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Welcome to the Village, James. I know you will find this resource to be extremely valuable and friendly as well. We look forward to seeing your projects as you dive into to scrolling. Bruce

Welcome to the Village, Roger. Bruce

Welcome to the Village, Kim. Bruce

Welcome to the Village, Ken!

I have worked my way through Poly, Poly & Tung oil, Lacquer, and now shellac. Shellac has been a go-to finish for children's toys for decades. I dissolve the shellac flakes using 190 proof Everclear Vodka purchased at a Liquor store. It is has a very little odor but, unfortunately, the 190 proof version is not sold everywhere. I had to drive to Wisconsin to buy it. I used the 1 1/2 pound "cut" (1.5 pounds of shellac flakes per gallon ration or scaled down as needed) as recommended for the French Polish method of application. Shellac can be applied as a sealer, brushed, sprayed, dipped and padded on as a fine finish. Using the French Polish technique you can achieve a high gloss finish that, unlike lacquer, is very "close to the wood." YouTube has a number of videos showing the padding technique. The wood shown here is "Live Edge Cherry" and the finish was padded on with 12 applications rubbed in with roughly 30-45 minutes between applications. I know kids toy makers simply dip and let dry shellac for a non-toxic finish.

Welcome, Tom. You will find the Village to be a great resource for all the questions that come up when breaking into this hobby. One of the greatest discovery is the incredible versatility of the scroll saw. Dive in!! Bruce

Welcome to the Village, Justin.

Welcome to the Village, Ronald. Craigslist can be a really good source for used saws. Good luck!! Bruce

Welcome to the Village, Ken! Bruce Minnesota

Like many, I tried a number of methods for affixing the pattern to the wood. This is the method I have settled on for ease of application, secure connection to the wood and ease of removal. I thoroughly sand my blank (cherry wood) using a final sanding of 400 grit. I wipe the wood with a alcohol dampened cloth until all the sanding dust is removed. I apply Walmart clear shelf liner and use a rubber wallpaper seam roller to press this into the wood and trim it to size.. I print my patterns on 8x10" labels. I cut them to pre-align with each other if necessary. I remove the backing paper and apply them to the self liner surface, roll them and trim the edges flush with the wooden blank. I apply 2" wide clear packaging tape over the surface. This keeps the pattern from lifting as you cut the small details. This sounds complicated but there is nothing more irritating than having a portion of the pattern lifting as you are cutting. On the rare occasion with the above method you can take another piece of the 2" clear packing tape and reinforce a spot that is lifting. I use a small heat gun to take the pattern off and it usually comes off in one piece. This is my method. Bruce

Welcome to the Village, Peter. This is an extremely valuable resource for all, beginner to master. Bruce Minnesota

Hello, Michael from a fellow Minnesotan! You will find this forum extremely valuable for all of the questions you may have. Bruce Bloomington MN

Welcome to the Village, Alverado! This is a great place to get your questions answered and to show off your eventual masterpieces. Bruce

I retired as Vice President of a manufacturing company. I outsourced a number of our products to offshore manufacturing. There were 3 choices: 1. Chinese Manufacturing, 2. Taiwan Manufacturing, 3. Taiwan managed Chinese manufacturing. The 3rd option was the best blend of quality and low cost manufacturing. Without the Taiwanese oversight, inferior parts were inserted into the assembly and shortcuts occurred. Without constant vigilance, the product you got yesterday was not necessarily the product you'll get tomorrow.

Well done! Plaques are my area of interest. Finishing the plaques has been my area of frustration. By the time you get to finishing you have hours of work invested in that wood and a poor finish can really screw it up. I have tried Danish oil (Takes forever), Polyurethane, Lacquer (too plastic looking), and now I have settled on French Polishing with Shellac. French Polishing always sounded exotic and I assumed it was only for experts. I was wrong. It isn't difficult and the results are spectacular. There are many youtube videos on French Polishing and it is ideal for finishing plaques. If anyone is interested, I will post my method and some picture of the results. Bruce