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

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.

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

Hi Guys, just started getting into this scroll swing malarky, think im liking it too, now im retired have a some time on my hands, had a scroll saw for years gathering dust after trying it and thought something was wrong with it not cutting striaght , so decided its time to play, found out if you use a decent blade it gets better, and take your time, so maybe i will post some of the results, cheers Misty

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.

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.

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 like the "lazy Susan" idea. Thanks.

They are also the perfect size to make a Lazy Susan. I love the clock Idea. Thought I would pass my find along to anyone who might be interested.

The real trick in woodworking is not being perfect, but being able to hide your mistakes.

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)

Scroll saw or not, that is very clever!

I'm learning to let the imperfections go. We are human and not machine. Little imperfections guarantee it was handmade with time and effort which is something to be proud of. Your piece looks great and just know, no one will critique it like you will.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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!

More planes joining my fleet.

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

For those who have a Menard in your area, I found this today. It is 12 inch round 1 inch think Pine for $2.22 and 11% rebate (1.98 after rebate). It is sanded and a really nice piece of wood. I only bought a couple but may get a few more.

Clock face maybe

Love that wood Charlie. Seems like it goes with that name perfectly.

Beautiful cutting on that one. Boy I see a lot of blade changes there.

That came out great Chalie.

Imperfections just show it’s handmade. One of my favorite quotes. “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”

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.

very nice job

It looks great. Take the pattern off and put it away for a couple of days. Take it out, you won't see the "mistakes". We are always our own worst critics.

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.

It turns out my 30yr old craftsman 1/3 hp 8" just broke. So it is time for a new one. So this post talked me into the Wen 4214T. maybe it will on reduced during Amazon Prime days. I see they have an accessory keyless chuck that goes down to a 1/64" drill.

Beautiful work James. What is the stores commission?

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:

I like it. I think it came out great. Throw it in a frame and hang it on the wall I'd say.

I like the non colored one.

Here you go. It's a modest shop as it shares the garage with my Mustang. My space is about 20' x 5'. Although I can still work while the 'Stang is in the garage, I prefer the car out so I have a bit more space to think My table saw I tuck away and roll outside to use since it generates a lot of sawdust. I keep my rattle cans and sandpaper on the lower shelves of that rolling cart too. I also have a larger belt/disc sander on the shelf, along with my laser so you do not see those. I have rolling metal shelves on the other side of the garage, I store wood and "waste" wood, and also by the garage door I have my air compressor with my hose on a retractable reel, with about 50' of hose. I just installed the piping for the dust collection system, I added a cyclone bucket to it. I am still figuring out how I want to do the right side of the sanding bench where the smaller belt/disc sander is. Right now I just use the expandable hose when I want to use it plugging it in where my grinder/ flex drum sander plugs in. I am using blast gates to control everything. My vacuum system goes on anytime I turn on a piece of equipment. Most controlled by a dead man's foot pedal. My scroll saw is the only tool that does not turn the vac on as it does not draw enough current to trigger my controller. The electric is the next thing I will neaten up after I finish the dust collection. I am also going to get another workbench with built-in vice and dogs, and I am waiting for my new Wen 4214 drill press to come in tomorrow. I wanted something with cranks and a laser.

Totally amazing cuts. To my untrained eye, the colors are spot on.

I see some folks as extremist on both ends of the spectrum here.. some not worried about time the slightest and some obsessed with it either how slow or how fast.. I don't see anything wrong with keeping track of the time it takes on a project.. then you have some sort of reference or value in each project.. I get people saying all the time when showing some of my projects "wow how long did that take" or "wow I bet that took a long time" so in some respects having an idea of the time involved is important "in my opinion" because it gives people perspective that " no it wasn't put into a machine and push a button and 10 minutes later here it is.. no it's not how it went.. The more important thing is.. you not worrying about what everyone else is able to do or not do... You will progress as you go.. many of us on here have been scroll sawing for 20+ years and make things "look easy"

I agree with Larry, enjoy the time.. I do this as a business but still take my time to enjoy the process.. IF I don't enjoy making it then I don't sell them.. I make a lot of different things as trial runs to see IF I Enjoy it and IF I can sell it reasonably priced.. IF the answer is can't sell it or don't enjoy it.. then I give it away to someone that likes it and it never sees the websites or the craft markets.. Because if it's a really hot item and I don't like making it.. then when it's seen by the masses.. they try persuading me to make more of something that I don't enjoy making.. then this fun business becomes a job!

I made a Thing

US Flag codes are really interesting. Most folks have no idea how to raise (fast) and lower (slow) a US flag, when/how to go to half-mast (raise fully, then lower....same with lowering a half-mast flag), where/how to place it (blue field always to the audience's LEFT, whether on a staff, mounted to a wall, or hung vertically), what to do if it touches the ground (clean it off, then address the issue as to how it ended up on the ground...fix the faulty pole or mount, or clobber the protester), and what to do if its on a pole or next to a pole with another sovereign country's flag (INSIDE the US, US flag is higher. OUTSIDE the US, poles should be the same height, or if sharing a single pole, that country's flag is above the US flag).

Backlit Haunted House

Actually, with this NATO display and any other flag presentation, this is one time the Flag protocol of the USA is not followed. It's the same with any NATO flag display. All 31 Alliance member countries of the Alliance are equal to each other and to the NATO Flags. Even at NATO HQ SACT which is hosted on a US Navy base the US flag is at equal height to all others. The only time a country flag is features is on "National Days", or other special country events and the flag is moved to the middle section of Flag Plaza. Still, all flags remain the same height. Below the first photo is a front view of HQ SACT FLag Plaza (I work on the top floor of the "Blue Cube"). Photo 2, The Sunrise one I took with my back to the building looking out to the North East. Photo 3 is from the middle of the plaza looking out.