SawTooth1953

I think the hybrid choice is yours to make. Using a wood burning tool is still hand-made. There are many situations where veining adds to the result and the access holes used, even for very fine blades, have the potential to be distracting. That's not to mention the time consumption to do a lot of them. Scroll saw 'purists' aren't truly your 'target audience' for your work. Don't worry too much about them. (The only time it actually comes into play is in a "competition" situation, which are few and far between, and the sponsor should be queried about hybrid work where pyrography is added to the scroll saw project.) Thanks for sharing. Spence Chicago

Hi. I can tell you that there is a LOT of info here and elsewhere on the web. But I will add that the public library system has a LOT of books on scroll sawing. I learned a lot by borrowing books from the library. There are excellent books that review basics of scrolls saws and give an overview of all of the kinds of projects that can be done. There are workbooks that serve as tutorials, as they progress from simplest projects and graduate skills to more advanced. You should be able to browse library holdings from your nearest library as well as any and all libraries in the wider area. You should be able to borrow from any library (following whatever rules they have) and they should send it over to your nearest library for convenient pickup and return. Some of the best books like that are authored by people like Spielman and Nelson, and Boelman. Then there are other books that focus on projects using one of the methods or making one kind of project. Among the popular projects/methods are: fretwork, intarsia, segmentation, box-making, bowl and vase making, marquetry/parquetry, clock making, jigsaw puzzles of all kinds, 3-D or compound cut projects, and more. When it gets down to the details for a particular project you are starting, feel free to post questions, eg. wood selection, blade selection, getting a pattern onto the wood, sanding, applying finish, backer boards, framing, etc. A lot of answers are project-specific, even though there are also a lot of generalizations that can be made, some in the books and some from the experienced scrollers here. Lastly, I am hoping you have a scroll saw that accepts plain-end blades, as many of the finer cuttings require that. If you can only use pinned blades, all is not lost, but you might run into limitations and might find some categories of projects or specific projects just aren't conducive to being done on that saw. Still, after you get a LOT of pleasure from whatever it is you decide to do, don't be surprised if you start applying what you know of your saw's limits (even if it takes plain-end blades!) and you might find yourself shopping for a new saw in a year or two. Pretty much all of us do that!! Enjoy!!