new2woodwrk

I've been here a few weeks, have asked more than my share of questions and you all have been not only patient, but accepting, welcoming and helpful in your responses. I just want to say thank you to you all for everything. You are a great bunch of people, and this community is one of the best I've found on the internet! Ok, back to our regularly scheduled program....

Thanks, I've been scrolling for a very long month and half LOL - seems like forever! I no longer use ply from the box stores - it's really low grade. I get my ply from ebay and it's very good B quality ply - here are the 2 I get https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8-3mm-x-12-x-12-Baltic-Birch-Plywood-for-Laser-CNC-and-Scroll-Saw-40-pc/351972469846?hash=item51f331ac56:g:EKcAAOxyxnJR6A4O https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4-6mm-x-12-x-12-Baltic-Birch-Plywood-for-Laser-CNC-and-Scroll-Saw-23pc/272247092328?hash=item3f6330f468:g:EKcAAOxyxnJR6A4O Thanks, I'm getting my good wood from http://ocoochhardwoods.com/plywood.php And my ply from https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8-3mm-x-12-x-12-Baltic-Birch-Plywood-for-Laser-CNC-and-Scroll-Saw-40-pc/351972469846?hash=item51f331ac56:g:EKcAAOxyxnJR6A4O https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4-6mm-x-12-x-12-Baltic-Birch-Plywood-for-Laser-CNC-and-Scroll-Saw-23pc/272247092328?hash=item3f6330f468:g:EKcAAOxyxnJR6A4O It comes sanded (I still do a light sanding of 60, 150 and 220 before cutting) and get plenty in a box It's also nice that if I screw up a project, I'm only out $1.25 or $2.40 rather than $30 or more - ply is very expensive here and good ply is no where to be found

Yes, I've read your response to this in another thread and have tried it on an entire run of my projects (I had the danish oil, but had to order the wax) - it's very effective and works well - thanks for the tip! I also am using spray lacquer in the can - semi gloss - and so far I think I like this one best from some of my smaller pieces - but its more expensive than the brush on lacquer and not sure I can maintain that cost I have sprayers and have not tried this technique yet, but I really want to - I'm going to find some water based lacquer as mentioned above and try that as well as trying your Shellac technique - it sounds like I can use more of my tools rather than have then collect dust LOL Thanks all for the great suggestions and insight!

Yah, I would agree with you completely - also, right now I'm slower than molasses! When I do try to speed up, I inevitably screw up - happened this past weekend, thought I could turn up the speed on an outside cut and messed the whole thing up. Also thought I could jump right in and do some letters... Nope - major failure there. I enjoy watching some videos, where they're attempting to teach something unfortunately I don't learn very well from watching - I much prefer to try, then ask questions or be "guided" while I'm trying. Guess I'm just old school that way. No offense taken. You are correct in that I would like to make extra money with this hobby. However, I'm also realistic about it - I know I suck at it but I do see improvement. I'm starting to notice that first my saw is a little bit of a hindrance, which I expected. Only so far in that fretwork can get very tedious: saw trying to insert the blade: Loosen the tension, remove the adapter from the head, Undo the blade from the top adapter, try to thread the blade through the next hole, reattach the blade to the adapter, place the adapter back on the head, tighten the tension. I'm thinking a higher end saw would make that much simpler as I've watched Steve G. with his Dewalt and it looks much easier than my Wen. Also, for the past year and 1/2 or so, I've been learning as much as I can about woodworking - from a hobby perspective of course and hoping that I could make a few items that were worthy of selling (which I think I've made a few nice tables). The problem for me and woodworking in general, is space. I don't have enough to make a bunch of tables, chairs, cabinets etc. to store and try and sell. Then I found Scroll sawing and BAM! Now this is more to my liking. I can cut a project in less than an hour rather than taking 2-3 days to complete a woodworking project - and I can even tell what it is when I'm done - yeah, I'm liking this. And if I don't like it, I can trash it - no major financial loss - just a piece of BB ply (at the moment), rather than lose a hundred dollars or more on wood for a table I miss cut, miss Dadoed (which I always seem to screw up) or miss measured. So yeah, I'm like your buddy in that I would like to make some money, but I'm also enjoying the "chase" and learning lots of stuff - it's much easier to learn stuff when a failure only costs a buck or two, and restocking blades is about .65 cents each rather than $30-$60 per! Plus I get to blog about my mistakes and achievements and get you guys to correct me as needed LOL

nice work - thanks for sharing

That's a really nice tip - well done

Nice job - thanks for sharing - what blade did you use?

Darn good cutting - would drive me nuts I think

+1 Katie Rocks! Thanks for posting those!

Thanks - always interested in what others with more xp are doing and find works best

One thing I notice about many techniques and aspects of wood working is the amount of pressure to apply during various stages of application. Yet, I've only read maybe 1 or 2 articles that actually describe the amount of pressure to use during techniques. Here are a few examples: Scrolling - how much pressure do you apply when pushing your work piece to the blade? Hand Sanding - how much pressure do you apply when sanding a work piece? Painting - how much pressure do you apply when painting a coat on a piece, do you dab, do you stroke, do you "tickle"? I now know when scrolling to use just enough pressure until the blade starts to cut the wood - I also notice, that sometimes the blade cuts really well when a certain amount of pressure is applied and not very well when less pressure is applied. Thoughts? Thanks in advance

When you apply your finishes to your work, do you use a Brush, a sponge or rag to wipe it on? I'm not talking about the pre-finish like stain or oil, but the final coating like lacquer or shellac. I've started to use foam sponges for my final coats and it seems to be working fairly well. I do have sprayers, but don't see the benefit of using them and getting them caked up with poly etc. - That stuff is too much work to clean for just a little use. The sponges, I can just toss in water to keep the pliable and throw them out if they get stiff. I've also used some spray lacquer which works really well, but is too expensive to use on everything Thoughts? Thanks in advance

Come on - be brave - I'm new and post all my ugly stuff as I create it. It helps to see progress and get feedback on what I'm doing wrong so I can adjust

Very nice projects - thanks for sharing

AFAIK - when wood "warps", it's because of drying unevenly. I was told to add water to the concave side, put a weight on it to flatten and let it sit in the sun for a few hours. I've done this and while the warp was removed, after a few days it came back worse then ever. Sorry I'm no help, but thought I'd add that in case you did a search and found this techinque

I've not heard of this mfg - is King a good product? I see they are sold by woodcraft (we don't have those here) around the same price (little higher) as the dewalt.

You and me both - I check every day for a dewalt to come on the market - nothing

Nice work - Thanks for sharing and feel free to pass that problem on to me

That's a great looking box - thanks for sharing it

cool stuff - thanks for sharing

Who? Oh well, the cut looks great - no clue who they are. Must be an age thing

Very nice - my memories are of Greyhound LOL

Is there a particular font used when making a puzzle? It appears, the puzzles all seem to use the same or similar font. Here is an example of what I'm asking: Thanks in advance

Now that's a cool gift for a youngen'

WOW, that is exquisite! Love the puzzle, and the boat - Food coloring? REALLY?