greasemonkeyredneck

Yea, Travis. I've admired Pedro's patterns for some time now. I've got a few saved on my computer. Unfortunately, most of his better plans have to be saved in PDF form and taken to a decent printer who can handle it. At the present time, there isn't a local print shop here that is up to the task. They told me that by the end of the summer they are upgrading some of their equipment and will be able to do it for me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and waiting. Untill then, I have to deal with what I can print on my small home printer or buy plans. He has a few plans for sale there, but I've been a little iffy about ordering and pricing with the Dollar to Euro exchange. If anyone has had any experience buying plans from foreign sources in this way, I'd appreciate any input.

It depends on what I'm cutting. I've only been scrolling for about six months though. When I first started, I bought a variety pack of flat blades and one variety pack of spirals. I guess because I learned on both, I can comfortably use both. I lucked out though. I run across a $25 direct drive Craftsman at a yard sale that takes only pin end blades. So now I keep my Craftsman set up for anything that has long staight cuts where I can use a pin end. Then on my Delta is where I do my intricate fretwork. I use almost exclusivly spirals on there. I love my spirals. Like a lot of wood techniques though, if you want to start a very heated discussion and possibly an argument, get a b unch of scrollers together and ask which is better, flats or spirals. As for the control issue I've heard so much about with spirals, I have no problem with them. When I first started though, you would have thought I had a full time job of destroying a bunch of spiral blades. The broken blades were piling up faster than the sawdust. I found that you have to find a "sweet spot" that just happens to be different for each person. That "sweet spot" I'm referring to is the point at which the blade is tight enough to control it while not so tight as to break it. Once you find that spot, I guarantee that spirals will take your scroll work to a whole other level. You can look at some of my work in the gallery section of this site (greemonkeyredneck) or you can go to http://wddsrfinewoodworks.blogspot.com/ . On the scroll work, every inside cut was done with spirals, and I've only been scrolling for a little over six months.

---On my recent work (goldfish) I used Olson 5R/12.5 TPI blades to cut the design. I went thru 6 blades to do it. I used the correct tension and ran around 50% speed (800SPM). The blades lasted about a 1/2 hour each. Is this normal use/wear for this blade on this type of wood--- I'm not sure about oak. I very seldom use it. That being said, where did you get your blades from? I've noticed a difference in blades. I use nothing but Olsen. A while back, I strayed away from my usual ordering place and tried another for a cheaper deal. I won't tell you where because I still do a lot of business with this company and don't want to write a negative review of them. However, compared to what I usually get, these blades were crap. I use a lot of spirals. I decided to try the flat end spirals. I order everything by the gross. The first dozen I pulled out I snapped every single one of them before I even turned the saw on. A couple I snapped just by holding them between my fingers and pulling. The second dozen were fine, but compared to my normal #2 spirals, they cut at half the speed. The third dozen you could tighten up, but snapped as soon as you touched wood to them. That leaves me with nine dozen that I hung over my scrollsaw on a nail as a reminder to stick with the company that always treats me right. And that company is? Sloan's Wood Shop. http://www.sloanswoodshop.com/ . Give them a try. I never got anything from them but the best.

I am in the process of making a big weekend trip to Arcadia, Louisiana. The have a big flee market there called Bonnie and Clyde Trade Days. I can't hardly sell my projects in the area I'm in becasase there just isn't much money, so I'm going to have to branch out a little.

Travis wrote in "Bragging Rights", : You really have a knack for clocks, that's for sure. The ones you posted in the gallery are beautiful! So, I guess the big question is, when are you going to tackle the dome clock? I've always wanted to try my hand at clocks, but I tend to have a short attention span. One of these days, though. I think Wildwood has a Santa's Workshop wall clock that I have my eye on. I don't know about the "Dome Clock". While it would be a very challenging clock, it just doesn't "catch my eye". I have people all the time suggest I do this project or that one. A project has to catch my eye though. If I'm not "feeling it", then I just don't do it. It's a hobby for me and I have learned that whatever I'm working on has to have my full attention at the time or I'll never finish it. A good example if you read my blog is the Rocking Chair and Cradle Combo. Everyone kept suggesting rocking chairs. I chose that particular chair because it was different and "caught my eye" I still have yet to this day build a regular rocking chair. And though I am asked about them frequently, I have no desire to build one anytime in the near future. Who knows? Sometime in the future, the Dome Clock may grow on me. I'll let you know if that happens. I search about a dozen sites on a regular basis looking at different available patterns. I do use free ones from time to time. I usually use pay patterns though. When I do use a free pattern, as soon as I sell the project, when possible, I compensate the designer for their hard work. I try to do that because I think the designers work is just amazing. I couldn't keep up my hobby without them. I can cut, but I can't draw a straight line without a ruler. All that being said, I'm ordering some patters from Wildwood today. I think I'm going to do the Renaissance Chandelier and the Elegant Candelebra. I'm also eying all the bud vases. If you want to see, go to Wildwood website in their catalog. All that is on page 31. I love the fretwork and just decided I want to do something fancy besides clocks.

Travis, I'm going to copy and paste your question over to General Scroll Sawing section. I'd love to answer your question and I don't know yet what the protocall here is, but figured that it isn't in the introduction stage anymore.

I'm not sure about the relation of anyone in Maine. My stepdad is from Augusta, Maine. As for the Day's though, my ancestry is from south Louisiana. There are Day's in that bloodline all over the states. We traced a family tree one time and found out that the original spelling was Dey. Somewhere along the way the spelling was changed because everyony wanted to pronounce "Dee". When government sponsored Vietnamese shrimpers come onto south Louisiana in the early 1900s, the family wound up scattering everywhere to find work.

Hi! My name is William Day. I live in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I am a 34 year old father of eight wonderful kids. They're all beautiful, they took after their mother. I do a lot of scrolling. However, where I live at, that becomes a headache sometime when trying to find tools, parts, and anything locally. It's funny really. Most people you talk to around here doesn't even know what a scrollsaw is. It's interesting how I got started in scrolling. I'm disabled. Light woodworking has become sort of a therapy for my depression. In '08, my wife suggested getting me a scrollsaw for my birthday. My response was along the lines of "What the $% do I need a scrollsaw for?" I had never even seen one, much less used one. Anyway, she bought it anyway. It was a Ryobi. It was a good saw to learn on. I say that because if you can cut on a dancing Ryobi, you can cut on anything. So, after it sat in my shop sort of in the way for a while, a man give me the plans to a cottage clock from Wildwood Designs. When I first saw the plans, I thought there was no way I'd ever cut something like that. Well, I finally decided to try the clock. A new love was born. I have since moved up to a Delta. Well, my Delta is my favorite. There is actually five scrollsaws in my shop now and I aquire every pattern I can get my hands on. All this come from the idea of "What the $% do I need a scrollsaw for?" Please take the time to check out my blog I have recently started at http://wddsrfinewoodworks.blogspot.com/ . Please don't hesitate to leave comments on there. There is also links on there to contact me and how to buy some of my projects.

The dimensions are 11" x 14" plus 3/4" all around for the frame I built. The pattern was cut from Birch ply. The backer board and frame are mahogany. I wanted something a little special for this one. I will see about getting a gallery set up. I love showing off my clocks. My passion is building clocks such as the ones from Wildwood designs. Thanks for the compliments.

[attachment=0]010.JPG[/attachment] I am new to this site and aint really sure if my image is going to show up or not. It's called Christ Ascending though. It's a free pattern from Jeff Zaffino. It has close to 300 inside cuts.