preprius

Jerry, Barb The only thing that was holding back of trying was what project deserves this wood? I have (4) 2" blocks left. another purpleheart $13, olivewood $31, redheart, and canarywood. Why did I choose to do name block, because these 2 girls lost their roommate to cancer. They needed something special. A cowgirlhat is not their style. It takes me 20 hours for a hat, 10 hours for this. I look forward to another special project for the other blocks. But it has to be be very special. 1 down 4 to go.

I finally decided to use one of my 2" Purpleheart turners block. This one took a long time just to cut. I tried many many different blades. I had to do what everyone says not to do. I had to push pretty hard for the blade to start cutting. To give an idea of how hard it was, it took an hour for the space between each character. Over 10 hours of cutting. Yep I found other issues along the way. I forgot to check my cutting angle. I had my last project set at 0.8 deg. I figured that out too late, half way done. The biggest super skip I had was #3 was but it was not stiff enough. I used a Polar #7 , and it did not turn corners. Pegas #5 mgtr has some reverse teeth that popped the wood off the table (purple heart is strong). Pegas skip is similar to polar #7. I even tried Pegas #3 mgt. Oh a #4 spiral blade does not do well either. Overall I stuck with #5mgt Pegas. I had to use alot of strength to hold the wood down during turns. I will be ordering bigger super skips, Lots of them. Other issues , when turning corners and pushing, the bottom of the blade is not directly cutting under the top of the blade (not vertical). So the bottom blade cuts the corner and angles sideways at the same time. So I had to re-cut all corners with a stiffer blade. I am not showing the back because it sucks. For a few years I wanted to add gemstones to one of my projects. I got an oval opal that fits inside the 2 hearts. I used a small diamond rotary tools and dug out the oval deep enough for the opal. This opal is just beautiful in the purpleheart wood. I love opals. The table spoon is for size comparison. Before sealing the wood, I let it sit for 2to 3 days to darken the purple. I applied "Arm R Seal" on the wood before gluing the opal. I taped off the oval dig out. 3 coats of seal. I used Devcon 330 epoxy for setting the opal. I used acetone on both opal and purple heart before epoxy.

I would like to share 3. The 2 easy "little" projects have an effect on people I interact with. 1) Foot Dr. trinkets. Pink feet drawers for all 5 employees. 2) Some friends that love cats. This one had a bigger impact than original plan. The group of girls moved into a rental house from a trailer park. They are associated with trap, neuter, release of feral cats. They were excited to decorate for holloween for the first time. Kali had designed the "lotions and potions" sign then got sick 7 days before halloween. So I got the design and added scrollsawn plastic bottle to enhance the design. Added plastic smoke and names. The board was given back to them 5 days before halloween. I routed the wood for them. The other girls painted the routed background. Teamwork. Kali came back from the hospital for 2 days and she saw the sign. But had to go back to hospital. So she did not enjoy the trick or treat kids. I think the other girls took the name block to her in hospital. So she got to see her name block. They had to pull the ventilator 1 day after Thanksgiving. The cancer destroyed her lungs. 35 yr old. Her twin brother came to her house during funeral and saw the name block and asked if he could have it. The other girls agreed. 3) Hat #4 cowgirl hat. Canarywood. This one had a rough start. Brim wood had glue issues and had cracks. When sanding the sides had a stress fracture. But for shipping everything fell perfect. I went to boot barn to get a hat box. The lady allowed me to check if hat would fit. The hat was like 1/4" to wide. So she said she had a spare Stetson box , it fit !!!. No charge.

Since the screen shows snowflakes, the bull looks like he is frozen from ground up. Wow, great effort. If I was your student I would fail this project. Probably just barely pass your course. As for finishing ideas, not a winter scene, make the little tiny branches green for spring growth. Practice painting. To protect the fragileness it probably should be framed with a Sajuaro catus next to it. You did good.

Merry Christmas to all villagers. I appreciate this place every day.

that is really cool looking. The grey shadowing on hand can show he has a lot of gun shot residue.

Hi Roger, This village is great place to find out all aspects of the art of scrollsawing. As you can tell we like pictures. I joined about 3 yrs ago and was not afraid of asking questions, showing my failures. Me. Mark Eason

All scrollsaw. Almost ready to ship. Canarywood CowGirl hat. A lady in Idaho wanted one. I have to glue leather sweat band in and pack it up.

I just handed out 65 if these to our 4 teams at work. We had a pot luck day, so my boss and I decided it was the best time to hand them out. No scrollsaw work. But CNC and Laser was used. 5 types of wood, Maple , cherry, black walnut, Mohagany, and Hickory. Our group says end of year celebration due to many different types of religion is through out the 20,000 workers corporate wide. I know lots of Technical abbreviations in the gifts. The names are project names. There are about 12 to 20 members per project. This is the first time I made gifts for all projects teams. I usually just give them to the team I was assigned to.

That looks like a fun project.

Welcome to village. I am from California. I am looking forward to seing new moves from the newbie. I was a newbie 3 yrs ago. I had lots of questions early on. This village helped me with many answers. A Pin less blade source is : https://www.artcraftersonline.com/ So I will inject an answer before the question.... Get a sample pack of sizes and types of blades. Blade sizes can be a bit of learning curve. It all comes down to what feels good to you, the type of wood, the thickness of the wood, and how precise of cut you need. I use smallest #2/0 up to #7. I have on hand 5 types of pegas blades . My goto blade is #5 mgt (modified geometry). But #1 mgt is used for more precise cuts. Flying dutchman "Polar" brand types are also popular. Just in case I get into some new situations. I even have metal cutting blades when I want to cut coins or copper or aluminum sheets. Me. Mark Eason

I use #1 pegas mgt or super skip for 3/4 " walnut and maple bowls / hats. Also in 1.5 " turning blocks. I don't want big kerf. When I don't need small kerf, #3 or #5 super skip for 1.5" turning blocks. Sometimes I go with #7. But that is a rare event. I have 2" turning blocks that will be an interesting cut. I have to figure out what the end product will be.

so 10 responses, 10 don't use. This is a good topic. Tips and tricks of scrollsawers.

I too have them and never used them. once I used a scrollsaw file on metal. It is better just to grab the needle files.

Frank, this looks really nice. The gap that you mentioned actually adds realism. Like depth. My mustache stands out more than my beard. Also it adds a difference to left and right. If there is a big concern maybe go in with a grayish paint to make it not so dark background. A small very small distraction is the grain on upper half of the beard mustache. It goes straight across. Yes once it goes on the wall those little things just kinda go away or make it look better. The eyes makes the viewer experience so much better. Is santa looking up the cloudless sky? Only the viewer can imagine. So great work.

Another good advice from @Scrappile Relax your shoulders. I have to remind myself this a lot.

How about a foot stool. I have to go back to the foot Dr again. Since I had scrap purple heart I made is a second lab sample "purple foot". It happen to be a real foot condition. Thanks all for the stool idea. I used tooth pics for the legs. I made some labels for the pill bottles.

I love the title. Nice intro. it took me twice to see the play with words. " Wordcraft "

Kenofshelby, I started out with a Lowes entry saw porter cable. I had issues with that not holding blades and tension issues. OcToolGuy helped me find a Hawk226 used for $400. No issues of blades and tension every again. I am the 3rd owner of the Hawk. I have owned it for 4 years now. I went to see the used machine and OcToolguy told me what to look for. I got pic and messaged him and he said the machine is in very good condition. So I got it. I was so frustrated with entry saws. But the experts of scrollsaw village showed their project pictures and enticed me to go with used good brand name. My hats off to everyone here. I purposely used the term hats off because I designed a wearable cowboy hat from scrollsaw. I am building my 4th one now. The machine is never part of my frustration anymore. Me. Mark Eason

nice flowing hair. That takes some effort. Good job.

A-10 is my favorite. I had the pleasure to hear and see a striffing run at EAFB. BBBRRRRR. Nice job on the model.

great work. Imagination and execution.

your bowls look really good. I hope you sold a few of them.

So U was think of new stuff to do. Got curious about my purple heart ribbon failure. See above link. I just tried cutting the same piece of board stackup. My previous saw was porter cable entry level. I just tried my hawk 226 with a #5 mgt. It work so well. Sure it took a bit of time but it was not frustrating. My cut was 6 inches and took less than 20 min. I think a super skip should work also. I was fighting the upstroke a bit more than usual. Well I can put 1" purple heart into a can do category. I just will make sure I have lots of pegas blades on hand.

So I was curious about did LED technology actually help save energy. So I looked up CAISO California Independent organization. I looked at energy used every year. Notice 2011 thru 2014. The line almost flattened out. So that was just California. My opinion is it helped.