Jim Finn

I am doing inlay projects. Images and lettering. The font I use is "Lucindia Handwriting" in word. Script is easier to do because handwriting is not blocked out like printed lettering is. Slight variances do not matter as much. People seem to prefer it also. I prefer inlaying images but have done lettering also. Twice I have had orders for twenty five boxes all with different names inlaid into the lids. That taught me how to do it pretty well. My niche is cedar boxes with inlaid images in the hinged lids. I have made over 2000 boxes with inlay over the years and still like it.

The whole concept of clockwise or counterclockwise gets confusing. The wood moves clockwise or is it the cutting blade? I just Keep the image , that I have drawn or glued to the background wood and put the wood to be inlaid on the underside. With the left side of my saw table down by 2.2° I keep the image to be inlaid to the right of the blade. I just keep telling myself...."Keep the image to the right of the blade" . (The higher side) If your table is tilted the other way or if you put the wood to be inlaid on top this rule may change to "keep the image to the left of the blade" Experiment, document in writing what you did and adjust angles and directions on practice pieces until you figure out what works. Then be consistent. Also your thickness of the woods must always be the same. I use 3/8" because I use cedar and any thinner than that is pretty fragile. Email me if you like with any questions you run into. [email protected]

Do any of you make money with your scroll work or is that not possible? It would be nice to think that if I would get good at this that it would be a hobby that would not cost me a bunch of money." Yes I make some money selling scroll saw made products. Most scrollers do fretwork, I do not. I have seen some fretwork offered for sale here but seldom see it sold. I sell mostly boxes with images inlaid into the hinged lid. I use my scroll saw to do double bevel inlay. These boxes sell well. I sell about 300 each year for six years now. Other ways to use a scroll saw include, intarsia, segmentation, bowl making, toy making, puzzles, compound cutting etc.

I have two Hegners and one very old Jet and they all have no forward and back motion that I can see. (Their moving arms are 15" -25" long) So in answer to your question , yes, there are $aws that do not have this problem.

dvickers; I get my cedar in Sanger TX at "woods of misson sawmill". It is about 20 miles north of Denton. They do not always have it there so I call ahead before making the five hour drive. I buy it by the truckload. I fill my pick-up with their culls and seconds (1"x6"x96") about once every 9-10 months. I have to cut around some flaws but I get the cedar at a discount that way. I just make small items so this is not a problem for me. I resaw all the 1"x6" x96" rough cedar to 1/2 a board and plane to 3/8". when I have some that comes out a bit thinner I use it for bottoms of my boxes where it does not matter. My boxes use 6"x8" x3/8" top and bottom and 1 3/4" X 3/8" for the sides. This uses about 1/3 of a board foot/box . Hinges and screws I buy by the thousand, or more, so they cost me $.40 per box .http://craft-inc.myshopify.com/products/l262-largel-decorative-hinge is where I get them About $.50 for inlayed basswood or maple (Bought locally). A little for glue and finish brings my cost to about $2. Even double that ($4) would be ok. I am not trying to earn a living doing woodwork. I am just funding my hobby. The little mesquite I run into I have used as an inlay material. If I had more I would make the boxes of it. It is sure a pretty wood and folks here like it.

I do not use it myself but hobby shops usually carry 1/8" plywood that can be used in doing fretwork. They call it "aircraft plywood". Lowes and Home Depot carry 1/2" aspen, in short pieces, also.

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There are many things to do with a scroll saw beyond fretwork. I suggest you look into some of them. Consider:.... ............ compound cutting, segmentation , intarsia, toy making, puzzles, double bevel inlay, bowl making, basket making, lettering and sign making, etc. All done using a scroll saw.

I have also cut off the bottom of some of my blades. My saws will adjust to this shorter blade well. I usually do not use reverse blades because I do not do fretwork at all......not yet.

Mahagony is what I use for compound cutting.

When I use my 15" Jet saw in my shop it is bolted to the base, and that to the floor, but when I take it to a sale or to a club meeting I put four spounge sanding blocks under it. Works well to smooth things out.

Your local hobby shop may have it. Aircraft plywood. Not cheap though.

I have a DeWalt I bought in 2000. I use it every day. Still runs true.

Prices? Experience ,trial and error. Seven years ago I started ,making small boxes from scraps I had. I sold those plain boxes for $5. Then I started making larger ones with hinged lids for $8 and I applied some cutouts to the surface. I had success selling all of them so I got more serious in the manufacture of boxes and tried putting inlaid images on the lids. I started charging $14 for these boxes and still sold a ton of them. I then got a credit card machine and sold even more. All along a friend of mine kept telling me to charge $20 but I resisted. He suggested that I just try it with a few. They sold just as fast as the $14 ones did. Trial and error led me to this$20 price. If I were in a more affluent area I might get more for my boxes. I have about $2 in total materials in a box that takes me two hours to complete ready for sale. I make them 10-20 at a time. Even with my good sales numbers and relatively low price I still cannot sell them as fast as I can make them. This is why I keep trying other items to make I have plenty of time to experiment. I spend 30-40 hours a week in my work/play shop. My selling season is almost over and I have about 200 boxes made and ready to sell. Almost enough for all of next year.

I did this with a hand held jig saw because it is over four feet tall. I made this a few years ago as a special order and have since sold about six or seven of them. Folks mount them in their yard and put a spotlight on it. Just another idea.

Thank you all for the kind comments. The reason I post like this is to encourage others to sell what they make. I am not here to brag. (much) <grin> Bob: here is a photo of some of my boxes on display at one of my twenty sales this summer.

Red Plexiglas? Pretty cut outs!

Thanks for the kind words. There were eleven other vendors there and I know I out sold them all. Two of them were wood workers. Mostly rustic stuff, which is popular here in West Texas, I think. One guy had $100 items and one had a lot of over priced crosses, in my opinion. I have found it hard to sell $100 items at a craft show, at least it had been for me when I used to try. Mostly cash sales for me. only three credit sales this time. We were there for only four hours so all I brought with me were my boxes. One of the vendors there, is a friend of mine that I give my scrap images from my inlays. She uses them in some of her art work.(I am happy to help her get started doing sales like this). She is an artist and has finally figured out how to make smaller items in the $20 range. She had a good day also. Over $200 she said. My wife had a fairly good day also, selling her crocheted items.

I had a small sale today. In an out of the way place, and not a whole lot of shoppers, but I did manage to sell fourteen cedar boxes with images inlaid into the hinged lids. I also sold a custom order for two more. Not a whole lot of shoppers there but still well worth my effort. I only took boxes with me today because it was an inside sale with only two six foot tables to display my stuff. I left my wooden stars at home. I have only one more show scheduled this year but I am still looking for any others that may pop up nearby.

Any good scroll saw blade will give you a VERY smooth cut. Sanding on it wourld degrade it! SPiral blades excepted. Your cut surface should look burnished.

I do resaw a lot of cedar and maple. (about 400 board feet a year). I use a 1/2" carbide blade 3 TPI that I get from "Supercut". Their gold professional series. Mine are 105" and cost less than a Woodslicer and last a LOT, LOT longer. I use about two a year at $25 each. I need to look into sharpening some of my dull blades. I certainly do have the time for that in the winter.

I have three saws and only one is more than single speed, and I have to change the belt position to change speeds on it. It is very simple to do but I find I leave it on the slowest speed (400 SPM). I use that saw for doing inlay and the faster one for all other cuts.

Always good to have lots of room, Good for you! I have a 13'x23' shop for my sawdust making, a 40'x30' garage for my truck and wood storage and inside that garage I have a 12'x10' metal shed that I only do finishing in. Only my dusty shop is heated tough, so I wait for warmer days to do any finishing. (It does not stay very cold here in Texas.) Enjoy your newly added space.

Welcome, from Lubbock