Insane Dust Maker

Thank you guys, truly appreciate your comments.

Thank you all for your great comments, it’s truly appreciated and just spurs me on to do more and keep improving.

Finally finished this beautiful Russ Beard Pattern, the frame is home made and I used the Shou Sugi Ban or Yakisugi effect which is a hundred year old Japanese technique that brings out the pattern of the wood. Applied three coats of Danish Oil and two coats Matt Clear Varnish. Staying in South Africa I have had the pleasure of photographing and sitting watch these animals now I’m cutting them. I will be using this technique on all my my fire wildlife cuttings

Finished this beautiful pattern by Russ Beard, the frame is home made using Malaysian Meranti, applied three coats of Danish Oil and two coats Matt Clear Varnish and fitted with Non Reflective Plexiglass. Very happy with the finish and so is my granddaughter who will be hanging on her wall this afternoon.

Thanks for your comments, I know what I have to do now anc go ahead and prepare my table.

I’ve only been scroll sawing for two years and have cut numerous Russ Beard complex patterns, and I have never damaged the table with a saw blade yet. So you have lost me here why would you be cutting the table, I only use straight pin less FD straight blades because that’s all we can get so, I’m a little confused about this.

Scrappile, that would involve laser cutting and a insert made here in SA that would cost a lot of money, so I’ll have to thank my chances.

Thank you so much that’s exactly what I was after my thinking for the slot/whole is the size I was looking at. Going to make a wood mock up of the slot/hole and test it first, because you know the story once you’ve drill it you can’t put it back.

Hi all, I’m making a new table for my scroll saw, it’s the one weak link in my original modification in as much as I drilled the blade hole to big, so when doing complex cutting there’s not enough support for the wood over the hole resulting in premature breaks. So can anyone tell me what is the hole size/slot on the saw you using, also some table don’t have dust extraction holes around the hole/slot what’s your thought on that, because I use my own design cyclone dust extraction system I’m kind of leaning towards adding the hole in a circular pattern, I was thinking either 1/8” or 5/32” it’s difficult to judge the size fro website photos

Thank you all for your encouraging comments, I do my best with what I can get here in South Africa, and that’s not much, very little choice of blades, Danish Oil is out of stock etc. so I make do with what I got, modified my scroll saw beyond the manufactures wildest dreams, it’s vibrationless due to the design of the stand by a mechanical and civil engineer, and it runs so smoothly. Yes I can not do big cuts, yes it’s a 16” fixed arm, but I can assure you I can move from hole to hole faster than raised arm machines only because I applied my mind, and you know what our Lord God did the rest he blessed me with Wisdom and Knowledge, I so Blessed.

Jerry tanks for the info, I don’t do small projects mine are all 14”x11” boards, and tend to do more of 5e complex cutting i.e. Leopards, Cheetahs and Tigers very time consuming but I love it. Dick just experiment and see what work best for you, it too me a while to get where I am now.

Gene, hope you found it helpful, it works for me, but we all have different our techniques and finishing skills.

This is my latest cut, this beautiful pattern by Russ Beard, double stack 1/4” Imported Prime Ply, approximately 25 hours I don’t rush things just one hole at a time. Cut on my highly modified Wen using mainly #0 and #1 Straight Flying Dutchman My finishing process is as follows, fist sand with 220 grit damp wipe clean blow dry dry with compressor and allowed to dry, second San 400 grit same process. The I use a flat “biscuit” baking pan pour about 2ml of Danish Oil and gently from tha side lay it in the pan, I leave it fit about a minute and the lift the wood to see if it’s soaking in we’ll lay the wood down again and leave for a few minutes carefully watching the the sides, depending on the dryness of the wood you will see the absorption amount. When I’m satisfied that the wood is nicely sealed I lift the cut out and hang it through a big cut about 2” from the tray to drip dry for about a minute. I then place the cut on four empty canned food tins and using a soft cloth wipe off all excess oil, I leave it like this for 24 hours so it dries and seals completely. If I’m going to apply any colour it’s done now then it’s sprayed with varnish, two to three coats depending on what finish you require. Then it’s the framing process, I make all my own frames.

rdatelle, Thank You, very happy with this one, but now on to next one even more challenging.

Heppenerguy, yip I agree with you it was all about the finishing that alone took a week because of the drying times etc. I’m not into rushing the drying times, if you can spend 50 hours of cutting then you can practice patients with the finish.

Thank you all for your great comments, I love do these complex cuts, I don’t care how long it takes. l

Goldfish estimated time about 50 hours and between 1200-1400 holes and cuts.

MarieC, I alway seal the wood with Danish Oil even if I am working with hard woods it seals the moisture in and I never never had wood. Rack on me as it dries.

Thank you.

1/4 “ Baltic Birch Ply, blade used throughout #0 straight Flying Dutchman, two coats Danish Oil, then two coats of Medium Oak stain for the Leopard and two coats of Antique Oak stain for the tree as the stains cleaning agent is mentholated spirits I applied a thin coat over the tree applying it my fire finger on a soft rag more pressure in places than in others to get the aged effect I was looking for. Final finish is three coats of varnish sprayed on in thin coats and allowed to dry between coats.

Just completed this beautiful Russ Beard pattern, it took me longer than it should have done the reason being the whole year so far we have had a maximum of four hours of power during the day so a lot has to be done when you do have power and scroll saw work has to put on the back bench. The power has improved slightly so I managed to finish it. We also had extensive flooding so the moisture content in the wood is high and played silly buggers with me in the finishing especially the Leopard. The tree I purposely textured it to give a bit of an aging effect. All in all I’m happy with the cut, I enjoy these complex cuts. Just as a matter of interest this was cut cut on the cheapest scroll saw like your Wen. I would have to think a bit about the frame thinking about a rustic frame to suit the picture as well as the back round behind the Leopard I think a nice blue representing a nice clear day under the African skies.

Russ Beard has no sense of humour, there are plenty holes, I’m not hole counter and don’t sit down and drill all my holes at one time. I continually study the pattern to decide where the best place will be for hole, and drill no more than about twenty holes, I cut them, give myself a short break and then drill the next twenty, I’m in no rush just one hole at a time, so far no breaches so I’m a happy puppy.

This is Russ Beard pattern, it’s going slowly, because I had other things to attend to but hope to make some good progress this week.

Thanks guys got it all sorted out. Got a good 3M half mask, with the required filter pack, good googles that seal your eyes and allows you to wear spectacles and ear muffs. So I’m cool. The good Lord gave you a body for free, it’s up to you to look after it,

I use a highly efficient cyclone dust collection system, that I designed myself and is attached to the saw, and I use a small fan that blows across the table. The I have to wear spectacles even with the magnifying glass, but at the end of the day my eyes feel like I have been standing in a sand storm all day. I’m a pensioner with limited funds so I can’t install a filtration system in the work shop. Maybe my half max is not doing the job properly, I don’t know.