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

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 !

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

Halloween? We never do anything for Halloween anymore. We live out in the country, and since all the kids on our little private road have grown up and left, we have no trick or treaters at all. Pretty sad, but such is life. I looked, I have only made on thing in my life related to Halloween. I made a pen for a Halloween pen contest. I did use the scroll saw to cut out the bats. The blank. is made from black pvc pipe, there were two halves to make up the blank, so the bats are in different locations on each side.

Simple and easy ghosts.

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

Nice work. Yes, you are being too critical. While under the mag light, every little bugger will be seen. When checking how a piece looks view it from about 4 feet at eye level. If it looks good, it is. We all try for perfection, but none of us ever gets there.

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 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.

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

I haven't been here for a while, the good weather is drawing to a end and we will be stuck inside soon here in IL. Im still seeing familiar names here so that's a blessing. As many may remember I started scrolling this time last year but took the summer off for my other hobby, today I went to the work shop and blew the dust off the saws and started cutting a pretty simple Steve good cut ..... boy am I rusty! Figured I'd just be able to pick up where I left off 6 months ago ... oh well at least the learning curve won't be as bad this time round Look forward to seeing what works if art you guys have been making and it's good to be back!

Following the line will improve with time and practice. I know it's tough, but patience is required. I rarely sand imperfections on the cut edges. My cuts are far from perfect, but if I end up with an unwanted bump or notch, I try to smooth them with the blade, before I finish the cut. Make the imperfections blend into the pattern as much as possible. In a lot of cases, no one will ever know, once you remove the pattern. This is why cutting letters is so challenging. Slight imperfections are harder to hide in most fonts, so it's a good test of your abilities to cut letters.

This is a tip from someone who does not like big blades ( I normally use a #1, will occasionally use a #3, and the largest I have ready is a #5.) Use the largest blade that will make the curve. The width of the blade will help "even out" the curve. Of course, you can go to far:

Halloween projects/decorations are great fun!

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.

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

I made a Thing

My Box-O-Lanterns and a Hanging Halloween Lantern

This was something I started earlier in the year before I stopped for the summer. Unfortunately I can't credit the designer as my old computer died and I don't have the files anymore. There's lots of delamination happening and I kind of struggled with this a lot since starting and have to blame the poor quality batch of BB I bought, there's not a lot left and I'll be looking for a new supplier to buy another batch from soon that said it is what it is. There wasn't a lot left to cut so I decided to finish it off. I don't know if it's worth trying to sand it and clean it up a bit but Ill throw it on the finishing pile.

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.

True on both. Oh, what is that saying? That's right...practice makes perfect!

Just about anywhere in the world would be cheaper. Even if you could afford the price of the house, the taxes would eat you alive. Starting at just over 1% of selling price. Then a 2% increase on that amount each and every year. Or more.

A couple I did some time back, a flying bat and a lighted cat lantern.

Backlit Haunted House

A few I have done over the years.

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.

So to day I post my African Big Five cut (remember my Lion Project) well this is it. The Big Five is very special to all South Africans because it’s part our heritage. Before I tell you what the problems were and how I approached them, please don’t tell me you don’t like the colour of the back round or the texture of the board is not right that’s immaterial, just look at the cuttings and the work, put into it. All the patterns are Russ Beard Patterns, the cuttings were all double stack 4mm Birch Plywood the Lion is the Centre price and was cut on a 11”x14” my standard board size, the Leopard, Buffalo and Rhino had to be reduced in size keeping a eye on the aspect to keep the proportions right, but by reducing the size made the cuts more difficult, adding to the problem only the Lion was a Free Standing Pattern the others were all inboard patterns so with Russ’s approval and help from my wife Loraine how is a great artist we converted the patterns on the fly to stand alone pattern of Ouse the Elephant had to bigger to.Time plenty hours, holes I estimate between 3000-5000 holes cuts. The patterns were soaked in Danish Oil drained and excess wiped off allowed to dry for two days and the two coats clear varnish. This type of cut deserves a very special back round so I will be taking a photo of the African Savannah and glue that to the backer and the the cuts on top of that in layers. I’m very happy with the results even though the stain was unpredictable the colour of the animals can vary from area to area so it does not bother me.

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.

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.

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

I'm guilty of "trying" to be a perfectionist with anything and everything and that usually leads to disappointment and most times losing interest and I don't want that to happen with my woodworking hobby like it has with so many other things. I don't remember where I saw this quote but I need to post it over my tools: (Perfection in the roadblock to progress)

Yes, nice work. You might try more landscape type pictures because if you make any mistakes no one will know....plus there are rarely any perfectly straight lines or circles in nature.

We all fine tune our cuts, it's called sanding. I do it on every piece I cut. It's all part of scrolling. You are doing fine. Take a picture and date each of your pieces you will see improvements. Each piece presents a different challenge, some are much easier to cut other are more difficult and time consuming. Just take your time and enjoy the process.

I once stepped away for several years. You'll pick back up in no time I'm sure.

Funny you say that. I generally keep my lines at 1 point thickness, this way I can see any drifting early on and micro adjust my cut. Usually I will go no more than 2 points thick. Many times, the other thing I do is bring my patterns into photoshop and do a "color overlay" (lighten option), so my lines are magenta instead of black. This way I can see them better. Below is a 2-pt. sample.

I just got the 4214T Sunday. It is a monster compared to the WEN 10" drill press, pretty heavy. I actually assembled it and got it on the work-table by myself. I actually assembled on the table. Just lifting the head into place was a little challenging. I think it is too high right now as the drill bit is at eye level. I like it a little lower, so I will purchase a stand for it that is lower. I will get photos of it today after work.

Hi guys, Thanks for the advice, The dots around the faces aren't holes, I just used a ball head in a dremel and burnt them in, Cheers Misty

So here I am taking four days off from work. Last night after work, I decided to cut out a nativity scene. This is a Steve Good design that I changed slightly from 3/4 to 1/2" thick, to have a base that allows an LED tea light to go behind it. I cut the walnut one out last night (sanded the base already). My wife liked it so much that she wanted one for the house and then suggested I make some for gifts to give out prior to Christmas (usually on Thanksgiving). So this morning I stack cut the two cherry pieces. I also decided to cut out a couple of "scrap" wood-wheeled toys, each made out of two different species of wood. Also on the saw will be a larger more intricate design by Sue May, this one I am cutting out of canary wood. I will have to cut a few more of the nativities for gifts for some of the Spanish officers I work with at NATO. That's tomorrow... Then I have a 3D multi-piece Nativity set I am going to cut for my grandson. Just looking for the right design that is not "tchotchke" as my Yiddish grandmother would say. So much for taking time off huh? What all do you have on your production line for Christmas?

I live in Texas, and we have been seeing a lot of people coming from California to settle in Texas, they say the house prices are cheaper, RJ

Well done, Misty. A tip for curves, make sure you push your cuts straight into the blade while turning the piece. In curves, I have a tendency to press towards one side or the other.

Nice work ! I like the little holes around the face.

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.

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

Holy cow, dick you are pumping out some really nice ones, quickly! Your backer is perfect for that cutting...

Just my thoughts: Looks like a great drillpress. I like the variable speed if it holds up, if it quits, is the drill press dead? the lazer lights, to me are worthless. I have one on my Jet, never use it. Never could get is set correctly and as I lower the quill, to double check that the bit is hitting in the right spot, the quill blocks the light. And, because the light has to come down at in angle it changes the "X" spot as you move the table up and down. A pain to readjust. Not sure what the handle on the left side it for on the Wen. The other dislike I have is the depth adjustment. screwing those nuts up and down is a real pain. My first drill press I had was a HF, and it had a dial to set the depth. I love that compared to the nut adjustment. I think the pull out roller setup could come in handy. The price is certainly good.

They both look great.

Charlie, excellent piece, RJ

Wow! That is over the top excellent! Paul, you simply amaze me what you can do with that Hegner of yours!

Are you looking for a project? Here are 3 in the Project Workshop that might scratch that creepy crawly itch!