JTTHECLOCKMAN

End grain. It will cut differently that face grain. If you are using a stand alone router it will make it a little more challenging that using a router table because you are concentrating on not tipping the router as you route. If you can tell us how you routed it. The bit can be dull but if it is carbide I doubt it unless you use it alot. If it is steel it is junk. Feed speed is important. Direction of feed is also important. The basic answer to your question without knowing the variables is always always always route in multiple passes and never try to hog off that much wood in one pass. Your final pass cleans up chatter and any burn marks. I can tell those burn marks are from bit not moving fast enough and staying in one place too long. One other thing I notice and it can happen alot with poplar because it is a soft wood and also with any soft woods, the bearing dug into the wood which tells me you are pushing too hard on the router against the wood. When you route soft woods light touch is important or else you end up with those ridges. Also the scalloping which you see on the top is probably from your cut. The bit will follow any little imperfection in your cut so if the cut has high and low spots the bit will follow. Hey you asked.

I would definitely get more facts on it before I bid on a boat anchor.

Well Gordon in the pen turning world and hobby, we as pen turners try anything. We cast anything and everything and make it into a pen. We use CA glue as a finish so just goes to show we try anything. As pen turners we walk around with this thing on our minds " can I make that into a pen" Nine out of ten times the answer is yes. Such a small canvas and yet such a large field of art. Woodworking in general is that way too. Scrolling not so much. Sort of locked into what can be done and the types of projects that can be done. That is why I combine scrolling with my other woodworking skills. I wish many others would do this as well. As an example, the box you made could have had a name scrolled in a plaque or even into the drawer front. Some kind of cute saying or something to combine both arts. Not that it doesn't look good but just a suggestion.

http://scrollsawer.com/2017/11/10/dove-ornaments/ He has offered them up for free so just download them.

Laugh if you want but nail polish is used in pen making for coloring the tube when doing cast on blanks and clear is used to glue watch parts when making watch part blanks.

It does look pristine but does look different. Do not remember the name being on the side like that. That could be a multicut single speed saw. Can not see the plug on the end because it also could be 220volt saw

Very nice work. keep it up and have fun.

I am a woodworker and work in my shop year round. I never collected dust at a scrollsaw with any device but if you are going to then that is the best way to get most of it by connecting a vac system directly to it. I am not advocating to do anything either my way or anyone elses way. you do what you feel is the right thing for you because people allergys are all different and people react to dust differently. The reason I do not bother with collecting dust at the saw is I have so many other tools running in the shop that are bigger dust makers than a scrollsaw. yes I have a dust collector system set up to collect dust at the source of these tools but a dust collector will pick up the larger particles easier than the small ones so that is not a full proof method. Thus the air cleaner hanging from the ceiling and that too will scrub the air but it takes time to circulate air and with the continuing addition of more dust as you work it will never keep up. But it does work. With my scrollsaws I have the articulating hose blow the dust away from me. the dust on top of the saw is the one you are exposed to not under the saw. After every sitting I vac up the area and if doing alot of cutting I will vac between sessions to give myself a break. I always wear a dust mask in my shop even if it is a nuisance dust mask it still will capture some dust. Have to remember if you do not clean entire shop every day after every use that dust gets on the floor. Walk into the shop and you now kicked it back into the air and the cycle begins all over again. So you are kidding yourself if you think you are collecting all sources of dust being made in a shop. Yes as I said the best attack is to have a vac at the source but that needs to be a vac with a heppa filter because small shop vacs will leak the dust back out the other end. Those filters inside are not that good. The vacs such as the fein and festool are designed to be switched on and off. Not as much as a scroll will because of the fret work we do but they are a better choice if you did the vac thing. Shop vacs like Ridgid and craftsman will not take that kind of abuse and fail. The motor on them is not designed for that kind of on off operation. Plus they do not filter the dust well either. The dust deputy and other cyclones are too not made for the kind of dust collecting you all are talking about. They will work to an extent and you will see better results with clean up but again you are fooling yourself if you think you are getting all dust. Those of you that use a fan are kidding yourself also. yes you are collecting dust in the filter but what about all the dust going around the fan and now you are blowing it into the shop all around in the air. Again you are having an effect on gathering some of the dust but not all. Any layer of dust and debris collecting you can add will make a difference but the bottom line is protect yourself at the source you breathe in. That is the final line of defense. Clean your self off when done working so you do not drag throughout the house. I like to take an air hose and blow the dust off me outside. This is one big reason I do 95.5% of my sanding out doors. Scrolling is one thing but sanding is a whole other anaimal that is 100 times worse. Good luck and safe woodworking.

Wax will help. I use Johnson paste wax. You can always put a piece of plexiglass on it as i did with my 2 RBI saws. It made the top a little larger too. On my Hegner I used a piece of 1/8" BB

Just to add a point to what Bill said, you want BLO and not straight linseed oil. Or if you want a more water proof mix use tung oil. Natural Danish oil has dryers added to help it dry faster. But it is a forgiving finish and looks great. For items that are not handled alot it has enough top coat protective features to handle that.

Depends on what you consider a top coat. Danish oil has poly in it unlike BLO. I use it all the time as a top coat and a sealer. All my oak clocks are dipped in Danish oil and no top coat added. Now if you are looking for a shiny finish then you need to top with lacquer or poly. If you do top coat make sure that Danish oil is cured not just dry or failure of top coat will happen. Again just my thoughts. I do use Danish oil alot.

You are talking 3 different things here and all do a specific job and all can be very helpful. First is the Wen air filtration system. It is design to collect the very tiny particles of dust that float in the air any time they are disturbed. You can have dust on the floor and not see it and yet it floats in the air. This will capture it along a long period of time because it circulates the shop air across 2 sets of filters. These are designed to scrub the air and not pick up dust or debris. A cyclone dust collector is a system to collect debris and dust at the source of the tool. It takes the larger piece and throws in a barrel as the finner dust goes in a filtered bag. They can be very efficient but can be overkill for scrollsaw work. They are designed for larger tools such as lathes, table saw, bandsaw and such. There are homemade versions and also professional units that are much more efficient and quieter. These homemade units that attach to a shop vac are basically a larger shop vac and still noisy. Then there is the shop vac that can be connected to the saw with varies degrees of pipe works. I will leave that to others because I do not use them and in fact use nothing at my scrollsaw and never did. I do have an air cleaner that runs the very minute I walk in the shop and if I have a heavy dust making day I leave run for about an hour after I leave. Without getting technical and electrical I can tell you that shop vacs use a universal motor that uses brushes and is very loud. Now some vacs like the Festool and the Fein have found ways to insulate their product with very good sound proofing and cut way down on he noise levels and thus the higher price for them. A dust collector uses an induction more efficient and quieter motor but is designed for heavy duty uses. A box fan only collects dust in the air. It does not collect dust that is produced while cutting so to answer your question you need 2 things. Something to collect airborne dust and something to collect dust at the source. I know that is not a direct answer because there isn't one. For me the airborne dust is the more harmful. The dust made at the saw just falls on the floor and I vac it up when done. I have a large dust collector but it is for my larger tools. I could never run a shop vac while scrolling. That noise would drive me nuts. Buying these expensive shop vacs to use for scrolling to me is a waste of money too. They get turned on and off so many times and that is hard on those motors. Good luck.

1/2" whatever you make is going to have some weight to it. Purpleheart burns very easily when cut. Take a look through Steve Good's patterns. I am sure you can find something there. I am partial to clocks so that is my suggestion. Do you have other woods also and maybe mix things up. Zebrawood looks good with maple and or walnut or even red oak. That is a combination I use alot. Purpleheart to me is an accent wood. It darkens over time and will not hold its purple color. I would use either of those woods at that thickness as a base. I dip zebra wood in Danish oil and then polish it up to a high shine with a buffing system.

Nice work. You are a very good scroller. Thanks for showing. Post photos any time. be proud of what at you are doing.

OK Denny. Glad you found a niche Good luck. I too miss Mike. We use to talk for hours on the phone. Good man!!!

Are you sell FD blades too??

Could you answer are inquisitive questions for us as I know I am not alone. A photo or 2 would be nice too.

I think he took it down.

That is exactly what I do when I need many of one project. I break out the HVLP gun and compressor and have at it. Saves on finish for sure.

Fantastic ornament and well meant meaning. Thanks for showing.

I too am inquisitive about the amount of ornaments and do you sell them and to whom?? Are these custom order or just Christmas ornaments?? How long have you been doing this?? This is one of those curious minds want to know things. Maybe post a photo or 2 of some of these ornaments would definitely be welcomed. To answer your question I dip in Danish oil. If I see it needs top coat I will spray lacquer (Deft is my brand or will go with a water base if I have many to do) Thanks.

This is not a thread about a project I made but about projects you all make and show here. It does not get said enough here if at all that the work being shown here is some top rated work seen on any forums. Now many times people will post a project and it does not get alot of comments but may get alot of likes or vice versa. It must be said those things do not indicate that one project is liked better than another. It maybe not as many viewers per week or per day. I know myself I look at most projects when I come here and maybe do not comment or hit the like button but still love to see the work. So my point is here is a LIKE to all who show their work here. It is a pleasure to see such talent in one place and you should all be very proud to show us your work and it does not go unnoticed. Please keep them coming and happy scrolling to all.

I agree with others. Walnut is fine for scrolling fret work so is red oak which I use alot of and is more open grain than all of them. Mahagony is good as well.

This is good advise. I have seen failure of poly peeling off substrates. Not sure what was under it but it was not pretty.

Just who I am I guess. There have been others that have jumped into the conversation so it is not just us too. If you would like to add something other than season greetings, glad to read them. I jumped into the conversation from the OP and just wanted to vent some and it has gone down this path and I have no control. But at least it keeps the site active. By the way Merry Christmas to you and all those members here.