FrankEV

GreatJob, but I too, like it better before the Oil. Some sort of clear non-yellowing finish may have been a better choice, My favorate is Lacquer. On another note, are you not worried about cracking and curling. I've worked with burl in the past, specificallly for turning bowls. Over time they get better with age, but all curl and crack. Was the slab you used dry...less than 6% moiture ? Most slabs need to be either kiln dried or stacked away to dry for a long time in order to become stable at less then 6% moisture.

NIcely done! Fun coloring the vertical cut surfaces, isn't it? Solid Pine? What is making the differen color band around the beveled perrimeter?

Whenever I cut, what I call a "positive" pattern, I will cut all the individual pieces out of a full sheet. I drill blade holes near each individual pieces so the cut out pieces can be located on the backer using the full sheet which is exactly the same size and shape of the backer. The loose pieces can be painted or stained individualy and then using the cut panel glued pecisely in place. Works like a charm.

It is called "A lot of Work", but it looks great. Cutting is very well done, especially the Script. I too, am a Harley guy. I made the basic logo many moons ago, but never saw this version. I like it a lot and I know your Brother will also. Was it a SS pattern or did you create the pattern from an Image.

For the samll amount of CA I need in this hobby I have gone to using the Loctite or Gorrila brand CA, but in the gel form. More expensive than using the larger bottles available, but I do use up these small bottles before they can dry up, as long as I put the cap back on quickly. The loose liquid CA is too easy to spill or drip and makes using a very small amount difficult. I can put a single drop of the gel on a break or the like much easier. Afte it dries, it can even be cleaned up with some Dremel Burrs as needed. I have also mixed it with sawdust to fill a voild. Works better than using Titebond and sawdust.

Hobby Lobby has many different stencils and precut letters/numbers.

I never have any trouble turning tight corners when using #2/0 blades...then I use spirals most of the time. When using any flat MGT R blade, and have a very tight inside corner I tend to use the double cut method. Cut to the intersection, back out cut a cross over to the opposite line and cut into the intersection. Turn the piece around the free blade and proceed to cut the line. No difficulty with any blade. For very pointy outside corners I do a loop pattern beyond the point and start the scecond side cut just beyond the point to get a very sharp point.

I looked at the pic for about 10 minutes before I saw the image. Not your fault...my eyes played tricks on my brain. Like one of those puzzle B&W images where you need to find the hidden image. Oh well. I guess that happens when you get to be my age..achient! Very nice cutting, now that I know what I'm looking at! You might want to consider useing a sanding sealer and a wood pre-stain conditioner before finishing. I use a lot of Poplar and I find it necessary to use the pre-stain conditioner in order to get a decent finish. Although in the photo your finish looks very nice. I have only one very minor comment. Would have liked to see the image exteded down below the buffalo's feet in some way. Maybe some squigly horizontal lines or a little indication of some field grass. The blank open area pulls my eye away from the cutting and this may have been the reason I did not see the image in the first place.

I found getting the correct color of the mouth difficult. Too pink, too orange, too ???. Nothing seemed to work just right. What I wound up with, looked OK to me and looks better in person. The Photo seems to make it much redder. I also noted in the photo, the underbody color is quite green where in real life it is more cream. Edit: I added a camera raw image to the original post. Color is a little truer and detail is more visible. My art paint blending skills still needs work. And Yeah, I can't spell! Went back to original post and corrected the spelling. Thank you. I really do appreciate the critique.

I found a couple of black and white images of Alligators on-line that I was able to convert into scrollable patterns. I thought they would make for a portrait of something a little different. I knew I was going to hand paint with Artist Acrylics, so I used up a piece of my 5/32” solid core Birch for the cut panel and the positive images were then mounted on 1/4” thick BB ply backer. Although there are some exceedingly small detail cuts, the cutting was easy, using Pegas #2/0 spiral blades, with just over 150 holes to produce the two images. After painting and assembly, the panel was protected with multiple coats of Deft Clear Gloss Spray Lacquer. Now here is the question: Did you know that Alligators are not Green, regardless of what most painted images depict? When I did a Google search for the actual color of Alligators and looked at many photos, I found out that they are most often blackish, with light toned under bodies. Alligator colors can vary with their habitation, and some can be somewhat green but most are not. The Frame is my standard 1 3/4” wide Poplar stained with Minwax Ebony and protected with multiple coats of Minwax clear Gloss Wipe-on-Poly. Comments and critique always welcome. Edit: Corrected the spelling of Alligator and added a camera raw image photo below.

Sures looks good to me.

What is the fun in watching a machine do the cutting for you.? Where is the pleasure you get when you do it yourself? I guess it is a great thing if you are a sign maker or need to make 99 exactly the same. However, IMHO it sure is not scroll saw work. Although I embrace technology, I guess in this instance I'm a purest or traditionalist if you will. Please understand no disrespect is intended here. I'm just not very pleased to see discussion about computer aided cutting in the SSV. I'm sure there are other forums where it would be much more appropriate.

Extreamly nice work. I'm sure your friend will love it. Not intended to be negative at all but you have demonstrated, by your photo, my biggest pet peeve about cutting thick wood and not using a backer. If the piece is viewed from anywhere other than straight on and at eye level, the cutting displays the vertical cut edges which distorts the image. I've done the same thing with a nice dragon image in a beautiful piece of walnut only to be disapointed in the finish piece. I know a lot of scrollers like to cut thick wood and I don't have a problem with that except for this visual thing I get hung up on.

Nice work! So you reduced it to the size of an ornament...are you going to hang it on your Easter Tree?

Very nice work. Great pattern by SG. I did this same piece a while ago and treated it like a Plaque, as suggested by Steve, with a 1/4" thick Oval backer. The cut panel was stained dark Walnut and the backer left the light color natural maple I used as a backer. I sanded and stainded the edges of the Oval to make the plywood edge not too noticable. An option would be to mount your cut panel on a square/rectangular backer of a contrasting color and mount it in a frame. Either way would look great. Here is mine I made for my Lady and hangs on my wall in my home. It was one of my very early work nearly three years ago..

The eyes are Yellow. Not quite as well seen in the photo as when viewed in person. Maybe a little "greener yellow" might be a better color. Thanks.

It has taken me a lot of trying different ways to paint the backer in pieces like "Parrot Pair". I have found that I can print out additional copies of the cutting pattern and cut out the areas of differnt colors to act as a painting stencil. To do this you need to be careful to line up each layer stencil so the colors are in the correct location. This is not a fail safe process but helps to line up the coloring work much more quickly. A lot of checking how the color looks under the cut panel and tweeking of the paint work, is still needed. Coloring often takes longer than cutting!!

I don't really see them as shadows, but the light sourse (mayby a full moon) shining on the trees and ripples on the ground. Maybe, a better title would be "Moonlit Winter Trees", How does that sound?

Yes, the cut panel is mounted on top of the backer as, what I call, a "positive" cutting resuting in a raised image. Both the backer and cutting are painted. Just for comparison, the Parrot Pair is a "negative" cutting where just the backer is painted.

Most of these projects have been cut over the last six or so weeks but the finishing and framing was on hold due to a non-scrolling project that had been occupying my time. Finally got a few days break and was able to do some finishing up. All patterns are conversions of various free images I found online. All cut panels are 5/32” Solid Core Maple, Birch or Walnut affixed to a ¼” BB Ply backer. Coloring was done by various techniques such as: Hand Painting with Artist Acrylic Paints, Painting with rattle can spray paints or Staining. Cutting was mostly completed with small Pegas Spiral blades. After assembly, all panels were protected with multiple coats of Clear Gloss Lacquer. Frames are made from 1 ¾” wide Poplar finished with Stain and Polyurethane or Black Lacquer. Trees in the Night, 10” Diameter panel mounted on a 12” x12” Backer. Parrot Pair (*), 12” x 12” Leo, 11” x 14” Chrysanthemum Bouquet, 11” x 17”. You all know I welcome comments and critiques. (*) I have cut various Parrot Portraits, all of which have been sold, so I had to make another but different one, to replace the latest to be sold. Although I am very happy to sell my work, certain pieces are missed from the display more than others. This is the case with the various Parrots I have made.

Beautifuly done! The freeform live edge backer really makes it a great piece.

Absolutly beautiful. Sometimes simple is better. In this case it is perfect.

Thanks. 4mm converts to 0.15748 inches. So in our terms, it would be considered 5/32". (5/32=.15625). I just assumed 1/6 was a typo as our measurments are displayed in terms of the demoninator as multiples of 64. Ie., 64, 32. 16, 8, 4 ,2. Also, I just thought that Heart Mandela was much too beautiful to lay on a table under something. A nice backer and a frame would make it a very wonderful piece of art to hang on a wall.

Beautiful cutting!. Is that 1/16" or 1/8" ply? Do you plan to add a backer?

Thought it would be a good idea to try out my new Wen Spindle sander, so I decided to cut another Cat Statue. Number two of the three patterns I had purchased a while ago. I converted the pattern I received in PDF format into an Inkscape SGV file and resized it a little. The statue is just under 13” tall and just under 6” wide. The oval base is 6” long x 1 ¾” wide with the perimeter being tapered about four degrees. I used 3/4” thick Walnut this time. I also added a tenon to the statue and a mortice in the base to accept the tenon. I used Five Minute Epoxy to fix the tenon in the mortice. The cutting was very easy and done using just one Pegas #3 MGT R blade. All edges of the statue and base were eased with a small round-over router bit. I was able to clean up some of the longer cuts with the Spindle Sander (which works good by the way), but some areas were just too small to access so I had to return to the Dremel Drum Sanders and hand sanding to clean up the tight places. I did a one quick wipe on/wipe off coat of Minwax Walnut Gel Stain just to deepen the wood color a little. Then, as usual, multiple coats of Deft Clear Gloss Lacquer. Comments and critique is always welcome. AND JFYI, these few quick and easy statue projects of late, have just been a diversion from making my more Art Portrait type projects. My shop time has been limited due to a non-Scroll Saw project that has taken up much of my time for the past few weeks. That project will be coming to an end soon and I plan to be able to devote more time in the shop when it is done.