JTTHECLOCKMAN

I too buy from Klingspor but buy from other places as well. I have bought tons of sandpaper from http://www.onlineindustrialsupply.com these are always my go to people. I like the Mirka brand paper. I always buy belts when I go to woodworking show because these guys are there and they have show sales. http://www.ptreeusa.com/abrasive_index.html Not all sandpaper is the same and when working with wood other than scrolling you find this out. One word about ordering belts for sanders they do dry out and the glue joint fails so do not overstock. Not worth the effort and money in a long run.

You are off and running. I too suggest you increase speed and not slow the speed. I also suggest dropping down to a smaller blade. I use a #5 in just about all my cutting. Will change when I need to but for the most part #5 reverse. As Mentioned circles and arcs are something you will get better at because you will start to see where you need to pivot your left hand. I find cutting circles easier going counterclockwise. Just keep practicing and pay attention as to what you are seeing and how things feel when cutting. You do not want to over push the wood. Let the blade do the cutting and you do not want sideward pressure. As Far as sanding, with a good blade and good cutting technique no sander needed. Good luck and remember to relax and do not tense up when cutting.

My experience it cuts similar to oak. Red oak not white oak.

What is the finish on this piece that you were able to make it and send the same day?? I do not think I would have caught the mistake because not everyday I spell that car's name. Chevy truck I got

Lots of people use those and other figured grained wooden cutting boards for pen blanks. Turns nicely too.

I would skip the portraits and just do names and make some sort of frame that has a baseball theme with Hall of fame somewhere in it. If possible and this would be tough to have one of their baseball cards next to the name. I made some wall plaques for my nephews a long time ago when they were in little league. I do not have photos on my computer but if I can find the hard copy photos maybe I can scan them. But I made it with a scrolled baseball player and put a place for a real baseball. I then had a what looked like the scoreboard with their names scrolled in it. Also there was a place to put their baseball cards. ( they all got their own baseball cards back then.) So many more details you can add to make it look cool. Cut baseballs in half and place around the plaque. Incorporate a home plate in there and maybe make into the shape of a baseball diamond as you place the names. It will take up some wall space but alot less than portraits that people will probably not recognize anyway. Good luck.

Is that cherry wood. I love working with cherry wood. I would (not sure if you glue your bases on, I always screw them on so that fixes can be made easier) scroll the name out and infill with some maple with the proper name. Make it thinner so that there is a reveal around it. There is always a fix and would not take much effort unless the base is glued to the clock. Made a name plate for a lady once. Got the order through one of my consignment stores. They spelled the ladies name wrong. She comes to pick it up and refused it so lost revenue there and she did not reorder. That is one problem working with consignment stores no contact between customer and you.

I never did have a problem right from the start. Just a matter of getting the techniques down so that you relax when cutting. Being tensed up means alot when cutting and the ease. I sold the very first piece I made. I will say this it took a little time to learn the tricks of pushing the wood, types of wood cut differently, blades cut differently, saw speed has meaning and as mentioned each saw has its own little quirks that you learn as you go. It is a learning process but is quickly picked up. I will say this also yes we are our own worse critics so do not be so hard on yourself. Also some people for the lack of better words have the shakes and it cause runoff when cutting and probably never will be correctable. But do not let that deter from this great hobby. After about 5 or 6 projects it is time to step up to some better materials and put those experiences to work. Work at your own pace but you will notice the faster you start cutting the better your mind lets you stay on the lines and the cuts get smoother. The eye works in conjunction with the hands. Hand/ eye coordination. Good luck and start posting.

I was watching This Old House yesterday and they touched on a subject that came up here not long ago in this thread. I had mentioned the health hazards to cutting stone, brick and other materials. In this segment they showed some new tools hitting the market made by Bosch. It is a vac attachment to their drills that drill masonry work and also for cutting concrete. They mentioned the hazardous dust that has been a huge problem in the industry. As I said I saw this everyday on the job sites being in construction. Everything from fire retardant being sprayed on steel beams to routing sheetrock for our electrical boxes, to drilling and cutting masonary. The ceiling tiles being layed in and cut with the fiberglass in them all hazards. I bring this back up because the attachments used on these drill may or at least looks like they may be used on a scrollsaw with some imagination. I do not have any direct links but if you look up Bosch drill attachments you may find them. I have never seen these before so maybe tool companies are now starting to pay more attention to dust control. Here is a link http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=bosch+vacuum+attachment&tag=mh0b-20&index=aps&hvadid=77996631808024&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2skpsdxdmm_e

Todays batteries and chargers are many steps ahead of what they were when battery operated tools first came out. I had an old Milwaukee 7.2 volt drill with a keyed chuck that would keep drilling but the battery life was not long. Sold it for $20. Today they run lawn equipment with batteries.

A couple others I have used are stained glass such as the blue in the Twin Towers project and also colored mirror (plastic) in the rose projects. I use fancy plastic in the oval crosses, used felt on the Blessed Mary. You can use anything. Sorry I do not have a photo of the colored mirror roses because of Photobucket. Guess we can not access our old gallery photos here as well so again sorry.

Bad back here as well 43 years in construction. Wear a back brace and when back goes out I am usually out of the shop 2 to 3 weeks at a time. That is one reason I would never get into a program where I have to scroll to make quota or dead lines. The heck with that. Life is way too short.

Just a point about using waxed shellac under poly and the test that guy did. It is not the lifting that becomes a problem it is the cracking that can happen on certain woods. I highly suggest to use Zinzzer dewax shellac if using shellac under poly or any finish.

I have 5 of the Makitas that use the 9volt batteries. Find them at times at yard sales. $5 good to go. Love those drills. No hard fast rule for charging. I try to keep at least one battery charged and if doing a project I will 5 or 6 batteries on charge. I have the line of makita tools that take that battery. Has never let me down.

There you go you answered your own question about staining. As I mentioned I like to glue before staining but your way will work also. Good luck and love the work. Thanks for showing.

There are no rules that govern what we must do. Everyone is different and every project is different. Mixing up the look is a good thing. I have painted backers, used felt, used different colored woods such as walnut and red oak for contrast. I do not do portraits so no framing. But there are those that do and use glass in the frame and some who do not. So you see the sky and your imagination are the only limits as to what you can do. Good luck.

Sam there is a person who does scroll work that goes to one of my craft shows and all he uses is Baltic Birch. He does not stain his work and just coats with a satin poly. What that does is seals the wood but also prevents smudging from fingerprints. I like the look because his work is one color and he makes lots of different projects from puzzles to crosses, to nativity sets and things like you show. He does well selling so there is a market for BB projects. The question is the staining. Have you stained BB projects before and if so how well did they come out?? There was another topic here recently talking about staining plywoods. May want to read that. Some people use BB and paint the project so there are options. What I would do is take some scrap pieces and stain them and see if you like the look before you commit. I too have a shop full of tools and can work woods to any dimensions and yes it takes $$$ to acquire these tools and also room to store them is always a problem. But there are options to use hardwoods also. Many different vendors out there that sell thinner woods in all sizes and many different varieties. If there is a hardwood lumber dealer near you they maybe able to dimension the wood for you. Will caution you though when using solid woods such as hardwoods they will have a tendency to warp. BB is far more stable in that area but if worked well hardwoods can be used just as easily. Most times the pieces are small so warping does not come into play. Good luck. Play around some and experiment. Learn from your process. That is how we all do it. After working in my shop for well over 40 years I am still learning things every day.

Dipping is very easy to do. I do it all the time and I make 6 foot shelves and mirrors that are 36" in diameter. Just need a good size container and you do not have to submerge the entire piece. Use a throw away brush to flood the piece as you keep it in the container. I buy those 50 cent brushes from Home Depot and when done throw them away. I use many size containers. I like the storage containers that many stores offer such as wallyworld and Home Depot and Lowes. Your problem is if using a quart container of stain. i use gallons of Danish oil and when done just pour it back in the cans using a funnel. Have been doing this for over 35 years and works well. Danish oil has some Polyurethane in it so it also seals the wood and leaves a nice finish. I sand all my projects to 220 grit to me is the perfect grit for finishing. I wipe the container out with acetone and are ready for next project. Not telling you what to do or how to do things, just it is what I do and if something in there helps good luck. I do not agree with glue sticking as well when stained as opposed to unstained. Glue locks in the grain of the wood to make stronger. If you stain you seal the grain and now you rely on the glue sticking to a flat surface. Again just my opinion. One thing once again safety is key as with anything in a shop. When using oil based stains do not leave rags in a pile they can combust. Air dry and then throw away.

Whenever a project is basic wood I would always glue and then dip in Watco Danish oil. Color of choice. No blotching. Use only as much glue as needed and if need be mask off areas you do not want glue to go. If those are thru tenons make sure you do not get glue on the tails as you push into slots because the glue will be absorbed in the open grain and you will never recover from it. Tough to see how that piece all goes together but suggest you layout a strategy before gluing. If you are dipping make sure glue is dried and cured which could be 24 hours at least. Wood to wood nothing better than carpenters glue. I like TitebondII

Tom that was my post back then. I did wind up buying a HP all in one 6978. I can tell you some of my findings being I just went through this. I always want the ability to scan and copy and print. This unit came with a fax and I have not used it much in the past I can say I have used it. (both receiving and sending) I did not look into laser printers so can not speak to them except the fact they are not good for picture quality and in my case Decal work. I make alot of decals so I need good print quality. I also wanted a inkjet that had individual color cartridges because if one color is used more often you need to buy an entire cartridge with all colors if you get the combined unit. More expensive that way. The units that are more geared toward photos have 4 to 5 cartridges as opposed to 3 color and one black. Those units have an extra deep black and and extra deep blue. I did not need to get that involved so skipped that. I found that most units today are wifi capable or wireless as they call it. I have read many many reviews and this feature gets bad reviews in that it is hit or miss alot of the time. I was not interested in that because I hard wire to computer and it sits on a table next to computer as always. Also found out that you need to pay attention to your operating system that it is being used on. I use WindowsXP64 and none of the units today are compatible with the windows. On the box they say XP but that is 32 bit system. When I got mine the tech who I had to call took over my machine and installed older printer drivers so that it tricks the computer in order for it to work. What this did was eliminate much of the software programs that come with each printer. I did not care again because it is used for specific purposes and the way it is programed now works for me. I looked at the Cannons but felt they were the cheapest made as far a quality goes. The front door on one did not stay up and found it to be a bad review. Brother was too big for my likings. I bought the extended repair package and as the clerk said when 2 years comes up break it and you will get reimbursed or a new one. Not sure if he was suppose to tell me that but that is what I will do. As far as simple, they all are simple but there are options to expand their use too so you never know what the future holds. They are not at all expensive. I bought mine in Best Buys on sale. Be careful when buying in Costco and walmarts, many times those units are made specific for those companies and are not a worldwide unit. Not much more I can add but if you have a specific question I will try to answer but I am sure there are many here that can help too. Happy shopping.

It looks brand new. Great find. What did you say was wrong with it???

good buy for sure. That is what I am talking about when people are looking for good saws. Look around they are out there. Stay away from those cheap $200 saws. Mine has never been covered. used all the time. Good luck and happy scrolling.

I bet that is not going to last. I do not believe I see any more scrollsaws in Home Depot. Maybe an on line item. Boy next time I am in Homer I have to take a gander at what they sell. $900 saw in HD. odd.

Well Ray many times a good finish on a piece can make or break it for appearances. I see many pen turners turning out hundreds of pens and selling for peanuts but the fit and finish is not up to par and some people just do not know what quality is unless it was side by side. So that is why alot of times I look at etsy and ebay and people selling their products, it is hard to tell how well the finished product looks. Been doing this for some time so my tastes and perceptions are sometimes jaded. Good luck to you.

Ray, sanding sealer is basically used on porous woods. Woods that would take many extra coats of finish to achieve a nice finish. This blocks up those pores and you can lay your finish on in less coats which could mean less money and time. But there are warnings that go with this too. Not good to flood the woods with many coats of sanding sealer thinking you now need less finish coats. If you use a hard finish such as lacquers or waterbased poly then a problem could occur underneath creating cracks. I alway like to use Zinnser Bulleye seal coat that is the dewaxed sealer. This allows the use of any finish material to be used. When using products it is not a good idea to mix oils with water products. Stay in the field you start with and less problems. The dewax allows crossovers. Wood that is going to be painted does not need sanding sealer because the pigments and solids in the paint will block the pores. May take an extra coat to get a nice finish but again no mixing products. Have to state this is my opinion. May have to start using this disclaimer more often.