CharleyL

With experience, you will find that running at full speed causes your saw to wear out faster, and your blades to overheat and break faster. If your blades are turning blue, you are running the saw too fast, overheating the blade and making it dull and break faster. Tiny blade teeth can only remove the amount of wood that fits in their gullets. They have to clear this wood before they can cut any more wood. Scroll sawing is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the journey, cutting as accurately and cleanly as you can. Treat project completion as a surprise and not something that is a race to get there. There is always another project more interesting than the past, so enjoy the journey, and then the next journey. Take care of your saw and it will last through many journeys. Beat the stuffing out of it and you will be complaining about what a lousy saw it was in a year or two, when it should have lasted 10 or more years. If you drive your car at it's maximum speed, it won't last long either. Charley

How many and what size would you like? Amazon sells a lot of varieties. amazon.com/s?k=neodymium+magnet&i=industrial&crid=1SDWP2AUNTYZX&sprefix=neod%2Cindustrial%2C108&ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_4_ts-doa-p Charley

I do mostly 3D cutting, and the advantage is that the pattern paper comes off with the scrap, since the item being cut comes out of the center of the block of wood, so removing the pattern from the finished work isn't a problem. For these, I use regular stationary store rubber cement. It isn't a spray. You have to brush it on, but it does come off with mineral spirits. The plus is that it is repositionable for a short time after the pattern is applied to the work. Not long though, maybe 20 seconds. I have used it for 2D work and it does come off by wetting the pattern with mineral spirits applied to the surface of the pattern and then waiting for it to soak through. Then a light sanding of the work piece removes any residual cement and it's ready for staining/finishing. Charley

I can remember seeing a photo of a scroll saw stand that worked much like a sewing machine stand. When not in use, the scroll saw folded down into the table base and the hinged top closed over it, making a cabinet with a nice smooth top. Sorry, this was years ago and I have no idea where I saw this photo. Just look at a sewing machine cabinet and how it folds to hide the sewing machine, then come up with something similar, and build it before you downsize. For machine noise, a thick padded carpet under and around the saw would isolate the vibrations of the saw and make it very quiet. It would also catch and absorb the sawdust to keep it in place until you vacuumed it up. Keep this carpet small, like 5 X 7' and you can take it out and shake the dust out of it outside too. I use a repurposed whole house vacuum with a Dust Deputy in the line before it to remove all but the micron size dust, which then blows out a vent up near the roof of my shop. This vent is pointed toward a 240 acre lake. The noise from it might make the Canadian Geese unhappy, but they make me mad enough at them that I don't care if it offends them. They graze my lawn and make a total mess of my drive and sidewalks. If the place that you move into has a central vac, maybe sending your scroll saw dust through it along with the rest of your vacuuming collection wouldn't be that bad. With the central vacuum unit far away from your living space, there is only the rush of air noise to contend with. Charley

A photo showing the whole saw might help to see what it has and hasn't in the way of good features. Is the upper arm powered or does it have a spring lift for the blade? What size is the saw? Is it variable speed? What design are the blade chucks? The close-ups are good, but more, and a shot showing the whole saw side/front view would help too. Charley

Recently I saw a statement, "In the 1930's new car manuals included a chapter on how to adjust the valves. Some of today's cars include a warning label "Not to drink the contents of the battery". A pretty good indication of today's society's "lack of common sense", and "sue happy society". Charley

The smallest do not usually survive cutting, unless made from hardwood, and if they do survive cutting they don't survive wearing as jewelry. I use Hard Maple and most survive quite well. The mid sizes can be made from Hard Maple, but I usually use White Poplar, being choosey about which boards that I pick up to avoid the green and brownish colors. This works well for the largest size too, but I had a carpenter friend who was bringing me off cuts of SPF construction lumber from job sites and I still have a significant amount of it, so the largest size is usually White Pine (avoiding knots) or Poplar. I was recently given some Soft Maple, so I will likely be using that for many of the larger sizes this year. I usually begin making them in the Fall, about mid September, when I change my shop over to make Christmas Gifts. This is the 18th year that I've made reindeer, but I couldn't get to my shop for most of last year, due to a health problem with my right leg. Only 6 reindeer were made last year during one very short shop visit. I have never sold any of my woodworking. I give the reindeer away during the Christmas Season, to any woman or teen girl who helps me in some way during the season of November through New Years. My doctors, nurses, cashiers, sales girls, etc. are all offered one at the completion of my transaction with them. It's usually held out toward them in my right hand, palm down, as I wish them "A Very Merry Christmas". When they reach out, I drop the reindeer in their hand. The ear ring and necklace versions cost me more in time and purchased jewelry fittings to make, so they are only given to "Special Women". My female doctors each have a set, as well as my Favorite Pharmacist, as well as all of the women in my family. The manager of my favorite restaurant and several of the better waitresses also have them. At one time, every female worker in the restaurant had them, but many have left the restaurant over this past two years and we have not been eating out since COVID either. We have now had our 2nd COVID boosters in early April, so we have started eating out occasionally again. This year, all of the new waitresses will likely get at least one reindeer for Christmas. The restaurant is called "Breakfastime". It's a chain of about 6 restaurants in Central North Carolina. They are open for breakfast and lunch from 6 AM to 3 PM seven days a week and one of them is only about 2 miles from here. Great food at reasonable prices. You get a full plate too, so you will never leave hungry. The two of us can usually eat very well there for less than $20. Charley

Not Usually Made This Time Of Year Report Quote Quote #1 Post by CharleyL » Mon May 02, 2022 1:04 pm I have a friend coming to visit soon that I won't likely see again for several years. She doesn't have any of the ones that I've been making over the past 18 years, so I decided to make her a full set. One of the mid size gets a pin (shown) attached for wearing on a sweater, etc. The other mid size becomes a necklace, the two smallest become ear rings, and the largest is just for display or hanging on the Christmas Tree. You can see by the included dime how small these are. I made and finished all of these, including clear lacquer spray and jewelry assembly in 2 1/4 hours yesterday. I have promised a few sets of ear rings to others, so will likely make and assemble them tomorrow. Then on to some larger projects. I need to make more boxes, so I think they are next on my list. Charley

I'm looking for a small 3D Elephant pattern myself, but not in a rocking chair. There are 3D cat patterns, but I've never seen either with rocking chairs included, 2D or 3D. Sorry. Charley

Impressive. So you "are" doing 3D cutting. Charley

Most people find that the scroll saw table cutting height is best for them when their forearms and hands are close to level when they are seated and placing their hands on the saw table as if to move the work piece around. Some prefer that the saw is tilted a bit toward them, others prefer it level. A 3 leg table makes this easy by adjusting the rear leg length to tilt the saw forward. Others, with eye problems, common to old age like me, need to be closer to the cutting point in order to easily see the cut, and so may want slightly higher seating, slightly lower saw, or a slightly longer rear saw table leg. Only experimenting with these positions will determine what is best and most comfortable for you. There is no one setting of these that will make everyone happy. Keep trying the adjustments to find the combination that works best for you. This is supposed to be fun, not unbearable pain. For lighting, I found that two LED lights, one on each side of the upper blade arm and positioned to be slightly forward (toward you) but pointed at the cutting point, eliminates almost all shadows and upper arm flicker to let you easily see the blade cutting point and not a blade shadow. These lights need to be bright and white, like about 56-6300 K color temperature. Mine are attached to a 2 piece DIY aluminum bracket that wraps around the upper arm of my DeWalt saw, with a thicker, stiffer flat piece of aluminum connected to the wrapped piece with an 8-32 X 1/2" bolt to attach the wrapped piece to the flat piece. the flat piece needs to extend out from under the upper saw arm about 2" from each side of the arm to leave ample space for attaching the gooseneck of the light. I'm now on my 4th version of these lights. Although LEDs last nearly forever, the power supply circuits don't. Blinking LEDs and dim LEDs don't make cutting on a scroll saw easy at all. I use a metal shop stool with a metal back and attached cushion. It came from a factory surplus sale. I have 4 of them that I purchased for $5 each. I'm using my original DeWalt scroll saw stand tilted slightly forward. This is working well for this 80 year old 5' 8" big belly guy, but I do use a 2.25 X magnifier headband on top of my reading glasses to see the really small work like the reindeer posted here. He is just under 1" tall and resting on my left hand ring and middle finger. Notice the partly plugged hole just under his antlers. I drill this before cutting him out because the flat surface works better for drilling. The hole is cleaned out when inserting a gold or silver 13 mm ring to which the ear pieces get attached. A pair of these reindeer get made into ear rings, to be given to special women, like my sister, cousins, doctor, wives of close friends, certain waitresses at my favorite restaurants, etc. at Christmas. The two larger sizes get given to any woman who helps me in some way during the Christmas Season, like the sales clerk who took the time to help me, etc. I have never, and won't ever sell them. Every Christmas Season I make four sizes of these and give them away. I've been doing it for 18 years. The two next larger sizes become pins or necklaces. The largest, at about 3 1/2 inches tall is just for sitting on a shelf or for use as a Christmas Tree Ornament with a ribbon tied around his neck to hang him. Each of the size shown in the photo take me about 15 minutes to cut, about 50 minutes to make a pair of ear rings complete from small block of hard maple to placing in the gift box. I do batches of about 20 of this size at a time, take a break, usually including a meal, and then make a batch of a larger size. Twenty of this size is about all my eyes can handle at a time. I have made smaller, but the good to bad results ratio just isn't worth the time for the few good results. Almost every one this size is a keeper. Those of you who have been on this forum for a while have seen these before, and I have shown many photos and provided long explanations of how to make them. A search of my posts should find all this easily. I do make many other things, usually cut in 3D like these (I'm hooked on 3D). I have a nearly complete pro level cabinet shop including two scroll saws, but all crammed into a 1 car garage size outbuilding, so it's a true one user shop (almost no room for others). Charley

Or keep watching the Want Ad posts for someone selling a lightly used saw of the brands that you find acceptable. Many people buy scroll saws and find that it just "isn't for them". I bought my DeWalt Type 1 saw this way for about half of what you are willing to spend. That was about 12 years ago. They said that they used it for about a month and then it collected dust after that, so time to sell. I have run greased it and ran it until it needed bearings and rebuilt it, again with re-greasing, Now it is about time for new bearings and grease again. Charley

Here is a Youtube video about doing it with veneer. A friend of mine has made rings this way and they are incredibly strong. Charley

I use a re-purposed whole house vacuum cleaner, installed with inlets in several places in my shop, upstairs in the shop attic, and one to the outside next to the passage door, for vacuuming my cars and trucks. Between the piping and the vacuum is a Dust Deputy with a repurposed 25 gallon grease barrel below it. I use it for all of my fine sawdust producers, the sanders, scroll saws, drill presses, etc. and for vacuuming much of the floor. My shop is too small for a real shop dust collector, so the chip producers and table saw get shoveled out with a small shovel frequently. I'm more concerned with the fine dust getting into my lungs anyway. The vacuum is located upstairs and the exhaust from the central vac exits just below the roof soffit, so the dust collected never gets back in my shop if it should somehow get through the Dust Deputy and vacuum. Since adding the Dust Deputy, there is nothing but a trace of micro fine dust inside the vacuum. It's all in the 25 gallon drum. Since I'm not in the shop every day, I can go about a year before needing to dump the barrel. I do my planning with a DeWalt 735, outside in the driveway, using the original hose and barrel cover that was once available for the 735, and I found a 60 gallon plastic barrel with an open end that I collect the chips in. It resides upside down behind my shop when not being used. Charley

Google Search "Craftsman Auto Switch". Amazon or Google Search "IVac Vacuum Switch". Charley

I bought mine over 40 years ago. Not surprising that it's more expensive now. I just did a search on Amazon - amazon.com/s?k=Woodworking+vacuum+control+module&crid=3QK9RAE4ALJO1&sprefix=woodworking+vacuum+control+module%2Caps%2C76&ref=nb_sb_noss also - .amazon.com/iVAC-10031-010-Automated-Vacuum-Switch/dp/B0035YGLZG The one by Ortis is the other brand that I had seen. So, several models to choose from, even some smaller ones that cost less. The only one that I have any experience with is my old Craftsman switch. Charley

Here is a link with a photo of what I have, but I know nothing about this company. I'm posting this only because of the photo and the description. https://kk.org/cooltools/craftsman-auto/ Charley

There was a Craftsman power control module that you connected your power tool to, and then also your vacuum to a second outlet on it. Whenever you turned the tool on, a second or two later the module will turn the vacuum on. When you turn the tool off, the vacuum will continue a few seconds more, and then shut down. I have one of these, and use it with a Dust Deputy on a 5 gallon covered pail and a dust producing tool, like a sander, etc. The big benefit of this module is that both the tool and the vacuum are not starting and stopping at the same time, so one is not affecting the other. Brushes and switch contacts can get damaged when multiple brush type motors are switched on and off frequently at the same time and they are on the same circuit. Separating their start and stop times will prevent this. I can't guarantee that your vacuum will never die after connecting it to one of these modules, but it should make it last considerably longer. Another company is making these control modules. I've seen adds for them, but can't remember the company name. Actually, with Lowes now selling Craftsman tools, they might be selling these modules too. I did a search for it on the Lowes website, but they, and Google, have dumbed down the search engines so they find everything but what is being searched for now. Charley

If I took that off, I would have nothing to tie-wrap my vacuum cleaner hose to. Charley

Scrollsaw withdrawl symptoms are significant and real. It's nice to be back. Charley

For your drill press spring, when they break, it's usually at the right angle bend at the end. I fixed an old drill press spring by heating just the tip of the remaining spring to red and then let it cool slowly. This removes the spring tension and makes this area soft and bendable, so it can be shaped and bent. I then just made the end back into the needed shape and put it back into the drill press. It was working fine many years later when I gave the drill press away. Charley

Amazon has them in the USA, but it will cost more than Ebay. amazon.com/12022-Rakuda-2-by-4-Square-Ruler/dp/B001Y51VUI/ref=sr_1_42?crid=173HCDFM7CBR2&keywords=rakuda+square&qid=1643739385&sprefix=rakuda+square%2Caps%2C117&sr=8-42 I used to get things like this from Japanwoodworker.com, but they are now closed. I believe that Woodcraft is in the process of buying them. Not sure how well this is going. Charley

I've been there two times, a year apart. The healing process for a knee replacement takes time. The exercises determine how well she will recover. The more that she can do, the better she will recover, but when the pain is too much it's time to stop until the next day. Full recovery, at least for me, took about a year, but I was walking with a cane in about a month. The replacements are not as good as the originals before I wrecked them, but far better than I was going through before they were replaced. I finally got them to replace them when I started asking for a wheelchair. I should have asked much sooner. Charley

In my opinion, Olsen hasn't changed from how they made blades from 40-50 years ago, and I still don't like them, but that was all that I could find back then. Once I could buy other brands, I never went back. Most of their blades would not cut straight for me, so I had to learn how the blade was cutting and then apply that much angle to the work to get it to cut where I wanted. Since each blade varied in how it cut, I had to learn this each time that I used a new blade. When I found new blade sources, I never went back to Olsen. Their precision ground blades are a significant improvement and do cut much better than their older blades though. Charley

I have relief carved patterns that size, but never cut them on my scroll saw. I don't care for cutting with spiral blades, except when clearing out areas difficult to cut with a blade. I have made a few things where I combined both carving and scroll sawing, but these were small and less than 50 hours to complete. The cross below was cut from one piece of mahogany using my scroll saw and then the face of the leaves and vines carved and shaped with an air powered carver/repurposed dentist drill and 1/6" diameter bits. The finish is poly and Rub-N-Buff antique gold on the leaves. About 12 hours total to make. Family demand has required the building of many copies of this. Sixteen have been made since this first one. Charley