rod143

It's hard to beat Harbor Freight's magnifying light for the price; probably around $35 here in PA. I bought mine around 4 years ago and I use it almost daily, no issues.

Charles Dearing makes a lot of large projects and I believe he only uses spiral blades. You may want to look at some of his videos on YouTube. He may also respond to questions. Good Luck!

I usually drill my hole near a sharp transition. Of course the type of pattern has a lot to do with where I drill a hole.

The inlays are made with red cedar that have been coated with India ink and sealed with clear shellac.

Eastern red cedar is a pretty wood that can be obtained at Lowes for lining closets, but of course it makes a great wood for scrollers for small projects; since the wood comes in narrow widths (< 4" wide). I have used it for coasters and other small projects. Enclosed is a red cedar coaster with inlays coated with India ink and the whole coaster sprayed with clear shellac. The pattern was adapted from the cover of a Celtic jewelry box by Steve Good.

Jim Blume makes a lot of great patterns.

What a beautiful job! Gives me hope that I can do much better.

I use acetone to clean new blades before installing them and lightly sand them with fine grit sand paper. Probably mineral spirits are just as good, but I haven't tried that.

This is a Teddy Roosevelt picture I did recently using both spiral and straight blades. Most of the straight line work was done with straight blades and the hair and mustache done with spirals.

I use both types of blades often on the same project. For veining and long straight cuts I usually use straight blades. For irregular areas where the shape is not picked out by the eye I use spirals. Some areas along the side of the face if they are not "right" are picked out quickly by the viewer. I seem to have a little more control with straight blades, but they take longer for much of the work.

I have been using the saw for about 2 years and able to do any project I have wanted. I have had some minor problems with blades slipping out of the holders. When that happens I clean the ends of the blades in acetone and lightly sand the ends with fine grit sand paper and that seems to cure the problem. I started with an entry level WEN scroll saw prior to acquiring the Delta and the Delta works much better, especially when using pinless blades. I have not had any maintenance issues with the Delta. I probably average 4 - 6 hours of use a week.

Great advice. Another helpful tip is to take on new challenges, try 3d patterns if that is a new challenge for you or maybe fret work that can best be done with spiral blade. These are just some of the things you can try that will help learn new skills.

I started with an entry level saw and watched as many videos on scroll sawing as I could find and I found out about Steve Good's blog and signed up for that. I discovered Gwennette's website and looked at most of there videos on scroll sawing and picked up a lot of tips there. About three months after buying an entry level scroll saw I bought a better one for $350 and I have been using that one since, 21 months. Where I live in PA we have no local clubs and I didn't know anybody locally that even had a scroll saw. Read as much as you can, watch videos on youtube, don't be afraid to try something different and remember super glue goes a long way in fixing a problem. I have gotten some very useful patterns that others have contributed to this site. I would recommend a book by, Patrick Spielman, "The New scroll Saw Handbook" available from Amazon.

A nice assortment of very well done patterns!