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Just wanted to acknowledge “Januski” for the awesome pattern!!! I hope I spelt it correctly!! LOL. My kids love it!! Thx Scott McCaul

So the other day I decided to get back at scroll sawing to build up some inventory after quite a long break away from sawing other than the occasional custom order I've let much of my inventory get depleted over the last couple years really. I thought I'd dig out the Hegner I picked up a couple years ago and blow the dust off it so I can get it covered in sawdust, LOL... Let me say it didn't take me long to switch back over to the Hawk, While the Hegner is a good smooth running saw I couldn't get past the annoyance of the upper arm not moving up out of my way far enough and the tiny table top had me ruin a blade because my project was falling off the edge and trying to catch it I smashed and bent my brand new blade.. This isn't a Hegner bashing post at all and with saw time I'd get used to this stuff as I've only put 5 hours run time on it in the 1.5 years I've had it. Love how small the triangle stand is and how smooth the saw runs.. (way smoother than the Hawk throughout the speed dial even though the Hawk is quite smooth there is more shaking than the Hegner and Excalibur) Anyway, using the Hegner the other day for a short time brought me back to memory lane of my first saw which was a 16" Delta two speed saw which the upper arm didn't go up very high on either and also have special tool for blade changing etc. This made me realize just how far I've came over the years of starting out on several entry level saws trying to find a cheap saw that'd work for me on a tight budget. I went through several Deltas, Ryobi's, Craftsmans.. before I ended up with a Dremel 1800 that was finally a "decent" user friendly saw but made from poor quality because I had to rebuild the rear linkage about every 8 months.. but I used that saw for 3+ years before upgrading to a DeWalt and wow was that an upgrade. Today with being spoiled with spring loaded upper arms and all the blade adjustment things that the Hawk and Excalibur type saws have I don't think I could even go back to a DeWalt even though they are great saws.. So what's your first saw? and could you happily go back to use it again? Some of you might still be at your first saw and some might have went all in and bought a good (user friendly) saw from the start.

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.

I made the pattern for this from a painting that I found online. The original artist was not credited. It's 8 x 10 x 1/8 inch Baltic Birch plywood. Cut with Pegas #1, 2 and 0 spirals.

More progress at 5 AM today... Dry fit and test the lights, then glue up. I am using the black/orange clamps to not only raise the base up, so the blue Erwin clamps can apply vertical pressure, but since the orange clamps... clamp hard, I am using them as guides for the mating of the pieces. The blue clamps are my downward pressure to the base. I took some cast-off wood, and I am using that to apply pressure across the whole scene to the base. I also used my wide belt sander to make sure the pieces created an even and level surface for mating to the base. After the glue drying, there will be one final touchup of hand sanding and dust cloth, then raw linseed oil finish. Let it cure, then the lights get placed back in. I already lasered my logo on the bottom.

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 scrolled this 10" guitar for a friend who custom builds the real ones. Figured it would look good on one of his metal shop cabinets!

My first saw was a Craftsman. At that time, it was one of their better models. If I recall correctly, it was over $200. This was 30+ years ago, so it was not a purchase made lightly. I had never used a scroll saw before, but had previous carpentry and woodworking experience, so it was a pretty short learning curve. Despite not really knowing anything about scroll saws, I soon realized that this saw was a big limiting factor in my enjoyment of the hobby. It vibrated, not terribly, but enough to be annoying. That and a pronounced blade wobble made it difficult to make precision cuts. It also took 2 tools to change blades. That got old real fast. I joined a scroll saw club a few years later and that opened up a whole new world to me. As soon as that old Craftsman gave up the ghost, I was on the hunt for an upgrade. The choice was between a Dewalt 788 and a Delta P20 and I chose the Dewalt due to the true variable speed capability, vs the belt/pully system of the Delta. That saw served me pretty well. I sold it around 2016 when I bought my current EX-21. After some issues with my EX last year, I made an emergency purchase of a new Dewalt to have as a back-up saw. I had forgotten how aggressive the Dewalt was. I had my EX tuned to take as much of the blade arc out as possible and was pretty used to that. When I fired up that Dewalt for the first time, it seemed like it wanted to run away from me. I actually think that will come in handy when I want to cut thicker/harder stock.

Still need to tweak how I will string the lights, but this is pretty much what it looks like completed. Thanks for following this thread. Overall I am very pleased with this piece. I think next year, I'll stack cut these out of Mahonany or Canarywood.

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.

I remember playing this waaaay back when.

Been cranking out a bunch of projects lately with 1/4" BB plywood, wasn't paying attention and ran out. So while waiting for Ocooch's order I decided to clean the shop. Not the smartest day to do it since it's been 99 degrees with a triple digit heat index. Every tool rolled out of the shop into the driveway, blow and vacuum every speck or sawdust off/out of them, clean all the blades and lube moving parts, vacuum the floor corner to corner, drain compressor, organized the contents of drawers and cabinets and swiffer dusted all surfaces. Spotless! How often do you do a big clean??

Never as well as you did. But I sweep and vacuum fairly often.

Kris, that is a wonderful piece! nicely done as always.

Jim, that's a good job, RJ

That sure would look good almost anywhere!

My wife gave me a Craftsman, for Christmas soon after we were married. I had it for years, but seldom used it. You had to have a special tool and get down on your knees to put a blade in the bottom clamp. When I decided I wanted to do more scrolling I gave the craftsman to my daughter and I purchased a refurbished DeWalt. Major step up over the craftsman. My daughter did not use the saw, so she gave it to a neighbor. A few weeks laster she saw it in his garbage can where it really belonged.

My first scroll saw was a used Porter-Cable. The vibration was bad but I learned that I enjoyed scrolling. With what I know now, I suppose I could tune it to get rid of most of the vibration. But the killer was the non-liftable arm. To move the blade to a new hole meant releasing both the top and bottom blade clamps, move the blade, clamp both ends. I soon tired of that and bought my Pegas.

Started with a WEN 16", quickly installed the pinless adapter. But within 3 months I sold it ($10 loss), and bought an Excalibur 21" added the Pegas Chuck. After a year things went wonky with it and I could not cut a straight line, no way i was tracking my pattern line. You might remember the thread on troubleshooting it. I think I finally got it settled down, but during that time I decided to go for the Pegas 30" and have been using it since. Like my other two saws, I added a 3/4" Loc-Line top vac. I have a removable magnetic sheet when I am doing small parts. I turn off the bottom vac through the blast gate and add a screen inset to my top vac. This way small pieces do not get sucked away with the dust. First photo: Here's the 30" before getting everything trimmed up and moved into place replacing the Excalibur in the background. Second photo, my current setup. The excal is now a back up saw. I may set it back up and keep a thick blade on it for thick cuts. And cutting wood to rough size.

Rey, very nice!

WOW-za! Nice cutting!

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.

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!

Kris, you did it again, what a great pattern. Thanks for sharing it with us. Rick

Very nice cutting on a very nice pattern you made. Lester

ooh, nicely done with the cholla spikes. Is that also a young Joshua tree ? I was wondering how to do Joushua trees. Yes. it resembles the arizon flag.

So here's what happens when you apply raw linseed oil. I love how the walnut comes alive! That rich chocolate brown! Look above at the photo when clamped to see the comparison. Just after this photo, I took a folder paper towel and worked it between the layers to remove excess oil. Otherwise, I hand wipe with old cloth towels. I am going to let it sit for an hour, and wipe it down again, let gravity do its job. Now I will let it cure for a week, a quick 3000 grit on the facing surfaces and a silicone tack cloth wipe, then the lights go on it. PS: my 30-inch Pegas saw in the background!