Bill WIlson

Regarding your question about the Dewalt. It will top or bottom feed, but it will need some sort of mechanical assistance to hold up the top arm. A block of 2x4 will work for a quick solution. The Dewalt is of the same basic design as the Excalibur, with some differences. The Dewalt is much more aggressive than the EX and doesn't have the same capability to tune it as the EX. Also, the table tilts on the Dewalt, not the arm frame, but I doubt you will be doing any bevel cuts at this point. If you are limited on time, I would suggest trying to spend as much of it as possible in practicing on the saws. Having them make a simple fretwork project is a good idea. Have the wood prepped, patterns applied and holes drilled in advance. All of that stuff can be explained verbally or perhaps type up some scroll saw basics to give your students as a hand-out. Also a blade selection chart would be helpful for them. Good luck. We'll be interested to hear how it goes.

Pinned blades are typically much larger than pinless blades, so thus much more robust. If you are used to heavy, aggressive cutting with pinned blades, pinless blades won't stand up to the same use.

Then you are truly blessed. As for me, I'm still trying to figure out what abilities I've been blessed with, so in the meantime I keep butchering trees.

A lot of very cool stuff in this thread. Good job everyone!

I'm with you Denny. If I can live out the rest of my days without ever having to engage with it, I'll die a happy man. But as fast as new technology worms its way into every facet of our lives, I hope I don't die that soon.

I like old stuff. I like the thought of salvaging those remnants from our past that trigger nostalgia & sentiment. I also like the idea of not wasting something that still has useful life in it. That said, I don't think our parent's generation worried too much about saving things for posterity. They used stuff until it was worn out, then repurposed it and used it for something else, until there was nothing left. If you were rescuing it from a dumpster and it had enough damage to discourage restoration and it looked cool in your shop, then I say go for it. Otherwise I think you could probably build a better, more suitable stand yourself and let some collector enjoy the sewing machine.

An awl works great for me.

I never touched the rear knob on my EX-21 until I had to disassemble it to replace the linkage back in 2023. Mine has never worked loose or otherwise gotten out of adjustment. I've owned it since 2016. I now have both an EX-21 and a Dewalt. I had a Dewalt before the EX and sold it when I got the EX. When the EX broke down a year ago, I picked up a Dewalt as a back-up. I had forgotten how much more aggressive the Dewalt was. I'm glad I can tune the EX. I use it for most things, but the Dewalt is great for thick stock like compound cutting and stand-up puzzles.

That's what I call multi-tasking.

I do that too. I make several animal & dinosaur puzzles every year for Toys for Tots and I'm always trying to find the best combination of size & grain direction to fit as many on a board as possible.

I have a book of dinosaur puzzles for the scroll saw. I recognized it by sight, but would not have been able to recall the name. In the pantheon of dinosaur pop culture, I think this one is fairly obscure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambeosaurus

I've never used gel stain on fretwork, but my gut tells me that it isn't necessarily the best option in your case. If there are a lot of inside cuts, then blotchiness is less of an issue, because theoretically, you don't have large surface areas where the blotchiness would be noticeable. Gel stain is still an oil based product and the reason it blotches less is because the pigment doesn't absorb into the grain as deeply as regular stain. I would think it would have the same tendency to bleed, if not more so. In either case it's best to topcoat with a clear finish. Have you considered trying a dye rather than a stain?

I routinely cut 4 layers of 1/8" BB ply with a #1 FD Ultra Reverse blade when making Christmas ornaments. It certainly does dull the blade faster, but nothing like "cutting cement". How do the same blades cut other hardwoods of similar thickness? Is the difference just noticeable or is it dramatic?

I get it, I was just razzin' ya a little Ray.

Looking forward to a full report as to how it worked.

I vaguely remember seeing something like this several years ago. While the idea is conceptually interesting, I can't ever see myself trying it. In the big picture, finishes are a fairly small percentage of material cost for most of us hobbyists. At least for me they are. The potential risks of trying this method really outweigh any theoretical benefits.

Very nice. I too like the frame. I've never seen that method of reinforcing miter joints before. I've used splines on the surface and on the edge before, but nothing quite like that. I'll likely steal that idea on a future project.

Could be. I never fill mine much past 1/2 way either.

I agree with Jim. Short blade life is a technique problem, not a saw problem. Presuming these saws are going to see a much higher level of abuse than what the average hobbiest saw would see, I would probably look into the 14" Hegner that was mentioned above. The double parallel link saws like Dewalt, Pegas, Seyco, Excelsior/King, Jet, etc. are good saws, but will likely need a lot more maintenance with continuous rough use. I've never owned a Hegner, but from everything I've heard and read about them, they are basically indestructible. The 14" should be plenty big enough for kids to learn on and hopefully priced such that you could afford multiple units.

I've got tools from just about every major brand that is available. I've always bought tools based on what I felt served my purpose & fit my budget, regardless of brand. When I started buying power tools, Sears was about the only local place that you could get any sort of selection. I bought several Craftsman power tools from an era when they weren't all that highly regarded by woodworkers and tradesmen. But they were cheap(er) and the Sears store at the mall had everything I could want, so it was convenient. I've upgraded and replaced many of those old Craftsman tools, but I still have some and a couple still get regular use, despite being several decades old These days I don't really have a strong opinion on HF vs other brands. By the time HF built a store in our town, I had acquired most of what I needed. If HF had existed here 45 years ago, I would likely have been a regular customer. That said, I do like a good quality tool and HF's age old reputation has kept me from looking at their offerings, even out of simple curiosity. They are making a decided effort to up their game though and I think they have a place in the market, if for no other purpose than to offer some competition to the Big Box stores. As for internet reviews, those that focus on tools aren't a whole lot different than ones for any number of other products. I've spent a lot of time reading and watching reviews for hand guns as I'm a relative newcomer to that arena and am trying to learn as much as I can and make sound buying decisions. Unfortunately, like tool reviews there are a lot of them that aren't worth the time to read/watch. One still needs to be a discerning consumer and learn how to tell the good from the bad. There is good info to be had out there, but you have to wade through a lot of fluff and useless blather to get to it, sometimes.

Rolf, your ornaments are so detailed and delicate that I think maybe customers appreciate the boxes, if for no other reason than to ensure that they survive the trip home. The boxes really do enhance the display. Like I said before, I've never seen ornaments presented in boxes like that, but I've never seen ornaments as nice as yours at any of the craft shows I've been to.

I've been to a lot of craft shows over the years (as a customer/observer, not a vendor). I've seen a lot of ornaments and bought a few. I've never seen any displayed in boxes. I have no idea what that might mean or if the boxes would hurt or help sales, I've just never seen them displayed that way.

The older I get, the fewer muscles I have.

I use a cheap trigger sprayer I probably got at Walmart. Don't recall it being anything special. I've had it for years and keep mineral spirits in it all the time. Never had a problem.

If you seal the ends of the boards, you can minimize checking while the boards dry. There are special products for the purpose, but plain old latex paint will work.