bonacker

Very nicely done. I'm assuming you used spiral blades on this. That's not easy! Beautiful.

Inca hoop dancer.

Four pendants for the wife.

Call Ray. The first time I called him he spent a half hour on the phone with me. He's the best.

One more very important thing: Use gel type of glue, not liquid form. I found G-S Hypo Cement online. It's for non porous materials like acrylic and comes with a micro applicator at the end of the tube, especially good for fine work such as beading or other kinds of jewelry work. Worked well.

I used UR3 on both. My Excalibur 21 does not have numbers on its speed dial, so exact speed is hard to determine. Just don't use high speed, and slow down a bit when cutting acrylic. Used blue tape on the birch. No tape on the acrylic, as it has paper on both sides. Don't remove paper when cutting acrylic. Gluing acrylic is tricky because it can really mess up your work if you use too much. Getting glue off acrylic is not easy and sometimes impossible. For the first time, I glued the acrylic pieces together and waited 24 hrs. BEFORE removing the paper from each side. The result wasn't bad.

Same pattern, different materials.

Way to go Kevin! The fun about scrolling is that you don't have to work only with wood all the time.

My latest work designed by Kathy Wise.

Simply spray glue the pattern and the coin. Wait a minute and attach. Cut, remove pattern, clean coin with mineral spirits. Drawing the pattern is quite simple and can be done for any size coin. I did mine for a half dollar. If you don't want to make the pattern, there is a great book called "Scrollsawing Coins,Glass, Metals & More" by Dave Freeman that has it.

The Love Coin. 2 necklaces, one for her, one for me.

Definitely use metal cutting blades. I got mine from Sloanswoodshop.com. They are not expensive. Some say you can use regular skip tooth blades, but don't believe it. You NEED a coin holding jig. I made one and it works perfectly. Cut a wood block about 3"x3" out of pine, poplar or whatever. Use a forstner bit about the diameter of the coin (a tiny bit larger is OK but not smaller). Drill down the center of block no more than 1/8". Then use another slightly smaller forstner bit centered on the previous cut all the way through the block. You now have a hole thru the block with a shoulder where you will later place the coin. Then drill 2 holes using a regular drill bit from side to side to accomodate 2 bolts long enough to place nut on each end. DO NOT cut these holes through the forstner bit borings! Now cut the block in half perpendicular to the bolt holes and through the center of the forstner bit holes. Drill a hole in your coin for the blade, place the coin on the 1/8" forstner bit cutting shoulder, insert the bolts and tighten them(butterfly nuts are great). Your coin should be nice and tight and you are ready to go! Use a slower speed and a bit of patience. Check out the "Love Coin" cutting I made in My Gallery. BTW, US coin sized forstner bits are available for purchase on the web.

Welcome, Bob. There are a lot of great folks on this site, friendly and helpful. Hopefully we can learn from you too.

Welcome, Bill. You'll like it here. Lots of good helpful folks on this site. Got my MS degree from UMASS at Amherst many years ago. Big Boston sports fan. Go Pats, Celts, Bruins, Sox . I'm from eastern Long Island and used to play ball with a guy named Yastrzemski.

Sloan'swoodshop.com has sawtooth hangers and small screws for 1/8" thick wood. I use them all the time. Gluing metal hangers to wood will eventually give way and your work will be on the floor.

Now don't you dare forget Valentine's Day!

Best saw there is! After 4 years use, I only had to replace the bottom saw clamp which developed a threading problem. It has minimum vibration and the tilting head is a joy to work with.

I started with the Dewalt 788. Good saw, never had a problem. Then I got the Excalibur 21 because of the tilting head. Never regretted it. It's the best!

My problem with SSWC is that they seem obsessed with puzzle making and toys for kids. They'll throw in an intarsia item occasionally, but I haven't found anything I was interested in making for about 2 years straight. I cancelled my subscription last Spring because it had become so elemental. Perhaps the better patternmakers who contributed to CWC will now show up in SSWC as it is the only place they can go. If that happens, I'll be sure to resubscribe.

It seems true that the company that publishes Creative Woodworks and Crafts has filed for bankruptcy. Too bad because it was very useful, much moreso than Scroll Saw Woodworking and Crafts. Is SSWC all we have left? Anybody heard anything about whether CWC might be picked up by someone else? Perhaps there aren't enough of us scrollers to keep it in circulation.

I've been successful at cutting compound patterns, but only from patterns in books by Diana Thompson and others. It's neat when you cut a dolphin on one face of the block and turn it 90 degrees and get a sailboat on the other face. I'd like to create my own patterns. Can one just put anything on one face and anything on the other? I don't see how this would work. I should think one pattern would have to mesh with the other somehow. Obviously, you can't have a circle on one side and a square on the other. How do you create such things? The books have a lot of patterns, but nothing about how to make your own.

It would be nice to be able to locate people in a specific area who are into scrolling.Going thru the many pages of the Introductions section is too time consuming. Personally, I am located in SW Virginia near Roanoke. Be nice to meet others, share patterns, pics, and projects. I have found woodworking clubs, but no scroller clubs. Perhaps some could be started if enough folks can be found and are interested. It is also a good way to get youngsters interested in our hobby. Tell me what you think. I'll start it off: Anybody out there in SW Virginia

It would be nice to be able to locate people in a specific area who are into scrolling.Going thru the many pages of the Introductions section is too time consuming. Personally, I am located in SW Virginia near Roanoke. Be nice to meet others, share patterns, pics, and projects. I have found woodworking clubs, but no scroller clubs. Perhaps some could be started if enough folks can be found and are interested. It is also a good way to get youngsters interested in our hobby. Tell me what you think. I'll start it off: Anybody out there in SW Virginia?

I started with a Dewalt 788. Used it for about 3 years. Never had a problem. Sounds like you have a factory problem with the interior arms not adjusted correctly. I upgraded to Excalibur 21 and this machine is much superior in what it can do. It's a bit more pricey but can do more things. I would not attempt to do things I can do now if I still had the 788. You now have a horizontal surface all the time and it's great for accurate angle cutting, especially if you want to make wooden bowls. With a slanted table, it's impossible to do nice intricate work. You'll love your Excalibur!

Has anyone noticed that the 2 most popular scroll saw mags, Creative Woodworks and Crafts and Scroll Saw Woodworking, have both become more elementary in the projects they offer? I have been scrolling for about 9 years and 90% of their offerings hold no interest for me. I have already cancelled my subscription to one, and will let my other expire. Where do you get your inspirations for projects? I often will go to Google images and try to create patterns from them. Any other ideas out there?