CharleyL

Blue tape (under the pattern) or packing tape above or below the pattern (clear) will work on the top of the project for reducing splintering too, but nothing will stop splintering of sub standard plywood - plywood with voids, or plywood with missing glue areas. Charley

Reduce the size of the blade hole in your scroll saw table. I have a thin 3/32" piece of Baltic Birch plywood that I have drilled a small hole into that I place the scroll saw blade through as if going to begin cutting. Using the tensioned blade helps me get this piece of Baltic Birch positioned perfectly. I then apply a couple of pieces of double sided tape to the under side of this plywood and stick it down to the table. The close edges of this hole to the blade will help prevent the blade from splintering the edges of your project. Using smaller blades, and the "reverse tooth" blades with the lower inch or so of the blade toothed in the upward direction also helps. Keeping your blade waxed also helps some too, by reducing the friction on the sides of the cut. Cabinet makers use a "zero clearance blade insert" in their table and miter saws to minimize the gap between the table and blade for this same reason. Masking tape applied to the bottom of your project can hold the wood fibers as the blade cuts them and this can help too. Charley

Look in the mirror. Charley

I got lucky and forgot to bring my Johnsons Wax with me on my last out-of-the shop class, so stopped at a Lowes and picked up a new can on my way. This was just before they took it off the shelves (the lucky part). So I now have a can about 3/4 full and one that has only been opened once. Together, they should last longer than I do, and then some. No, they are not for sale. Charley

When you are cutting with a new blade and at the fastest possible cutting rate without burning the wood, as the blade dulls you will begin seeing burning of the edges of the cut. You can slow the blade speed a little or wax the blade sides to stop this burning, or change to a new sharp blade. When this happens and you haven't cut very far, you can apply wax to the sides of the blade and it won't burn the wood any more, until it wears off this wax coating, but keep in mind that the blade is getting more dull. When you can no longer prevent the blade from burning at the desired cutting speed even by adding wax you have 2 choices, slow the cutting speed or replace the blade. Adding the wax to the blade lets you keep using the blade much longer before it's so dull that replacement becomes necessary. I rarely replace broken blades. I usually get tired of nursing blades because they have become too dull. Blades are cheap, at about $0.25 US per blade. Isn't the quality of your project worth changing dull blades before they become so dull that they reduce the quality of your project? With an old candle or small piece of paraffin in hand while cutting, waxing the blade frequently becomes 2nd nature and you will wax the blade every few inches of cut. It does make a difference. How fussy you are about burn marks will help decide how often you wax the blade. I wax the table of my saws and also brush it onto the gears and ways of my table saws using an old toothbrush. The surface forms a dry crust that sawdust won't stick to, but the wax will continue lubricating the saw for a very long time. I use Johnsons or Butcher's Paste Wax on the tables frequently when cutting, to keep the work sliding easily. When it doesn't slide easily I can make errors, so I add a new coat of wax frequently. Don't ever use Automotive waxes in your woodshop. Most contain silicone and silicone on your wood projects will resist stain and finishes, leaving what is called "Fish Eyes" in your finishing steps where the stain or finish will refuse to adhere to the project wood wherever the Silicone is. Silicone containing products are banned from my woodshop and have been for over 50 years. They are kept in my garage almost 250 ft from my woodshop. They make cars shine very nicely, but are a death sentence to woodworking finishes. Keep your auto waxes far separated from your woodworking. Charley

For cutting circles on the scroll saw, locate the center of each circle. Then make a jig table for the scroll saw with a pin the same radius distance from the blade. With a small hole in the circle center to match the pin diameter, make a saw cut from the edge of the wood in to the edge of the circle. Then place the center hole of the workpiece over this pin. Begin cutting and rotating the work piece until the circle cut is complete. Repeat this process for each circle, using a different pin position to match the radius of the circle to blade distance. A small starter hole for the blade next to the circle line is another way to get started. The center pin will guide the blade cut so you only need to feed the work piece into it. You will have a perfectly round hole at completion. A router can be used in much the same way, but will require more experience. Consider looking into a Jasper Jig for this (they make several versions) if using a router. Charley

I always wax, sometimes 2X a day when I was doing shows. I also apply candle or paraffin wax to the running blade frequently. It improves my accuracy and makes cutting much easier. Blades don't heat up from friction as fast either, so last longer. Charley

I just tie wrapped my vacuum nozzle to the lower arm guard under my DeWalt 788. Sawdust falling from the blade makes a hard turn and disappears into the vacuum nozzle if the vacuum (a repurposed whole house central unit with Dust Deputy separator ahead of it) is running. Since the vacuum unit is upstairs in my shop it makes so little noise down in the shop that I left it on several times. I've now mounted an orange colored light on the shop ceiling connected to the vacuum to remind me that it's running. My hearing isn't all that good, so others probably don't need the light. I do. Charley

"Harvey Ball is the original creator." OK, that's believable. Now, happy faces are everywhere. Does Harvey get credit every time you use a Happy Face Emoj in one of your text messages? I think I've made my point. I doubt you are going into mass production of this fish cut-out, so profit isn't involved where protecting a patent or copywrite is worth doing. These are rights given to creators who create things that are manufactured for profit, and they should have the right to be compensated if something that they have created earns a profit, be it made by them or by someone else that will benefit financially from it. Charley

And I agree with supporting the pattern makers, but this, and variations of it, are everywhere. Finding the original creator is going to be next to impossible. Happy Faces are everywhere too. Do you think you can find the original creator of the original first happy face? Charley

You can do good repurposing lumber, but be careful to be certain that there is no metal left behind in the wood. Get a good metal detector and scan the wood carefully. Be careful of using old pallets, since some for overseas shipping are treated for bug infestations. Chemical spills from leaking cargo can get into the pallets too. Just be careful of your sources. I too repurpose wood, but I'm careful to avoid any that might be treated, have significant metal, or possible nasty chemical spills in them. Avoid offers of old bowling lane sections. You won't believe how many nails are in them. There will be nothing useable after the nails are gone. One of my best sources for short pieces of hardwoods are the drops from the ends of boards used by the furniture and kitchen cabinet industry. They frequently discard the last foot or two of boards to avoid cracks and damage. For small, possibly narrower pieces than the donor piece, you can sometimes do very well picking these up and re-sawing to smaller sizes. Make friends at the local cabinet and furniture shops and don't make a mess of their scrap bins. Leave everything tidy and better than you found it, and you will be welcomed back next time. They have to pay to get rid of this, so you are actually doing them a favor by taking it. No after hours visits either. Do them a favor in return by making their bins nice and tidy when you leave. Charley

All drying oils and many paints that include drying oils in them can do this. You need to respect the rules about safe handling of these, especially linseed oil. A significant part of my life career was that of a Fire Marshal and fire investigator. I have been to several fires that were caused by careless use of these drying oils. Don't loose your shop, garage, or house because you didn't take the time to properly dispose of rags, paper, brushes, paints, etc that were used on a project involving a drying oil. Petroleum oils are not drying oils, so are less likely to be a source of fire problem, at least not like this, but I treat them the same too. At the very least, they will burn very easily once they catch on fire. I have a small lidded galvanized trash can that I keep several gallons of water in. When I finish applying anything containing drying oils or boiled linseed oil, everything used to apply it goes into the water in this can and the lid goes on. Then I set it outside my shop and about 10' from anything, and it sits there for a day or two, before I remove the materials, ring them out, and put into a trash bag that gets sealed for dropping into my trash can for city trash collection. Keeping oxygen away from these oils is necessary to prevent combustion. The oxygen unites with the dryers and causes the heat, and it can build up quickly in wadded up rags, enough that they can cause a fire. One time when I was working with boiled linseed oil on rags, I had difficulty clearing enough flat space to place the project while it dried, so the rags sat bunched up on my workbench for maybe 20-30 minutes. When I grabbed the rags to use them again they were already hot enough to give me a burn when I grabbed them. Needless to say their next position was outside the door on the driveway. I had no intention in leaving them on the workbench, but just needed a few extra minutes to better prepare the place for the project so it could dry, and those rags had already become hot enough in their center to lightly burn my hand when I picked them up to use them again. Needless to say that they got evicted from my shop quickly and I started again with new rags. Once spread out and in the open air they dried with no further problems. At my former shop, my neighbor's chain link fence was near my shop, and I used to spread and hang my oil soaked rags on his fence to dry. If hung spread out so free air circulation can cool as well as dry your rags, like when hanging from a metal fence, they dry without problems and once fully dry you can throw them away safely. It's the drying action and uniting with oxygen without free air circulation for cooling that causes the hazard. Spreading them out on gravel or concrete will work, but it's best to get the air circulating freely on both sides. Submerging in a pail of water seems to completely cool and stop the reaction instantly. Charley

Pretty simple design. It might be easier to just size the photo to your desired size and print it. Then attach it to your wood and cut it out. Charley

The magnet and battery are located in the base, with a proximity sensor to fire the magnet when the ball reaches the right position. The magnetic pulse kicks the ball just enough for it to jump and land back in the bowl, so not at all "perpetual motion". Charley

When doing really small work, I have a piece of thin (about 1/32") Baltic Birch about 12 X 12" that I have added a hole just a little larger than my #2 scroll saw blades. When needing it, I add a couple of small 2" pieces of double sided tape to the bottom side, clean the saw dust and wax off the saw table, and attach this piece of plywood to the saw table. It messes with my under table dust collection, but I don't have problems with small pieces breaking or getting pulled into the blade hole. I would leave it on there for all cutting, but I do like my dust collection system working properly, so it's only added when needed. Charley

The usual scroll saw stands are 3 legs, making many of the add-on wheel systems not really work well. I once tried wheels on my scroll saw stand and took them off a week later. The saw kept moving while I was using it. I ended up putting pinball machine feet on my scroll saws. They stay in place, but when you want to move the saw, they will slide easily on relatively smooth floors, and I've found them to be perfect for the need. I use them on my table saw extensions, as well as several other tool stands in my shop. The Pinball Resource is the best and cheapest place to get them. I think that once you see the photo that I have attached, you will readily see how easy it is to add these to most scroll saw stands by adding a few fender washers and nuts from your nearby hardware store. The one that you want will most likely be part # Leg3T. The bolt-to-head connection is loose but secure, to allow the head to slip easily over small bumps and seams in the floor. Add a couple of fender washers and a second nut to these and they will fit most metal legged stands with the hole in the bottom plate. At $1.10 each, I don't think you will find a better deal anywhere for any kind of feet for your scroll saws. Though Steve (the owner) is a friend of mine. I have no financial interest in your business with him. http://www.pbresource.com/cabparts.html Look down the screen until you see the photo attached. There are several versions, but this seems to be the best for scroll saw use. LEG3 is the part number. Charley

You will find that most text processing programs like MSWord and APACHE OFFICE and others have most of the better fonts embedded, so just selecting one that you like, and sizing it to your needs will get printable templates easily. I think they also allow importing fonts from other sources too, though I haven't tried this. Don't forget the Italics and Bold versions too. Charley

They also sell door skins, for resurfacing hollow core doors. They are simply glued onto the existing damaged side of the door and are quite thin. Available in different wood surfaces too. I haven't needed any in a very long time, but Lowes has Luan listed for this in 36 X 80" panels for $18, though they are not in stock at this time. Charley

Yup, we're the best, and mostly friendly and helpful too. Charley

Mine was made by Paragrave, but they no longer seem to exist. SCM is a good quality brand of the same kind of power carver. They aren't cheap, but worth every penny for a good reliable one. The SCM are actually about 1/3 off from when I bought mine. There was another brand called Power Carver, but they too don't seem to exist anymore. Bits are standard 1/16" shank dental bits. I get my dentist to sterilize and give me his older bits, since they use a new bit for every patient, and they don't wear out enough to be a woodworking problem with just one use. They sell for about $2 each and up on the internet anyway. There are several sources, but I've included the link to the one that I like. Search for "1/16" dental bits" to find more sources. My Paragrave carver is over 25 years old and is still running fine. Charley https://scmsysteminc.com/power-carver/ https://www.lascodiamond.com/

I have a "Jim Dandy" lift on my DeWalt scroll saw that came with the saw when I bought it. It's just an arm that pivots on a longer screw in the top right side of the saw's rear casting, and a coil spring to pull the back end of this arm down, and the front end of this arm with the upper saw arm attached to it, up. I have two LED lights on goosenecks attached to the upper arm of the saw, one on each side, and have the spring tension set so the upper saw arm is about neutral and floating, meaning that it will sit at any desired level while changing the blade or doing any other kind of work with the blade removed. I've been happy with it. Just one more option. Whatever works for you, go with it. Charley

You can buy adapters for routers to use the Roto Zip Bits, also 3/32" and 1/8" shank bits made for Dremel tools to use them in the smaller router 1/4" collets. They exist, but are sometimes hard to find. For tiny bits like these to be able to use them in a drill press, there is a small chuck with short hex shaft intended for use in hand drills like those impact drills, and these can be chucked into the larger drill press chucks that are common in drill presses, since frequently these larger chucks don't tighten far enough to hold these tiny bits. With one of these small drill chucks installed in the large drill press chuck, you can then add just about any tiny drill bit, or Dremel type bit. I actually use even tinier bits than Dremel. I have an air powered tool that is about the size of a fat Magic Marker that uses 1/16" bits and spins at about 200,000 RPM, running on 40 PSI of air pressure. An air brush compressor will run it. It's a modified Dentist Drill and I do relief carving with it, like you have seen on fancy gun stocks and small high-end woodworking. At 200,000 RPM there is no side pull when cutting, like you get at lower Dremel speeds, so it's much easier to use for fine carving. I have recently posted a cross with vines and leaves cut out with the scroll saw and then the vines and leaves were shaped using this air powered carver. Charley

My shop is small, so no room for large chip collectors. The Unisaw collects it's own saw dust in it's cabinet and I shovel it out. The jointer chips slide down a wood chute into a small waste can. My Dewalt planer never gets used in the shop. It goes outside in the driveway parking area and I connect the accessory hose and barrel cover to a plastic 55 gallon barrel when it gets used. The finer dust generators, like my scroll saws, drill presses, sanders, routers, etc all get connected to a repurposed whole house vacuum system, with a Dust Deputy in the line between the shop inlet connections and the central vacuum. The Dust Deputy sits on top of a 25 gallon former grease barrel that has been re-purposed for dust collection. Almost none of the dust collected makes it past the Dust Deputy, so the collection container of the central vacuum only ever has a trace of extremely fine dust coating on it. Any of this dust, which seems to be about what you are talking about, never gets back into my shop or lungs, because the exhaust of this central vacuum is connected through an outlet with a flap cover just below the soffit of the roof of my shop. It's pointed North toward a lake, so most of the noise cannot be heard by my neighbors. A far away jet plane is about what it sounds like to them. For your dust problem, since it is the micro fine dust that is getting into your shop air and then settling on your tools (and more importantly into your lungs) I strongly suggest that you provide an exhaust hose connection to an exit port in your shop wall somewhere (or through a hole in a window panel) so the dust exhausted from your vacuum never gets back into your shop air. It's too small to filter and this is the most hazardous size for your lungs, so just blow it to the outdoors high and directed away from nearby civilization. Let the winds thin it and spread it far and wide. Charley

John, I have similar problems, so the dusting of my dragon clock became "my problem" as soon as I brought it into the house. Every few months I get "warned", and I have to take it out to the shop and blow it off with the compressed air gun. I usually also wipe the easy to get to surface parts with a soft towel too. For my cross, I don't get the same treatment. She likes it, so she takes care of it, though I usually do the same with it whenever I decide that it needs cleaning. The cross is attached below. I only made the one dragon, but I have made 16 of the crosses, and all of them went to family and distant family except for two, since I still have the last one partially finished in the shop. They each take about 12 hours to make. This one in the photo is actually the first one that I made, and my wife claimed it as soon as it was shown to her. I cut them out on my scroll saw, but then use a modified dentist drill and 1/16" dental bits to carve the leaves and vines. It's all cut from one piece of mahogany. Antique Gold Rub-N-Buff was applied to the leaves, then Tung Oil was applied to the whole cross. I made one of the 16 from white oak, and I wasn't happy with how it carved, so the rest are all mahogany. On one of them I coated the cross itself with gold Run-N-Buff, as well as finish the rest of the cross the same as the others. This gold cross was the only "out of family gift" of them. It went to a very special minister friend who had helped me get through, and then recover from, my major heart surgery 23 years ago, and I didn't even know him before that. He was an amazing person who had also been through the same heart surgery, and then lived to see his 90th birthday. Charley

www.ncwoodworker.net is a "Virtual Club", meaning it's online. We don't have meetings or dues, but do have get togethers, frequently for lunch in several locations. A picnic in the Springtime is held every year, and during that the nominees for office are elected for the coming year. A raffle is held each Springtime with great prizes, and the proceeds from this raffle pays a significant amount of the operating costs of the website. Amazon Smile has helped too, but sadly Amazon is closing their Smile Program next month. All of the woodworkers in the surrounding States and down through Florida are also welcome to join, and if you will be, are, or ever were a person with ties to North Carolina, you can become a member. When I last checked, and this wasn't recently, there were well over 6,000 members. We have members all over the Country and in the military, wherever they may be stationed. We are a "friendly" bunch who help each other and anyone requesting woodworking help. Charley