Sycamore67

One thing that I do is to cut several pieces of scrap wood the same as my project wood and then experiment on them. I mark on the back of each piece info on what finish was used. With finishing you will get so many opinions both good and bad. As I said earlier, take your time and figure out what works for you. Rushing your finishing is not the way to get the best looking project.

Of those, Shellac is probably the fastest as it is alcohol based. I think it kind has a plastic look. Something like Watco brings out the grain best IMHO. It is unfortunate that people end up rushing the finishing and prefer a quick job rather than a better one. A good finishing job brings out the best in a project but takes time. Too many times the major consideration is how quick instead of how well.

Just as a note. There is a difference with a vacuum that is HEPA rated and one with HEPA filter both in quality and cost. First step in dust collection is to collect as close to source as possible. There h ave been a number of people posting very good collection at the source. IMHO blowing the dust away from the saw with a fan is not a good choice.

Thanks to all for the kind comments. Now that I have done one, I am thinking about another for the kids. I will be on the look out to find appropriate wood for another and that will take time. The wood for this one was spectacular and difficult to obtain. The wood was part of the cost of taking the class. I will not even start to tell how much the class, travel to Utah, New tools, supplies, etc.... I also have a long list of projects to tackle.

The project has taken me about 6 months and is now completed. The Maloof Style Rocker is made of Claro Walnut with lots of interesting and beautiful grain. I learned to make the rocker from Bill Kappel in Utah and went out there months ago for a week long one on one class with him. He has made many beautiful rockers and is a great teacher. He helped me get started and then shipped the parts and wood back to me in Indiana. The chair was a real challenge for me and included so many hours of grinding, shaping, sanding..... One interesting part was fitting the chair to my wife's liking. It involved setting the upper part on the rockers and then adjusting them for height and placement. This allowed the angle of the chair and height to fit her. The finish on it is 4 coats of Teak Oil, 4 coats of wipe on poly with light sanding in between and finally it was sanded with 1500 and 2000 grit paper and waxed with Butchers Wax. I did use my scroll saw on the project. Mostly it was to create wooden templates of some of the parts. It was interesting trying to get the left legs to look exactly like the right legs. I had never done this before and it was a real challenge. Now I am ready to get back to some scrolling projects and want to take on one of the truck models that I have seen.

I use FD Polar #5 or #7.

There are a lot of places. I have ordered from Ocooch Hardwood. They have a good selection, fair prices and good quality.

The snow is not bad but this last one had a lot of ice and also power outages.

You need something to blow the dust off the line. For me, just using a vacuum does not work well. I have a vacuum attached to 3/4" Loc Line and is not enough for me.

How big are these, what material is the backer and how thick?

JT I agree and I tried an aquarium pump on a scroll saw and worked poorly. I would buy the bellows.

I love mine from 1996. A solid vibration free scroll saw and lasts forever.

I have a DeWalt and newer one is a Festool. My priority is ergonomics, vibration and dust collection. I have a homemade downdraft table connected to my dust collector but mostly use it connected to a vacuum. A lot also depends on your use. Mine are used mostly for furniture and cabinet builds and relatively long sessions. It might be different with fret work. For most of my scroll projects I use either a sanding mops or Mac Mop.

Be very careful as it takes time for everything to get back to normal. Trust me when I tell you that it is fairly easy to dislocate the hip and it is unbelievably painful. I have had a hip replacement, wore it out, revised it, and dislocated it.

I cut very easily thick compound cut pieces, puzzles like Iggy, and Intarsia with no problems. I also use it to cut templates from 1/2" and 3/4" plywood with no problems. My Hegner is a 1996 with a lot of hours and still runs smooth. I paid about $300 for it. I would not cut with a DeWalt that wears out in a year or two. I just read of too many problems that people have and how to rebuild them. But it is kind d of like Chevy versus Ford. I drive a Chevy and others drive a Ford. Both will get you down the road.

Buy a Hegner and you will not wear it out. I could understand not wanting a Hegner if you were doing fret work. I think you are happy that you wear out the DeWalt as it shows how hard you work. It is a point of pride that you have four of them and can wear them out. It would be interesting to know the mean time to failure for the DeWalt. There are many used Hegners out there for less than you pay for a DeWalt. But to each their own.

Interesting thread about space and tool and such. I m the one who said I use my home made sand flee on dovetail boxes and such. I did not spend much on it and is the BEST way for me. I buy most of my tools with the primary concern of how easy they will be on my body. I buy Festool Sanders because they are the easiest on my wrists and hands. I have had both wrists rebuilt and have to be very careful. The homemade sand flee and a Supermax drum sander both reduce how much sanding I have to do with a sander.

Dgman. So glad you are home. I was in the hospital for 15 days with the same thing but barely did not need the extra plumbing you have. I did have to go back for surgery several months later. Take care of yourself and get better.

It is interesting taking on much longer term projects than normal. A lot of the projects are ones that can be done in a day or two. Some of the clocks will take much longer and that is great. These are more complicated projects but a feet of accomplishment when done. I am finally finishing a project that I have been working on daily for almost 7 months. It has been great but a lot of work for a long time. It is just a different mind set than projects that take a day or two.

Thin wide wood will cup. If it is quarter sawn, it will cup less. You can try things to flatten it but not very successfully.

I have an Ottlite which came with a 3x and 5x glass lens. The optical quality of the lens are very good.

I have 73 routers. You can never have enough.

Www.johnwhutchinson.com. This is the website for Dynamo Men and others. You can contact him about plans but several have been in the scroll saw magazine.

I built my Dynamo Men based on the plans by John Hutchinson that were in Woodcraft Magazine. It is powered by a 12. RPM motor I bought on eBay. He has made several other animated lamps and similar.

I built this awhile ago ..