Leaderboard

The buyer requested a custom size and color. They looked much better than I had anticipated. These trucks are what I was making when I did the blade test I posted elsewhere. When I do custom work, I always make extras in case something happens. There were no discards this time, so I have extras to sell or give away. My granddaughter has already claimed one. The six-inch-long trucks are cut from 2x4 construction lumber. I use 2x4 for this size because it is lightweight and is already the correct size. The bodies are brush-painted with satin acrylic, and the wheels are finished with clear shellac.

I don't know, maybe I'm just going for it since the weather is nice to work in the garage, while it lasts. Maybe because there's a bunch of scraps laying around. I see a pattern that looks interesting and the next thing I know I'm logging many ass hours at the saw again. My closets are full with hundreds of "things" I just had to scroll. I believe I'm right at the line between hobby and addiction!

Hello everyone, my name is Annie. I have been scrolling for about 2 1/2 years. I received a scroll saw for Christmas and loved it. My favorite type is fret work and 3d/compound. I am going to try intarsia next. Looking forward to meeting new people and learning from the experts. This is some of my work.

Just finished this beautiful Russ Beard pattern of the African White Rhino, it was double stacked on 4mm Baltic Birch Plywood, cut with a #1 Niqua pin less blade, soaked in a BLO/Mineral Spirit Mixture and when dry a few coats of clear varnish.

Here's one hot off the saw. 3/4 Poplar 5 1/2 x 17 1/2" (had to print diagonally on 11 x 17 paper) , #1 FD Polar blades throughout, Red food coloring for the poppies. Poppies from a Jim Blume pattern, eagle emblems from a Steve Good pattern, text is Z003 font.

My son is an avid runner, 5Ks, 10Ks, marathons, even does the occasional 100 miler. His kids are following in his “running steps” doing shorter 1 milers and one did a 5K. I made them some medal displays, and kept them generic so they can also hang medals from other sports or academic awards.

Thanks FrankEV. I have checked and my blade is installed correctly and cuts well.

Four more Miniature Birdhouse Ornaments. I used Ash for the birdhouses and Eastern Red Cedar for the little birds. Cut on the Pegas Scroll Saw using Pegas #6 Super Skip blades. After a light sanding with a Mac Mop, dipped in diluted Shellac. Another light sanding. Comments welcome.

I have been working on this over the last 3 days. I have about 6 cutting hours into it, I go slow. Cut from 1/4" walnut. First photo: I am just holding it together with the 1/4" spacers between the layers. Third photo: I have it all clamped up right now after gluing. Tomorrow I cut and shape the base, and glue that up before dropping it into linseed oil to bring out the chocolate hue. Second Photo: You can see that the trees are very fine and detailed, thankfully nothing broke. I still have all my fingers too! As I was working on the piece I closed some of the branches so there was better support, made a lot of changes to the design on the fly. I used #1 and #3 Flying Dutchman Ultra Reverse Blades. The plan is to add a string of multi-colored micro LED 'fairy' lights between the layers. I enjoy making these layered pieces. When I get it together and lit, I'll post that, and then another after the final linseed finish.

An Alex Fox Basket C-09 Modified. I used 1/4" Hard Maple 8" square. Cut on the Pegas Scroll Saw using Pegas #1 MGT blades. After glue up, one coat spray Lacquer Clear Gloss, a light sanding with a Mac Mop and another light sanding. Comments welcome.

I was in the shop yesterday trying to do a compound cut. But the nozzle had clogged on my can of 3M77 and efforts to unclog it had failed. So I printed my pattern on label paper. But when I tried to attach it to the blank I got too much sawdust on it and it would not stick. Looking around the shop for something to make it stick I settled on my spray can of shellac. It took a little longer to set, but it did stick. The 2nd flamingo is the happy result.

This is one of my all time favorite Nativity designs. I am having a senior moment and can't remember his name. My pattern has BirchBark on it? I think that is Russle. Is that correct? I make at least one every year and want to Thank him for such a beautiful design.

Also, as a line pattern, I can see you would save some ink!

I have not seen that pattern before. It is great of you to do this. I just completed three more military emblems to give to veterans.

Not off topic, spot on...

To me it is definately an addictive/obsessive hobby, as I too, have a lot of my past projects in storage boxes. That being said, I do find this 'hobby' can be quite boring if cutting patterns is all one does. I need constant new incentives and motivations to get me into the shop to produce more projects. I'm not a pure Artist, but as a past career in Civil/Structural/Architectural Engineering, I have many related talents and craftsmanship skills that allow me to produce various Art pieces using a Scroll Saw. Since moving to Florida I have down sized from my previous large woodworking shop that I had In NC to my now very tiny shop where, I can still make sawdust, but my project sizes are very limited. To prevent getting bored, I have gone to great lenghts over time, to make this 'hobby' more than just about using the Scroll Saw to cut a pattern. Here are just a few of the things I have done and continueto do regularly to make this 'hobby' less boring, more challenging and keep me motivated (or maybe addicted/obsessed) to do more projects. I spend many hours making my own patterns using Inkscape. I have used other's patterns in the past, but cutting a pattern, that I made, is much more rewarding...of course, only when it comes out good! When cutting my art pannels, I really prefer to be cutting many (5 to 8 hundred) hole patterns, rather than simple patterns. Then, of course, I have painstakingly added color to my work in various forms. I have currently graduated to using an Air Brush and Acrylic paints. Getting better with the techniques needed but still need a lot of practice. I also make frames for each of the Art Panels that I do. This is somewhat an art in itself trying to make perfect miters and getting professional quality finiishes of all kinds. Adds considerable time to a project, but breaks up the monotony of just scrolling. I have tried my hand at various Scroll Saw related projects such as Sculptures, Lamps, Boxes, Vases, Signs, etc., in between scrolling my art panels. Most recently, I have begun to dabble in Intarsia, which is proving to be quite interesting and enjoyable while being somewhat artisticaly challenging. The down side of this part of the Scroll Saw 'hobby' is that the Scroll Saw work is a minor part of the project. It takes a back seat to the art of selecting the wood for its color and grain, sculptuing the pieces and assembling them into a beautiful wall hanging. I hope I haven't taken this post too off topic.

I no longer use spray adhesive. 1. I prepare my wood blank with a thorough sanding ending with 220 grade. 2. I blow the saw dust off and then use a clean rag with rubbing alcohol to clean the surface. 3. I apply Walmart clear shelf liner material and use a wallpaper edge roller to press the shelf liner into the wood. 4. My patterns are printed on full sheet labels. These are joined to complete the pattern then taped together with top and side center points marked. 5. The label paper is applied over the clear shelf liner. 6. I use 2" clear tape as the final layer of the assembly. 7. This adheres so well that I have to use a heat gun to ease the removal of the pattern.

Thank you to all who replied. I had not thought of static electricity but will look into it. I know I put extra glue on this pattern to make sure it stayed stuck down. I wonder if heat generated by the blade could be making the glue and sawdust have a rubbery texture so it is sticking in place and not allowing the vacuum to suck it up. I think when I get time I may need to do some test pieces with light and heavy glue applications to see if there is a difference. Thanks. Lester

@Wichman Thanks for remembering all our veterans, you did an excellent job on that pattern. Can you please share where the pattern for the font Z003 is available. Rick

very nice job

When Spiral blades produce a lot of dust on top of the work, it is usually and indication that the blade is installed upside down. I use sopiral blade almost exclusively for fretwork type cutting and have experienced this. Yes, spirals do generate a little bit more dust than straight blades, but not that much and the saw blower can keep the line clear if directed properly. The only other possibility I see is that you applied toooooo much adheasice to attaach the pattern and the glue bled through the paper and the dust is sticking to it. IMHO, not a likely scenario Hope this helps.

I have only used spiral blades a few times. It seems to me that the dust didn't blow off as easily as it does with flat blades. I wonder if it is because of the spiral on the blades.?

When I've had issues with this (basswood) it was static electricity. You can check by wiping the pattern with a damp, not wet cloth.

You know I had never thought about the glue sprayed on the pattern doing this but over the years I've also had times where the sawdust really doesn't want to blow off of my pattern very well with the dust blower.. Only been a issue once in a while. I'll have to try to be more conscious about how much glue I spray on and see if this is the reason. I don't use spray glue very much anymore since using full sheet shipping labels. There are times when I do a larger pattern where the full sheet label won't work and then I have to use the spray glue.

I am sorry for lack of details. I have three layers of 1/8 Baltic birch stacked together covered with green painters tape. Then I attached pattern with 3m77 glue. This is how I do all my projects. Normally I do not need to use the blower as the scrollnado attached to my vacuum does a good job collecting the dust. But on this project the dust seems very sticky and the scrollnado cannot pick it all up. That is why I need the blower to keep my lines visible. Thanks Lester

More information is needed. What kind of wood are you using? Are you using blue painters tape or are you using clear packing tape. Do you not usually use the blower?

Gotcha! Thanks.

Thanks, Paul. I’m babysitting the grands next weekend while my son runs another interesting race. You have one hour to do a 4 mile trail run. At the beginning of the next hour it repeats and so on until the last man/woman is left. He’s just planning on about 50 miles worth but some people may run for a couple of days like that.

The pattern is drawn like a portrait pattern. All black with no discernible lines to follow. The waste is white. Yes, it is cutable that way, but with my tired eye, it is very hard to cut. So I had it redrawn with red lines to make it easier to follow. Here’s the original pattern

Yes, that is Birchbark’s pattern. It is one of my favorite patterns also. I converted it to a line pattern to make it easier to follow the lines. It can be found in the free pattern section here at the village. Unfortunately, Russel hasn’t been on for quite a while.

Very nice!

awesome job

When I was scrolling daily, I moved the speed upward. I just returned to scrolling after 2+ years of no scrolling. I had to crank the speed back. My answer to your question - whatever speed you can dial in and still stay RELIABLY on the line. Start slow and crank it up slowly as you get your sea-legs.

Don't buy anything that uses pinned blades. It is not too hard to find a good quality used saw.

Started scrolling a year ago and tried the Wen and returned it and almost decided to forget about the hobby until I bought the Dewalt. I learned quickly using a high quality tool and made plenty of projects so far. Best shop purchace I've made for my new woodworking hobby, next to my Dewalt table saw I will not buy cheap power tools that are vital to my craft!

Only been scrolling a year now and made a couple of hundred items on my DW788 Dewalt and barely moved the speed knob from it's slowest speed and that works for me and my accuracy. I've bent a few blades but never broke any working with Baltic birch 1/8 - 1/2 inch and occasionally some 3/4 pine.

If you can't control what your doing slow down the speed.your going to have the time of your life once you get things sorted out and will really impress friends with your work!

As above it is your comfort zone that will tell you what a good speed is. But with that said I will say a few things that will also be factors in determining speed. The thickness of the material, the density of the material, the type of material (plastics, metals, wood) the blade being used, and so forth. Just because you use a higher speed only means the saw is moving faster, but it is you doing the pushing and guiding that will determine how fast you are cutting. My point is you can use a med speed on the saw and cut resonably fast or use a higher speed on the saw but have to slow your feed rate down in order to control your cuts better. So this is why people are telling only you can answer your question. Good luck and happy sawing.

Thank you for your help!

Definitely whatever speed you feel comfortable with. As you can tell by the posts there are many variables in the speed you choose, but ultimately it's your choice.

And I would be the opposite regarding speed. I use fairly low speeds with my cutting. You'll just have to experiment, and what might work today on some wood wont work tomorrow on a different type or thickness. I always found my blades get noticeably hot when using higher speeds. Bob

My sweet sister Amy, 66, passed away as the result of a stroke a week ago. Her happy place was Cape San Blas, Florida. We went there together with our families and shared a beach house for the week of Thanksgiving several times. Those weeks were like Heaven on Earth. She had no grandchildren so was like a bonus grandmother to my 5. She and I shared a love for the song "Here Comes The Sun" as done by James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma. Her son-in-law is a gifted guitarist and played it at the funeral. I cut this the night before to put alongside her beach pictures at the funeral chapel as a tribute to her, and therapy for me. You can see her bird that has left our flock in the upper right. Amy was able to donate her kidneys, liver, and eye lenses. Cherish your loved ones each day.

Hi to everyone in the village. I have picked up many good hints and help from other conversations since I joined the group but now I have an issue I need input from others on. I have mainly used modified geometry blades but I am now cutting Charles Hand Sliegh Ride and chose to use spirals. I think I may be a convert but I am having trouble with dust. Normally my scrollnado does a very good job controlling dust and keeping the lines clear but on this project the dust seems to stick to the pattern even though i have plenty of suction. I have had to resort to using the blower as well to see but this leaves dust sticking to everything. Is this typical for spiral blades or is it possible I used too much glue to attach the pattern? I did use a bit more glue than usual because I did not want any chance of the pattern lifting on this very detailed pattern. Sorry for the long post. Any help appreciated. I will post a picture of the finished project at a later date when it is completed. Thanks. Lester