FrankEV

I don't know the brand, but mine looks exctly like the HF one in the link above. Howver, mine is LED and does not generate any heat. Also, mine is a 5X lens and I fine it works great for me. Even though, under the 5X magnifier, my blade control may look ragged, to the naked eye, the cut line is very smooth.

I think the tray is absolutly fantastic. Beautiful!!! Would love to see some close up pic's and maybe give us some details like who's Pattern, wood thickness, blades used, etc. We love details. I use rattle can spray Lacquer on most of my panels. Yes, the fumes can get to you and actually give you a little buzz. Need to have good ventilation and wear a mask. But I do like the fine durable finish you can get with Lacquer and the fact it enhances the natural wood color and will not darken. And, it drys fast, alllowing ease of applying multiple coats with just very light sanding in between.

Interesting piece. Nice cutting except for around the his right cheek. Maybe the photo, but something does not look correct. You asked, so the following are my thoughts, for whatever they may be worth to you. I love to add color to my work also. However, in this case I'm not overly enthused with your coloring efforts. The background staining is not saturated enough alowing the grain and backer board color to show through. In some cases this might be nice but in this case it looks unfinished. I can also plainly see white spots of the backer showing through the cutting or it may be the unstained edge cuts. Why they are there should be addressed and corrected. When adding color, making sure all the cut edges are stained is a stiff PITA. I know, been there done that. The yellowish stain you used on the cut panel is OK(maybe?), but the orange in the fire just does not work as I think what you were looking for.. AND, AND, the pinkish stain on the frame...no, nope, not at all, does not work. A frame should complement and enhance the work, not overpower and distract from it. AND, the top and bottom of the frame is toooo close to the cut panel. Portaits need to be framed twice, once on the panel itself and then with a pysical frame around the panel providing ballance and symetry to the entire piece. In this case you are squashing the image. And, the width of frame rails and stiles just dont look correct to me, but that is a very personal opinion. Look at commercial frames to get an Idea what width looks the best to you. Also, your frame making needs improvement. The right bottom corner looks bad, but I'm realizing it may be how the photo is cropped. Photos can make a piece look better then in person, and can also make it look much worse. Let me apologise in advance if my thoughts are not to your liking. I find in this forum members tend to only offer positive comments to work posted even when not really deserving. I've seen a number of you previous posts and I know you can do a much better job if that is what you really want and strive for.

Fortunately the stacked panel was not heavy. I attempted to keep as much panel on the table as possible. I would orient the panel on an angle to the right or left of the back of saw as much as possible so as much of the panel was on the table as possible. Otherwise, I just supported the panel with my hands. Like I said, it became more difficut as some of the large parts was cut out. By using blue tape to hold the cutouts in place, I was able to make the panel "more" rigid so the overhang did not drop too badly. This project was a very easy cut (other than the thin areas between cutouts) so the cutting went quite fast. If this was a more intricate pattern I don't think it would be feasable with out creating extensions for the table to support the panels.

My thought exactly and already agreed to by the client. Thanks

Very Carefully. I used a spiral blade so no spining of work. Did have to reposition ocassionally from one side of the saw to the other just to make the overhang off the table was not so bad. The Pegas saw has a 21" throat and the cutting was actually only 18" wide, so you can manipulate the piece working the cut basically from one side only.

I was commissioned to make this pair of Chinese Dragons panels. The client chose this Dragon from a group of different Dragons I provided. The patterns were found on-line and had to be only slightly modified to make it scrollable. The original had the “ribs” (for lack of a better word) bridging to the opposite side making a multitude of dropouts. The cut panels are 1/8” x 20” x 30” BB ply mounted on a painted black 1/4" x 20” x 30” BB Ply Backer. The cut panels were stack cut to make mirror images with good side up. Shelf liner was applied to both sides to minimize possible tear out. All cutting was completed with Pegas #1 spiral blades. A number of blades broke, mostly because it was difficult to thread the blade from below without kinking the blade. Keeping the panel flat while cutting was difficult, especially so after some of the larger areas were cut out. Used a lot of blue tape to hold cutouts in place to help keep the panel somewhat rigid while cutting. Yes, the little piece in the Dragon’s nose had to be glued back in after the panel was affixed to the backer. The 20” x 30” BB ply panels were special ordered from Ocooch Hardwoods. I did not find the prices to be too unreasonable for this special order. They responded to my request quickly and the order was received within just a few days. Great service. Now here is where I need some help and opinions. I need to make frames for these panels and cannot decide what width rail/stile I should use. I typically use 1 3/4" wide, but not sure if that will look the best for these panels. Often large frames are narrow (3/4”) or, like large paintings, use a much wider (2 1/2” +) that may be more appropriate. Please provide you opinion on what size I might use and tell me why. You might want to let me know what color the frame should be also. Thanks for you help. EDIT 12/22/21 I made the frames from 1"wide x 3/4" thick Poplar. I think the 1" frame width works well for these Chinese Dragon mirror image panels. I did a significant amoiunt of hand sanding to obtain a very smooth surface. I then applied two coats of a Rustolium Black Primer sanding between coats, again to a very smooth finish after which I applied multiple coats of Rustoleum Black Lacquer. Just as I was finishing the final coat, the nozzle on the spray can stuck in the open (spraying) position and made a mess, but fortunately not on the frames. After drying almost 24 hours, I found there was some areas of blush. Two light coats of Deft Clear Gloss Lacquer did a nice job of getting a bright uniform finish. This commission project was difficult in many respects, but I feel it came out fairly well and am hoping the clients are happy. I'm not sure I would want to tackle a large panel project like this again. Thanks again to all that offered comments and advice. When appropriate and a black frame is needed, I think I will be using Black Lacquer again.

Peter, Welcome to Florida for the Winter. I'm a little further South in Ormond Beach (Just North of Daytona) on the East coast of Central Florida. I have a very small shop also. Just 8'x12' in an outdoor shed. I do not have a garage so this was the best I could manage on my very small piece of property. After being here in Florida now almost 8 years and dealing with very warm temps for most of the year, when the temps drop into the 40's F, it feels really cold. However, a small electric heater makes is comfortable and lets me work in my shop all winter. Of course I also had to instal a small AC unit for those hot summer days.

Great job. They will be cherished for a long time (no pun intended). Much better gifts then the 7 Santa Portraits I made for my family and friends.

Beautifully done that last time!!!! Little confused by your post title. " Granddauter's and Flower". Not sure what I'm looking at so I think I must be missing something. Edit: Woops, did not realize it was a video.

Great Job. I might suggest you mount it on an oversized backer (standard picture frame size) of a contrasting color and install it in a frame. I'm sure your friend would love to be able to hang it proudly. Don't forget to date and sign it.

Very nice and well done! Love the color work. Question. What is your reasoning for shrinking this pattern, and others, as you mention? I have a tendancy to enlarge most patterns as I feel a small project just does not give the visual impact I want to provide.

Great Idea and very well done.

My point exactly! I guess what I was suggesting was for us (collectively) to consider how well we want our projects to look and, by stepping outside the box a little, do things that will improve designs/patterns where and when appropriate. Steve produces a new project every day which results in the need to keep some things simple. However, I don't believe that means he wants us (the users) to follow his designs blindly. He, himself, often offers suggestions for improvements to his designs. I would like him to mention that there are alternate construction methods other then just the Slab/Tab. Maybe, have a standard statement in his write up that says there are alternate construction methods possible (such as the use of miters and dados), when his pattern uses the Slot/Tab construction for simplicity purposes. To be perfectly be clear, my comment is in no way a criticism of Steve or his great service to our community.

Pretty darn nice SCRAP work! You might want to knock down the intensity of the lights with some frosted translucent lining material, but otherwise, beautiful job. The following is just an observation, my opinion and nothing to do with these very well done pieces specifically. I like Steves scroll work designs, but I'm not a big fan of his "tab" construction for projects like boxes and these holders. They are relatively simple to do, but just do not do the projects justice. Especially when used with any kind of plywood. The use of mitered corners and dados for support of the bottom are fairly simple construction methods that I believe would make these projects, and other similar projects, look much better. As an alternate construction, miters and dados are very easy to use to replace the tabs and in most instances the only extra tool needed is a table saw which most of us have and use anyway.

I cut these 7 Santas to give away as Xmas presents to friends and family. They were given on Thanks Giving so they could be hung for the month of December. I also cut 30 of the S. Good 2021 Ornaments. Pic only shows the first 20. Some have been given already and some will be given with our annual cookie exchange amoungs the neighbors on Christmass Eve Eve. I also cut this S Good "Santahouse" for a present to ourselves to hang on the front of our home.

Overall, very nice work. However, the white paw prints, not so much.

Very nice job...well done. Me, I like color, so I would paint, but that is just me.

The job New Guy did on that pattern was great. I don't think there are many cases where there is "NO" table editing. There is more on some patterns then others, That is one reason I don't stack cut my work and I can truly state each of my pieces are "one of a kind", even if they have been cut many times by others. I have also found that many times that when a pattern I develope works on paper, it does not really work that well when cut and then I need to take the "table editing" back and incorporate it into the final pattern.

After the first cutting, an 11x14 H. Botas Pattern called “Horse” a few weeks ago, I decided to find and convert a few other free images into horse scroll saw patterns. This group of Horse portraits is the result. All cuttings are done in 5/32” solid core Maple, Birch or Walnut ply. Backers are 1/4 BB ply either left natural or stained with Minwax Dark Walnut as appropriate. I used a few different Pegas blades, both MGT R and Spriral, of various sizes from #2/0 up to #3 to cut these patterns. All panels were finished with multiple coats of Deft Clear Gloss Spray Lacquer. All panels set loose in 1 3/4” wide distressed Poplar Frames finished with Minwax Early American Poly/Stain. Horse – Botas – 11”x14” Cut panel Horse Stallion – 10”x10” Cut Panel mounted on a 12” x 12” Backer. Horse Running – 11”x14” Cut Panel Horse Proud – 12”x15” Cut Panel Horse Jumping – 11”x14” Cut Panel Horse Palls – 15”x12” Cut Panel Horses 3 – 14”x11” Cut Panel Comments and critiques are always welcomed.

Yes, very nice job. I'm not a hunter, so wondering what does the 126.5 points refer to?

Great job, well cut and framed. I think a group of these patterns will be wonderful.

Nce job, well cut!

Others have said it but, IMHO, it is the quality of the ply you are using, no mater how you attach your pattern or the condition of the drill bit. The finish side vaneer on good quality BB ply will not fall apart, assuming you are using the proper size sharp blade. I most often use spiral blades that produce a generaly rougher cut and still get very good small details in the BB Ply I use. Any loss of detail I may get is due to my poor cutting technique and not the wood. However, I do go one step further and purchase 5/32"x12"x19" solid core progect panels from HD. Slightly more expensive but they are intended for cricut/laser cutting and the quality of the vaneer is even better than the good quality BB ply that is available.

Very NIce. I ride an MC also, but not a chopper. Mine is a full dress HD Street Glide Special. Any solid wood would have been better than plywood. I know you are "over there" but I think you must have places like we have here (Lowes and Home Depot) which are the modern day substitutes for the old fashioned "Lumber Yards". They usually have solid wood like Pine (which I would not use), Poplar and Oak at a minimum. Poplar is a good substitute as it cuts nicely and can be finished well also.