Travis

If you want to design your own, here are 2 tutorials using Inkscape that should get what you need. Creating Word Art with Inkscape Printing Oversized Patterns

Ha! I want it for me! Well, I'm not sure if I'm past that stage yet.

I subscribe to SSW&C. I like to see what's being made and where the trends are. I think they have a pretty good mix of all kinds of scroll work with all different levels of expertise. I think intricate/compicated patterns are hard to describe in an article, which may be the reason you don't see to many. I rarely cut projects from magazines, though. I usually design my own, taking inspiration from magazine projects, stuff others do, stuff at retail stores, etc. That way I can tailor it specifically to my personality. Designing is part of the hobby that makes it fun for me. Others aren't too interested in designing, so they rely on other's designs. I find books are a great place to find cuttable patterns if you're drawn to a specific type of scrolling; puzzles, compound cutting, wildlife portraits, bowls, etc. If you're drawn to a specific designer's style, you can follow them through newsletters, blogs, and social media. Lots of inspiration there. Forums and social media are good ways to see what others are making. Pattern clearinghouses like scroller ltd, Wooden Teddy Bear, Windfield Collection, etc are good places to browse. If you like intricate victorian fretwork with some challenge, check out this website and their patterns: http://www.finescrollsaw.com/

That's beautiful. Where can I buy the pattern?

There's a few free scroll saw fonts here: http://www.scrollcrafters.com/Pages/FreeStuff.aspx

Sure thing. Check out the second video in this article. The process is called Breaking Apart. Breaking Apart After typing your text, you can break apart the letters and move them around individually. This gives you the most control over the placement of the lettering. You can break apart individual letters into their separate shapes. This is useful when dealing with the dot of an i or j. Type your text in choice of font. Go to Path>Object To Path. This will change your text into a collection of objects. It still looks like one large object instead of a collection of objects because they are grouped and treated as an object. To ungroup, go to Object>Ungroup. Now each of the letters are its own object. Deselect all the objects. Then select one of the letters and position or alter them as needed. Once all the letters are in place, select all the objects and go to Path>Union to weld the letters together.

Yah, the only thing I can think of is bandsaw boxes. They have a lot of books about that. You can check your library, too. They usually have them. Other than that, the only other ones I see are maintenance and tuning guides. YouTube is a great source too.

Boy, that's turning out nice!

Google Sites might be worth looking at: https://sites.google.com/ If you're looking for a blogging type of website: blogger.com and wordpress.com are both good.

I have the worse habit of starting projects, but not finishing them. I'm trying to get better about finishing what I started, but old projects are hard to get back into. Here's my list: Side table for the living room. Train Piggy bank I started a couple years ago. Word art that I need to build a frame for. More frames. About a dozen pictures waiting for frames and I refuse to spend $20 on a frame I can build for $2. Portrait half complete...still in design mode. Intarsia picture of an old car. - I probably will never finish it. Oh, and a bunch of SSV features in various stages of completion. What's on your list?

That one I wouldn't be able to do since it uses a logo from the show. But I am working on another one without the dire wolf. I'm hoping to shoot a video on that project, but it might be a couple of weeks before I get to it.

I can do that. Any other questions? I'll probably shoot the video this weekend.

Canned air for computers work well.

I'd get real baltic birch plywood. I wouldn't trust the birch plywood they have at the big box stores. They sometimes have voids in them that will cause problems. I've bought from Sloans Woodshop with good results. http://www.sloanswoodshop.com/ Ocooch Hardwoods is another popular choice. http://www.ocoochhardwoods.com/ You can also find some good deals on eBay. Here's a great tool for finding specialty woods on eBay. http://www.wooddealsonline.com/wood-by-craft/scroll-sawing/

I agree. Nothing will ruin a hobby faster than a tool that won't fit your needs. I'd send it back and see what they can do with it. Maybe it got knocked or dropped during transit. Hopefully they can get you squared away. If not, I bet you can find a DeWalt locally for a decent price.

Howdy. I got an email from someone who had a pattern making question. Tonight I'm going to put together a quick video tutorial for them. I figured if anybody else had a question on using Inkscape, I can quickly cover that too. It's more of a "How do I __________" type of question. So if you have a burning Inkscape question, post it below and I'll see if I can cover it in the video.

I'm sorry. I totally missed this one. I'm guessing the file you are trying to upload is too big. We have a limit of 2.5megs per photo. You can send the file to travis[at]scrollsawvillage.com and I can take a look.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I took the day off work and spent it in the shop instead of toiling away in the salt mine. That's pretty great in my opinion.

Depending on your market, but I'd sell them for $3-5 each. I saw one guy who only had a 4'x4' table about 2' off the ground where he and the kids played cars and spun tops. He sold them for $5 each (the cars, not the kids) and couldn't keep them on the shelves. Hordes of kids surrounded the table to get a chance to play. Most of them walked away with a new toy.

I think it depends on how you're doing your blades. If the blade itself goes into the hub, I'm thinking a simple miter box would do the trick. Put the hub on end and use the 45 degree slot and cut the slot with a handsaw. If the blades are attached to a dowel, you can drill the holes in the side then simply rotate the dowel so the blades are pointing in the right direction. This video might help:

Now you have the tools, you can save $$ on the wood. This guy made one out of a single 8' 2x4!

You can check around with the Rigid sander and get other opinions. Lumber Jocks is a good place to ask as well as Wood Talk Online. But I'm thrilled with mine. I have a Craftsman band saw which I don't like very well. It's a unusual size, so I can only buy their blades and they only have 2 types. I can't add riser blocks. All in all, it was a bad choice and I should have done more research. I'd love to get a Jet brand band saw if I could swing it. They make great stuff. I've also heard a lot of great things about Grizzly. Something like this and add a riser block looks good to me. dansnow in this thread has one coming to his shop soon. You can ask him how he likes it after he breaks it in a bit.

Great thread. Here's my mug....I'm the tall one with the hat.

I would buy the Rigid Sander as well. $200 from Home Depot, then take the money you save and buy a 14" Band Saw. I have the Rigid Sander and LOVE it. I found a ton of furniture makers that favor that sander too. I know when I bought my bandsaw, I wish I would have gotten a better one. I think once you have a good quality bandsaw, you'll use it a lot more than you think. Plus you can resaw your own lumber to make scroll saw blanks.

You're probably putting sideways pressure on the blade without knowing it This will flex the blade a bit and your cut won't be square. It happens to me all the time. I make it a habit of releasing my work (lightly) every once in awhile to see if it springs back. I'm always surprised how much pressure I'm putting on the blade without knowing it.