JTTHECLOCKMAN

Thank you! I will try to drop in now and then. I still do love and care about scrollsaw work. It was my first woodworking hobby. Not many scrolling sites around any more. Not a huge fan of FaceBook.

yes the juried shows are tough to come by these days but were the norm in the older days. Today if you have cash they take you in. I was at 2 shows that I did years ago where 3 crafters were asked to leave in the middle of the show because they had made in China stickers on the items they were selling. I remember this well because one of the so called crafters then went around to many other crafters and stared looking for same labels. when she picked mine up i told her you will never find one here. All made by me by hand. But nice try.

Like with any tool there is always danger and proper technique and use of tool is always paramount. This is how accidents happen. With all these new cheap lasers hitting the market as well as all these 3D printers these days, people are just not aware of the dangers not only from the beams but the fumes coming off these burning tools. that is why ventilation is a key when setting up in a shop. Just like working on computers all day can effect eye sight so can sharp blasts of light from lasers. I seen people bring scrollsaws and lathes to shows and yes scrollsaws are less dangerous but lathes can get dangerous if you have chips flying around and no barriers. Most shows do not allow these unless properly set up. Me being an outspoken person, I would have said something to them for sure. Just imagine the vendor next to them all day. You want to do custom work then take orders and ship. All part of business. One lawsuit in this lawsuit happy society these days and you lost everything. not good. With that said, good to see craft shows are still hanging around and getting to see other's talents is always what drove me into this in the first place. When I do shows I always loved seeing people's reactions and talking to them to get feedback and input. Those were special qualities I found best when on the circuit because it is instant feedback and knowledge. if doing web sites it is tough because all you have is wait and see if items sell or not and what price points. love seeing the talented artisans.

That was absolutely beautiful and whoever bought it got a masterpiece and keepsake for a long time. I bet you had a hard time letting it go. Thanks for showing.

Wow I really did not think anyone really remembered me and here you are remembering a request I had. Yes since that time I have gathered a few patterns of trains from other woodworking sites as they were gracious to give me links. I just checked your link and have to say it is exactly what i wanted. They have so many different trains and cars to go with. This is the direction I want to take my woodworking skills in, Being I am phasing out of scrolling, I still can use that skill to enhance many items in those plans. A++++++ on the site and thank you for the link and remembering. Have to saw WOW again. Thank You!!!

You will have bigger problems than just rust on the surface. All parts inside the tools are subject to moisture no matter weather you use breathable tarps or not. Have you considered a shed that is weather tight. gets tools off the ground so you do not have that moisture. Shed would serve far better than tarps.

Those all are very nice and well done. I can see why they sell very fast.

Napkin holder.

Dave I always loved your inlay work. It is some of the best I ever seen because of the details that you can do. I have had a project on hold for a few years now because I need to practice this technique to even attempt it. Love the box. Well done because there are a few different aspects of woodworking involved in that. Thanks for showing.

I thought there was some kind of paper that you can put on them that will avoid those brown marks from burning. That was how I explained many times at shows to people when they accused me of using a laser on my work. look for the brown burn marks and the inside of the cuts. Hope you have many sales on them.

I guess but I learned long ago to live by the adage if it is not broke do not fix it. Do not go looking for trouble. I know for as long as I have left to scroll on these saws they will never need for me to touch that wedge. I set the tension when I first got it and never touched it again. Just do not see the need to If your blades are breaking I bet it is something more than that wedge causing the problem. My saw the wedges are basically same size as arm. No overhang and maybe a little less. The biggest thing other than changing the front tensioner and getting new blade holders and new thumb screws I changed that silly plastic clamp holder under the bottom arm to spring steel and has work like a charm If i could figure that out why could they not see that being a weak link. Anyway Happy Scrolling. Again in my eyes the best saws on the market hands down. They are worth the money if you want an industrial saw. If a weekend warrior than any other saw is good for you.

Well Kevin I have to say I must have gotten the golden 2 saws. Have a 220 and 226 and both are as sharp as the day I bought them. That wedge does not move one iota when scrolling and when changing blades at all. I have tons of hours on those saws. I will never sharpen or touch them ever and they will be as pristine as they are now. Not sure what you guys are doing. The only time I get blade breakage is if using jewler's blade or those thin puzzle blades. Or if I am pushing the life out of a blade because too lazy to change one. Now blades pop out of clamps because I forget to sand the edges of blade to rid it of oils. I have dressed the thumb screws often and have changed them the most. I wish they would use the ones like Hegner does with the floating washer. Other than that no oils just vac the dust off after each session. Had to change the front tension lever on each saw once so far and have back ups if need to do again. Now those spinning points I use dry lube on. I believe that RBI has the best saws on the market. Sold my Dewalt 788 and my Hegner this past summer. Never really used them anywhere near as much as the RBIs The hegner was set up to scroll those collapsable baskets because I was making so many different styles of them, setting that angle was a pain on the RBI. Stopped making them so gone goes that saw. Guy got a good deal and a good saw. Same with the person who got my Dewalt.

I have to ask why do you even play around with that part of the saw. I have never touched that tension thing since I owned my saw and it probably as old as yours. How often do you change size of blades. I use the same blade for just about all cuts I make. If I happen to use a different size blade I make adjustments in the front tension by adjusting the depth I insert the blade. just never could understand that when people write they have a rounded over wedge. Does it rock some when you release front tension, maybe so slightly but nothing to wear metal. Maybe I am missing something. But I have cut a ton of work on my saws.

Nice work Ron. I too make the angel wall hanging cross. I sold a couple over the years. I see you added Jesus to the cross. Nice. Thanks for showing.

I too started taking photos of everything I made but they were film photos back then. No computer and digital prints. I started making a photo album and would bring to shows so people could see other items I made and they could order them if they wanted to. That lasted a couple years and then became a pain. So much easier to take photos today and poste in forums and things. But the many many projects I made back then I have no digital photos. I made over 500 different items for sure. As others I too have made things for family and friends that were never sold. Some I have pictures and some I do not. But have the memories.

Kevin, I do remember it and it use to sit on a stand. I also remember the MSN groups. Back then you could form a group about anything. Something like FaceBook today. I use to belong to a few of them. Back in those days there were alot of big name pattern designers. Not so much any more. Many have passed away. Scrolling is just not what it once was. Here some reading material. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSN_Groups#Closure

No I probably should have put something for size reference in photo. The watch dial is a 2-3/4" insert. Overall length of watch is about 15" I also made a joke to kids that came up to look at them and asked them if they would wear it? I tell people it is basically a desk item but you could also hang it on the wall. I in fact made a couple over the years that were about 3 times the size and they were wall hangers. Had a customer ask for that. Around the same time I was making these I did a flexible band watch. As I said I did work for Steebar and John Nelson came up with a pattern for that type watch and I made the prototype for him and it became a big hit for Steebar. Then the owner asked me to make a stand for it and I did the pattern and construction on that. After that I took it another step further and made a gift box for the watch also. I am sure these are still available at Steebar which is under new ownership and maybe even someone else. I have no dealings with them any more. I will include a photo of that watch here too. Now these did not sell as well because they were twice the price. Lots of time goes into making these. And that is the reason. But did sell a few over the years. Had one lady buy one at a show and she was so mesmerized by it and got it for her husband. Next year I saw her and she raved how much he liked it. He was a big watch collector. Always makes you feel good when you get good reviews. I looked for a picture of the box but I do not have that on this computer.

Kevin I do remember Sylvia but remember her as JR. Ranger or something like that if we are talking about the same person. She made me some patterns over the years. I asked her to make some patterns for spinning tops that I was making and they became big over the years when I first started turning on a lathe some time ago now. I wanted to combine my scrolling and my turning hobbies and this is what I came up with. There was and I believe there still is a huge spinning top following and I know I use to see turning clubs at woodworking shows always making tops for the kids as they watch them turn on the lathe. I believe there is a charity thing with tops for kids thing too. It is funny because I stopped making them some time ago now but just a couple days ago I had pulled an old project I started about 10 years ago which was a cabinet to display my special pens. I wanted to complete the project now that I got my den finished and want to hang it in there. Long and behold when I pulled it out from under a ton of other projects I started years ago, within it were a bunch of spinning top bases that I had cut out and spun down and just needed the stems and bottom spinning tips made That brought back memories. Here is an example of what I am talking about. The top has 3 layers and the top layer is the scrolled pattern she made for me. She made me about 20 other patterns too. It is funny because she mentioned to me also not to give or sell the patterns to anyone. She made them for me. She use to be on other scrolling forums and was very nice person.

I believe this can be put under the Bragging Rights forum very easily. Many beautiful pieces have passed through this site over the years and many of you either sell your items or give them away to family and friends and charities. So the question is what over the years has been your best seller or piece that gets asked for or you just decide to make and hand out. ?? Or both? What seller and what hand out? I will start and must preface this by saying I have been selling and making things for friends and family for over 40 years now and have made over 500 different items. Would have to pull out the records to know exact numbers and even that would not tell the whole story because I use to make things for Steebar many moons ago when the original owner was still alive and they were a good company to deal with. He would put them in his catalog. Many times John Nelson made the patterns that I would do prototype of and work out tweaks. But these watches have to be #1 for sales. and the heart has also a lot of sales but is also one that I gave out very often because it fits homes well. So lets see yours too.

Excellent work. Sharp crisp exact cutting. letter cutting is just not easy no matter what font you use. Nice job with that. Thanks for showing.

I just came back to this thread because I remembered I posted in here and see many have added their thoughts and Jim lets say this first, there are very good scrollers here that are basically telling you all the same thing. Time is irrelevant. This is a hobby and even if you turn into a somewhat so called business you have to be able to enjoy what you are doing or else it is not going to be fun to sit at a scrollsaw for any amount of time no matter how fast you become. As I said from your photo we can see your work is great for being fairly new to this. You will get faster believe me all those people here that say they are slow, maybe so but I will bet a month's worth of lunches that they were alot slower when first started. A good saw will help in the speed and accuracy ends of scrolling. You are not constantly fighting a drifting blade and other problems you can encounter with lesser saws. I have been sawing for over 40 years and I have had that question asked to me many times as to how long does it take and to this very day I never told anyone an hour time because I do not know and never want to know. This thing about doing for a business and having formulas that require hour rates is something I never adhered to and to this day still do not even in my new hobby of pen turning. Never have I sat down and done a piece from start to finish so hours is not known. The older we get and I am speaking for myself, more breaks are needed. I will always tell people an answer of like many hours was put into that. I gave up the idea of fighting what people think is laser cut over hand cut long ago. Today especially you see more laser cut work than ever before and will continue to grow. I know what a piece will sell for from years of experience. Running into that one person that has deep pockets is rare so just be honest and stay the course if you go into this as a money maker. I know I went off the rails abit but the bottom line is do not worry about time and just do the very best you can. The rest will take of itself. be proud of the work you are putting in front of people's eyes and you will do well. Good luck.

First nice job on the cutting and you being only six weeks into the hobby you are doing very well. You are going about it correctly by starting with projects that are not to complicated and have nice flowing lines. This helps you understand how the saw you are using cuts and reacts to your movements. The more you saw the faster you will get believe me. It becomes muscle memory and your hands just do it. You start anticipating when turns are coming way before you get there. You become more relaxed and hey work faster and truer. Everyone goes through this as beginners. Right now i bet you are tensed as you cut and not wanting to mess up. This will all go away in time. Keep doing more projects like this you are well on your way. I bet if you did that same project again it would be less time for sure. Yes many of us could scroll that in an hour and a half probably but that is no way to gauge your progress. Faster speeds will come with time for sure. Good luck and have fun. Do not worry about the clock. That is what makes this hobby fun just relax and enjoy the ride.

No I am talking about plastic models like when we did as kids but I was a big kid.

The problem is they are film photos. Back then I did not have a digital camera. So much of my early work was film. Many of my first scrollsaw projects were all film. We have come a long way since then.

Brings back some memories. Before I got into scrollsawing as my main hobby some 45 years ago I use to build the plastic Ertel and Revell model trucks of all kinds. I use to make them as realistic as possible. Paint schemes to ones that were on the road as well as opening the doors and hoods to reveal the interiors where I would use fiber optic cables to make the lights on the dash work as well as headlights and tail lights and marker lights and so on. I would put leather on the seats and and make the sleeper car decked out. Those were fun times because that time trucking was big because of the CB phase. When I got out of that phase and into scrollsawing I sold all my models for cheap. I look at the prices now and cringe. Good times. Your work looks great and I am sure they will be well received.