BBerguson

Thanks for all the great replies, I told she would get some from the great bunch of folks here! Dave - She's 11 year's old. The next one will be 1 piece and something thinner. I didn't lose my saw, I had this planned from the beginning! :-) Now I'm guaranteed shop time with my girl!!! Bryan

This was made from some scrap 3/4 birch plywood and the letters were cut separately and then she painted and glued them together. The 'V' was cut with a #9 "regular" blade and the other three letters she cut with a spiral blade. I think she did an awesome job! More to come... Bryan, aka Proud Dad

In the house we moved from, I had my shop in the basement with radiant heated floors. When we moved, we decided to build a separate building for the shop thinking it would be cleaner and we could use the space in the basement. That was all fine and dandy but one thing is missing... In the basement, I could hear everything going on upstairs, the kids playing and such. Now, I hear nothing in the house and really miss the sounds of the kids. So, I don't spend as much time in the shop unless one of the kids go with me. Bryan

I'm lucky, I have a rediant floor heated shop. I keep the thermostat set at 60 which is a perfect temperature for woodworking, especially perfect when it's in the teens outside. Bryan

I'm just learning about the speed, well, and everything else. I really need to put an order in for some blades because all I have is really little ones and really big ones and need to get some in between. I'm thinking some #3's and 5's would be a good start? Bryan

Thanks for all the encouragement! I'm anxious for my daughter to give the saw a whirl and maybe tomorrow she'll go to the shop with me. That will be the real test... :-) Bryan

The Dewalt 788 is up and running. I cut a couple of trees with a Bosch spiral blade. The 3/4 pine was a little easier because I drew the pattern directly onto the boards and the cedar was difficult (at best) to see. Even though the thinner cedar (5/16) did cut easier. It was nice to saw without earmuffs and no real cloud of dust like I get from the band saw. It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to creating new things! Saw is smooth and quiet and I ran it full speed. Bryan

The right one. The one on the left looks unfinished. Bryan

All the "Merry Christmas's" here let's me know I'm in good company. Merry Christmas everyone and I hope I'm scrolling next week! (That will mean I got the Dewalt 788 I wanted for Christmas. :-). ) Bryan

I can't answer your question but will make a comment about the Dewalt 788... I noticed this morning that Rockler has the saw and table for $499. That's a good deal from what I've seen, not sure how long that price is in effect. Bryan

Come on up sometime! Winter is the best time to be in the shop, the colder it is outside the warmer it feels inside! Bryan

Actually, I spent alot of time in their Montoursville store until they kicked me out. Said I was drooling on too many machines and creating rust... Then they had to go and close that location. We were down there today for our annual Christmas shopping trip and that was always one of the stores I shopped at. Not today though. With that said, I have a 10 inch left tilt table saw, 20 inch planer, 8 inch jointer, 14 inch band saw, 6x40 belt sander, dust collection, a 18g brad nailer and a couple of other air tools. The planer and jointer were bought used and I've never had a problem with any them. It's good equipment! Bryan

I own lots of Grizzly equipment and have been happy with all of it. I don't own one of these but I wouldn't be afraid to if I needed or wanted one. Bryan

I would check for a burned wire or connection. Wire connections will easily burn in half if they are loose at all. I have a Bosch random orbit sander that quit one day. I opened it up and found a burned off connection exactly as I described above. A little be of fanagaling with a new piece of wire and a new connection and the sander was running again like new. It was about 12 years old at the time and it owed me nothing and I could have easily tossed it. That was about 6 years ago and it's still running strong. I wouldn't be surprised if something similar was wrong with your saw. Bryan

Kevin, They both look great! If I had a quarter for every time someone spelled my name with an "i" instead of an "y"... Bryan with a "Y" :-)

Yes, if not under the tree Christmas morning then I'll pick one up in a week or two from Lowes. (I already have a gift card for there). I may order an assortatment of blades while I'm waiting.

Thank you all for the welcomes and encouragement! I'm anxious to get started but I'm putting enough hints out to the family about a Christmas present... So, I'd hate to buy one myself and screw up their chance to buy me a nice gift! If there's not one under the tree, I'm off the week after Christmas so I'll go shopping then. In the mean time, I'll keep asking questions and drooling over the incredible work I'm seeing on this site. The project I'm building has 3/4 inch thick trees. I've been saving my scrap pieces of cherry and oak but have them just about used up cutting with the bandsaw. When I'm done with that, I'll be using 3/4 inch pine. I may see about getting some rough pine and bandsawing and planing to 3/8 but i'm not sure that will be worth the extra work for the minimal reduced cost. Trying not to think too much about that stuff because ultimately, I want my daughter to have some fun making something she can sell. Looks like I need to study up on blades... Bryan

Would you compare the sound to a sewing machine? My wife and daughter have been making some sewing crafts and running the sewing machine at the dining room table. It's a relaxing sound to listen to. I'm hoping the scroll saw will be a similar noise level and useable in the basement so my daughter can use it when she wants to. My wood shop is a detached building and I'm not comfortable with her being there alone.

I've been woodworking for about 23 years and have a fairly large dedicated wood shop. Recently, I started cutting out some "Christmas" trees on my bandsaw for a project I've been wanted to do for about 2 years. I wanted to cut about 400 of them to start with to build 100 of the items so I needed some help. My 11 year old daughter, being the crafty person she is started helping me and I trained her how to use the band saw to cut the trees. She was doing a great job until momma found out... She was too afraid of her cutting herself on the saw (and yes, I was worried too, she is a true Daddy's girl afterall and I pity the fool that ever hurts her... :-). ). Anyways, It was decided that it was too dangerous even though she was great at keeping her little fingers out of the way. It just wasn't worth it. So, what to do... Maybe a scroll saw would work. I started doing some research on saws, projects, blades, videos and forums, which brought me here! To say that I'm impressed with the talent here would be an understatement but it's all I've got right now with the little to nothing I know about scrolling. But, I'm impressed!!! I think I found the right place to help me (and my daughter) get started. What do I know about scroll saws and scrolling? I just told you... NOTHING! I have never even touched a a scroll saw let alone used one. My researching (and budget) keeps pointing me towards a Dewalt 788 and I haven't really read anything to convince me I'm wrong. I think it would be any easy saw to work with for me and my daughter and ultimately, she's the one that counts... So, any advice and or help in my journey would be appreciated. Bryan