MrsN

I have been a member here for a while but not very active on this forum (I have been busy on other scrolling forums) I don't think I have ever introduced myself here. I am Katie, from Minnesota. I teach woodshop classes to middle school and high school kids in a small town in western Wisconsin. I have been scrolling for about 5 years and have done a lot of projects, my favorite type of projects are portraits and jewelry, I also like making toys and bowls and christmas ornaments and other wall hanging things and pretty much anything else. the only thing I haven't tried is intarsia, one of these days I will give it a try. I recently got an excalibur 21", so far I love it! I also have a 14" single speed hegnar and a 16" hitachi (my baby, my first saw).

Staying on the line is overrated!! If you are off the line slowly come back to the line. Sharp turns back to the line will be noticeable on smooth curves. If you are making a portrait or fretwork types of things once the pattern is off the wood no one knows what it was really supposed to look like. Chances are the pattern can be modified a little (or a lot) and still look good. Two exceptions are eyes and letters; eyes because they really set the tone of a picture and are something everyone looks at, letters because our eyes are trained to be very accustomed to seeing letters in certain ways and if something is a little narrow or fat we can tell something is funny with the letters. I recommend cutting a leopard, tons of spots to practice on and in the end almost always look like a leopard. My experience with bowls is that no matter how accurate you cut there is a ton of sanding. So get close then sand, and sand and sand and sand....

Nope. Didn't work. Can I delete this post?

Testing phone pictures

I got a magnifying light with my ex-21 from seyco. I am not positive I like it, but it is growing on me. It took a while to get used to.

My grandpa and dad were both woodworkers, so I was introduced early. I went to college and got a degree in technology education. I thought I would get a job teaching cad or photography or design and engineering, but the school that hired me said teach wood fundamentals and woodcrafts. I quick learned everything I could about woodworking so I could teach it. One day as my husband and I were wandering around Lowes I pointed at a hitachi scroll saw and said I want one of those. Husband said "what on earth are you going to do with that" then saw it was on sale and had a stand and said "put it in the cart". I was hooked instantly, and have been since (5 years)

Cherie I'm still me!

If you want to scroll out individual letters, you need a stencil type font. The website listed in the last post has a section devoted to stencil fonts. You can also add bridges where needed and use almost any font, if you try to cut an "o" the middle will fall out if it is not connected to the outside. If you want to scroll whole words like word art you can use almost any font, just squish the letters together.

I recently inherited a bunch of magazines and paper patterns from some older Scrollers who are downsizing and I need to rethink how I organize paper patterns. The only paper patterns I had was a file of things my dad designed and what ever I printed (plus the books and magazines) I was thinking of making subject folders and printing a few of my favorites that would also fit. It seems like a lot of work up front but probably the only way I will find anything in the pile. I have read that some people scan everything in and only have digital stuff, do any of you actually do that? What about oversized patterns, scanning those seems like a lot of work? Do you keep an index of what is in the files? I typically scan things from the books and magazines as I make copies(if it will fit on my scanner bed) but sitting down and scanning things that I will likely not cut sounds like a waste of time. How do you store/file magazines and books? Do you have a list of which magazines you have and what is inside so things are easier to find? Do you keep certain topics together (like all of the holiday issues together) do you take them apart and file the projects separately? Also, where is your storage? In the shop, in the office, someplace else? So what do you do? Any advise before I start organizing? Thanks for the input MrsN

how well it paints depends on what part you are painting and the type of paint that you use. Like someone said, the edges soak up paint (or what ever you put on them) so you need to be careful with that. The flat surface is really flat and paints well if you are doing artistic painting type things. mdf does not play well with water or humidity, in my experience, so if you are outside avoid it.

cedar is a fairly brittle wood to work with, but usually looks nice when finished. If you need a finished piece to be strong, the best way is to glue it to a backer. Be really careful when spreading glue and use a glue that dries clear and you should be ok. As I am cutting delicate pieces I will sometimes put the cut out piece back in the hole and secure it with a piece of tape. This will help fragile areas hold their shape until the piece is finished. Another similar method, sometimes I will cut about 3/4 of a cut out and stop. A little tape will keep the open ends flat if it is a big cut. This way I can still have most of the strength of the piece for the longest possible.

I have most of my patterns scanned on my computer, but also have a large pile of things to cut. The printed stack is sorted in folders by type of cutting, difficulty(or more accurately, amount of time it would take to complete) and subject matter. So I have a file of ornaments divided into groups like easy silhouettes for painting, simple scrolled ornaments and complex ornaments. I have a file of 8x10 portrait type sorted easy to hard in animals, landscape, holidays and other. I have a few other files similar but I can't remember all if them right now. This system let's me pick something I feel like cutting fairly quickly which is really helpful since I get limited shop time.

I just realized that I have never written an introduction to this site, and that I have posted way less here then I thought. I have been scrolling for about 4 years, and have made a lot of sawdust in that time. I have recently gotten in to designing patterns and, although I am not very good at it yet, I am having fun with that as well. When I am not scrolling, I also like to do some painting and photography. Both hobbies work well with scrolling as I can cut pieces to paint and take pictures to turn into patterns. I also teach Woodshop to middle school and high school kids. (Yep, a female shop teacher!) I live in Minnesota with my husband of 5 years and my son(well technically step son but we have full custody, it is complicated, but he is my everything!) I am 28 years-old. I was recently at the SAW Expo in Missouri and won a blue ribbon and best in class for this picture, I'll post a picture so you can see a picture of me. I am on a few of the other scrolling forums, so I might know some of you from those places. Katie (MrsN)