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My first year scroll sawing I made hundreds of projects, gave some away and my closets are jammed with items wrapped in plastic. I decided to switch gears and check out resin casting with silicone molds. I've finally gathered some of my supplies and taken over a corner of our home office to practice. Unlike scroll sawing where you can watch your progress on a piece being worked on that's not the case with resin casting . You do what you think is correct and have to wait until the next day to find out if you made a Jem or a turd. Haven't scrolled anything in almost three weeks and starting to go through withdrawals not to mention needing to be re-trained!

toss it

I live on Long Island and have been doing all sorts of woodworking including furniture and decided I wanted to try scroll sawing and get into intarsia eventually i purchased a hegner 18 and just received it so I started making wooden figures of people and animals from a book I purchased I've been using my bandsaw but it creates a lot of burning and blades are expensive and don't last that long its an adjustment getting used to the machine dictating the speed of cut and following lines and curves are a learning experience I do have a question to start what is the best blade out there for cutting 3/4 inch poplar and Spanish cedar and what blade is best for harder woods at 3/4 inch like oak or sapele or cherry or maple here's some figures I got started in yesterday and today I'm making them for someone who needed 12 sets i used a Flying Dutchman psr blade and it worked ok with little blade drift but I think blade drift is my fault since I'm still learning and waiting on a stand to keep the saw more steady with less vibration

I remember taking this photo and thinking it was a bit of a dud at the time. But not so long ago I took another look and this is what I ended up with.

I built a small router table out of parts from TEMU. It worked, but there was zero flexibility as the motor was single-speed fast, the table was small, and I couldn't build out a decent vacuum system on it. Bit changes were a nightmare as I would practically have to remove the motor from its base, and it was not easily height adjustable. I was trying to modify it but realized I would be spending a lot more $$$ to have more of the same. Decided to go with a Skil router table. I got it set up and did a few test pieces. I like that I can raise and lower the router (removable BTW), with a crank. The table is bigger and it has built-in vacuum ports. Yes, there are two flaws in their design. There is a small vac port on the router itself, but the way it faces you cannot get a hose on it because the front power strip is in the way. I'll have to figure out how to do a 90-degree turn that is small enough to fit. Also, the shaft lock button for bit changes is behind a plastic shroud. So I have to use a screw driver from the top to keep the shaft from moving when I tighten/loosen the bit. I have to figure out how to build a detachable hood that can give me more vacuum coverage from the top when I have to flip back the plastic cover. It works great when it is down, but on some toys, I have to flip that cover up.. Overall not too bad for the price. I like that it is red and black like my Pegas.

If it works for you, that's all that matters. For years I contemplated building my own custom router table, while struggling with the old Craftsman table I've had since about 1979. A few years ago I was in Lowes looking for something else, when I stumbled on a Bosch router table that they had marked down. It has a couple quirks that I've adapted to and a weakness with the fence mounting that I intend to rework, one of these days. But it is a huge improvement over my old Craftsman. Who knows? Maybe I'll still build that dream router table someday, but this one does everything I need it to do.

Made a few things for the inventory, 3 shows that I have committed to attend

Does anyone know what FONT was used in Mike and Vicky Lewis's Book U S Military Designs? And is the Font available on Rapid Resizer, if not what is a close looking FONT? Thanks Rubsterwine

This tractor is one of my favorite toys to make in my production line. The "Barnyard Buddy Tractor". It is simple to cut out. Yes, a little tricky to Forstner the "Little People" hole, but between that, the different size/style wheels and the smoke stack. You get a cute toy. I have started to glue the little person in so it is not removable. First, for child safety (choke hazard), and also loss prevention. I go back and forth, but I am concerned about complying with the CPSC regs. This is cut from 3/4 walnut. Now, to speed the production process up, I use beeswax/coconut oil, aka cutting board wax to finish the body, (food/child safe) this way it is ready to assemble/glue in minutes. The dark walnut color just pops right out, against the blond color of the wheels, smoke stack, and little person.

I sell almost everything I make. I have been given things in the past that I could care less about but accepted them to be nice. Build up a little inventory and take it to a small craft show. Nothing says you have to make the same thing over.

Can you provide a sample? I don't have access to the book

I've been encountering this problem a few times over the past few weeks. I haven't figured out why and I hadn't taken time to reach out. Last I checked (I just happen to be on the computer right now) my iPad was fine (yesterday). However, I have had this issue at least 4 or more times so I mainly wanted to say something so we knew that it wasn't just Bruce who has seen the issue. I normally use my iPad, but just happen to be on my desktop computer and hopped on. If it happens again, I will post again here.

Nice find. That is one of the better benchtop router tables out there.

beautiful

Is there a good method of fixing a piece of delaminated plywood? The piece is a small plaque that has not been cut yet. Worth fixing or just toss?

Those castings are great!

The tall stand was one of the things I liked about my Hawk. I enjoyed cutting standing up.

Coming from someone that has all three saws.. having three different style blade clamps on the Hawks I have.. the round barrel style and two different versions of the smaller square style clamps.. Also having a Hegner, and a Excalibur with Pegas chucks.. To me the Hegner blade chucks are really no different than that of the Hawks.. yes they are a different chucks but same principal.. break a blade and spend the next week looking for the blade chuck.. I don't know if the spring steel clip is somewhat worn out on the Hegner but it's three times worst for sending the blade holder into another dimension.. I rarely have a blade chuck come out of the Hawks when a blade breaks.. but that darn Hegner only stays in the saw maybe every 10th time I break a blade, LOL All three saws are great for certain types of projects.. I can see where people get the attitude that "my saw is better than yours" because having had many different saws over the years and doing many different types of projects I find myself liking the Hawk and Hegners for very detailed fretwork in thin stock.. but I find I like the EX-21 better for cutting thicker stock.. could I do all the various projects on one saw? Yes.. but having all three styles of saws I have favorite projects for the various saws that makes "business life" easier and more productive. IF I were just toying around to pass time I could care less what saw I had in my shop out of these three saws.. Probably the most user friendly saw in my opinion is the new Hawk BM-26.. large table top or bottom feed.. IF I were to do angle cuts.. I'd say the EX is probably better.. The Hegner without some modifications would be my last choice of a saw.. table too small to support the wood on larger projects.. upper arm doesn't move up high enough to easily switch holes and no way to top feed.. That said it's probably better built than any of the others and runs way smoother than any of the others.. A lot just boils down to personal preference and muscle memory from whatever style saw you started out with. All saws mentioned are great saws and in no way trying to say one is better than another.. just stating my opinion based on the types of projects I make and my experience with running many different saws..

That’s perfection in every aspect.

Wow Kris, You have out done yourself! excellent work.

I am wrapping up my 125 toy donation project and needed to do some 'toys' for the older kids. I wanted something that could be played alone or with someone else. So here we go! I made two variations, the first is drilled for pegs, and the second is drilled for marbles. You can play 3 games on these boards. And yes, I use my scroll saw to cut the straight lines. What I am displaying right now is "Fox and Hens". The goal is for the fox (black peg/big marble) to take 8 hens off the board to win. For the hens, they have to corner the fox. Fox can move in any direction and jump hens to take them off the board. Hens can only move forward or sideways, no jumping. Play alone or with another person. The 2nd game is a take-off of the old triangle peg game. Fill all the holes with pegs (or marbles for my variant) except for the center hole, then jump pieces to remove them. The goal is to only have one piece left. Very challenging. 3rd, I noticed you can play tick-tack-toe. You can even try to play 2 T-T-T games at once! Larger games 3/4" Walnut finished in Old Masters Gel. Triangles are made with 3/4" ash, unfinished. Edges are routered so they are smooth on both sides. I also did a couple of laser-burned baseball dice/pegs games out of 3/4" mahogany. I cut the shape of the game on my scrollsaw.

I love the way you incorporated the wavy grain of the wood into the picture. Excellent cutting!

Very nice RJ. Thanks for sharing.

Que the theme to the "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"... Ohhahhh ooohhh ahhh,, waaa waaaa waaa....

fantastic job, it's beautiful

I have had some interesting time cutting this pattern. When I saw Kris Martinson's new sun Rider pattern I not only really enjoyed it but it also caught my eye because the area that is Sun Rider is seen, looks like the area of Arizona where I now live and so I mentioned in my comment on his post and he was so generous to send me a copy of his pattern and told me to go ahead and give it a try. There were a lot of things in the pattern I really did not understand how he was able to do them but I gave it my best shot and came out with one I am mostly satisfied with. I cut in from 1/4 BB Ply and mostly used a #1 Pegus spiral blade. A lot of the pattern parts are quite small and I had to use the drill bits I had to make the entry holes. It was a rather fun one to cut, and I liked the challenges it presented me, and the total time to complete this project was three hours. I wish to once again thank Kris for the pattern and allowing me to post it here also. Dick heppnerguy

Very realistic.

Another GREAT pattern, Kris. Thanks for sharing. Rick

Looks like I could walk into it. Very nice Kris. Jerry

There is a club here in Orange County, Ca. that meets at the Rockler Store in the city of Orange. The problem for me is not the distance but the traffic nightmare. It's bad enough that I would almost make it an overnighter just to attend. Unless you live here, you can't imagine how bad it is to go anywhere. And then there is the excessive cost of gasoline.