hotshot

I used to see these offered on Craigslist fairly cheap, but since the Bushton resurrection, doesn't seem like owners are letting them go. I see the 226 and other old model Hawks listed pretty regular. ---------Randy

Very Awesome. I never came close to using the full table on the EX 21, but I see you used it all. -------Randy

If it's an ex, and it's not scratched, it hasn't been used much. I have no paint left in the middle of my table. It will bother you at first, but you will get used to it.

. Not sure how solid they are. On the larger one i was careful to overcut at the connection points, meaning that there is more metal support on the back side of the coin. If they break off. I will just use the inner piece, and put the outside into the silver melt stack.

So, I've been putting off cutting silver for a long time. Really scared of messing up something expensive. I've had several folks ask me to make something from their silver keepsake coins (and let me tell you, that is never going to happen). But, as I've gone a while without trashing a coin, I started warming up to the idea. I bought a 1 oz and .5 oz silver round, but then I had to think of something worthy to cut. . . . fast foward . . . My son has just finished the Crucible at Paris Island (Sunday morning to be specific). So he now carries the title of Marine. My wife,as you can image is brimming with pride and we leave tomorrow morning to go to the graduation and pick him up to bring him home for a short leave. While she was browsing Marine pictures/symbols, we ran across the Eagle/Globe Heart combination. This seemed like a great theme, and since we had an occasion to celebrate, I set out to make the pattern and try silver for the first time. I started with the smallest coin (In case I messed it up). Silver is super smooth, and is softer than what I've been cutting. It was really enjoyable. There was one thing that was very remarkable about silver, superglue binds to it super tight. First time in a long time I didn't have any pattern lift at all, and I didn't have to cut anything blind, thank God. On that size coin, I had to really be careful because the easier the cut, the easier it is to slip and cut something unintended. The 1 oz is considerably thicker than the first coin (maybe 1/8"), and though it cut smooth, there was a lot more metal to get through, so it was slow but smooth sailing. This size cut slower than the Eisenhowers, but still wasn't too bad. I think one coin will go to my wife, and the other to my son's future wife. Since I have to live with my wife, she will get her choice. Notice the little heart. I strategically placed the entry hole (at the top in the crevice) such that I could save the heart. I wish I would have thought to do that with the first coin. I'm still trying to figure out if I should hang the little heart from the larger piece, or perhaps do something else. I thought I would post two images, one at actual size, then the other blown up so you can see the imprint on the coins. I like that the little heart has the "lips" showing. If you getting tired of these coins, I can promise no more coins for at least a week :-)

Love that video. Those guys are awesome. Wish we had that kind of club in my area. --------Randy

One of the adults at church showed a young boy the Bama coin, and you could see his mind churning. He absolutely didn't like Bama as he was a Tenn fan, and especially after yesterday. At the same time, he really thought the cut coin was great. Later, he asked that adult if I cut anything beside Bama :-) So tonight, that same adult delivered him the "Old Smokey" cutting. The young man came and found me and thanked me for it!

If you are planning to do a lot of fretwork, and if you can come up with the funds, I would move on up to the Variable Speed Multicut 2s (for £719.99) which has the quick tensioner up front and where it is easy to get to. Otherwise, you are going to be spending a lot of time bending over and reaching to the back of the saw. If you are planning on doing intarsia, puzzles, and other types of cutting which doesn't require you to constantly go between inside cuts, the quick tensioner is less important. If you are going to be cutting larger stuff, the 14" might cramp your style. For £900, you get quite a bit more table in the Multicut SE. As you can probably see, just a little more saw in the Hegner line costs a lot more money. 100 more pounds, you can get the same as my largested Hegner wich give you 22" (A depth which i've never needed for the projects I do.) Regardless of which Hegner you buy, plan on spending another £24 for the Quick Clamp. It will increase your enjoyment of the saw greatly. (http://www.hegner.co.uk/quick-clamp-for-piercework.html) The Quick Clamp will work with a huge range of blades sizes, but they usually only recommend the Quick Clamp for the upper clamp. The standard lower clamp works well with most normal blades. However, if you need to use Jewelers blades (or very thin blades), you will need to purchase their clamp made for smaller blades. Same goes with very large blades and the clamp made for those very large blades. I have had the need for the clamp for smaller blades, but have never needed the larger one. I own two Hegners and also the Excalibur so am familiar with both types. If I were in England, I would also be seriously looking at the Excalibur styles saws sold by Axminster: http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-trade-series-ex-16-scroll-saw-101771 The Hegner is really a Top feeding saw, but the Ex style saws are great for both top and bottom feeders. --------Randy

I"m not really a sports fan, but I had taken my wife out to lunch, and we casually watch our home team get slaughtered by Alabama. Wife mentioned that a dear lady from the church was a Bama Fan (Her husband is a Tennessee fan). Anyway, this lady has given her life to teaching young children in elementary school, and despite being an Alabama fan, is a very wonderful individual. So, I thought I would try something Bama themed for her.

Any modern EX will have the rotating head. You just have to look close to see it. On my saw, I'm using the Hegner Knurled clamp knob. The Head on it was just a little too big for the EX (the shaft/threads were prefect fine), so I removed the head, put it in a drill and ground it down a hair. Best upgrade ever.

Very rare to find someone using the handframe these days. I must ask, which Fretsaw do you use? For my hand cut stuff, I'm using the 5" Knew which I think is very nice. I've seen some other brands for about $10 on Amazon, but not sure what the quality of those are. I may get a more traditional fretsaw just to see how those work compared to the knew brand. For the stuff you are doing, I suspect you have to have a pretty deep saw to get to those inside cuts. I do most of my stuff on the Ex Scrollsaw, but this knew handframe is the saw I use when I'm away from my house.

Tony, many folks that try to make patterns just use photoshop or some other graphic program with a filter or two, and these always look a little off to me. In this case, the pattern seems more "drawn" if that makes sense. Did you use software, or some other method on this pattern?

Scott, why are you selling your EX?

Jerry, I guess it must be like riding a bike. Very good re-entry. -------Randy

Very very nice ---------Randy

Len, I don't really keep a collection, but I've given or sold many. I've lost count of the number I've cut, but it is getting up there. Is was rough going for a while because all the serious coin cutters used the hand frame (and were reluctant to help), and I had to figure out a lot of this by trial and error. I've given away all my secrets, so those that come after me will have a much easier go of it. I'm not sure about which would be my favorite because I seek out themes that resonate with me . . . One coin design that is special to me is the two horses pattern, because it was my "break through" coin, really the first "impossible" design I cut. I received some positive feedback and encouragement, which helped motivate me to keep going. I believe this was also the first pattern that I tried the "Floating Effect On." See how it looks as if nothing is holding the horses to the outer coin? That is created by angling the coin up, so that the surface of the coin it cut away to make it appears to be floating. ------Randy

I never mind answering questions, and in fact, I have site (www.coincutting.com) detailing my method, in hopes of drawing others into this aspect of our hobby. In short, most of my work is done with Kennedy Half Dollars, CA to glue the patterns on (and CA to seal the pattern against the oil from drilling), blade is a Pike #3/0 Jewelers. As far as thinning, I do not as the thickness help keep the thin pieces supported. Early on, I tried sanding down to the copper on both sides, but I abandoned that approach pretty quick because the imprints on the coin add to the character of the coins. For the purposes of thinning the coins to be wrapped, that seems pretty workable. How thin does the coin have to be to be wrapped? I would probably use the sanding method were I to do this, however, some time back, as an experiment, I pounded a penny flat with a hammer until it was very thin, and big, then cut this:

From time to time, Steve sends something out that strikes the right vibe,and I grab it. Just got an email from his email list that had an eagle as part of the pattern, so I grabbed the head portion for my coin. There were not a lot of inside cuts, so that made thing go quick and easy.

Growing up in OK,and in a family of OU fans, this is the one thing that could get me dis-inherited. I added something extra for those of you that are amused by very small cutting. When i printed the pattern, I was very concerned about the very small size of the eye and pupil. Luckily, as it turned out, I was able to cut it, but it is just barely visible with the naked eye. Can you see pupil in the image above? Below is the eye section blown way way up. To give that some perspective, the cut below the pupil is the width of a 3/0 Jewelers blade.

Jet is bottom feed only, so if you like feeding the blade up from the bottom of the workpiece, and there are many that do, Jet might be a good saw for you. With Dewalt/Ex, you can go either way. Personally, I hate bending over and bottom feeding, so I wouldn't purchase a Jet if it were half it's current price. As far as Dewalt being owned by Black and Decker, you should see the previous Jet scroll saw, whew, that could make you lose confidence in a company.

You an find the Olsen Blade Lubricant ($7.95) on this page: http://www.sloanwoodshop.com/scroll_saw_blades.htm I tried it on metal, didn't find it that effective. Might be better on wood. --------Randy

Depending on the detail, Jewelers 0/1 or maybe even 1 (less detail less breakage) to 3/0 (more detail, more breakage), pike brand from amazon.com

This is why it is so cool to showcase work to other scrollers. Non-scrollers may think these are great, but they don't really understand what we do. Fellow scrollers notice the details.

My entire method is at www.coincutting.com

The source image didn't really lend itself to cutting, but hopefully it is enough that the UT crowd will let me come back around. If we have any artist out there capable of original drawings, please consider drawing something scroll saw centric for the community. Plus, the original source for this is trademarked, so I have to keep this one hanging on my own wall. ----------Randy