Travis

Wow. That's brilliant! Did you come up with the process yourself? That is soooooo cool. Do you hang the paper to dry? Does the gauze add to the texture, or do you use it for strength? I'm imagining it looks a lot like rice paper. I just happened to buy some clear polycrylic last weekend. Now I gotta find some gauze. Hrmmmm. Thanks for sharing your secrets. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody!

I was wondering how many people dimension their own lumber as opposed to buying it pre-dimensioned. Why or why not? I'm just curious.

If its the same stuff I've used, it does get a little hard. Certainly harder than the sandpaper. I think it would gouge the wood. Unless they've improved the formula in the last few years. (And no, I won't tell you why I know what fray stop is or why I have experience using it. )

Scroll Saw Village is now on Facebook! Yay! So for you social media butterflies, you can become a fan here. We also have a simple name to get to the SSV Facebook page. You can find it easily at: http://artist.to/scrollsawvillage/ Have fun with it! Remember, if you upload pictures there, be sure to upload them to your User's Gallery too. That way non-Facebookers can have fun too.

Welcome Jim. We're glad to have you on board! I remember my dad bought a scroll saw when I was young. Maybe when I was 12 or so. It was awful. It was loud and vibrated so bad it would dance off the workbench! Completely turned me off of scrolling. Then 20 some years later, I buy a decent scroll saw and now I'm hooked. In fact, I got my dad hooked too! A decent saw makes all the difference in the world! Anyway, welcome to the site. Blame is right. A lot of talented folks here. Plus they're super friendly! Its a win-win situation. I look forward to seeing you on the forum and seeing some of your work!

Thanks for the update! Yah, its best to stop when your tools start smoking. Safety glasses are a good point. I've had my cornea scratched once from a piece of sawdust. That was the most miserable week of my life. You couldn't close your eyes because it hurt, you couldn't look around because it hurt....Ugggg. I'm wondering if those commercial sanding mops for the dremel have a short life too. Try cutting them in circles. I'm wondering if that will last longer since you don't have the strips slapping the workpiece and putting extra stress on the sandpaper. Did you use any spacers? Very interesting. I'm really enjoying this thread. Keep it up, Deb!

Yah, I wish I knew more about trees too. It would be really good to have a field guide so I can ID trees around the neighborhood. I think it would be interesting to just know what they were and a little about their biology.

Cool! I can't wait to hear how it works out for ya!

Its definitely an interesting series. I'm not sure I agree with everything he says, though. I think this gentleman uses a scroll saw in a construction setting. Most likely cutting moldings or flooring. Certainly not as a creative outlet like we do. I think he's completely off on the blower video though. He says the small tube is a mini-exhaust taking dust from the surface and blowing it off the back. He also says the bottom port is also an exhaust blowing out dust that comes in from the bottom. I've never seen that. I think the tube he's referring to is an actual blower that pushes air onto your surface blowing off the dust and the bottom port is used to attach a shop vac or dust collection system. He also mentions not wearing gloves or long sleeved shirt in the safety section. I don't think that's much of a concern with a scroll saw since the blade is only reciprocating. It is a concern with other tools that have spinning parts (band saw, table saw, jointer, etc). I think the motor maintenance is pretty good. I think it depends on what your saw requires as far as oiling, though. Be sure to check your manual. But the idea of making sure the dust is cleared from the motor is a good idea. Probably something I should pay attention to. Good series for construction, but I don't think it was intended for scroll saw hobbyists.

Moderator's Note: This topic has been split from the original thread by request.

OK. Now I'm intrigued! Home made material? Like homemade cloth? Homemade paper? Don't hold out on us!

That turned out really cool! Did you use frosted plexiglass, or is it rice paper? It has a really nice effect. Great job!

Sorry, Deb, I didn't see it right away. I wasn't able to get to my email this weekend. Thank you for the link. For those interested, Klingspor Woodwrking Shop has mini sanding mops for the dremel. I'm not sure if you really need their special mandrel. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the screw that goes in the top is a little longer. That way you can fit more sandpaper in there. I'm guessing the mandrel you have is for the cutter/grinders. I think that would work just fine. I'd find some clothbacked sandpaper. The velcro backed sandpaper for a mouse sander is thin an would work great. Just trace a quarter or half dollar and cut it out with scissors. Then cut little slits along the edge similar to what they have in the picture. Stack several circles up and use a small finishing nail to poke a hole through the center of the whole stack. Then thread it onto the mandrel. I bet that's all it would take. I'm not sure if you'd need the spacers. I'd try it without. If it isn't working, maybe use a cereal box to create the spacers. This is a cool project. I think I might try this out myself. I'll have to stop by the hardware store and pick up a mandrel, though. My other one is broken.

Well, any friend of yours is a friend of mine. I like meeting new people too. Its funny because I was digging through my "stack-o-patterns" and came across one of Muleskinner's patterns. It was the Wizard and Owl pattern. I believe paul44224 cut this and has it in his flikr album. Anyway, I thing I grabbed it from AFSSP before MSN closed. Very cool pattern and is at the top of my cut list. I've seen some of his other patterns too. Very talented designer. I look forward to seeing some more.

Come to think of it, the cutting/grinder wheel attatchment could easily be converted. The cutting wheel isn nothing more than an arbor that has a screw on top that sandwiches the cutting wheel between two rubber washers. I'm wondering if you can cut several pieces of sandpaper and put them on the arbor. Not sure if the sandpaper will be too small, though. Might not have enough teeth to do anything. Just a thought. Hrmmmm....

Hiya Fran. We're glad to have you on board! I've seen some of your intarsia in the gallery. You do some really nice work. I'm hoping to give intarsia a try this summer. I look forward to seeing some more of you work. I'm glad you introduced yourself. Lots of friendly folks here. Its just fun to chat with friends. Especially when its something we all have in common. Variety is the spice of life. I think most of us dabble in other forms of woodworking or crafting. So why not share those too? Besides, you can pick up ideas from looking at other crafts/crafters. I remember seeing in one of the mags where they combined woodburning and fretwork. Turned out beautiful. So feel free to share some of your 'non-scrolling' projects too. We'd love to see them. Anyway, welcome to the site. We're glad to have ya!

Welll....if Christina vouches for you.... Just kidding. Welcome to the village! I think you'll have a lot of fun here. Lot of great and talented people here. I look forward to seeing some of your work. We're glad to have you on board!

You should upload those pix to your User's Gallery. It certainly deserves to be highlighted along with some of your other fantastic work. BTW, what wood did you use to make the box?

That turned out great! I love bandsaw style boxes. I think they're pretty clever. I really like them when they're minature too and can be cut on a scroll saw. Nicely done! I must have missed Steve's pattern. Be sure to upload that to your User Gallery too. It will make a great addition to your other works.

I've always joked that I measure my cut list by how many inches thick it is. Which basically means I just have a pile of printouts in a stack. How do y'all organize your patterns? I'm looking for clever ideas to get my life organized. At least in the pattern area.

Wow. That turned out awesome! You're quite the painter too! I really like the wings/flag. Very clever. I love having custom made containers. Everything has its place. Nicely done!

LOL. I had a bookmark on Absolutely Free Scroll Saw Patterns that covered this very topic. Boy, I wish they were still around. fEZ would be the guy to ask. He's done a number of trivets. I'm guessing an oil finish would work well. I'd be afraid of poly as it might melt. But oil should handle the heat pretty good. Just guessing, though.

As far as I can tell, they don't have sanding mops for the dremel tool. I think the closest thing you'll find is a Flapwheel, which is similar. I found this source that has a lot to choose from. Widget Supply. Hope this helps.

Hey KtownScroller, I've been enjoying your puzzles in your gallery. I was wondering how you softened the edges of your puzzles. I know in one of my books they use a Sand-o-flex sander. I'm thinking of getting that in a couple weeks. There's also a sanding mop, but I wasn't sure if it would work real well with the keys of the puzzle. I figured the Sand-O-Flex would get in there a bit better.

Ooooo...I'd like to have a DeWalt show up on my doorstep. I've never used one, but I hear they're great machines to work with. I know you'll LOVE scrolling. Especially since you have a sweet machine coming in. Be sure to pick up some quality blades from a mail order catalog. The stuff they sell at the Big Box stores aren't very good. That's really my best piece of advice. And you'll also figure out soon enough that you'll stop measuring your cut list by the number of patterns. Instead you'll be measuring your cut list by how many inches thick it is...LOL. Welcome to the site. Like Christina said, there's so many great people here. Plus, they're really knowledgeable, which is really handy if you get stuck...LOL. They've bailed me out a couple of times. We're glad to have you on board! Can't wait to see your first project.