Millwab

Definitely the light

Kevin, there is a router bit specifically designed to make these keyholes in wood if you want to cut them into your walnut instead of attaching a bracket.

Have you tried rubber cement? It comes with a brush in the lid and is supposed to be "wrinkle free" and the pattern can be peeled off.

I use the same setup. An added bonus is that the desk fan (in my case a small oscillating fan) keeps the dust away from my face to help keep me cool and not breathing it.

Finally broke out of my shop malaise and got a couple of new puzzles cut. The round one is 10” in diameter and 163 pieces. The rectangle is 12”x 11” and 132 pieces …

Maybe a rolling stool would keep your head from hurting

Chris, I’m in a basement shop so I don’t have to worry about cold or warm outside. I don’t know for sure, but I would think that condensation on tools would be a problem constantly going from freezing to comfortable warm and back to freezing. Just my thoughts.

Paul, I’m not sure when they made the change over but this saw has the old barrel style bottom clamps (you can see them in the first picture in the holder on the left side of the saw). Some love them and some hate them. I’ve got an old Hawk with those clamps and a motor that can’t be replaced. I don’t have an issue with the blade clamps (I love the fact that I can have six different blades loaded and ready) but if the motor goes so goes the saw. If I remember correctly the old motors were DC and the new ones are AC. I’d find out what year it was made and check to see whether it has the newer motor before committing to it.

I have a couple friends that love baseball and puzzles, so for their birthdays I’ve been making them a puzzle from a Norman Rockwell baseball themed illustration. This year is #10 in the series. The locks around the edge add a little challenge rather than a straight edge to identify the outside "frame" of the puzzle.

Alex, since the body is a cylinder and if you need to drill perfectly perpendicular holes you can hold a square against the wood and drill body instead of just relying on your eye.

For those of you who advocate no glass for your portraits, would you choose the same for framed word art?

Don, is this what you’re thinking of? Don’t remember where I got it from, but I’ve had this out on my display when I’m exhibiting at our county fair.

Kevin, I too have the same setup on my old Hegner and would be interested in what you come up with. My only solution so far is to have a small fan on one side of the table blowing across toward my box fan on the other side. At least it’s better than a lap full of sawdust

I mounted and sprayed 20 photos for puzzles yesterday but decided to let the finish cure one more day before cutting. Consequently ended up cutting 8 more people & pets today. Scrap pile is dwindling as I make my way back Thanx for your encouragement.

I’ve been in a bit of a workshop funk for about the last month and haven’t had the ambition to do any scrolling (even though I have plenty to do). Decided I needed to get back to it and started today using up some scraps. Here is what I managed to cut before my back said "enough" …

John, here’s an example of the 5”x7” puzzle cut on the diagonal. Besides the triangles along the edge the "figure 8" cut renders the rest of the pieces having the same shape. They’re all different just by the nature of them being hand cut without a pattern, but they look the same from a 30,000 foot view The other pic is the 35pc with a more traditional border.

When I was an exhibitor at our county fair last year I had some small puzzles for sale. They were 5"x7" and cut two different ways. One was a typical horizontal/vertical pattern in 1" squares (35 pieces) and the other was a diagonal pattern in 1"squares (82 pieces). The diagonal pattern leaves the outside edge pieces as triangles that don’t connect to each other except in the corners. No, you can’t put the frame together first and then fill it in Both were cut with my "figure 8" piece cut. This adds a bit more of a challenge to the puzzle. I got this comment on my website today … "I got a 5x7 Teton Range 82 piece puzzle for Christmas and it is probably one of the most frustrating puzzles i have ever tried. No directions, only a small snail sized photo on a small piece of paper to try and work from. Yes, I have given up and gone back to simpler 500 and 1000 piece puzzles that are thought provoking but much more relaxing to work." I don’t ever remember seeing a puzzle with directions, and the "snail sized photo" was 3”x5” (almost half the size of the whole puzzle). I suppose I should be honored that my little 82pc puzzle was harder to do than a commercial 1000pc. I guess you can’t please everyone.

I use a crown tooth blade to cut acrylic for my teaching bank windows with no melting issues. Olson recommends their PGT or Crown Tooth blades for plastic. Pégas recommends their super skip or MGT blades. Couldn’t find a chart for Flying Dutchman. Hope this helps

Thanx all. As I said, I was a little reluctant to say yes to 12 of the same thing (especially compound cuts) but in the end I was glad I did. Besides, how do you say no to an 85yo grandpa wanting to keep his wife’s memory alive? The pattern is a Diana Thompson from her book "Compound Christmas Ornaments for the Scroll Saw"

When I was an exhibitor at our county fair this year a man came up to me and pointed to a compound cut angel I had on display. It wasn’t for sale (I made it for my wife a few years before she passed away and wasn’t going to part with it) but just there to demonstrate what you can do with a scrollsaw. He asked me if I would make 12 of them for him. I was a little hesitant (I’m not much of a mass production type - rather do one offs) until he told me the backstory. His wife, who died around the same time as mine, would give the grandkids an angel every year for Christmas. When she died he decided to keep the tradition going. When he saw my angel he thought they would be perfect for this year, so I agreed to make them … all 12 of them! He was pleased and so was I. The bodies are walnut and the wings soft maple.

One thing that caught my eye was that the adhesive is "silicone based." Wonder if that would effect finishing the wood it was applied to?

Barbara, I’m not quite sure what you are wanting to make but the heat generated and dissipated inside a box that has a lot of open fretwork shouldn’t be that much of a concern as long as the light source you’re using doesn’t get crazy hot. When I make my Nite Lites the light chamber is only about 2”x 4” x 7” high and the only "venting" is from the scrolled front panel. I use a 7w nightlight bulb and never have a problem with heat build up. IMG_1469.webp

I too have a Hegner as a second (backup) saw. It’s an old single speed which bothered me, but I’m in the middle of an order of 12 compound cut projects and am finding it better at cutting 1.75” walnut than my primary saw. Actually beginning to like it

You could also put "1991" to the left of the name and "2024” to the right on the same line giving you more room to work with and a bit of a balanced look.

Dave, can you explain the difference between a tank printer and one that uses cartridges. The only inkjet printers I’m familiar with are ones that use cartridges.