Dave Wittich

I made this Sue May design for our church "flea market" and it lasted about 5 minutes. Got an awful lot of "I want one of those" after it was gone. Definitely need to make a few more.

Been working on this one ever since I finished the Lord's Prayer a couple weeks ago. FINALLY getting to the point that I'm putting finish on it. Pic was taken about 2 minutes after the spray gun first hit it, so there's a lot of "shine" that won't be there when it's all dry. Minwax Spar Urethane, semi-gloss. The cutting is 1/4" aircraft-grade Birch ply, background is dark-stained 1/4" oak ply from the bigbox, and lettering and overlays are 1/8" aircraft maple. Had some question for quite some time as to whether I wanted to stain the first overlay like the oak background - finally decided to do it. Sure am glad I did. This one was FUN, and just adds to the addiction. Looking for another design to play with now.

That blue tape's a GREAT idea.

Lockdown projects - I like this idea!! Actually, my year of new projects started long before the lockdown but I've managed to start/complete quite a few over the past few months. And now, with the latest complete, another is on the table with the first couple pieces cut already. First pic is what I've managed to complete, center & bottom is the new project and my progress so far. The American Legion sign was/is over 60 years old and was showing its age rather plainly. Looks pretty good now, restored to her original greatness.

AWESOME clock! AWESOME workmanship too. I just came in here, and while studying the project something kinda hit me - so I'm going to make a fool of myself and ask: Referring to 7 & 13 April, the butt joints - would it have been possible to dado each of the joints to make the overall structure stronger? The basic stock is 3/4" and my eyeball's telling me each segment is about 3" long on the outside. I'm thinking a 1" long, 3/8" deep dado (half the stock thickness) on the rear side of each joint would strengthen the whole structure immeasurably. Or, is it an "appearance" thing? Inquiring minds want to know. below is a poor drawing of what I had in mind.

And the adventure ends. Brought them up out of the shop today - can't hardly believe they're done, finally. Plans are to give one to the church, should they find it worthy, and to put the other up for sale. Still have 3 full center sections complete - thinking of assembling one of them without the outer framing to keep for myself and, should the one sell, to assemble the last 2 with the outer framing for sale. Here they are, as they came out of the shop and one hanging in the living room. Yeah, I think I've actually impressed myself on this one.

OK meflick - wanna argue that "slowest scroller" thing again? One month and still at it. OK, I admit, I'm actually stretching this thing out just a bit - my spar urethane is apparently getting a bit past its prime and it's taking somewhat longer for each coat to dry than I'd like, close to twice as long for each coat. BUT, I gotta say, I'm liking this one an awful lot. Third coat on front this morning. This evening it's nearly dry and very VERY smooth and even. If all's totally dry in the morning I'm turning them over and starting the back-side finish coats (2). Been thinking, for quite some time, about tackling what I think is probably one of the biggest, most complex projects a scrollsaw can take on - the Milan Cathedral. Might have to get a bit more serious about it - this project's been an awful lot of fun but I think that might actually (for me) be the ultimate. Thoughts anyone?

OK, everybody gets one, right? After 3 days of drying time (yeah, 70/30 urethane/turpentine ratio - took awhile), I spent 2 hours, this morning, hand-sanding both boards with 400-grit sandpaper - bringing all the booboo's back to some kind of civilized appearance. THEN, spent another 2 hours unclogging my sprayer ... we won't go into details about that though. (yeah, sometimes I'm an idiot) Finally, both boards got their 2nd coat of finish and they look GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pics tomorrow, maybe, before they get coat #3. Using semi-gloss spar-varnish type urethane, I'm planning on 4 coats on front, 3 in back.

That's really quite an amazing piece of workmanship. Well done!

Sure you could!!! Just like any other scrollsaw project, y'er just following the lines - but this project has a few more lines than most. ---------- And just like that, the day is over. First coat of spar urethane is on both of them, took approximately 2 minutes to spray after 10 minutes of setup and then another 10 minutes of cleanup.

OK! First board's standing, complete except for polyeurethane. Second board's on the table - got stained today. Tomorrow I start putting all the goodies on that one.

CUTTING IS FINISHED!!!!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here, you see my high-dollar, super-high-tec, method of holding the framework down while the glue dries. I've actually got a whole set of dedicated lead weights for this purpose - if I knew where I put them last, I'd be using them. Oh, well. Anybody got a use for near $50-worth of dead scrollsaw blades?

(5:00 AM)For sure, that little safety foot is a major pain - only thing it serves for is to block your view and break your wood - - didn't last a minute when I bought the saw, yea those many decades ago. Another thing that went the way of the dodo at nearly the same time was that little clear plastic shield that covered the blade. First thing it did was fog up with sawdust so I couldn't see a thing - so, bye bye to the shield too. Dragonkort - you're funny. What you describe could almost be our house - everything, everywhere. Susan and I will occasionally do a full clean-up of the place but then neither one of us can find anything for the next month or so. Guess that's the bonus you get for sticking around this long - no mind. Y'know, when I was young I used to worry a lot about losing my mind, but now that it's gone I don't miss it even a little bit. By the way, Spike's lucky to have you - - - just in case you didn't know that already. Hoping to get back to cutting today. Yesterday was our Red Cross blood drive at the American Legion and I always work that. It's 8 hours of good socializing and a good cause too. Can't give, myself - banned for life because of the European Mad Cow thing back in the 80s AND Chernobyl. Well y'all, sun's looking to come up, coffee's ready (first pot of the day, anyway) and my other half is stirring. Pretty close to time to head out to the horses, and then some more "follow the lines". Hoping to do the last cutting tomorrow - doubt I can finish it all today, but you never know. (10:15PM) Well, I almost made it. 6.25 hours, which puts the project at 112.25 hours total, 5 more blades (98 total) and another hour or so tomorrow and the cutting will be done. YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then, we start gluing and assembly.

We're getting there. Almost approaching what I'd call a good work day - 5.25 hours, which is really a miracle for me lately. I'd guess the final piece is something over 1/3 done, and on only 5 blades.

Short day in the shop today - just barely 4 hours. Horses had the priority today, farrier & vet for yearly shots, checkup, etc etc. Still, managed to get that bottom panel ("Amen Amen") done and the last, most complex panel of them all, started.

I thank you, Dragonkort. I DO appreciate. I'm no guru with a scrollsaw, that much is certain. Also, my scrollsaw is a 1991-built Dremel model 1671 - definitely no high-end scrollsaw, but it gets the job done for me. If I remember right, I paid about $100 for it (might have been a bit less), new, in 1992 and she's been running ever since. I might add that it's mounted on a really old Sears router table that folds up. It's light and rather easy to move around when I'm cleaning up the shop. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! If I use a term that somebody doesn't understand, PLEASE let me know! I grew up military (US Marine father & mother) and spent 22 years in the Air Force. I know my language is somewhat different from most people (my family reminds me constantly - my 2 brothers have difficulty with my speech and terminology regularly), especially being that I was a linguist - 4 languages. I also have a nasty habit of not being the most polite person in the world - another "military" thing. If I say something here that sounds a bit "off", PLEASE don't take offence. It's just "me". Now, cutting. Whether it's a 6" cross cut from 3/4" shelving pine or something like what I'm doing here - it always boils down to one simple rule ... "follow the lines". Really, that's all there is to it. The only difference is, some projects have more lines than others, so they take longer. Wood is wood - really. Never be afraid of it, or screwing something up. Mistakes are how we learn, and believe me - I make plenty of them. The stuff I'm using right now is aircraft-grade birch ply in 3 different thicknesses (looking for the 3D effect) and the backing is 1/4" Lauan Mahogany plywood, 2-sheets glued together on their back sides, making it 1/2" thick. Most plywood will bend / warp with time, Lauan's a prime example. By gluing two sheets together back-to-back, you eliminate much/most/all of that warping. Aircraft-grade birch ply is a bit more expensive than what you'd get at Lowes or Home Depot, but it's the INSIDE of the plywood that I'm interested in here. Regular plywood, even the better grades, can have gaps within the plys and with this project, gaps are doom. Aircraft-grade is guaranteed to have zero gaps, every inside board/plate/panel (use your own terms, they're only 1/64" thick on that 1/8" thick ply) is guaranteed to be glued to the panels above and below, AND to the panels on each side of them. They're truly solid wood. Only thing is, you have to pay for that little guarantee. On this project, it's worth it, for me. However, I just finished a pair of what's named the "Small Lord's Prayer". Like this project, they're sitting on regular, everyday, 1/4" Lauan Mahogany plywood (the stuff is great, and always has been) and they're cut from Lowes 1/4" Maple plywood. The sheets came from the "specialty" row, 2' X 4' sheets and they were great! Not real expensive either. I made 2 at the same time (simply 2 layers of ply, nailed together and cut at the same time - I'm doing the same thing here, but with 5 layers), I'll include a pic at the bottom. I'm pretty sure everybody has their favorite blades, my "go-to" blade for most things is the #5R. It's a fairly fine cut but it can go through wood decently quick and the reverse teeth at the bottom (that's the "R") minimize sanding of the bottoms at the end of the cutting part of a project. Better than 90% of this present project is cut with the 5R. I use different blades for different effects, mainly. I've got blades as fine as 2/0 (little more than a thin wire with tiny teeth on one side) and the biggest, nastiest blade I use is a #9, which will definitely take your finger off if you're not careful. The super fine blades allow you to turn super-tight corners and cut super-fine details, the larger blades remove wood like a lumberjack (comparatively). I just bought #3R blades - those are what did the fine veining (the tiny lines that start/stop inside the wood) in the photos above. I've used #2R blades for years, but I noticed in that Small Lord's Prayer that the letters toward the bottom - there's a whole line of "vein" lettering - don't show up very well. #3R is a bit heavier blade (not much) and the cut shows up a bit better. Ye gads, I'm writing a book. Didn't mean to do that. Below is that small Lord's Prayer and my scrollsaw on the Sears table.

I sure picked a good time for this little () project. With the, seemingly, nationwide lock-down there sure isn't much else to do - other than yard work, horses, honey-do list, etc. This has taught me a few things too, which is always a good thing. The biggest thing I've learned is to simply PAY ATTENTION. There were a lot of hours lost in the 4 half-inch thick circles that were too small, and were cut before I noticed. The #3R blades I ordered arrived yesterday - put them right to work on the tiny veining that was simply too fine for my #5R's. So, here's yesterday's progress:

Well, I wanted a challenge - I got it! Can't believe how much fun this project actually is, my other half has to call me up for dinner most evenings. 89.75 cutting-hours so far, 72 blades have gone to their ancestors in Valhalla and I'm enjoying every minute of this. Oh! Yeah! Those new 6-point stars worked out just fine. Still have 10 more to go on the bottom but that's still a few days in the future. Instead of a single "overall" picture, I thought I'd try to do a few "detail" shots.

Brown is good (and your cutting is GREAT), but you might think blue or green - just to be different. For me, black would be a bit severe.

This might sound simplistic, but when I have something that I want to change the size of (usually a jpg or gif) I copy the image onto a blank MS Word document page and then simply drag to increase or decrease size. The Word doc has rulers on top and on the side so you know what you're getting before you ever get it.

Hmmm, definitely need to look into the router idea. I've seen some around here but was never very impressed (too "crafty" looking) with them. The good news there is that my router isn't as old as my scrollsaw - only about 25 years old, or so.

Haven't entered anything in awhile - we're getting there though. 9.75 hours over the past 2 days, 4 pieces cut and another 3 partially cut (waiting for new #3R blades). 15 blades went to Valhalla.

Thanks, brother Fedido! Your situation is exactly my situation - stress relief during/after the USAF, AND I'm kinda imitating those incredible signs I saw on every shop throughout Europe. Those people have a flair for making a simple business sign into a work of art - I'm kinda trying to imitate that kind of workmanship. Y'wanna see a tiny shop? Yeah - I can imagine your situation quite well. Got a couple pics here, first is one side of the shop while I was restoring our 60-yr old Legion Post sign, second is my scrollsaw corner, which was immediately behind me when I took the first pic. The whole shop is 14' long, 8' wide. My "standing" room is about 4' wide, 12' long.

Hey Brenda! Thank you - sure hope I don't make too much of a fool of myself around here. Still, lotsa fun seeing/learning things.

Hey Sawyer!! Thank you - I'm having fun watching what everybody else is doing. This is a great place to see/learn things.