Jim McDonald

To echo Stevan, I find the Pegas blade more aggressive. I tried them when I was a novice cutter and quite frankly--they got away from me. After more time cutting and getting a better feel for blade/wood/speed, I could handle that blade much more effectively. I would hate a fairly new scroller to get a blade they can't handle and it is based 100% on personal experience.

When I worked for the newspaper (in ancient days), we had a light table we used to do alignments and we were holding register at anywhere from 85 dots per inch to 125+ dpi for color work. If I have to align a pattern these days, I will tape one sheet to a window and then get the second sheet aligned and tape and THEN trim the excess overlap. Makes it easy to see through the pattern.

I don't know that particular pattern, but since you are only cutting 1/2" total, a FDUR-3 will cut right through most anything with more than acceptable results. There are mail order sources for quality blades. Bosch is not one of them. Get Olson or Flying Dutchman and if you are an average to above average cutter, you can get Pegas blades. I would not recommend the Pegas for a novice cutter, but they are great blades also. Wayne was right on the money about letting the blade do the work. I find that if I am putting a deadline on myself, I tend to push and end up with blade troubles until I get my mind right about the "deadline".

I hope to finish mine this weekend. Three more layers to cut. Assembly partially done.

A mentor to many and a friend to many more. I'll have to assemble my postage stamp puzzle tonight in honor of a true friend.

An expensive saw will not make the wood stay on the table any better than a freebie!. But, good blades will make an inexpensive saw cut much better. You can take the top of the line saw and put in a crappy blade and even the most experienced person here will have problems with the blade. Do yourself a big favor and get some Olson or Flying Dutchman blades (lots of online sources). IMHO, the Pegas blades are a bit too aggressive for a new cutter.

When I bought my first single speed Delta, I had to bottom feed, but once I got the DeWalt, it took me all of about three entry holes to learn to top feed. I have the occasional hole that doesn't want to take the blade of one reason or another, but a 1/16" drill bit generally cures that problem.

Sloan's Woodshop usually has a good selection of Baltic (and sometimes Finnish) birch plywood. Have been happy with my past purchases there.

Not to hijack the thread, but that is a great looking frame. Beautiful work.

When you go to look for a new pot, there are two type--audio and linear. That is most likely a linear pot. When you get ready to resolder, use an ohmmeter to make sure the posts work in the same direction. Most will work in either direction, but may be wired different internally. Resistance will go up clockwise on some pots and down on others. Best to doble check center to outside lead on both--on both sides of the pot.

I did a couple of pieces in 7/8" B. Cherry and just about swore off cutting after that ordeal. The pieces looked great when finished, but I did go through blades about 3 to 1 over other species. Your stuff looks great. They will be beautiful when completed.

I'm thinking it was a bind and I just tried to get a little too tight in the turn--instead of just backing out and easing into the turn.

I have been scrolling for nearly 15 years and yesterday I had a (hopefully) one of a kind experience. Let me set the scene: Stack of 3 x 1/4" exterior grade plywood Really tight inside cuts Almost new FD#3UR blade. Knowing I had some really tight inside cuts coming, I changed the blade about 3 or 4 inches before I got to the said tight cuts and everything was going just great. When in got into the corner, the blade snapped out of the holders--both at once. Well, that was strange enough, but when I went to grab the blade with pliers to pull it out, the top half was turned about 30 degrees relative to the lower side. (No wonder it torqued out of the holders!) But I could not get the blade to move with the pliers--just a tiny bit of movement and then the top section broke off. Oh well--just grab the bottom and pull it out. No such luck. Pull and tug as I would--that blade was stuck and was not going to move. Now this piece is some fretwork, so I didn't want to get too violent. Final solution was to break the blade right at the surface of the bottom and then put in a new blade to extricate the 3/4" section that was un-retrievable. I managed to loosen enough wood around it to get the section out without altering the pattern--but that blade went into the burn bucket still wedged firmly in the stack. I have broken a lot of blades through the years and never had a problem getting the remainder out of the stock--but this one was a new one on me. Luckily, there was no damage to the cutting and after I got the section out, I was able to breathe a little easier and not worry about throwing three pieces of 6" x 8" fretwork in the bin and starting over.( I was nearly finished with the inside cuts at that point.)

(and that might be dangerous) But, in the past couple of weeks there have been a few topics from newer scrollers asking questions about machines, blades and/or techniques that those of us who have been doing this for years do automatically and never give it a second thought. But, in answering those questions (or reading the replies) I have forced myself to think more fully about the stuff we do and the steps we go through as automatically as we tie our shoes. A few examples: wood jumping on table (blade upside down or tension); blades breaking (tension or incorrect size/pushing); glue ups before or after finishing--and the list goes on. And as a community, scrollers are VERY fast to share information and extend a helping hand and my younger self appreciated that and I will always try to help "newbies" with anything I can and I know that after 10+ years sitting on the stool cutting, I can and do learn almost every time I am at the saw (or read a forum post here or over at SSWC). I want to thank the community for the help given in the past, the learning I am doing now and the questions I will have in the future. And I challenged myself to read all posts that seem to be asking for help--just to make sure there is not something I have learned (generally through hard knocks) that I can pass along to help someone else NOT make the mistake I did. (I made a lot of fancy firewood)

I have lockable casters under all three legs of my 788. It is necessary since I do 99% of my cutting outside. My old Delta and even the Hitachi, I could comfortably carry into position, but the DeWalt is heavier (and I am older).

Ordered some maple and walnut the day he posted this pattern. Going to be a Christmas present for my wife.

I didn't see any issues with the text. I continue to follow your exploits and wish you all the best.

Johnson's Paste Wax--in the yellow can.

Ever since I got my 788, I have been a confirmed top feeder. I always load the top hold first and then feed through the cutting and line up on the bottom clamp. That said, I worked in a photographic darkroom for many years, so hitting the bottom holder without being able to see it is almost second nature.

Don't know what the weather is in your locations, but here in the Midwest USA, it is a marvelous day to drag the saw out onto the patio, blow it clean, scrub the table and apply a couple of coats of wax to the table. The sun has moved around to the south , but is still plenty strong to heat up the table and open the pores to get a good deep coat on it. Went for two coats while I was out there.

I'm to go WAY out on a limb here and ask the obvious question: Is it possible you have the blade in upside down? The teeth should be pointing down to cut on the down stroke and be smoother on the way up. Everyone here will admit (privately, of course) to having inserted a blade or two up side down, and that will make the wood come up off the table and buck around.

Several years ago, I made a box to hold a gift card and then become a small jewelry box. I glued up several species of wood in varying thickness until it was about 2" high. I drew the box on the wood, drilled holes in all four corners and cut out the inside, then cut the outside to dimension--leaving a wall of about 1/8". Cut a bottom to fit and then made a lid. My niece now uses it store her grandmothers' pearls that she received when she finished her CPA. So, you can cut a blank slightly larger than the photos, then a bottom and get some small hinges from Hobby Lobby to make a top.

He is hiding in his design lair getting ready to amaze us with some cutting so small he used a microscope to see the veining lines.

Wooden Teddy Bear did a great service in preserving Mike's website when they bought the business. The link for the site is https://mikesworkshop.com/

Iggy hit most of the high points. You WILL get a feel for blade/species/thickness questions. My absolute go to blade is a FD-3UR. But, in my stuff are various sizes of FD, Olson and Pegas blades and I will switch depending on my feel at that point. There are some here who cut 95% with one size blade and that is their comfort level. They know what to expect and they can make the blade do their bidding. It seems to me that I am always about 1 size large than the consensus, but it comfortable for me and I can do what I want. I also keep my blade a little tighter than a lot of folks. Unfortunately, there is no set chart that has been published. It is up to the artist to choose their tool.