Oscar Myer

Around here the only hardwood I can get is red oak, birch and maple. All of this is VERY expensive. However, I have a friend of mine who has his own company that makes hardwood flooring. I get my rough lumber dirt cheap. For $200 I can come home with a truckload of rough oak and birch. I do my own milling on my 6" jointer and thickness planer. I know it sounds like a lot of work, and it is. But it sure as heck beats paying $50 or more for a single 1" x 6" x 8' board at the box stores. During my very short scroll sawing "career" () I have found that the best wood for me to cut on the scroll saw is birch, 1/2" thick. Trouble is that there's no grain that will stand out once a finish is applied to the piece. I love oak for furniture building but found that because of it being so hard it is impossible for me to do anything with it on the scroll saw. For stuff like "word art" I mostly have been using 1/2" plywood. Lately I have been cutting with some ash that I found in my woodpile. This wood is beautiful to cut and has a very nice grain that comes out when a finish is applied. I also have some maple somewhere and may give that a try. My shop is very small - 25' x 12' x 8'. It is very well stocked with tools. I put in a lot of planning when I was setting everything up. Virtually every large tool is on wheels. If I want to use one I roll another one out of the way and then return it from where it came, against a wall when finished. I'm only using 3 bench tools at the moment... a small drill press, a small 1" belt sander and a vice. This doesn't mean that I don't have other bench tools because I have plenty more of them. But with the lack bench real estate I keep most of it in another room on shelves and bring them out when needed. Yes... the shop is very compact but I feel grateful that I do at least have a shop. I could post a few pictures if I knew where to put them. /Oscar

Yep... works very well for sure. My ritual when I go into the shop now, in this order is: Turn on the lights, turn on the dust infiltrator, turn on the radio, sit for an hour with 2 big cups of coffee and decide what I'm going to do on that day. /Oscar

Such a coincidence for this subject to come up now. I bought an air filtration system from Amazon and put it up last week. My shop is very small - 12' x 25' x 8' high. For years I have been working down there without any dust collection of any kind. It's only since I started scrolling in November that I noticed how much more dust was being created. I mean that it was always bad but seemed to get worse using the scroll saw. So I figured I would give the air filtration system a try. I am totally amazed at the difference it has made. I have been cutting plywood all day and there's virtually no dust around the shop. The machine just works. Sawdust is another thing. I have a dust collector that I hook up to my jointer or planner and that helps a lot. But no matter what I do there is still going to be sawdust on the floor. So I'll keep doing what I have been doing for years... sweep it up with a broom and then run the shop-vac over it. This doesn't take very long to do seeing as the shop is so small. The main thing is, there's no dust. /Oscar

I have a DeWalt saw on the DeWalt stand. The stand lets me attach my pedal to the front crossbar with a couple of zip-ties. I drilled a hole in the bar just big enough to put the zip-tie through it. On the other end of the pedal I just zip-tied the wires going into the pedal. This setup is perfect for the height I like to be when cutting. I have no idea if this setup will work for other makes of saws but it works for me. My new stool came from Costco. My butt is extremely comfortable because it has lots of padding which is truly a blessing for when I'm sitting for more than a few hours at a time. The back curves into my lower back giving it very good support. /Oscar

Nice chair Mimi!!! But you're not alone with your new acquisition I like to sit high when scrolling. I also need good lower back support. This baby has all my needs.

Hi folks... I have been working my tooch off lately these past few days. Since pictures of my work went up on Facebook I haven't stopped. I have already "sold" 4 other pieces and have 2 more ready to go. At present, another Sue Mey crescent moon/Merry Christmas piece is being cut. Time is getting short which is making me feel that I may have to stop taking any more orders. The fun part (yeah, right.) is about to begin. I've decided to do the painting on a few pieces at a time. My Mrs. let me know that she's selling them for $10.00 a piece. Hmmm... I couldn't believe it when my phone rang this morning and someone ordered 2 Noel/candle pieces... for next year!!!

Thanks all for all the encouragement!!! I'm really having fun. As for putting the money I make in a jar, well that's been pretty hard to do seeing that I haven't seen a cent of it so far. Seems it's all going to my "agent." Funny story about my "agent." When I first started cutting I brought my first finished piece for her to see. She went crazy!!! Then she says, "you do the cutting and I'll do the painting!" I thought this was a pretty good partnership setup. So off we go to the craft shop where she picked up a load of paints and glitter. After getting home I brought the piece to her so she could start working on it. She looked me in the eye and said, "I really HATE painting!" I'm like, WT...??? She never even opened the bag with all the art supplies!!! So, guess who has been taking a crash course in painting? Gotta love her. /Oscar

Hi Scrappile... I love Sue Mey's piece too!!! Fact is, I've only had 2 requests for it which actually surprised me. As I mentioned, the Steve Good candle/holly/"Noel" seems to be the most requested. As of today I have 5 more to cut. Actually, 4 1/2 now. /Oscar

Hi Bagerboy... I cut Steve Good's "wreath, bells and ribbon from 1/2" birch and 1/8" backer board. I like the 1/2" thickness of the wreath as well. As is, it is very delicate when cutting. I'm sure that if I were to try doing it on 1/4" material I would still be there trying to keep it glued together. /Oscar

Hi Marg... The moon/Merry Christmas pattern is from Sue Mey. She has loads of great stuff, some of which I just can't resist putting out the $5 for.

Two more pieces cut... and sold!!! Gotta love Facebook once in a while... and my wife. I have a couple more orders. It seems that the candle is very popular for some reason. I have two more orders to make. /Oscar

Sorry for the fact that I haven't given any replies to the new posts since my last time here. Many thanks for all the positive feedback and encouragement. however, I do have a GREAT excuse for not being around lately. I started cutting a couple more Steve Good patterns and a Sue Mey pattern. The photos were posted on Facebook thanks to my better half. And then the orders came in!!! Aside from them there's a few orders from the Mrs herself. She's thinking that they'll be great gifts to her family - brother, two sisters and three nieces. So I've been spending my days in the workshop. The part of my creations that is taking the longest time is the painting. I spent most of the past two days painting rather than cutting. I'm a painting newb as well as a scroller so I'm not very quick at either task. But I'm very happy to report that my time cutting is really coming down. I've discovered a couple of things on my own that are really helping me. Of course, I'm following the rule that says that cutting is "not a race." Bottom line is I'm having a great amount of fun!!! I'll post a few more photos of my work when things get a little more quiet. /Oscar

Thanks all for the encouragement...much appreciated!!! The reason I say that I'm "technically" a newb is because I got my saw 7 years ago. However, about a month after getting it all the problems in my life began. Lost my mom, mom-in-law, brother in-law and dad within a 5 year span. And then there were the 5 surgeries I had on my foot. So even though I have had the saw it was virtually not used over all that time. I have discovered just how much fun it is to scroll. There has been a few chunks of firewood along with some better stuff over the past 3 weeks. I've been watching a lot of videos which have helped tremendously. /Oscar

Hi all... not to brag but... I sold two of my creations today!!! I'm feeling pretty proud considering that I'm technically a three week newb. I know that I didn't even make near enough to cover my time and material costs, but hey... it's worth the feeling I got from the fact that someone actually thinks it's good enough to pay me for it. These are the two pieces I sold... they are both Steve's patterns.

Actually, I kind of made it clear to her that I wanted the garage when we bought the house. I didn't put my foot down or anything like that for to do so would be pointless. But it didn't come without a price. Here in Quebec, Canada, we tend to get a lot of snow in the winter. It is my duty to clean the snow off her car and to make sure it's warm by the time she gets in it. As mentioned, my shop is small - 12 x 25 - so there is a system in place for using all my tools. Everything is on wheels. I often wish that it was bigger but I guess almost all woodworkers wish the same. I know that a bigger shop isn't going to happen so I make do and am happy with what I have. It is heated in the winter and air conditioned in the summer. Life is good when I'm in the shop. /Oscar

I have converted my garage into my workshop. Because it is small just about everything in there is on wheels, including my bench. When I'm ready to glue my patterns I roll the bench to the opened door... not outsid3, just close to the door.. Almost no fumes from the 3M77 come into the shop. Typically I try to glue up 2 or 3 projects at a time. Once done, I roll the bench back to it's spot and start cutting away. /Oscar

Thank you for this, John... Good to know. At this point it is very rare that I would cut anything more than 1/2" hardwood - mostly birch. But I will keep the Olson blades in mind when I want to cut anything thicker. /Oscar

Thanks so much for the replies/suggestions!!! I guess I should have mentioned that FD UR are the only blades I've ever used. And so, as I'm cutting more and more I've become adjusted to the drift. But, if there is something better or at least different out there - something that is used by a lot of experienced scrollers - then I'd really like to give them a try. Like a lot of you suggested, I'm going to order a few Pegas blades and see how I like them. Another reason for wanting to see what they're like is the fact that I can by Pegas blades and pay for them in Canadian dollars. If in fact I do like them I would be saving money on the exchange rate. Thanks again for all your wisdom!!! /Oscar

Hi all... Technically, I am a long time scroller seeing as I've had my DeWalt 788 for more than seven years. In real life I'm pretty much a newbie. When I bought my saw I managed to do a couple of patterns. But shortly after that, a lot of changes were happening in my life that kept me away from the saw - parents passing away within 5 years of each other. And a total of five foot surgeries within two years. And so all of this kept me away from the saw. But I'm happy to report that life has started to level out and I now am back at it. Back when I first got my saw, Flying Dutchman seemed to be everyone's choice of blades. I now see that Pegas blades are popular. Is there really a lot of difference between FD and Pegas. Should I be making the change? My go to blade has been the FD Ultra Reverse #5. I also use the UR #3 for smaller intricate cuts. I love cutting fretwork projects. If I were advised to make the change over to Pegas blades, which ones would be similar to the FD's that I'm using now? Or is there another type that would be even better for me? I'm beginning to get low on blades and will be making an order very soon and am in need of some guidance towards what I should be getting. Most of my projects are done with 1/2 birch or 1/2" plywood on occasion. But mostly birch. Any help would be greatly appreciated. /Oscar

I use blue tape on the wood, glue the pattern on and then cover it with clear tape. As someone mentioned, if you make sure that there are no bubbles in the clear tape very rarely does anything get under it. I know that this may be a bit of overkill but it works for me. My better half has called me "Tim the Tool Man Taylor" once in a while because I do tend to go over and above on anything I do. /Oscar

Greetings Planeur!!! I'm in Chateauguay, QC. (south shore suburb of Montreal)

Welcome fellow canuck... I'm still living in Chateauguay, QC.

I use one of those boxes that have the little drawers that are meant to be used for nuts and bolts etc. I have each drawer labeled, starting on top - smallest to biggest. It sits on a shelf right beside my saw so there's no reaching to get a new blade. Works for me.

Greetings all... Almost seven years ago I stumbled upon scroll sawing on YouTube and thought, hmm... that looks like fun. I started doing some research on saws and decided that the DeWalt would be a good choice. It had mostly great reviews and was somewhat affordable. I realized that I was taking a chance by spending that amount of money on something that I may not like as a hobby but I fell in love with scrolling and am happy that I did pull the trigger on it. Once I got it I then started watching “how to” videos about the saw. The first accessory I quickly got was a foot switch. In a couple of videos, I was told that the saw may be prone to getting fine dust in the saw’s on/off switch and possibly causing the switch to fail. Apparently, a good way to avoid this would be to cover the switch with tape to keep the dust out. I figured, what the hey, why take any chances? I’m still in love with my saw, it’s been a real work horse. Now that the winter weather is on the way, I’ll be spending a lot more time scrolling again.