TAIrving

Great observation Ray. I have noticed that too. And I am one of those who checks in every day but do not always have anything to post. I am doing more in woodworking but no longer exclusively in scrolling. And life has thrown in a few curve balls. We hosted a family get-together for Easter. It was a good time and it was great to see everyone but it did take some time away from the shop. Most recently I received a request from the local St Vincent de Paul Society to make a new sign for their new building. That has included quite a bit of scrolling but has also pushed my woodworking skills in new directions. Maybe I will post something in "Works in Progress". Last week I visited my doctor about pain in my thumbs. Turns out to be arthritis and he gave me shots of cortisone in both thumbs. And he gave me thumb braces and instructions to limit my use of my hands for the next several weeks. So, scrolling is ok, but no turning bowls on the lathe and no golf. On the interesting side, an acquaintance who makes guitars decided to clean out his shop. I wound up with lots of small pieces of exotic woods, many of them new to me. I will have fun playing with those. Cheers

Does anyone recognize the type of wood @Wichman used for this project? It looks somewhat familiar. Some types of wood are more brittle than others. Doing fine fretwork with ¼” panels will emphasize this. And it may be more so if the particular panel is especially dry or has flaws. I had a similar experience and wrote about it last year – see Monkeypod - General Scroll Sawing - Scroll Saw Village. I adjusted my expectations, changed to a smaller blade and, in time, finished the project.

Very well done Bernd! I have done the square ones from the Steve Good pattern. But, as Frank said, I don't care for his joinery. And I looked on Sue Mey's site and did not see one with a hummingbird pattern. I have an open request for one with hummers.

Beautiful job Denny! I guess one would have to eat any M&Ms that slipped through and fell on the table.

My experience has been much the same as Frank's. I learned scrolling with Steve Good patterns and the like. Then I moved into increasingly complex fretwork. Along the way I have been studying and sampling many different woods and am intrigued by the qualities and differences. I have recently acquired other woodworking tools but still think of my scroll saw as special to me. I do not sell my work yet but am starting to get requests for wood projects. My current project/request is for a sign for the St Vincent de Paul building at our church. I will post pictures as I progress with it. Check out their website at SVDP USA – Providing Assistance to Those in Need for Over 175 Years (ssvpusa.org).

Thank you all for your kind comments. It was a fun project and my wife is happy with it.

My wife asked me to make a Charcuterie Tray with those extra pieces of wood I had in my shop! I am still processing the concept of "extra pieces of wood". But she humors me, so I try to humor her. I finished it in time for Easter and you can see it loaded for the Easter family get-together. So, here it is. It is approximately 18" x 24". The sides are 1/2" black walnut. The bottom is all 1/4", several species including bubinga and black walnut (the extra wood I had lying around). We finished it with Boo's Mystery Oil and Boo's Board Cream. We had a great Easter get-together. Hoping you all had a good Easter.

Thanks BArb for posting that site, it is just what I need for a project I am working on right now!

I don't use CYA glue for my woodworking projects, haven't found a need. Titebond and 3M77 seem to do everything I need. What do you use it for? I might try it for stack cutting using the technique from @CSull/Craig in another post. I am still contemplating Dan's idea of using it as a finish.

i use the techniques described by Frank and Wichman. I use the Pegas 2/0 blades and find that I have to reduce the tension because they are fragile. I have had brand new blades snap just from applying full tension.

Wow Kris, those are beautiful! Your church will be truly blessed to have those! Tell us more about the project please. Those appear to be 3 individual pieces each cut from a single panel. That is very fine cutting and looks very fragile. What wood did you use and what are you using for backers?

Joe, Beautiful cutting of a great pattern! And I really like the color of the backer. I would not have noticed the bit with the tail feathers if you had not mentioned it. We love our hummingbirds and they are starting to pass through right now, I need to get my feeders up. Their sound is more of a chirp than a tweet. Thurman

What type of wood did you use for the charcuterie board?

Good to hear that you are getting it worked out and will be able to save the project. You seem to have answered 2 questions, one about the glue - it is not waterproof, and the other about the padauk bleeding - due to alcohol. I wondered about the latter, did a search and found a Woodcraft article that confirms that the pigment in padauk is alcohol soluble. Woodsense: Spotlight Padauk (woodcraft.com). They recommend not finishing padauk with shellac because of the alcohol thing.

isopropyl alcohol typically is a mixture of alcohol and water. Most common is a 70% mix where the other 30& is water. But you can also buy 97%. That's the purest form I have seen in the stores.

I used some of the HD project panels a couple of years ago and liked them. I found them to be of solid construction with no voids. I like them better than BBply because they are available with a choice of outer layer including maple, walnut, mahogany, cherry, etc. You can even get them with birch if you must. I don't care for birch as an outer layer because it is difficult to make a nice finish.

Very nice Denny. Sounds like you are planning to do the full 8 trivet set from Sue Mey's pattern. Will be watching to see the others.

Great idea on how to do snow and the beard. I have done Christmas gnomes and the recent Valentine gnomes. I now see that gnomes have a year-round presence.

Very nice detail work.

Very nice Dennis! Nice cutting, especially the veining in the parrot's feathers, the leaves and the bark in the tree trunk. The colors make the parrot jump out. I like the way you used the wood grain in the backer to make it look like the scene is set in the jungle.

Are we equating pistol shooting with pouring coffee? Might be relevant when pouring the wife her first cup in the morning.

Great idea @FrankEV! I gave it a try using acacia and red oak and here is the very preliminary result, still a good bit of sanding and finishing work to go.

OK, guys and gals, you started this on the other thread. But it deserves its own thread. True confession: I think of myself as a top-feeder, but I feel like I am cheating. Question: How do you do it? This question is for other top-feeders only. Bottom-feeders kindly observe respectfully. Background: I started scrolling with a non-moveable arm machine (Porter-Cable). For fretwork I developed the technique of removing the blade at both ends, inserting it through the workpiece, reattaching the blade at both ends and then resetting the tension. I seriously bent some blades before developing this technique. Frustration quickly set in and, after reading up on machines here on this forum, I purchased a Pegas with the intention of doing top-feeding. I love my Pegas scroll saw, but... The problem: The arm raises up and stays up and it is easy to lower it to the hole in the workpiece. The problem is how to get the blade through the hole in the table. I have no problem clamping the blade by feel in the lower clamp. How I do it: I tried everything I could think of and none of them worked. So, I now raise the arm to full height, raise the workpiece to the blade and feed the blade through and, taking a clue from our friends the bottom-feeders, bending over to see what I am doing, lower the workpiece and arm and visually guide the blade through the hole in the table. That’s when I feel like I am cheating. A true top-feeder should not have to bend over to look, that should be for bottom-feeders only. Previous attempts: At first, I tried carefully positioning the hole in the workpiece over the hole in the table but never was able to make that work consistently. Then I bought a laser pointer to point at the table feed-hole, suggested by Steve Good, but could not find a place to mount it. My best previous technique was to lift the workpiece and guide the blade by feeling both the blade and the table feed-hole, but never felt like this was the final answer. Question rephrased: How do you do top-feeding without bending over and looking?

A friend, furniture maker and source of nice scraps of wood, requested a small Christian cross. I did this one, using some of the wood he gave me. The wood is Acacia from his family ranch in central Texas. I resawed it to 1/4" thickness and is about 8" tall. The first picture shows the 3 parts separate and the second picture shows the 3 parts assembled. For those who are religious, it has the symbology of the holy trinity.

Scrollerpete must have bought the last one. The Amazon link says they are out of stock and do not know if or when they will have more.