FrankEV

sometimes taking a break and doing a fun cut is jut what we all need occasionally. Nice clean cutting.

Great cutting. Love Eagles, as you know. Howevewr, as I've said this before, I'm not a fan of the torch work, but to each his own, as they say. For me I would have made the black backer maybe a 15" x 12" rectangle and mounted it in a frame as a true wall hanging. Don't consider these critizisms, they are just my thoughts.

Marvelous cutting. Now that it is completed do you feel the choice of the Zebra wood was a good one? Just my personal opinion, but I'm not a fan of heavily grained wood for any portraits unless the grain works to enhance the image. Also, the choice of Tung Oil also darkend the piece a lot. I like the uncoated version a lot better. Again, IMHO, a clear Wipe- On Poly or Lacquer may have been a better choice.

For dressing up fretwork and fontwork, I found that a good set of rotary carving tools that fit the Dremel Tool are the most handy. I've tried small files, sanding sicks and more, but none fit into this tight places that need some help. The rotary carving tools come in a veriety of shapes and the very small slightly tapered bit gets into all those very small tight places. The larger cylindar shaped bit is great for straightening those long straigt or long smooth curved cuts where the saw blade may have gone a little astray. So, whatever you planned to use the rasps for, the carving bits would work better and quicker.

You have no lack of talent in your scroll saw work. Each are just great. These should have been addded into Travis Post!

This is another conversion of a ZM Creations Illustration I made into a Scroll Saw pattern. Just had to add another piece to my "birds". The cut panel is 5/32 x 11 x 15 Maple solid core ply affixed to a hand painted 1/4” x 11 x 15” BB ply backer. All cutting was completed with Pegas #0 Spiral blades. The backer was given a coat of Acrylic Gesso and then hand painted with Artist Acrylic paints. I used additional copies of the pattern that I cut out with an Exacto knife to help locate the areas to be painted the various colors. Of course as always, the assembled panel was finished with multiple coats of Clear Gloss Lacquer. My usual frame width is 1 3/4, but, because I messed up a cut and did not want to waste the wood, this frame is only 1 1/4” wide Poplar stained with Minwax Ebony and finish with multiple coats of Minwax Satin Wipe-On Poly. BTW, they are Parrots, if you had not figured that out!

I'm thinking the only thing to use is an epoxy to fill the void. It may mean yu have to re-cut the area that you fill.

Beautiful wood. Also looking forward to see what you do with it. I don't own a planer either, but that is about to change. I have a birthday comming up and between my Lady and Daughter they asked what I wanted and I told them to get me the small Craftsman Planer that Lowes sells. It is a small bench top planer that I really do not have room for a permanent setup in my shop but will come up with a way of using it on a portable stand when needed. JUst have to find a suitabl place to store it in the meantime. I have access to Rough sawn lumber of various kinds but the cost to have it planed is high. I'll only be doing small pieces mainly to reduce rough sawn 3/4" material down to 1/2" or 1/4" or 1" down to 3/4" for frames, so I'm hoping the Craftsman unit will do the job.

Well done on all. very nice job on the font and Oscar should be a happy cat!

Looking good. Once you finish up the hair you will have it made. Easy peasy from there. Like other said, looking forward to seeing the finished project.

I like them a lot. Well cut and finished. How are they displayed? Hung like a ornament or do they mount on a wall?

Very well done. Sweetie will love them. Mount them on a poster size framed backer and it would be a real nice wall hanging. Maybe find/make a pattern of a vase that you could use at the bottom.

This is not a picture of mine, but I have made three of these, two before I ever realy got into doing Scroll Saw work. Owned a Scroll Saw for many years. The first two feeders was the only projects I used it on when I was up in NC. Making the third after moving to Florida was what actualy got me interested in doing more scroll work, that was about 20 or so months ago. The one I currently have in my back yard looks like a bomb exploded in it as the squirrels tore it apart. Even so the birds love it when I remember to fill the tray with seed. We get Cardinals, Doves, Bluejays, all sorts of small brown birds, small Wood Peckers and Painted Buntings (I swore were small parrots or parrakeets...my ladey corrected me by showing me them in a book of birds we have.) The feeders were made of untreated 1/2" ply and painted with oil based enamel. However, even well painted they don't hoild up well in the elements, especially here in the florida sunshine...both the hot kind and the wet kind. I intend to remake it again and this time try to find some better wood, like maybe marine grade ply. (We have lots of boat building places around here.) Anyway the pattern was in SWW many moons ago. You can down load it here: https://scrollsawer.com/2011/05/04/victorian-birdfeeder/ Travis did say we can post aboth Bird house and Feeders also, so I took him up on his suggestion.

Your are correct, adding color tends to diminish the simple b&w contrast of the basic Scroll Saw presentations. However, in person, you do still get the sense of depth typical of Scroll Saw work. Many paatterns just don't requirem, or work at all, if color is added. The viewers eyes see the image and it is like looking at old B&W photos...nothing more needed. However, any of these above, just don't work in simple B&W and demand more...color. Kinda like why we have color photography these days. Taking the Dolphin Portrait for example, with out the shading contarast between the colors on the dolphin, the image myay not be even reccognizable if the pieces was in simple B&W. A mored skilled pattern maker may have been able to add/subtract lines and make it work in B&W, but I'm lucky to be able to make it into a scrollable pattern making sure there are no drop outs/islands. I did think about differenciating the sky/water for the jumping Dolphins but if you really think about it, on a pitch black ocean with a bright moon, would you really be able to see a difference. I never cought the Dolphins jumping, but when I was in the Navy, a zillion years ago, and out to sea on a calm black night all you could see was the the bright moon setting...even blocking out the stars in that part of the sky. Now about that Mermaid! Yes, the original art WAS definately sketch art. My rendition (of her) isn't so far from the original. It is just my painting skills could have made the "sketchy art" even a more properly done piece of "sketchy art".

I have been looking for patterns of Southern/Beach/Nautical/Tropical subjects for a themed grouping of cuts that would be appropriate for the Beach Community here in Florida with little success. I did find “Beach” by Janevski in the SVV Pattern Library that I modified a little and sized to suit an 9X12 panel. The hand painted panel is 1/8” BB ply mounted on a 1/4” thkx 11 x14 hand painted BB Ply backer. The cutting was done with Pegas #2/0 Spiral blades. Beach: Looks OK from afar but don't get too close, my painting skills still need some improvement. For the following, I did not create the original actual art work but I did create the patterns from free image files of art I found on line. In each instance, the art was only used as a basis for the pattern and much of the conversion into a scrollable pattern changed the image significantly by omission, addition or modification of subject matter. The Theme for these patterns became “Dolphins”. All patterns were sized to suit 11x14 panels. All cut panels are 1/8” hand painted BB Ply affixed to a ¼” thk hand painted BB Ply backers. Again, most of the cutting was completed with Pegas #2/0 or #0 spiral blades except for the long straight line frame cuts were made using a Pegas #3 MGT R blade. Mermaid and Dolphin: I enjoyed making this piece, but I’m not happy with my paint work. Artist Acrylics are just not working well for me. Jumping Dolphins: Simplicity personified but quite dramatic I think. Painted using spray cans (Woopie!). Dolphin Portrait: The original art for this was actually a metal sculpture that stood about 6 feet tall. The backer was painted with spray cans and the panel was painted using Artist Oil Paints. I like how this one came out.

Eagles have been one of my go to patterns since I started scrolling. However, birds in general has been my popular subject and makes up a large part of what I have completed. In fact, not shown yet, I just finished another Parrot cutting, but is still in the finishing and framing process. Edit 5/15, see added pic at bottom. Edit 5/15:

Great Spiral Blade cutting. Gee, only 458 holes,,,why dont you do a hard pattern?

You bet. Somebody had a lot of time on their hands to put that together.

Great work. My lady would love the Humming Bird catcher.

Again, great cutting. Same comment about the Frame as Cat Angel. And, this is strictly my own opinion, but knowing you were going to set this panel into a frame, I (personally) would have eliminated the octagon interior cut frame.

Cute Kitty! Great cutting. I like the work you put into the BE Maple Frame, but the Joints detract.

That is a good DP, but for just drilling fretwork holes...WHY would you want to spend that much money? My upside down dremel DP works great (subject of another post if you want to know, PM me). Betwenn one of the small Dremel rotary tools and their DP....less then a hundred dollars. Holds small bits nicely, takes up very little space and works well for drilling blade holes for fretwork.

Welcome to SVV from Central Florida. My thoughts: I find the Pegas MGT R are a good all around blade. Pegas blades in general are more agressive then other brands, but after getting use to them, the other brands seem dull right out of the package. I don't feel you need to jump around with different types of blades untill you get a lot more experience. Pick one type ( I suggest the MGT R) and stick with it untill you feel you need the blade to do more for you. That could be quite a while. You will really want a broader selection of sizes all the way from #2/0 through #5. #3 & 5 are OK for simple rather large cutout areas and long straight/curved lines, but once you start to do more intricate work, the #2/0, #0 and #1 blades become much more appropriate. Just remember one thing, reduce the blade speed and do not over tighten the tension when using smaller blades or you will break a lot - I know, been there, done that. And BTW, the Pegas saw is well worth the price. Just make sure you order the stand with it.

Bump...see edit in original post.

Welcome to SVV. Please us a little bit about yourself like: Where located? What kind of saw you use? What kind of projects you like working on? Anything else of interest we should know about. Lots of members here to tap for help or information if needed. Post up a pic and show us what you did or are doing. Post your work in Braggi ng Rights to get an ego boost!