Owl mandala

[RabidAlien]

Been cutting this one for a while now....the bottom two layers were too big for my 16" saw, and I had to get creative on how I approached a dozen or so of the cuts on the bottom layer, even after upgrading to a 21" Pegas.  I picked up the pattern from Etsy a while back, but went to leave a comment and the shop was "taking a break".  Had to fix a couple of islands on the fly, found out not all the layers lined up perfectly, and aside from a bunch of insanely thin lines on the second-to-bottom layer (I mean....a BUNCH), it was a pretty fun cut.  Been looking forward to finishing and assembling for a couple of years.  3/8 ply, no idea how many Pegas MG #2 blades, and stained Minwax Natural and Honey in alternating layers.  Stack cut it, so this guy's got a twin brother.

 

[Wichman]

Outstanding work! Very nicely done.

[ChelCass]

Awesome!

 

[barb.j.enders]

Stunning.

[daveww1]

fantastic job

[jerry walters]

WOW Kirk, this is simply amazing.

Jerry

[rjweb]

Excellent cutting, RJ

[MarieC]

Kirk, that looked like a crazy amount of work!  I am totally amazed!

[TAIrving]

Very striking piece!  And congratulations on the new saw!

[Scrappile]

That is very neat.   I have a similar pattern, maybe the same, but I have not gotten up the courage to try it.  They also take quite a bit of wood, and I am quite cheap!

[Sycamore67]

Wow....that is exceptional!!!

[red river]

That is a beautiful projector. Outstanding work.

[RabidAlien]

7 hours ago, Scrappile said:

That is very neat.   I have a similar pattern, maybe the same, but I have not gotten up the courage to try it.  They also take quite a bit of wood, and I am quite cheap!

  One hole, one cut.  That's what I kept telling myself.  Also doesn't hurt to have something to listen to while you're cutting....no idea how many of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books I went through while cutting this.  

[wombatie]

WOW that is amazing.   Awesome work.

Marg

[Hawk]

Awesome work. Was this an actual scrollsaw pattern or was it something you modified to be a scrollsaw piece? either way, like others have said Stunning work!!!

[Peter N White]

Beautiful work.

[Scrolling Steve]

Wow...just WOW!

[RabidAlien]

19 hours ago, Hawk said:

Awesome work. Was this an actual scrollsaw pattern or was it something you modified to be a scrollsaw piece? either way, like others have said Stunning work!!!

It was a papercutting pattern.  I did a search on Etsy (papercutting pattern, papercutting mandala, papercutting lightbox, etc etc).  Since they're essentially the same patterns with the same physics regarding islands, they work pretty well for scrolling, as long as you pay attention to the delicate/thin lines and watch for missed islands in the patterns.

[meflick]

Beautiful job. The time and patience it took, well I applaud you.

[Wichman]

How did you keep the piece from warping while the glue cured? I'm asking because of another thread. Thanks.

[RabidAlien]

6 hours ago, Wichman said:

How did you keep the piece from warping while the glue cured? I'm asking because of another thread. Thanks.

I have an antique solid-iron iron, and a chunk of some mystery metal that's insanely heavy.  I put everything on the flat surface of my tablesaw and workbench, and slowly/carefully let the weights settle on top of the project.  One....may have shifted a little bit.....not too obvious unless you're standing right next to it.

 

Haven't tried the Steve Good method, a couple of grains of salt mixed in with the glue.  The grains are tiny so they don't make any measurable gaps, but tend to poke into both pieces of wood and give *just* enough friction to keep things from sliding around.

 

The last time I went to try the salt thing, I got That Look from the wife when I went to reach for the salt grinder.  Been too nervous to try again.

[BadBob]

Weights can be very handy around the shop. 

13 hours ago, RabidAlien said:

The last time I went to try the salt thing, I got That Look from the wife when I went to reach for the salt grinder.  Been too nervous to try again.

Salt can interfere chemically with the glue bond, according to TiteBond. If you want some grit in the joint, try rubbing two pieces of sandpaper together.

[RabidAlien]

10 hours ago, BadBob said:

Weights can be very handy around the shop. 

Salt can interfere chemically with the glue bond, according to TiteBond. If you want some grit in the joint, try rubbing two pieces of sandpaper together.

Never thought of that.  I've considered some dust or smaller tearout pieces, but usually get so excited about the end of a project that I forget when gluing.