Bill WIlson

I use Velcro straps that I found at Lowes. Get a whole roll of them for a few bucks. They work great. I use them on all my portable, corded tools as well as my extension cords.

Another option is to use mat board. It's thicker and more rigid than poster board, probably around a 1/16", and comes in several different colors.

When I first started scrolling, I knew nothing of the various suppliers, accessible via the internet. I bought all of my blades locally and at $5-$6 a dozen, believe me, I used them until they smoked. Once I discovered on-line/mail order sources and their bulk pricing, I never bought another scroll saw blade locally. Places like hardware stores and the big box home improvement stores aren't targeting the avid scroller market. That is evidenced by the saws they offer, mostly low end saws for the occasional user. Specialty brick & mortar stores, like Woodcraft & Rockler are marking all of their products up in an effort to make their profit on every item they sell, because they have such a high investment in overall inventory, they can't afford to give anything away.

Well, if you want to try the diamond burrs, test it on a scrap piece first, until you get the feel for how it works. Personally I wouldn't try it, but I'd be interested to hear how it works, if you give it a go. Personally, I think it's generally better to do as much of your "repair" work with the blade as possible, while the piece is still on the saw. While it goes against the fundamentals of scrolling, I've been known to use the blade to go back and shave off material, by putting side pressure on it, if I've wandered off the line a bit too much. This works better when cutting thinner material. On the other hand, don't discount the fact that once you remove the pattern, often no one would ever know where the lines originally were supposed to be. Sometimes it's better to leave well enough alone. There's no law against not following all of the lines perfectly. Don't tell anyone though. That's a little scroller's secret.

I have used the sanding buffs on my Dremel to clean up the fuzzies on back of portraits. They work really well. Run the Dremel at a low speed and use a light touch. I haven't damaged anything delicate with it yet. It's a little time consuming and at around $3-$4 each, it's not the cheapest option, but I've gotten pretty good results with them. If you are talking about smoothing up the edges, I usually use small files or an Emory board, but the real key is to avoid having to do anything else to the cut edges, after cutting. The right blade and plenty of practice will give you clean, smooth edges, right off the saw.

Do you have a Michaels handy? The local store here carries small sheets of veneer thin birch ply. I want to say it's 1/32" thick, but can't recall for sure. It ain't necessarily cheap, but might be what you need.

Didn't Scroll Saw Woodworking and Crafts magazine used to be called Scroll Saw Workshop some years ago? I'll have to root around for some of my old, back issues to see if that is the name on the cover, but it seems to me that they changed the name a while back.

My EX-21 has the 2 piece thumb screws and I bet yours does to. It's the same design used on the DeWalt. It may not look like it at first glance, but the tip and the thumbscrew should be 2 pieces. The tip should extend past the threaded body about 3/32". The tip inserts into the body of the thumbscrew and is held in place by friction, with an 0-ring. Yours might be a little tight and might not spin freely, but if you work at it a little, you should be able to turn it and pull it out. I've heard of guys putting a little dab of grease on the o-ring, if it's too tight. There is a picture of the assembly on Seyco's website that shows it clearly. http://seyco.com/partspage/ Hope this helps.

I like it. I'm a sucker for just about anything Christmas. For a base, I would consider making something that simulates a snowy landscape. Maybe incorporate a couple pine trees in the background. You could get really creative and use something like plaster of paris to give it some contour and dimension. Maybe even add wheel and hoof tracks in the snow. Just a thought. Good luck, whichever way you go.

Yes, but the good thing is you only have to mix as much as you need at the moment.

Feel free to make your own "special blend" Danish oil. Mix equal amounts of BLO, mineral spirits and your favorite oil based varnish or polyurethane. If you already have these products in your supply of finishing materials, then you save a little money. You can tinker with the ratio to achieve slightly different results. More BLO will mean less sheen but less protection. More MS will make it go on easier and absorb faster, but will take more coats to get any kind of build. More varnish/poly will add more sheen and surface protection but will be thicker and take longer to dry. You see where this is going. Experiment on some scrap and see what works best for you.

I use my planer to flatten as well. Takes a little time, but it works. I suspect that flattening boards on a bench top jointer would be tough. Limitations of capacity and infeed & outfeed length will pose challenges. With a sled and/or a long melamine coated shelf board as an auxiliary bed, this can be done fairly easily with a planer.

There are some woodworkers who use a jointer for every project. I've been making sawdust for almost 40 years. I've made furniture, cabinets, etc and I've glued up my share of wide panels. I've never owned a jointer and at this stage of my life, don't ever see myself getting one. I understand their purpose and I do use a lot of roughsawn lumber, but I've been able to manage just fine without one. If you want to make 16" by 16" panels, I think you can readily get glue ready edges if you have a good table saw and rip blade. I use a Freud 24tooth glue line rip blade and it leaves edges plenty smooth and crisp enough to go right to glue up. Long boards can be a challenge, but I have a jig for straightening edges of roughsawn boards that are longer than my table saw fence. Works pretty well. For 16" long boards, your TS fence alone should suffice, as long as it's aligned properly. Use cauls when gluing the panels, it will help a lot with alignment. Scrape the glue squeeze out with an old chisel or putty knife before it fully hardens. If there is some slight misalignment of the boards, a few swipes with a sharp hand plane and some judicious sanding will take care of it. I don't ever want to talk anyone out of buying tools, but there are numerous ways to skin the proverbial cat.

Excellent Marg! I'm a sucker for Christmas ornaments. I've cut probably a couple thousand ornaments to give away over the past 20+ years. I'm always looking for new patterns that interest and challenge me. I really like these. Well done!

I really like the suggestion made to mount them to a slice of live edge slab. I think that would look awesome. Nice cutting!

Well, I can't comment directly on the penguin silver blades as I have never used them, but generally speaking, I would suggest that the silver might be a better choice over the silver reverse for compound cutting. Reverse tooth blades don't clear the chips and sawdust as well as non-reverse tooth blades, especially in the thicker material necessary for the birdhouses. You also don't have as much concern with tearout on the bottom with compound cutting, so the need for reverse teeth isn't really there.

The one key difference between the current Delta and the DeWalt is that the Delta has a built in mechanism for holding up the top arm for fretwork, while the DeWalt requires an aftermarket accessory to accomplish this. I have no idea if this is better or not, just wanted to point it out. When Delta first released their new model scrollsaw (40-690) a few years ago, it was an exact clone of the DeWalt, just with gray paint. After a year or two, they introduced the current model (40-694) with the arm lift feature added.

I use a drill press for most of my fretwork drilling. I like the stability and accuracy. I don't think I would ever want to drill fret holes freehand. Sometimes holes need to be drilled in a very precise spot and if the drill isn't perfectly perpendicular, it can break through in the wrong place on the bottom. This is especially problematic if you are stack cutting several layers. It could potentially ruin the bottom piece. The chuck on my drill press is capable of holding the smallest numbered bits, but I typically use a Dremel mounted in the drill press base for really small holes. When I need holes in the center of a large piece and it won't fit in either my Dremel DP or the big DP, I spin the Dremel around in the base, 180 degrees from its standard position. It's a little awkward, but it gives me full access to any hole on the piece. I've considered getting a plunge base for my Dremel. I really think that is the ultimate option, but so far I've gotten along OK without it. I even have a couple of the old eggbeater hand drills that I could use for this, but I don't think the chucks will close up enough to hold the really small numbered bits, I may give that a try though. Easier to control than a cordless drill.

Cutting precise, tight fitting miters is always a challenge. First, as Wayne stated, it's imperative that you tune the miter saw to cut exact 45's. If the saw is off, even by 1/2 a degree, you will have problems, because that 1/2 degree error is on both cuts, so the whole angle is off by 1 degree. Not all miter saws are easily capable of holding alignment. Even a little bit of blade wobble will affect the cut. Do you own a good table saw? If even after carefully tuning your miter saw, you find that you are still having difficulty getting consistent and accurate cuts, you can try to build a /cross cut/miter sled for your table saw. There are tons of videos out there on how to do it. A lot of guys who have struggled using miter saws (even good ones) for picture frames will swear by the accuracy they can achieve with a well designed, yet simple miter sled. Next, good fitting frames require that the matching sides are cut to exactly the same length. Use stop blocks when cutting 2 or more pieces of the same length. Also, it's common for wood to move slightly, once the blade has contacted it. You probably won't even notice it happening, but it does. Make sure to grip the stock firmly. If your saw includes an integral stock clamp, use it. Also helpful is to use a piece of sandpaper, adhered to the fence of the saw, to help hold the stock securely in place.

Well done! Glad to hear it was successful.

Have fun at the demo Dan. Hope it attracts lots of interest. Several years ago our club was invited to do something similar at the local Rockler store. About 5 or 6 of us went, took some finished projects to show and made a little sawdust with the store's demo saw. For some reason, we attracted very little interest. Rockler didn't sell any scrollsaws that day. Funny thing, they've never asked us to come back.

Cherry darkens significantly with exposure to UV light. I wonder what would happen if you taped off the darker section, right along the glue joint and put the piece out in the sun for a couple days to see if the color evened out? If you don't care for the piece in its current state, it might be worth a try.

I would try a smaller blade. The stack itself shouldn't be the problem, unless it's pulling apart when the blade grabs. It is functionally little different than cutting a single layer 5/8" thick. Also, in MDF, you may not need a reverse tooth blade as much as you would cutting BB ply or hardwood. The reverse teeth may be grabbing on the upstroke. If you had something smaller, in a skip tooth configuration, that may be worth a try. If the cut seems to be pulling the stack apart when it grabs, then I would try one of the alternative methods mentioned of securing the stack someplace in the internal waste areas. Good luck. Hope this helps.

I vote for gel CA glue, applied judiciously with a toothpick or something similar, if possible. A 23 ga pin mailer might work, but it would be a last resort and only if it were loose enough to compromise the bond. If it's just a loose spot, but otherwise the back is secure, I'd probably just leave it alone if I couldn't get a little glue in there. I like the idea for the roller. I read about this once before and wanted to try it.

I use a mix of both brands. As the replies in this thread indicate, actual user experiences will differ dramatically. Two guys can use the same blade for the same project and have completely opposite impressions of the experience. Experience is the best teacher when it comes to what blade works best for you. Advice from others is good for pointing you in general directions, but ultimately only you can decide what you like best.