OzarkSawdust

"Mineral oil has issues too. I did a bit of research into mineral oil, not random people on the internet but actual research papers. Mineral oils are absorbed through your skin and can cause health issues. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of the information is behind a money wall where you have to pay to read the research. Mineral oil is a liquid byproduct of refining crude oil to make gasoline and other petroleum products." Mineral oil is sold in most stores as a natural laxative. It is meant to be taken internally for it to work, although I've never tried using it that way...LOL. It's also in cosmetics, baby oil, massage oil, that's all I'm going to tell about that use...LOL, and a host of other things in everyday life. Maybe there's an "industrial mineral oil" also that's not as refined ??? I'm not worried about the mineral oil itself, if I had to take a tablespoon of something in the shop I put on wood....that would be better than lacquer or shellac! You can get a pint of mineral oil at Walmart for $1.98...at Home Depot Watco Danish Oil is $8.98. If you're doing one or two or a few it doesn't matter. When making a hundred to two hundred puzzles it does , at least to me. Walgreens Mineral Oil _ Walgreens.html

I'm confused. I've never tried a compound yet...but I thought you use a solid square piece of wood, like a 1 1/2 " x 1 1/2...???

Dan, I saw someone mention the 50/50 bath before. But they said NOT the "green" mineral spirits...?? What's that all about?

Yup...as one of Iggy's "Puzzle Zombies" I use food grade mineral oil on all my puzzles. I'll get 3-4 cut out, give them about a 5 second dip, and place them on a wire cookie rack over a pan. I have a plastic container with a lid that I keep the oil in. Don't remember the exact size but it's big enough to dip one puzzle, then the lid goes on. It has a handle on each side that flips up and locks the lid on...very important LOL. I originally slotted 3 days sitting, but later found it "dried" sooner. If I turned it over after a day the oil that was sitting on the wire rack was now on top and finished by the second day. Also if I needed to speed it up for a show I would get a roll of the blue shop towels and lay the puzzle on it after an overnight in the rack. These blue towels are designed to soak up oil and grease in mechanic shops, so they pull the excess oil off very well. I might note that these puzzles are the only thing I use mineral oil on. Almost forgot, I do use it on Trivets although I haven't don any this year. I made and sold just over 100 of these puzzles at craft shows last season (Dec - Mar) while we were in south TX Rio Grande Valley, and have made a bunch this summer to take down this season as stock. So I can spend less time working and more time having fun with friends and going to Mexico! I tried to answer you with a bunch, maybe too much, info on how I do puzzles. If you really want to know... message Iguanadon aka. Iggy. He's the Jedi Master of the animal puzzles! He does hundreds every year and has quite a following in his area. He is very successful so why should I "reinvent the wheel"? OK...I'll shut up now

Awesome work Kris!!

Hey John...I didn't know they had a post office way out there...LOL

Yes, Denny is good people! I've got blades from him before and will again, also a Pegas blade chuck for my King. In fact I was just talking to him today on framing, and he gave me some good ideas.

Awesome cutting!

Your patterns Dan? I like those, what are the measurements please?

Awesome job Dave!! Fantastic pattern, cut beautifully. I'd do one of myself...but it would probably break the saw

Love your boxes Jim. Now that I have a lot more experience on the scroll saw I need to try that again. When I first saw them, almost a year ago, I had just got a WEN scroll saw and was trying to figure the whole "scrolling" thing out.

YES! I thought I heard him tell me to get a new planer...?

I was working on a wedding sign for a customer last night. When I noticed my shop cat trying to decide which blade I should use next!

Very nice! A different take on it. Here are a couple I've done. In fact I'm working on one right now. It's like the top photo, for a wedding the 10th.

I've never been able to get it to download and install right. Others have worked...but not this one. When doing install all users the progress bar never shows anything. It comes on screen a couple of seconds and goes away. Any ideas?

Great cut!! Who did the pattern?

I prefer TAP...but than again, I prefer BEER !

Thanks Gus! And thank you for your service. What branch? I’m going to do an Air Force one for one of the nurses at my Dr. office. Her dad was Air Force and has a birthday coming up in Oct.

Thanks Denny! If I won the lottery I could build one heck of a shop!!!

Thank you!

Yesterday a lady at the fair board told me of another contest in Memorial Hall that I should enter. So I checked it out and took two pieces out of my window to enter in two separate categories. When the judging was done I placed 1st for one entry and 2nd place for the other!!! This is fun, I'll have to do a couple new super pieces for next year.

Thanks Les!

Great job! Word pieces drive me nuts.

Great cut on a really cool pattern! They put out some really great music. How was it to cut1/2"Oak instead of a 1/4" in something? Does it show that much more depth? Great job!

A year ago I didn't know what a "scroll saw artist" was...Now I are one...LOL