FrankEV

#2/0 blades will break if you look at them funny Tensioning is the problem. I do not play with my tensioning knob. I keep it set whehe I have found it works for all blades, and it is taped in place because it tends to want to adjust itself. For #2/0 blade, after threading it through the dill hole being very careful not to kink it as that will cause it to break quickly also, I hold the blade slightly bent between my thumb and forefinger while tightening the top clamp. This causes the blade to be a little longer between the clamps. Then, while fliping the tensioning lever, I "feel" to make sure there is not too much tension and will stop if it "feels" tooooo tight. This feel takes practice and experimenting with, but it does work (at least for me). You just can not, and it is not needed to, tension a 2/0 blade as tight as larger blades. Also, I'm hard of hearing so the plucked "ping" just does not work for me. If the blade does not break while fliping the tensioning lever over, it should be OK if you don't push too hard or run the saw at too high a speed. And ,of course, 2/0 blades do not like to be turned in corners. I use the double cut method to make a neat sharp inside point, creating a space in the work that you can turn the work without twisting the blade. I find both small regular and spiral blades break most often because they get kinked during the threading task. Tiney holes for small blades are great if doing vaining or the like, but a litter bigger hole makes threading without kinking much easier. All above just my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

I only spray 3M-77 adhesive for attaching patterns to my panels OUTSIDE at my trash bins. Yes, I'm in Florida, but it really dosn't matter what temps as it only takes a minute or so to spray the pattern and panel. A hard rain is the only time I will put it off for a dryer time. Heavy wind can be a bother but I can usually deal with it. Once or twice I attempted to spray the adhesive inside and will never do it again. Overspray from just a very short application seems to get on everything in the shop. I always pre-attach my paper pattern to the panel with blue tape to form a hinge. After the quick spray of both surfaces, I just roll the pattern onto the panel, and then run back inside where I can make sure threre are no bubbles or wrinkles. I will spray finishes like Lacquer, Paint, Poly, etc. in my shop using heavy brown paper, I get at lowes by the roll which is intended for protecting floors during construction, to protect my bench and table saw (wich I often use as a table as space is a premium in my small shop) . I think it is 36" wide by a 100 or more feet. I forget the cost but its is not very expensive. .One piece of the browm paper can be use many times before needing to be discarded when overspray dust gets too messsy. While spraying any finish, I always raise my work with 1/4" thick wood strips that I save from panel cut offs I have painters points (plastic perimid shaped thingamjigs) that can be used but I can never find them when I need them. And I only have 4, so I often need more and the cut off strips are plentiful and lay in a pile on a shelf near my work bench. In my utility woork room in my house where I do most of my coloration using Artist Acrylic Paints, and most recently, applying with an Air Brush, I have set up a makeshift paint spray booth out of cardboard. No exhaust fan yet, but there are plans to install one now that I'm using the Air Brush. In the bottom of the booth I like to use cheap tissue paper as a work surface. A new piece under each new project is quite effective to catch any drips, spills, etc. The painting area gets very messy.

All very nice. As to delamination. Was that Solid Birch wood or Birch Ply? Usually, delamination occurs when you remove the pattern if tape or liner is used. For this case I find very good sanding before application of the liner (what I use) minimizes tear out. Also, liner removal must be with the grain not against or across to insure no tearout. However, what you discribe, sounds like a problem with the wood itself. Box store birch ply is pure junk as far as I'm concerned, that is why I only use Columbia Solid Core Ply. Pricy but a much better quality. Or, another cause could be the blades you are using. Not the Brand, necessarily, but the number of teeth. More teeth the smoother the cut will be in whatever material you are using. Large blades with small number of teeth and slow saw speed will rip/tear the wood (especialy ply). JFYI, I use, almost ecclusively, spiral blades. I do get a lot of fuzzies on the back side but no, none, nada tear out or delamination. For long straight or curved lines I will often use a Pegas #1, 3, or 5 MGT R (depending on material thickness) with no noticable tearout. Hope this info might help.

You can get a inexpensive burning tool at any craft store if only to be used occasionally If back is still unfinished you could just sand smooth, write all pertinent info in pen and then apply a protetive coat of clear lacquer or poly. If wood is dark use a white ink pen.

Absolutely beautiful. You can see where they were maried in the bacground. Since you do not include,names, dates or location on the front, I hope you put that info on the back with your signature and date of creation. Gotta think long time into the future when sombody else may be looking at it.

The cutting loooks great. However, I'm confused (easy to do these days). Is the inlay the same thickness as the rectangular board? I don't understand why the need to use so many clamps. If they are the same thckness, a good method of clamping to maintain a level surface would be to place the assembly between two pieces of nice flat 3/4" thk boards (ply or otherwise) and clamp with maybe only 4 to 6 clamps depending on the overall size to get nice uniform pressure. I use a piece of waxed paper between the finish surface of the panel and the clamping boards to make sure no glue gets gets between the clamping boards and the panel. I made a gule-up press just for this kind of clamping that will accomodate a panel up to 14 x 24. Here is a couple of pics JFYI.

Great cutting. Somehow he looks like he is very tired and getting ready to go to sleep in the grass!

Cute! The backer and frame all work well together with the segmentation. Her BFshould enjoy it.

I like the very well done cutting and colorization. However, in my opinion the backer is too dark.

4th of July is only a short time away...if you get busy you can probably make something special for it.

I agree with you. Thought about adding a pole after seeing the image cutting painted. I had decided on the panel size before considering adding a pole. Adding it after the fact would have put the image off center. If I do another one, I would make the panel bigger (at least longer) and include a pole of some sort as part of the full image.. Thanks

I have been itching to cut another Eagle pattern but could not find an image that I liked or that had not been done by others. Since the Bald Eagle is our National Bird and the Emblem of our USA Nation, it is very fitting that it is often shown in various portrayals with the Stars and Stripes, our Grand American Flag. I found this Image of an Eagle that I liked, but it had a distressed Flag in the background that I did not like. I tend to be a purest and find the many images of our American Flag shown distressed or with other colors to be, IMHO to some degree, unpatriotic. I feel Our American flag should be treated with all the respect it deserves. So, I went searching for a more, again IMHO, standard Image of our Flag. As you are probably aware, there are a vast number of free images available. I found an Image of a waving flag that was more suited to being converted to a scroll saw pattern. I combined the Image of the Eagle (minus the distressed flag) I liked with the version of the Waving American Flag. My problem was that the Eagle was a “positive” image and the Flag a “negative” image. I solved this problem by cutting two separate cut Panels. One of the Eagle and one of the American Flag, with the area that is hidden by the superimposed eagle removed. The Eagle was cut out of a 1/4” x10” x 12” solid core Walnut panel and the Flag was cut in a 5/32” x 14” x 12” solid core Maple panel. The backer (third layer) was 1/4” x 14” x 12” BB Ply. The positive Eagle cutting was quite fragile, so I darkened it by dipping it Minwax Dark Walnut Stain. The stain was lightly/gently wiped off, hung up and allowed to dry for over three days. I used my Air Brush to paint the Backer and Flag Cut Panel, the flag “Red, White, and Blue” colors. In lieu of using Acrylic Gesso under the colors, I sealed all the surfaces to be painted with clear Acrylic Sealer. The Eagle panel was cut with Pegas #0 and #2/0 spiral blades while the Flag panel was cut with Pegas #1 MGT R blades. After the stain was dry and painting completed, the panel was assembled in two steps. The Backer and Flag cut panel glued up first and then the Eagle cutting was glued to the surface of the Flag cut panel. Thus, three layers. You can see this in the second Photo below. The assembled panel was then finished with multiple coats of the Clear Gloss Acrylic For this unique piece, I custom made a gallery style Floating Frame using nominal 3/4” Maple hardwood with a thin nominal 1/8” gap around the panel. To match the Maple Cut Panel the Maple frame was left natural and finished with the same Clear Gloss Acrylic Protective Finish. You can all salute now. Comments and Critques always welcome.

Yep, I do do

This pattern is another wall stencil that I converted for use with a Scroll Saw. I felt the pattern needed to be as large as possible but, because I use precut project panels, my maximum is limited to 12 by 19 inches. This pattern is cut out of 5/32” x 10” x 19” solid core Maple Ply which is affixed to a 1/4” x 10” x 19” Hand Painted (assuming that is the correct term for using an Air Brush) backer. My only wish was that I would have been able to have the wood grain run horizontally, but, again, because I use precut panels, this was not possible. All easy cutting - estimated to be around 700 holes, I lost count - was done using Pegas #0 spiral blades. The backer was painted with Artist Acrylic Paints specifically intended for use with an Air Brush. A regular artist brush was only used to do the small amount of White under the Geese necks and a little touch up here and there as needed after the panels were assembled. And yes, the Yellow/Red - Sun/Moon (your choice) was painted on the surface of the cut panel. The panel was finished with multiple coats of Krylon Clear Spray Acrylic Protective Coating. And, once again, the panel is set into a typical 1 3/4” wide custom made, premium grade pine, frame I made that was finished with Minwax Poly-Shade Mission Oak. For anyone interested, I used this project to document the steps I took to paint the backer, in this case, using an Air Brush. You can read my post in the Learning Center/ Works In Progress and Tutorials: Painting an Art Panel Backer with an Air Brush I will post this pattern in Pattern Central/Pattern Exchange for anyone who might like to have it. As always, comments and critique welcome.

Yes the Air Brush is difficult to keep clean. I have already found Acrylics will harden up in the gun before you are even done using a color. Air Brush cleaner liquid works well and I found a brush wetted with it, can be used to keep the tip clean between paint applications. My son is well versed in using an Air Brush and has given me a lot of tips. This Peacock is the first piece that I actually used the Air Brush on. My skills need a lot of improvement. I found I can already add shading and highlights but would love to be able to add fine details as well. I know: Practice, practice, practice!

Parrots in Tree and Peacock and Flowers are two stencils I converted and resized for use with a Scroll saw. These cuttings have taken me a long time to complete because, as you all know, life gets in the way sometimes. My “in-shop-time” has been very limited over the past months due to some minor medical problems and the need to get some long overdue chores completed around my home. Priorities, priorities! Parrots in Tree is 5/32” x 9” x 10” Maple solid core ply mounted on an oversized 1/4” thick painted backer. The backer is intended to be 11” x 12”, but mine was not cut correctly, thus the narrower boarder you see in the picture. My goof! There are two versions of the Peacock and Flowers patterns, a more inclusive overall image and the enlarged partial Image I chose to cut. My cutting is 5/32” x 11” x 17” Birch solid core ply affixed to a ¼” x 11” x 17” painted backer. The backers are painted with Artist Acrylics and are a combination of hand painting and an Air Brush painting. I’ve just begun to experiment with the use of the Air Brush. So far, I’m liking how the colors look. All cutting was done with Pegas #2/0 and #0 spiral blades, and as usual, the assembled panels are finished with multiple coats of a Clear Gloss Acrylic Protective coating. Frames are my typical 1 3/4” wide premium grade Pine finished with Minwax Mission Oak Poly-Stain. Comments and critiques are always welcome. I'll post the patterns in "Pattern Exchange".

In todays (5/30/23) email from Steve Good, he offered his version of a shop clock which is very nice. Here is a link for those who do not get his daily Email: Male and Female Scrollers Clock Scroll Saw Pattern.

After reading "preprius" reply, I first now see the lacing. Did you have a pattern or just "eyeball" all the drill holes? It looks good at first glance, but the lack of uniformity and symetry bothers my eyes. I would have thought all the laces around the edge should have been made perpendicular to the edge on the spacing located by the radian projected from the from the center every 6 degrees representing 60 seconds. I see the attempt at making every 5th lace a little longer than the others, but it is not quite apparant at first glance. A double thick lace might read better. Sorry for being a critical. The Idea is great, but with some minor tweaks, it would be outstading.

Check out this tutorial I did quite awhile ago. If I did not mention it in the tutorial, I frequently use copies of the cutting pattern as stencils to add the colors to the backer. I will cut out the areas for the different colors on separate printouts. takes a little patience.

I'm with you...I'll be 81 in 8 days!

Gene, Thank you for your very nce comment. Much appreciated. I basicaly use the same techniques for most of the Art panels I create. I allmost exclusively use 5/32" cut panels and 1/4" thick backers, some with a oversized backer and some without. I prefer patterns that are a negative cutting (like the birds) that I can color the backer. They seem to be most apealing to most people. My methods of coloring the backer panel is evolving including the use of an air brush. Some successes but not always. I've just started a new project that will add a piece to the "Bunch". Keep a watch for a post in a couple of weeks.

Very nice. Hope you signed and dated the back of this one with maybe a little private message also.

I need a clock for my shop. A few weeks ago I asked, in PATTERN REQUEST, if anyone had a pattern for clock face for a shop clock that depicted Scrolling. Did not get any usable responses so I decided I needed to make my own. I believe I adopted the pattern of a “Person at a Scroll Saw” from Steve Good’s library quite a while ago, which I have been using to make my “Scroll Saw Art by Frank” signs and I have also included it in my Logo. I figured I could adapt the pattern by adding some bridges to make it a negative cutting and wrap the clock face hour numerals around it. I found a simple clock face I liked on-line. This is what I came up with. The clock face is a 10” diameter 5/32” thick solid core Maple cut panel affixed to a 10” diameter 1/4” BB Ply Backer painted rattle can Flat Black. The Pattern starts out as an 11” x 11” square. I cut the disk out after the cut panel and backer are glued together. The numerals were cut using a Pegas #0 Spiral Blade and the center pattern using a Pegas #3 MGT R blade. The assembled disk was protected with multiple coats of clear spray Acrylic finish. I purchased a “High Torque Long Shaft Quartz HR1688 Clock Movement Mechanism Replacement Clock Kit with 5.4 Inch Long Spade Hands for DIY Handicrafts Repair Clock Parts Shaft Lengths 22.5mm / 0.89 inch” for $9.49 from Amazon. I had used this item for the Dragon Clock I made a while ago that had a larger diameter and made athe mistake of just reordering the same one. The hands are too long for this smaller diameter clock. I should order new shorter hands, but probably won't bother. I made this clock too quickly and there are lots of goofs in both the cutting and finishing, but it will do for hanging in my shop. I will post the pattern in New Pattern Announcements’. Comments welcome but you can skip the critiques.

BTW Richard, I believe this post and replys should have really been in Town Square/General Scroll Sawing forum.

I use as NEJE Master 2 Laser engraver/cutter to put my Logo on the back side of my work. I sign it with a pen before I apply a clear coat of lacquer or acrylic finish. The first pic shows the finished Logo on the back of a piece positioned in the NEJE Master 2. I went to this Logo becaues I have had people who purchased my work want a "personally signed original".