Old Joe

I have not done his King pattern...yet. There are a few of his that I hope to get to. Thanks for your encouragement.

I really like listening to good guitarists, and Chet Atkins was one of my favorites. I found this Dearing pattern, added my own twist with the backing/frame. I shrunk the size down a little, cut the entire thing with Pegas spiral blades, and cut it on my Pegas saw. The little cuts on the guitar were tedious.

Nice cutting, Kevin!

Wow! That pattern looks like it would be rewarding to do. Thanks. BTW, the lizard inlay was challenging, especially with my old eyes.

I have not been on here in a while, nor have I been very prolific in my shop. Feel like though I have a zillion patterns collected I have an equivalent of writer’s block as to what to do next. So I decided to make this Steve Good slat basket just to get something accomplished. I made the first one with BB top and bottom with Walnut slats. It came out okay, but it seemed to be lacking somehow. I decided to do a second one with some form of inlay out of Paduck. Of course I had to pick an inlay with about the smallest detail I could for the feet. It was challenging, but cutting the slats and notches was a pain, and getting them glued together was hard to do without breaking a slat. (Don’t ask how I know how hard it was to not break a slat while gluing).

Very nice detail work!

Unbelievable! As one who has been working hard to master the spiral blade I really appreciate the detail and tight bridgework on this. But I’m super appreciative, (yet jealous), of your pattern making! This rivals the best of the commercially successful pattern makers! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the compliment. I bought the pattern from Charles Dearing, with the agreement that Dearing owns the pattern, the buyer can sell a completed work, but not resell the pattern, or pass it on to anyone else. As to whether royalties go to the subject, or his estate, I don’t know. Maybe someone else can answer?

I finished this last night. It’s from a Charles Dearing design. This is the 2nd one of this one that I cut. The first one I foolishly cut out of 1/4” Cherry and proceeded to break it when peeling the tape. This one is BB and it was still very fragile until it was glued down. I won’t do this one again.

Love it!

Great job! G

Very cool. Someone should really appreciate this!

I have now found these type of patterns go much quicker with spirals, and blade feeding goes quicker in the Pegas than it did in my Dewalt. I did another of Mike Williams patterns a while ago ( 2 kittens playing with a butterfly) and I swear it took twice as long, but I did it with flat blades. It was frustrating at first using spirals, but I seemed to have gotten the feel for them. I first used them extensively last week cutting a Charles Dearing pattern of Tom Petty. I posted it in the General Scrollsawing Forum, but many folks don’t go there, so if it isn’t too poor form on my part, I’ll post it again here. I think Tom’s beard and hair was a good place to learn what one can do with spiral blades.

I just finished this Mike Williams design, with a few liberties taken. This is my second cutting on my new Pegas saw and the entire project was done with #1 and 2/0 Pegas Spiral blades. I am new to using spirals, but I am now officially sold on them. Folks often ask me “How long did that take you?” and I honestly had never kept track, but I did with this one. From taping and gluing the pattern, to drilling and cutting a ton of holes, to sanding and oiling the cartoon and staining the backboard, cutting a keyhole slot and imbedding a signature coin, and doing the glue up, I had just over 21 hours of actual work time. It is approximately 8” x 11,” a bit smaller than Mike’s suggested 11” x 14.” I have found that making many of the patterns a bit smaller has an allure to many people. Hope you all enjoy!

I never replaced mine, but as soon as I installed a foot switch, I turned the switch to the “on” position and covered it with packing tape and left it in the on position for ever after, as there was no reason to ever turn it off.

Thanks for the tip on adjusting the front/back motion. I didn’t realize that was the issue, and probably wouldn’t have known if Rolf hadn’t mentioned it. I dialed it back a pinch and now I just feel like everything is perfect. My Dewalt is now temporarily serving as an expensive coat rack for my shop apron!

Your Etsy page is very impressive!

.....I come across another piece by scrollsaw goddess Fiona Kingdon on her Facebook page. All done in thick wood, layered, no pattern, she just starts cutting and waits to see what will come about with her single speed Hegner.This one is just stunning. And humbling.

I was screwing around getting the new Pegas setup exactly how I wanted it while cutting this, but as best I can figure I had close to 16-20 total hours in this from start to finish, not all cutting time. Using all flat blades would’ve taken longer. This made me a convert to spirals for many applications. I started using them a bit on my last project on my DW788, a Dearing pattern of Gandalf, but that was a full 1/2” piece of African Rosewood and I broke a bunch of blades, which I did not do on this one. I didn’t break one blade, though I dulled a few.

I wish that the Pegas, Dewalt, Excalibur’s etc. all had a grease fitting on them. I took my DW788 apart last year and greased it with synthetic grease and the difference made was nothing short of incredible. It was never that smooth and quiet even when it was brand new. If I had known how much it would have improved it, I would’ve done it when it was brand new. Why manufacturers don’t use synthetic lube is beyond me.

Well, this was a learning experience. I was getting used to the new saw and using almost all spiral blades. I only used flat blades on the handful of larger cuts. I also messed around with the setup a bit as I went along. Worked on the front to back movement, had to reduce it a pinch. Got everything perfect by the end. Anyway, this is a Charles Dearing pattern of Tom Petty, cut in 1/4” BB, backed by a piece of Poplar. 306 cuts, I think.

I used FD for my first few years, tried Pegas and wasn’t crazy about them in the beginning, especially on the micro sizes. They seemed to get away from me on very close cuts somehow. I also felt that they dulled quicker than FDs, but now I think it was something about that batch. Then I got very adjusted to the MG #3 and never looked back. That is my primary blade now. I very rarely use anything larger. I am pushing myself to use, and get used to, spiral blades. I am quickly gaining confidence in using the Pegas 2/0 in 1/4” Baltic Birch or fine portraits. I never really adjusted to using FD spirals, but I think that was more on me than the blades.

Congrats and enjoy. I just bought the Pegas, and I'm happy, but if I did a lot of production work with solid wood, and money was no object I would get a Hegner. Fiona Kingdon knocks out an incredible amount of product, no plywood, and does it all on a single speed Hegner!

Thanks for the heads up on the speed.I am on a lunch break from the saw. I am working with 2/0 spiral blades which I have only recently started using with any volume of cuts. With the MG scroll reverse blades I don't feel that I am slowing the speed down abnormally, but I do with the spirals. I'm doing another advanced Dearing pattern with lots of head and beard hair and feel very comfortable. I would be hesitant in changing anything at this point, but I do get how to make the adjustment. BTW, I forgot to mention how quiet it is!

Rolf, I haven’t noticed any issue with front/back motion. The saw is shipped with a lot of packing materials, with a #7 blade in the clamps, and is bolted to a piece of thin plywood in the bottom of the box. The plywood was literally broken out on all four corners and the blade was broken. Certainly not the distributor’s fault. I was a bit bummed when I first saw it, but I figured pretty quickly that there wasn’t anything seriously damaged.When I set the head at zero it was off by several degrees, and off center. I had an issue with getting it zeroed in and holding a perfect true with the angle set at zero. I would set it as instructed in the directions, but the blade wasn’t holding perfectly centered. I tracked down a couple of loose Allen nuts, and wallah! problem solved. I think the head may have gotten jarred pretty good in shipping, but it wasn’t damaged per se, just needed a couple tweaks. I’m pretty persnickety and everything seemed fine yesterday. I checked the trueing with a machinist square after cutting yesterday and it was dead on.