Davevand

Why not just have the board cut at 1/2" instead of 1 inch to start with? I would resaw on a bandsaw first then run the boards thru my planer. A lot less waste and faster.

For thicker than 1" material I like the Pegas Super Skip blades. I just finished cutting 48 vases out of 1.5" pine using a #9 super skip blade.

I always wait until I figure out what I am going to make with the board before I do more than a skim plane to see what the grain looks like. No reason to make the entire board narrower or thinner for just a small defect.

Try to collect as much dust at the source as possible, don't let the dust get airborne. I setup a two stage system with a small cyclone (Amazon cheap one) in front of my vacuum. It work surprisingly well. I have yet to have to clean the air filter in the vacuum (4 years) and I have emptied the dust bucket several times. I also have a hose on top of my table that is hooked to the vacuum to collect from above the project. There is a surprising amount of dust on top of the table.

Should have added a pic ~6" diameter from point to point at top, 9 layers (10 counting the bottom piece) stack cut from the same piece of stock that was resawn. Short basket has rings that are ~5/16 thick and is about 3-1/4" tall Tall basket has rings that are 7/16" thick and is ~4-1/2 inches tall

I use Steve Good patterns for baskets a lot. I will shrink or blow up the pattern depending in the size of the stock I am using. I also very the thickness of the stock to get a different look. I recently made a SG basket that I stack cut two layers, one layer was thinner than the other, the two resulting baskets look completely different. One is taller and has a narrow look, the other is short and squatty.

I started using this a while ago and really like it, tacks up fast and really holds TITEBOND QUICK & THICK MULTI-SURFACE GLUE

Yes, I wax mine, noticeable difference in how slick it is.

A couple of other things you might want to consider for comfort is the height of your scroll saw table in relation to you seat and how your body is positioned when you are working. About a year ago I noticed I was getting a lot of back pain if I scrolled for more than an hour or so. It was because I was hunched over in an unnatural position as I was working. I had to raise my saw about 1.5 inches and tilt the saw toward me about 10 degrees. Now when I sit at my saw I can lay my forearms flat on my table in a very natural position and see what I am doing without any bend in my neck or back.

I use a cheap stool, I like it for the formed seat and it goes low enough that I can put my feet flat on the for. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TMHXA4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 A couple of years ago I bought a gel seat cushion, it has made a big difference in comfort. https://www.amazon.com/Cushion-Breathable-Honeycomb-Pressure-Non-Slip/dp/B08XX3W5KR/ref=dp_prsubs_1?pd_rd_w=hMH6D&content-id=amzn1.sym.2c74594d-9264-4cdf-bf3d-e4e41e237275&pf_rd_p=2c74594d-9264-4cdf-bf3d-e4e41e237275&pf_rd_r=HKAF99R0DZJ3CC8EKB17&pd_rd_wg=CpSkh&pd_rd_r=cb50ecfc-82ae-4a6b-8e95-a41d8bb817a4&pd_rd_i=B08XX3W5KR&th=1

Packing tape/blue tape does not work very well with epoxy. You will want to use the aluminum foil duct tape. You also need to be sure every little hole and crack is sealed or epoxy will find its way thru it.

When I cut patterns like this out of solid wood, I like to have a blank that is at least 3/8 up to 5/8 thick, so 1/2 inch would be perfect for me. Of course blade speed ,type and mfg also plays a big part.

Not really any difference, a lot of people use the terms interchangably

I don't think epoxy is going to work very well in this application. Epoxy runs like water and will find its way thru the smallest of holes or cracks. If you want some color to fill in, I have used this stuff, easy to work with and lots of colors. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000CGB68/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Each blade type has their pluses and minuses and both have a learning curve to be proficient in using them. I have never had good luck using spiral blade with plywood or stack cutting. I also quite often use both blade types on the same project, all the internal fret work with the spiral and all the external cuts that I want nice and crisp with regular blades.