TAIrving

Our Walmarts here in the Houston area are also being overrun by an interesting assortment of people, not the same for any 2 stores. I think (not an original idea) that Walmart is missing a business opportunity. They could put in an observation balcony and sell wine. They could even put in some of the binoculars, those which require a coin to operate, for observing the shoppers on the main floor.

You can also get this one at Costco and Walmart. Do you still have those in CA? OttLite 2-in-1 LED Magnifier Floor and Desk Lamp | Costco OttLite 2-in-1 LED Magnifier Floor and Desk Lamp - Walmart.com

This is the Ottlite I have for my scroll saw. I have no issues with strobing. It has a strong, white light and the magnifier works well for me. These are not inexpensive, but might be worth the price. This one lists for $149.99 but they are offering a $40 discount. I bought mine through JoAnns and my wife had a 40% off coupon. OttLite 2-in-1 LED Magnifier Floor and Table Light | Magnifier Lamp | Natural Daylight Lighting

I also have an Ottlite and am pleased with it. The LED lights put out a strong, white light and the magnifying lens is just right for me at my scroll saw. I sometimes move it around the shop to my drill press and other machines.

Sounds like a winner! The word must be out, they are out of stock at my local Lowes.

Joe, Yes, I have cut cedar fencing with my scroll saw. I used that wood when I first started scrolling and I found it to be a very easy wood to cut. It is soft enough to be easy to cut and soft enough that the grain pattern does not affect the blade. You will have some fuzzies on the back, but they are easy enough to deal with. To attach the patterns, I sanded the board mostly smooth, then used blue painters tape and glued the pattern to the blue tape. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but the others gave you ways to attach the pattern. Best of luck with your project. Please post pictures of it when it is finished. Thurman

I think my wife sees it the other way - she sends me to my shop to get me out of her hair. Her methods work for me. She makes certain that I have enough tools/toys that I enjoy me time there. And she comes up with projects for me to work on. All of which results in me spending much time in the shop and smiling when I come back.

Thank you all for the kind comments. She loves to cook and gave me a delightful steak dinner for my Valentine's Day present.

Gave my lady scroll saw Valentines today. All are Steve Good patterns; the gnomes are from last year; she saved them and brought them out again this year. The other 3 are new this year.

Beautiful job Richard! Also a VietNam vet with lingering Agent Orange effects, I am sure he will enjoy that. How big is it? Did you cut the individual stars?

Nice setup! Hope you sell lots of stuff. Let us know how it goes.

@Tbow388 Very nice work, I like all 3 of them. What wood did you use in each of them? The darker wood in the second one appears to have a glow to it.

@Gene Howe A few more things about scrolling with mesquite: it is a very good wood for scrolling. The blade goes where you point it, does not try to follow the grain. I have never had a burn when scrolling with mesquite. No fuzzies. I think that is because it is a hard wood. No breakouts, again because it is a hard wood. Placing and removing patterns is easy. I use full sheet labels and put them directly on the mesquite, no blue tape, etc. The pattern stays in place and,after cutting, pulls off easily without pulling wood fibers. This again because it is a hard wood and it helps that I sand the wood before cutting, usual to 240 grit or finer. The only real issue is that dark wood is not the best for all projects.

The surgery business must pay well. How much did he charge you for yours? Just kidding of course. That is quite an airplane and a beautiful cutting of it.

@Gene Howe I like mesquite and enjoy working with it. It is hard and dense and it is dark and finishes up very nicely; some would say it looks rustic. You are lucky to have live edge boards, you can use that to achieve a great rustic look. A lot of mesquite does have cracks, knots, etc and you do have to be judicious in using it. For scrolling, I resaw and plane mine to the desired size and thickness, paying attention to flaws in the wood. I often place the pattern to work around the flaws and to use the character of the wood to go with the character of the pattern. It is an interesting wood to work with. Post pictures when you do something with yours.

I am really not a neatness freak but I do have my limits. So I do work at cleaning/vacuuming up the sawdust in my shop. I conclude that my shop vac is performing as a Dust Pump! Read on. Recently I notice that I keep getting a film of fine sawdust on every surface in my shop. I clean up as best I can, go about my woodworking tasks of the day and, at the end of the day I clean up and vacuum. The next day the film of fine sawdust seems to be a bit thicker than it was the day before. It appears to be caused by my shop vac and the bargain vacuum bags I bought for it. I compared the bags available and got what I thought was the best bargain. I now conclude that these bags filter nothing, at least not the fine sawdust I am finding all over my shop. I am now back to shopping for bags and looking at their filtering specs. I see some that claim to filter 87% of particles 0.5 microns. The bags I bought previously say nothing about their filtering capabilities. I have a Wen 3415 air filtration system in my shop and it helps. I observe that the first filter, the 5 micron one, collects a lot of sawdust but that the second/inner filter, the 1 micron one, collects very little. Thus I conclude that most of the sawdust in my shop is 5 microns or larger. But apparently a lot of the sawdust in my shop settles out before being sucked through the Wen unit. Have any of you had a similar experience? What did you do to solve it? BTW, I will make someone a real deal on a package of shop vacuum bags, 9 remaining of an original package of 10.

One more. This is a Steve Good Nativity scene published several years ago. The wood is 1/2" mesquite.

This is a modified Steve Good pattern. I alternated layers of 1/4" Maple and Walnut. We use this bowl to hold the TV remotes in our den.

Work in progress on Steve Good Valentine's Day pattern. I still need to paint them. The wood is 1/2" Ambrosia Maple left over from a previous project. As others have said, I have cut many of his patterns and they are a big part of what got me addicted to this marvelous hobby.

Lots of good advice already. In addition, ensure that the layers are securely attached so there is no movement between layers while cutting. With fine detail in the pattern, any shifting during cutting means that the lower layers will be unusable. Don't ask how I know this.

Thanks Scott @Scott M.. I will call him. I talked with Michael Murray today and he was most helpful. Per his suggestion, I loosened the 4 hex screws which hold the tabletop in place and shifted the tabletop to where the blade fit in the slot when the head is tilted. That did the trick with one minor issue. When the head is tilted beyond 36°, the blade guard (the one under the tabletop) hits the underside of the tabletop and makes a lot of noise. Michael suggested removing the lower blade guard as it serves little purpose. it is not very often that any of us put ourselves at risk of cutting our fingers on the blade under the tabletop while running the scrollsaw. Kudos to Michael and Pegas for good technical support!

I am frustrated. I was attempting to make a scroll saw bowl, along the lines of this one from Steve Good's pattern library newbowl.cdr (stevedgood.com). i.e., start with a flat board, cut concentric circles of decreasing diameters at an angle and then stack them to make a bowl. I wanted to cut my wood at a 40° angle but ran into an issue. The manual for my saw, Pegas 21”, says it will cut up to 40° to either side. After some attempts, please don’t ask for details, I discovered that the blade hits the side of the slot in the table at 25° on one side and at 20° on the other side. I had thought that I should be able to cut at up to 40° to either side without making any major adjustments. This tells me, among other things, that my blade is not exactly centered in the clamps – minor issue. Question is, do I have to shift the tabletop in order to be able to cut at the desired 40° angle? And then shift it back when I have finished this cut. I haven’t tried, but don’t think that shifting the blade all the way over to one side of the clamps will do the job. Has anyone else run into this problem? How did you manage it? Does your saw allow you to do this easily and if so, what brand saw?

Happy New Year to all, especially Villagers! And happy scrolling with lots of wood (inexpensive, new to you and exotic varieties). And post pictures.

I attached my vacuum hose to the hold-down on my saw. I can lift it up and down as needed and I can rotate it out of the way.

Very nice Alan! There are a lot of small cuts in that one and you did them all very well. What type of wood did you use, how did you finish it and what size is it? Hope you had a Merry Christmas and wishing you a Happy New Year!