First pattern with spirals

[Eplfan2011]

First off with a little bit of snow on the ground and temperatures plunging I have to say it's so nice to be able to scroll indoors in the warm.

 I've been kept pretty busy for the last couple of weeks with little opportunity to get on the saw. Yesterday I had some free time and decided to take the plunge and start a cut with a spiral blade, I've only ever meesed around with them and never actually tried to cut a pattern. 

 Well here's what I have so far it's not great but it's getting there, kind of the blind leading the blind ...

Thanks for looking 

 

[Peter N White]

Looking good have never tried spiral blades myself.

[Dak0ta52]

Looks like you're doing pretty darn good to me. If I may give you a little hint I've picked up using spirals, cut the smaller holes when they are surrounded by a larger cut. For instance, on the kitten's right paw you have several cuts on each toe. Then you have a cut around the toe. I've found it much easier to cut the smaller, inner cuts when you have more board to support the cuts. If you cut around the toe and then go back and try cutting the inner holes of the toe, the area has less wood to support the cuts and you risk breaking out a piece. I've also found that spirals seem to "grab" the wood when cutting a little more than straight blades which also puts a little extra stress on weak areas of your piece. Hope this is helpful.

[Eplfan2011]

Thanks for the tip, makes sense!

[Scrappile]

Just remember, just because you are using spirals does not mean you can not turn the wood.  The most control I have with any blade is when I am pushing the wood into the blade, in front of me.  So, I do the little sections of cuts with turns by moving the blade side to side, but if there is a long section to cut I will turn the wood so I and pushing the board directly into the blade.  Don't know if that makes any sense.  I think a lot of people fail with spirals because they think you do not turn the board and try controlling the cut by pushing side to side, back and forth and. I cannot control the cut that way.  You can also cut fine whiskers, blades of grass and twigs buy using the spiral blade like a file and filing the wood down to the very narrow strip that is needed.

[Eplfan2011]

Thanks Scrappile, I actually found exactly the same thing lol. If I have a long cut it's so much easier to push it through. I'm learning a lot as I go along, doing and learning.  I'm taking your last advice "hole by hole"

[Eplfan2011]

It's coming along, I hope to get some more time on it today

[Eplfan2011]

Well I got round to finishing .... Got some stuff I got get done then I'll get the pattern off and clean it up.

[Eplfan2011]

Well that sucks took the pattern off and there's some delamination! It's only in one place and I'm wondering if it was a glue defect.

 I guess that's a another reason for starting to use solid wood.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Eplfan2011

[Scrappile]

Well the picture turned out great.   Sucks about the delamination.  Was it Baltic Birch? do you use tape?   I've never had that happen with BB, maybe it is getting poorly done like so manythings now days.  Anyway, the picture looks great!

Edited November 18, 2022 by Scrappile

[Eplfan2011]

14 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

Well the picture turned out great.   Sucks about the delamination.  Was it Baltic Birch? do you use tape?   I've never had that happen with BB, maybe it is getting poorly done like so manythings now days.  Anyway, the picture looks great!

Thanks Paul, 

Yes it was advertised as grade A BB and I've used several pieces without problem.

 3m blue painters tape pattern glued to that and covered in packing tape

As it only happened in one spot I'm going to assume it was a bad or dry bond between layers, it wasn't even in a highly cut spot. Any way my son saw it as I was cutting it and asked me for it when I was done, so I'm going to give it another try.

[Scrappile]

I do not use tape, not because of that, I just prefer gluing tight to the wood and removing the pattern with Mineral Spirits.  The only disadvantage I have experienced doing it that way is the wait for the MS to dry good after the removing the pattern... I wait a minium 24 hrs before doing anything else with the picture.  If I get inpatient bad things happen. 

[Eplfan2011]

Well I've already taped this one down and started recutting, if it happens again I'll have to rethink this.

 

[John B]

That pattern lends itself to spirals IMHO. I would start with a flat blade and cut any long fairly straight bits and larger pieces, then move onto a spiral for the remainder.
Looks like you have mastered the spiral.

[John B]

13 hours ago, Eplfan2011 said:

Well that sucks took the pattern off and there's some delamination! It's only in one place and I'm wondering if it was a glue defect.

 I guess that's a another reason for starting to use solid wood.

What bloody shame It definitely looks like a fault with the veneers (Glue) as the lift extends long way.

[Eplfan2011]

2 hours ago, John B said:

That pattern lends itself to spirals IMHO. I would start with a flat blade and cut any long fairly straight bits and larger pieces, then move onto a spiral for the remainder.
Looks like you have mastered the spiral.

Thanks John,

I thought the same and that's why I chose it. I think next time I'll try cutting what I can with a straight blade and then finish with a spiral as you suggested.

2 hours ago, John B said:

What bloody shame It definitely looks like a fault with the veneers (Glue) as the lift extends long way.

I was bummed to start with but crap happens right?. But I'm thinking it's a manufacturing problem and I'm hoping it's isolated to just this one piece.

[Eplfan2011]

Things are settling down here and everyone is recovering well, including myself as I've finally kicked this flu to touch.

 I haven't touched the saw since before Thanksgiving so today I got down there and finished the second try on this pattern, the after the first one delaminated. I still have to sand it and tidy it up but it's cut and will soon be ready for my son to pick up for his girlfriend.

It's good to be back, thanks for looking 

[Scrappile]

Very cute picture, great job.  

[Eplfan2011]

As a side note to this I tried a few various different spirals on these two projects. I tried the regular FD, FD reverse, olsen and pegas spirals.

I liked the regular FD spirals up until I got to try the FD reverse spirals which from now on be my go to spiral blade choice.

 

[Scroll-N-Skydiver]

On 11/18/2022 at 4:11 PM, Eplfan2011 said:

Well that sucks took the pattern off and there's some delamination! It's only in one place and I'm wondering if it was a glue defect.

 I guess that's a another reason for starting to use solid wood.

I'm in the same boat. I've been using cheap ply stuff I can get from the box store. I'm making the change to hardwoods this week!

[Scroll-N-Skydiver]

On 12/13/2022 at 5:56 PM, Eplfan2011 said:

Things are settling down here and everyone is recovering well, including myself as I've finally kicked this flu to touch.

 I haven't touched the saw since before Thanksgiving so today I got down there and finished the second try on this pattern, the after the first one delaminated. I still have to sand it and tidy it up but it's cut and will soon be ready for my son to pick up for his girlfriend.

It's good to be back, thanks for looking 

Did you do this one in ply as well or did you switch to hardwood? Did cutting it a second time go faster and smoother with the spiral blades? it looks amazing!

[Scroll-N-Skydiver]

On 12/13/2022 at 8:55 PM, Eplfan2011 said:

As a side note to this I tried a few various different spirals on these two projects. I tried the regular FD, FD reverse, olsen and pegas spirals.

I liked the regular FD spirals up until I got to try the FD reverse spirals which from now on be my go to spiral blade choice.

 

FD reverse spirals; do you happen to have a link you could share to these? Also what size did you like best? I can find the regular spiral blades, but not spiral reverse. Thx in advance.

Edited January 28, 2023 by Scroll-N-Skydiver

[scrollerpete]

Go to https://mikesworkshop.com/collections/blades great service and good prices

[Scroll-N-Skydiver]

Are these the specific scroll reverse you were mentioning. 
https://mikesworkshop.com/collections/blades/products/spiral-reverse