heppnerguy

A nice variety of items. It show your versatility in your skills as a scroller. I like to try many things too but then as I move on and try other things I seem to forget some of the ones I want to concentrate more on, like pattern making and inlay Dick heppnerguy

Paul, I guess that is where choosing the right hard wood when doing these baskets is important. Some wood has grains that can break apart easily while others do not. I need to learn more about wood, myself but then I always have your experience to help guide me when necessary. That is one small reason I cherish our friendship as we can pass on to one another our knowledge. Fortunately for me, your knowledge of wood working far surpasses mine Dick heppnerguy

I know that I will stay away from mdf. For the Alex Fox 3D patterns it works fairly well as you really do not see the edges that much and the color stands out well but for baskets, I am totally against using it. I think, now that I have tried it, I will start to focus on natural wood. Too bad thin wood is so expensive and the shipping kills me. I also read several times where MDF is really bad for the lungs because it has formaldehyde or something like that in it. Thanks for the comment Jeff, I like to pass this kind of thing along for others to see and consider. Dick heppnerguy

very nice. You have the pattern making thing down really well Dick heppnerguy

I think this is the best name plaque I have ever seen.. What a great piece Dick heppnerguy

I ran against this pattern several years ago in ARPO and always wanted to cut it but never got around to doing it. So today I decided to give it a go. I found a peace of wood laying around and decided to give it a go. I especially liked the lighter color of the wood, even though it had a crack in it. Since it was only for the fun of cutting and was not an order for anyone, I decided to cut it. It turned out that it was not a good wood choice as it was too thick for the small pattern and would have been a lot better if I had used 1/4 inch BB Birch instead. I guess this has just been a day of bad choices for me. But at least nothing was lost as I got in some shop time and that is always worth my time. I will redo this one again when I get a new wood supply Dick heppnerguy

I bought some laminated wood to make the Alex Fox 3 D pattern that I did a couple of weeks ago and had some left over and thought I would use it to experiment on a couple of patterns. Well, I did discover some rather interesting results that I am passing on, with the reason I did not like it for the items I made here. First of all I had a chip in the laminate that makes me not want to use this product for anything again. Secondly I lost of lot of what could have been some appeal for the outside of these items. Thirdly it helped me to understand something I have been overlooking on the baskets I have been making, and that is BB Birch is not a good source for basket because is only leaves a dull outside appearance. I somehow did not see that until now, partly because of the lessor price of BB Birch over solid woods and I am cheap. On the other hand, using BB Birch for plaques is perfect. That being said, I am going to download the three baskets that I experimented with. The first two are Steve Good patterns and were extremely easy pieces to cut. I did not find them to be very useful, individually so I combined them and made what I considered a more useful basket and also one that has more eye appeal with the two colors. None of the baskets in the photos below are glued together but only stacked. so the last one is where I alternated the two baskets and gave it, what I considered to be more of a useful and more of a decorated basket as well, but because of the product used, it has no eye appeal on the outside part of the baskets. I hope this might help others that may be not seeing the lack of luster using BB Birch for the wrong applications, like I have been doing for years. On the other hand, If one is using BB Birch and leaving it in it's natural color then in my opinion, it looks fine, like in the last example Dick heppnerguy

You have a lot more talent then I do. I suck at frames. You already knew that? Dick heppnerguy

very nicely done.. I too am trying to learn pattern making and that is one of the questions I ask myself with every effort. I guess time and practice will help us to figure this thing out Dick heppnerguy

If you are unable to find a source for BB Birch where you live, I also would suggest Sloans woodshop as mentioned by Jerry. They have good quality wood and are fast with their shipping and very honest people to deal with Dick heppnerguy

My opinion is 1 inch of wood is pushing things pretty hard, especially for a beginning scroller. I would back off to 2 sheets macs and enjoy the cutting without the struggles you will be putting in front of you with that many layers. The saw can handle that much OK but for you, I think I would not try to cut them as discribed Dick heppnerguy

So glad you decided to choose us as your scroll site to join. The people here are friendly and helpful. Be sure you look around at everything this sight has to offer. You will find there are many helpful, interesting talks and projects that have been cut that will be a pleasure to view also check out all the free patterns here for you to download for if you would like to give them a try. Welcome from Southern Arizona Dick heppnerguy

I saw the videos of the hail storm that hit there. Amazing... 23 years ago our daughter moved to the high dessert of Eastern Oregon and the weekend after she had moved in, my wife and I went to help her unpack and get settled but the day before we got there, a hail storm hit her area and left a lot of destruction behind. It was also about this time of the year as they were just about to start the harvest of the water melons in Hermiston, which is well known for their high end water melons and the entire crop was destroyed. A lot of broken windows and other damage. It was not as bad as the one you just went through but never the less, it was a small disaster. I hope your insurance covers this for you. I heard a lot of insurances do not include 'natural disasters'. Good luck Dick heppnerguy

Thank you Bob. It is a truly fun time in our family this year with the weddings and the excitement that goes with all of this. One of my grandsons is getting married next summer and they are living together and have been for a couple of years. They have everything they need so they said we really do not want any gifts except for a fret clock from Grandpa. That sure made me feel good. They are the ones that I sent the "She Said Yes" plaque to Dick heppnerguy

It is very rewarding indeed when you realize that your work is traveling all over the world. I too have several of my pieces in parts of Europe and even in Japan.. Who would figure that when they start cutting things on a scroll saw? Dick heppnerguy

Kris, your patterns are always so filled with excitement and wonder. You seem to have an eye for what would make an interesting pattern and you have such a knack so that everything comes together perfectly and you achieve something that is always exciting. I really enjoy your pattern work Dick heppnerguy

Everything becomes easier with practice. The more effort one puts into trying new things the more versatile one is. Nice job with spirals, Dave Dick heppnerguy

not only are your patterns always top notch but this particular one has a really interesting angled view point also. I don't think I have enough imagination or artistic ability to even come close to ever achieving such a perfect pattern as you have here. Love it Dick heppnerguy

A fun pattern. I love the ones that have a lot of fret work to them. I find them so much more enjoyable to cut and the added challenges only makes me want to try more of them. Nice job on a fun pattern. I, personally would have went to a bigger blade to cut this one, like at least a #3. but that is just what I enjoy cutting with as I feel they are easier to stay on line. Nice job on your new project. I love it when I am pushing my own personal envelop. Dick heppnerguy

I have insulated doors in my shop, Which is a double car garage, But since we live in Southern Arizona and through the summer most days are in the 100 to 120 degrees, it still get hot in the shop. I do have a mini split air conditioner in my shop. The sun comes up very early in the morning and as soon as it gets higher then my neighbors single story house across the street, I am hit with the direct sun hitting both my doors. Outside at 6 am it is already 82 degrees, but sometimes the coolest it gets outside is 90 degrees. I start my AC right after I get up, if I am going to work in my shop and about the best I can maintain is 84 degrees. Without my AC it would get to 104 degrees by noon or so. Do the insulated doors help, YES. Does that mean it will be comfortable to scroll in all day... Not for me. But an added T shirt that is put in a sink of water and rung out and worn during the afternoon works way better than you would realize. The spraying or misting oneself is a joke but the wet T shirt works wonders for about 45 minutes. Dick heppnerguy

What ever you decide to do with them has got to be interesting. I can not wait to see what you turn these into. I would have rejected them if they would have been offered to me, so I am excited to learn something from this find of yours. I obviously need a wood education here. Dick heppnerguy

Welcome from Southern Arizona. I am not sure how a person is able to stop working on the scroll saw once he or she get started at it but I guess it stays imbedded in the back of the mind. I am glad you are here with us now and I hope you check out the pattern library, It is full of great patterns to keep one busy turning a flat piece of wood into a treasure. I hope you keep logging in and post some of your work Dick heppnerguy

You are really into turning out those famous car plaques. What a great place to concentrate your efforts as there are so many people that have a love for cars, all around the world Dick heppnerguy

I saw this newer pattern that Alex Fox made and thought it would make a nice piece to give my wife for her 75th birthday on Monday. Well, I did not have any 1/8th in material on hand and thought I would try it with 1/4 inch but it did not really work out as well as I had hoped. I will still give it to her as part of her birthday gifts but I plan to make another soon and replace it. I found that is was a rather easy one to cut, although I did not do so well with it, but I think someone that is pretty new at scrolling could handle it just fine. It looks way more difficult then it is to do. You can also see that I varied the display a little to give the butterfly more contast/ Dick heppnerguy

We have a friend whos mother died a week ago. Her mother lived to be 102 years old. She was a wonderful, God loving woman and I just had to make this cross and send to her daughter. The photo is pretty bad but the cross really did turn our nicely. I know they will hang the cross in a place of honor, as the entire family loved this lady so very much. Dick heppnerguy