TAIrving

Very well done, the choice of woods and the cutting! Mostly I like the sentiment, I have had dogs like that!

I also subscribe to a scroll saw FaceBook forum. It has many members and lots of discussion. Much of the discussion is from newbies about issues which I feel I could offer constructive comments. But then I look and see numerous comments with advice all over the map from good to clueless and I feel like one more comment will just get lost among all the others. So I now mostly ignore the SS FB forum and come here for more focused discussions.

Congratulations! That worked out well and you do indeed have 2 very nice portraits of Baxter. I have done quite a bit of resawing but I don't think I could do that on my bandsaw. Q - how thick was the original Aspen board?

1. Understand what causes the bubbles and how to limit them from happening. 2. Then have a strategy for managing those that do happen. Cause: a. From the wood itself. Wood is porous and dry wood has air in it. The epoxy will seep into the pores and air/bubbles will escape - into the epoxy. Some woods are worse at this than others. I once tried pouring epoxy into red oak, but that is another story. What to do: use a dense wood to limit this effect. Or better yet, seal the wood before pouring the epoxy. A coat of shellac or any paint / wood sealer will do. Be careful to get it into all the edges and all the tight places. b. From the epoxy itself. Part 1: when you stir the epoxy (as you must) you create bubbles. Stir the epoxy carefully to limit this. Part 2: the epoxy heats up and creates bubbles as it cures. Use a slow curing epoxy to limit this. Managing the bubbles: As stated above: a. use a less porous wood. b. seal the wood before pouring. c. use a slow curing epoxy. Table-top epoxy is best for pours up to ~1" thick, Deep-Pour epoxy for thicker pours. Table-top epoxy takes 4+ hours to cure, Deep-pour takes 12+ hours. Both of these make fewer bubbles as they do not generate much heat as they cure. And they remain liquid enough for long enough that the bubbles have time to rise to the surface and resolve themselves. d. stir the epoxy gently. e. then watch the YouTube videos on what to do about the bubbles. Think about what they are saying. Some YouTube advice is good advice, but not all of it is. That should get you off to a good start. Do all that and practice until you are happy with the results before pouring into your prized work. I wish I had known all this before I poured into my prized scroll piece.

Very nice Chris! And very creative. Bubbles do make an epoxy fill look unsightly. Perhaps we should have a tutorial on what causes them and how to deal with them.

No, but I have been looking at them and other sanding systems but am nowhere close to pulling the trigger. I compare those to the Foredom flex shaft sanders and its clones. Both allow sanding/grinding/cutting tools at the end of a flexible shaft. The advantage for the Guinivere is the inflatable sanding thingies. I wonder if you could get those and put them on another flex shaft sander. The advantage for the Foredom is that the motor hangs up out of the way and does not take up benchtop space. And both are a big step up from the Dremel style rotaty tools. I will be following this thread to see what others have to say.

Wow Monti, beautiful work! It is things like this that make me think I would like to get into intarsia. But I remind myself that this is not a project for beginners.

The big box stores here in the Republic of Texas also do not have denatured alcohol. So how are we to make our own shellac? BTW Ray @OCtoolguy,the alcohol dissolves the pigment from paduak. You do not have paduak sawdust in your maple, you have paduak pigment in your maple. Using alcohol to remove the shellac will only dissolve more paduak pigment and make the problem even worse. Regrets, but I do not have a solution to how to get the paduak pigment out of the maple.

Thanks Bob. I suppose now I will stop worrying about putting one on my Pegas.

It has been a couple of years since I cut acrylic, but when I did, I cut it with the plastic sheet that came on it and was happy with the results, i.e. it protected the acrylic from scratches.

Mark, that looks fabulous! Henry and his co-workers will love it. The font looks challenging, especially the thin inner part of the N and U. I had some of those silicon wafers from a job long ago, haven't seen them for years and doubt that I still have them. But I do remember how delicate they are. I see a possible problem with one part of your finishing plan, the part where you save the resin pouring till last. Resin can be a challenging material to work with. I suggest you practice on scrap material until you are comfortable with it and the process. TJ Brown has an article in the "How To" section of the Scroll Saw Village forum. Check that out. Resin is a liquid (before it sets) and likes to run everywhere, especially through any gaps, however small, between the project piece and the backer, but also into the grain of the wood itself. That is messy enough in and of itself, but when you pour the resin ever so carefully to be precisely level with the surface of the finished work, then any leak will result in the level of the resin dropping and no longer be level with the surface. Choose your resin carefully. Resin makes bubbles which look awful in the finished work. And the dried wood has air in its fibers which leak out into the resin as bubbles. Fast setting resin doesn't leak so much but does capture the bubbles. Slower setting resin leaks more but gives the bubbles time to resolve. Many how-to articles talk about ways to deal with the bubbles. I will stop rambling now, but strongly encourage you to practice before putting the resin in the finished project.

Beautifully done Matt! Did you cut the words out individually and glue them to the backer? Proverbs 3:3-4: I had to look it up, do not know the Bible from memory.

I visit this site daily, but otherwise, ditto what Rolf said.

Very nice pattern and great cutting. What types of wood did you use?

Rick, I searched and found numerous hits for "Cool Gnome" and even one for "Garden Hippy Gnome, Kool Style". Gnomes are fun and I am always interested in seeing a new one. Thurman

And a very Merry Christmas to you Rick! I don't do iMac or Inkscape and thus will be of no help whatsoever with your stated problem. But I do want to see the Kool Gnome Pattern. So here's hoping somebody can/will help you. And please post it when it is done. Thurman

Tyler, Thank you for your videos. In answer to your question, I/we do watch your videos, or at least some of them. And you have added to the hobby with your work and your posts. Keep it up! Merry Christmas!

I have cut acrylic and like to use a lighted base like this one. 4 Pieces 3D Night LED Light Lamp Base with 4 Pieces Clear Acrylic Sheets & Remote Controls and Charging Cables Adjustable 16 Colors 4 Modes for Child Room Bar (Square Style) - Amazon.com

Eye catching scene Frank! I agree with @barb.j.enders's hubby that it is "interesting." But I am the "hubby" and am wondering if it is also "interesting" from the special lady's point of view? I might have to cut this one myself. Update: I showed it to my lady and she said it looks "weird"; and from her reaction, not in a nice way. So much for the female point of view.

I seem to recall an article that said that alcohol causes the color in Paduak to dissolve and spread. And shellac has alcohol in it as the solvent. Don't use shellac on Paduak.

Very good Brian @Stretch. I was going to suggest these, but you beat me to it.

It does sound like contact issues inside the potentiometer (pot). Contact cleaner might help if it is an open pot and if the problem happens to be on the surface of the contacts. But since you had some prior success with blowing air, it might be a problem of sawdust getting into the pot and contact cleaner might not help with that, might make it worse. I question why they would put an open pot on a scrollsaw, knowing that we generate fine sawdust. But the fact that you had some success blowing air into it seems to say that it is open. If you are at the end of line for that pot, ready to replace it, then trying the contact cleaner cannot make it worse, so give it a try. You might be able to make it work properly for some more time before you have to replace it. Potentiometers can be finicky creatures. If the eBay part is the right part then all you have at risk is your time and $1.98. Good luck and let us know what you do and how it works out.

Very nice Jimmy! Very clean, very neat, very organized. I am envious. But I can see plenty of room for more toys tools. He who has the most toys wins. Not sure if that latter statement means tools or completed woodworking projects. But just in case someone wants to start a contest, here are a few proposed rules: 1. Tools: who has the most 1A, power tools; 1B, hand tools. 2. Finished woodworking projects: must be cut, sanded, finished; ready for display/gifting/sale. 2A, most copies of a single pattern, 2B. most projects from different patterns. 3. Most designer firewood projects. I need to stop this and get back to the shop.

Jimmy @jimmyG, my "GoTo Wood" for now and the foreseeable future is free wood. I have a substantial stockpile that friends have given me, one who downsized and didn't have room for his woodworking shop, one who worked at a cabinet makers shop and gave me a bunch of cutoffs and one who makes furniture out of mesquite and gave me some of his cutoffs. I am now refusing free wood as I don't have room to store any more. It is in all sizes and shapes and I resaw and plane and glue to get panels for scrolling. For varieties, I have mesquite, acacia, red oak, white oak, cherry, walnut, maple, poplar, pecan and probably a few others. I also have a supply of really small, really exotic cutoffs from a guitar maker friend, but these are all small pieces and hard to use for scrolling. If I ever take up intarsia (on my list of things I would like to do) I will be able to use many of these. Now if I can just find the time to do scrolling.

We call that "Designer Firewood". We have all made some of that. Some because of the wood, some because of the saw/blade/etc and some is our own darn fault. Take a step back and take a deep breath and then forget about that one and forge ahead. But don't ever think it is just you. BTW, I never use plywood anymore. I am an inveterate bargain hunter and have bought BBPly at a good price from w or 3 online sites that I don't remember. It did not work out well.