Frank Pellow

I made this from a Steve Good pattern that can be found on his Scrollsaw Workshop web site. Steve's pattern came with only one ornament, but I made seven of them by utilizing other "cutout" patterns which I also found on his web site. This way, there is an ornament for each day of the week. The tree was cut from 3mm Baltic Birch plywood, the ornaments from 3mm thick plywood, and the base from a 20mm thick cherry scrap. The tree and ornaments were spray painted with Tremclad oil-based paint.

Passive Amp for Mobile Phones: I found the design for these on Steve Good's Scrollsaw Worshop. Here are four different views of one such amplifier. Steve does't mention it, but the design only works for phones that have their speaker(s) on the bottom of the phone. This does seem to be the case for the bulk of recent brands and models that I found. The sound from the bottom is passed into the large hollow area withing the disk and then comes out the top. I made one modification to Steve's design. I increased the phone holder part of the design so that it could accomodate the plugs and the bases of the myriad phone brands and models that I looked at the five phone retailers that I visited when doing my research. I made good use Baltic Birch plywood scraps of three differnt thickness (3mm, 6mm, and 18mm). They were sanded to 320 grit, then two coats of satin spray varnish were applied. I made 7 of these, mostly for my children and grandchildren. I don't own a smart phone, so it is no use making one for myself.

It appears that I've really started some sort of tradition. A number of folks who received one of my cards last year asked if I was going to create one again this year. Hence, I did: The pattern for this new card can be found in the thread:

Almost always, I drill such holes.

I guess that I already hijacked the thread, but I think that it was worth it to illustrate again just how beautiful this wood is.

Thanks. The beauty is all in the wood! I find that that best thing to do with such wood is to sand it very smooth then apply a few coats of Polymerized Tung Oil.

Well designed and well built!

I love Jatoba wood but have done only a little bit of scrolling with it. I have what is probably a lifetime supply of the stuff that I acquired for next to nothing when a local hardwood flooring manufacturer had a clearance of rough cut hardwoods a few years ago. My main use of the wood is in picture frames, such as those shown in the thread: http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/forums/topic/17275-extending-sheila-landry-keith-fentons-seasonal-welcome-plaque-set/?tab=comments#comment-168181 Here is another example of Jatoba frame that I recently made:

I recently built a set shelves for my great nephew Emmett (now 6 months old). The first step was to cut out his name and a number of advisory words in two different quarter-sawn white oak boards: After completing the scrolling, I glued a thin backing to the boards. Next, baking clay (Mostly FIMO, but also some Sculpey) was packed into the letters: Packing takes more time than one would expect –close to two hours for the six words on the top board. The clay was baked at 265 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes: Steve Good has an excellent video on Scrollsaw Workshop demonstrating how to do all this. After cooling, the excess clay was sanded off carefully with frequent cleaning of the sandpaper using a crepe rubber block: The frame and the shelves are constructed of quarter-sawn white oak re-sawn down to a finished thickness of 12 millimetres. I had prepared the wood a couple of months ago and it was good and straight. But, I underestimated and needed one more piece which I fashioned from a not-so-good piece of scrap. I should not have done this and regretted having done so in all subsequent steps of the project. For starters I needed to weigh down the board with a heavy vise/anvil when cutting dados into it: Then, all glue-ups required more clamps than they normally have done. In the end the shelves are mostly OK. A piece of 6mm thick white oak plywood was nailed to the back of the unit. I found my Seyco scrolling drill came in very handy for pre-drilling before hammering in the nails. As with the rest of the unit, the two “worded pieces were first glued into place then the joints were strengthened with the use of stepped dowels (Miller). There are no screws at all in the shelf unit. Finally, several coats of polymerized Tung oil were applied. In the photo below the first coat, that is Tung oil sealer, is being applied. Here is photo of the completed unit:

Oh yes, I should have mentioned the size. With the frame, each piece measures 38cm by 46cm. I mailed one of them to Seattle and it was EXPENSIVE!

I stack cut two of these and finished both as per the vote. The backgrounds are slightly different. They are both framed with Rosseter-Pellow quarter-sawn white oak frames. A photo is attached.

I have used glue on a few scrolling mistakes but I am very reluctant to do so. It seems like cheating. And, in this case, the job went so much better with the spiral blade that I am happy that I decided not to cheat.

Well, I attempted it twice with no-spiral blades and failed both times. It appears that I need to make mistakes more than once in order to learn. I have learned and will not attempt something similar without a spiral blade in the future.

I think that the change to a spiral blade was the main reason that I had no difficulty cutting this in the third attempt.

This is a fairly straightforward pattern by Chris Messier. I first tried cutting it about a year ago and gave up after making a BIG GOOF part way through the job. Then, yesterday morning, when nearing completion on the second attempt, I broke off a big piece (that is pointed to with the orange arrow in the first attached photo). I was using a Flying Dutchman Reverse Tooth #1 blade and cutting 4mm thick Baltic Birch Plywood. I decided to start all over again right away but switched both blade and wood. This time I used a Flying Dutchman 2/0 Spiral blade and 6mm thick quarter sawn white oak veneer. I found it much easier using the spiral blade and cut the pattern in a little less than three hours. It was then mounted on another piece of the same material stained black. The whole thing was then sprayed with a couple of coats of gloss polyurethane. I'm going to be giving the completed work to my grandson (an avid fisherman) on his 15th birthday tomorrow.

I thank all those who have commented and/or voted and I have decided what to do. As well as the survey here, I have asked several people (both in person and on the internet) which they prefer. The vote here was close, right now being: With a black background: 6 With partial staining and painting 7 With full staining and painting 5 But, when the other folks votes are added in, the tally becomes: With a black background: 8 With partial staining and painting 13 With full staining and painting 6 And there is a clear winner. That’s good because partial staining and painting was my preference. It’s unusual. I much prefer doing the unusual in cases where the unusual is acceptable. My cousin, Sue Rogers, who is a good artist in “regular” water and oil painting media prefers this option and presented an excellent thought out reason. Here it is: Here are my thoughts Total lack of colour to me lacks life. By colouring the bird and two flowers as you have done...allows the question by the viewer.."Why did the bird choose the flower it is hovering over?" The arrangement of colour carries the eye through the work which is what "we" want. Choice of colours do not dominate the work, but enhance flows as mentioned above. Three people (two here and one that I spoke to) think that the hummingbird is too bright and I will likely take that into consideration. Otherwise, the staining and painting will be as it is in the mock up.

Scott, is it the colours that I used on the hummingbird that you don't like, or is it that you don't think it should be coloured at all?

I received the same note and I am considering purchasing it as a second saw. I would like to try top feeding and my very old EX30 does nor support that.

One last bump. I need to decide tomorrow. I cut two of these and they will both be gifts. I have no clue as to which type of finishing the recipients would prefer.

Bump! (in an attempt to solicit more votes and comments)

I like the new look!

Thanks for voting Kevin. I only showed photos of two because that's all that I mocked up. People will need to imagine a fully coloured variation.

This is a MIke Williams pattern that I recently finished cutting. I am trying to decide whether or not to (1) just complete it with a "regular" black background, (2) partly stain it (as per the second attachment), or (3) fully stain (and paint) it.

Thanks for the review Randy. About General International: I have spoken the several tool dealers as well as an ex-General salesman here in Ontario, who used to carry General and General International products and all of them are of the opinion that General International is now dead. By the way, General (that is, the Canadian made line) died about three years ago. One of the two main managers at General International has moved to King Canada and King Canada is now selling many tools that look just like the old General International tools. For instance, this year I purchased an Excelsior overarm table saw guard and a King Canada mortiser and both are just like the same tools that General International used to sell. I've also looked at all three Excelsior scroll saws and they are the same as the old Excalibur saws.

The chickadee looks like a chickadee should. Great job -both with the cutting and the painting!