun design that could easily be modified to any season or event. Hope you all like the video! #ArtisanPirate

Been a while since I cut anything monster/horror-related (I do have a couple printed out and in the to-cut stack), due to some on-going family crises, but here's a couple I've done over the years. These usually hang around our office area at work during October.

So my first two big projects, Other than names, Need to learn how to get better curve edges,

Recently made some Jack-o-lanterns, the others are from past Halloween's.

I almost hate to throw my hat into the ring with such awesome projects. My little ole skull pales in comparison to you guys. Here it is anyway though.

Good Morning If you are using Windows 10. Use file explorer to find font. Right click on the TTF or the OTF. Then click for all users. Should be there in Inkscape when you reopen. With Windows 11. Double click on ttf and you should see the font. Click on Install and good to go. Or if you right click on font you should see only install only. If you are using a MAC you are on your own. I think there are videos on this as it is more than one step. For script fonts the are cutable. Here is one I use. If this does not work let me know. Scroll_scriptmt.ttf

The cards a a combination of a couple of poems and say With a sprinkle of magic and a dash of holiday cheer, this key only works on special day each year. Place this key on Christmas eve somewhere that I can plainly see. Love from Santa Claus

Welcome to the world of Intarsia James! Great job. There are quite a few designers that have outstanding patterns. This will keep you busy at the saw for sure! What I like about our scrollsaw "hobby"... passion... Is that it is so varied. I can do puzzles today, toy cars the next, intarsia the following day, and stay occupied for weeks, then do some Welsh Love Spoons (yup, YOU got me addicted to those!), then switch to intricate fretwork, and look up and the weekend has passed by. No way we could get bored with this. Though I took four days off from my FT job at NATO for the long weekend and ended up spending 10+ hours a day in my workshop!!

I remember seeing your watches advertised in a scroll saw magazine several years ago. Very beautiful work John. My best selling items are toys. All ages buy them. The angel cross and praying hands have also been good sellers.

My technique is to just not have any friends. lol

These are a few more examples of adding color to scrolling..... it's a scary time of the year......

Like everyone else said, speed does not matter. However, you have to ask what is your goal when you sit down to scroll. I am one of the really slow guys, I am the turtle... but I have been at this for a long time. I get into this zen mode and just enjoy creating, letting the process take over. My main goal is to nail my lines perfectly every time I cut. I mainly do Intarsia and multi-species wood puzzles so I am cutting each of the pieces separately and then they need to fit together as if they were cut from one piece of wood. I do not want to mess around with fine fitting, I want my pieces to fit right off the scroll saw. Thus deliberatly slow. Below is something I just got off the saw. I cut the walnut piece by itself last night and then did a stack cut on the cherry one (so there's another lurking) this morning. From start to finish it took me 3 hours to cut out just one piece and one base. Of course, I still have sanding and glue-up to do. I am waiting a 36mm Forstner bit to come in tomorrow so I can make the tea light "cup". They are small 1.25" flickering LED candles. That will sit in the little circle behind the nativity scene. I have noise-canceling earbuds, that are blue-tooth and I listen to music as I cut. I just relax and enjoy... PS to add: I looked closely at your piece. That's some damn fine cutting you did for a newbie! In particular for thin wood. Keep the same pace and relax and don't worry.. You will be just fine!

I made a Thing

My Box-O-Lanterns and a Hanging Halloween Lantern

Anyone using a WEN 4208T 2.3-Amp 8-Inch 5-Speed Cast Iron Benchtop Drill Press about $110 on Amazon ( A little more at Lowes). I need a small drill press and the WEN would work. My shop is small and a DP can not take up a lot of room. I have found info on a Mini Drill Press that is even smaller then the WEN, at almost the same cost, but reviews were not too great with mfg QC being the major issue. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks

My first saw was a WEN although a different model. The first table I built I used 3/4 thick ply for the top and mounted the saw with a layer of toolbox drawer liner between the saw and the plywood. The vibration was so bad I thought I would have to strap it down to keep if from bouncing all over the shop. I pulled the 3/4 plywood top off and replaced it with a solid piece of 2X10. I remounted the saw again with the drawer liner between the saw and the 2X10. Afterwards, it would "almost" pass the nickle test. Even through the entire speed range. From your picture it looks like you used 3/4 ply for the top of your saw. If you experience vibration you may want to double up on the top or replace it with 2X material. Good luck.

Might be where she started, but she is in Canada now.

Wonderful work.

I like the coloring. Nice fall project. I think that could count in the monthly challenge too if you haven't already entered it.

I really like how the colors came out in this one. Nice work.

You have been busy,everything looks great, RJ

Really nice cutting and love the coloring! I am thankful for the info you gave and grateful my mind can still comprehend it..

Yesterday, I decided to try the shelf and weight approach. Put a piece of wood on the horizonal braces, a bag of cement I have on it and went to around four bad spots to one vibrating spot at a speed I would never use. THANKS FOR THE HELP PEOPLE!

I heard someone once say, "first you get good and then you get fast". Take your time and don't beat yourself up about it taking a while. This is a good time to practice technique, speed will come naturally as you practice.

Yep this is a great cut! I need to locate that pattern (just what I need another pattern I want to cut). You did a terrific job on it.

Beautiful! I absolutely love spalted wood.

Really nice work...yes, it will be fun to see future ones!

Yes it is segmented, I did not paint the unpainted mahogany part. It is painted with craft paint and finished with Deft Gloss.

Those are neat Barb. Nicely done.

WHat do the cards say? I zoomed in, but still cannot read... my old eyes...

Wolf profile by Steve Good, Arrowhead design by U.S. Forest Service. 1/4 elm, FD #1 Polar blade for the interior cuts, #3 for the outside. 1 Coat thinned BLO followed by 3 coats of thinned shellac. Made three one already sold. Size 11 x 14 Stack cut all three at the same time.

Why are you in a hurry? Is this a hobby or business? If you keep pressuring yourself on time, it will be difficult to enjoy it. I spent a career in a very time pressed production environment and now I want to take my time.