rafairchild2

Another set of Nativities completed today. Sue Mey design as well. I did these two designs, and a third is ready for cutting for next week. Now I take a short break from nativity cutting and this week will be working on a Flag, Eagle, and Statue of Liberty. (I combined a couple of Steve Goods designs into one). This will be for a French Officer I work with at NATO.

Welcome to the world of Intarsia James! Great job. There are quite a few designers that have outstanding patterns. This will keep you busy at the saw for sure! What I like about our scrollsaw "hobby"... passion... Is that it is so varied. I can do puzzles today, toy cars the next, intarsia the following day, and stay occupied for weeks, then do some Welsh Love Spoons (yup, YOU got me addicted to those!), then switch to intricate fretwork, and look up and the weekend has passed by. No way we could get bored with this. Though I took four days off from my FT job at NATO for the long weekend and ended up spending 10+ hours a day in my workshop!!

Outstanding work! What blade(s) did you use for this?

Thank you Marie. One of the tricks I learned is to try and cut as much as possible with the "waste" area to the right of my blade. I use Flying Dutchman and noticed that it favors the right side, and that's where it will drift to. I find I have the best control and best lines using this rule. Plus, if I screw up, most of the time it will be in the waste area and not the "live" area.

Same here. I can pick my friends, I can pick my nose, but I can't pick my family. Might as well give them gifts.

Awesome wood! I love using more "exotic" wood in my work. Yours certainly makes the piece pop.

WHat do the cards say? I zoomed in, but still cannot read... my old eyes...

Spent this weekend starting my nativity work. These will be gifts. I will be giving them out at Thanksgiving. One goes to a Spanish officer I work with. The 3 smaller ones were cut from 1/2" Walnut and Cherry wood. This smaller is a Steve Good Pattern, which I really like as simple, yet classy. Though I have to say, all those straight lines do make it a bit of a challenge. The larger more intricate tree was cut from Canary Wood and is a Sue Mey design. I really like her designs, they are challenging for sure, but you come out with standout pieces. Combined with unique wood this is an heirloom piece in my mind. Lots of hours cutting this! Canary wood is really nice to cut as it seems to be a little "oily" so blades cut true and last a long time. I think I only had to replace the blades because I bent them when threading my pierce holes! I started with #3 Flying Dutchman Ultra Reverse, then moved to a #1 for the inside. I used a #3 for the outside perimeter which I did last. Sue's design is nice as it stays true to the Christmas story "The Shepherds and the Angels ~ Luke 2:8-21". All of the pieces have a semi-circle 'bulge' behind on the base, they also have a 'cup' drilled with a Forstner bit. This way the tea lights sit right in. I finished all of them in raw linseed oil, this is my preferred finish. Now comes the curing time, and then I will go over each piece with 3000-grit sandpaper. Then a tac cloth to get rid of the lint. I will be cutting a few more of the smaller ones, but need a rest first.

Got them off amazon. Height adjustable, and on casters. Oh and I figured out how to do the dust collection on my small belt sander and my table saw. Just hooked it all up.

Don't do fine work scrolling while listening to the guitar solo of Free Bird!!! I made that mistake this morning!!!

Here you go. It's a modest shop as it shares the garage with my Mustang. My space is about 20' x 5'. Although I can still work while the 'Stang is in the garage, I prefer the car out so I have a bit more space to think My table saw I tuck away and roll outside to use since it generates a lot of sawdust. I keep my rattle cans and sandpaper on the lower shelves of that rolling cart too. I also have a larger belt/disc sander on the shelf, along with my laser so you do not see those. I have rolling metal shelves on the other side of the garage, I store wood and "waste" wood, and also by the garage door I have my air compressor with my hose on a retractable reel, with about 50' of hose. I just installed the piping for the dust collection system, I added a cyclone bucket to it. I am still figuring out how I want to do the right side of the sanding bench where the smaller belt/disc sander is. Right now I just use the expandable hose when I want to use it plugging it in where my grinder/ flex drum sander plugs in. I am using blast gates to control everything. My vacuum system goes on anytime I turn on a piece of equipment. Most controlled by a dead man's foot pedal. My scroll saw is the only tool that does not turn the vac on as it does not draw enough current to trigger my controller. The electric is the next thing I will neaten up after I finish the dust collection. I am also going to get another workbench with built-in vice and dogs, and I am waiting for my new Wen 4214 drill press to come in tomorrow. I wanted something with cranks and a laser.

I take photos of everything that comes off my saw, no matter what. Most of what I make becomes a gift. I have in-progress photos and then finished photos. I have a black background that I put my pieces on so they look really good when photographed. I then back all of them up to my Google Photos folder. I also post them to my personal blog in that gallery (see link below), so they are available to the public, along with my writing about scrolling. This way everything is backed up. Once in a while, I do copy my computer folders to a storage hard drives as well. Old military saying. Two is one and one is none! This is why I am backed up to a minimum of 2 places, preferably 3, better 4. ps: I do the same thing with patterns on my Google Drive. All patterns I buy/download/create also go to my Google Drive or my encrypted proton drive.

Put a little rubber between the saw and the stand to dampen more vibration, then bolt it all down together. I am going to use those rubber mats for weight lifting as I have a bunch in my shop for standing on.

My go-to is the Flying Dutchman Ultra Reverse (FD UR). For most work, I use a #5. However, on the nativity, I used a #7 since there was a boatload of long straight lines. I did try a pegas, but just do not like how it finishes. I am now cutting the tree nativity, and I am using a #3 FD UR since that has a lot of turns and small spaces. When I get to the outside I'll use the #5. Here's my progress so far on the tree nativity. I have over 2 hours so far, including drilling my pierce holes. I was starting to get frustrated as the blade came untensioned a couple of times at a critical point, I think I am just tired because I have been at the saw since 6:30 this morning with only a few breaks. I sometimes forget to stop.

I have had my WEN for 6 years now. I added the table to it. It has been a real workhorse for me. I use it every day. I also put a mop sander and barrel sanders in it too. You can see it below tucked in the corner. I just spin from my scroll saw to my drilling and carving/sanding stations.

I am shifting into Christmas mode right now too. This is today's production line. I have another 5 or 6 more nativities to do!

So here I am taking four days off from work. Last night after work, I decided to cut out a nativity scene. This is a Steve Good design that I changed slightly from 3/4 to 1/2" thick, to have a base that allows an LED tea light to go behind it. I cut the walnut one out last night (sanded the base already). My wife liked it so much that she wanted one for the house and then suggested I make some for gifts to give out prior to Christmas (usually on Thanksgiving). So this morning I stack cut the two cherry pieces. I also decided to cut out a couple of "scrap" wood-wheeled toys, each made out of two different species of wood. Also on the saw will be a larger more intricate design by Sue May, this one I am cutting out of canary wood. I will have to cut a few more of the nativities for gifts for some of the Spanish officers I work with at NATO. That's tomorrow... Then I have a 3D multi-piece Nativity set I am going to cut for my grandson. Just looking for the right design that is not "tchotchke" as my Yiddish grandmother would say. So much for taking time off huh? What all do you have on your production line for Christmas?

Like everyone else said, speed does not matter. However, you have to ask what is your goal when you sit down to scroll. I am one of the really slow guys, I am the turtle... but I have been at this for a long time. I get into this zen mode and just enjoy creating, letting the process take over. My main goal is to nail my lines perfectly every time I cut. I mainly do Intarsia and multi-species wood puzzles so I am cutting each of the pieces separately and then they need to fit together as if they were cut from one piece of wood. I do not want to mess around with fine fitting, I want my pieces to fit right off the scroll saw. Thus deliberatly slow. Below is something I just got off the saw. I cut the walnut piece by itself last night and then did a stack cut on the cherry one (so there's another lurking) this morning. From start to finish it took me 3 hours to cut out just one piece and one base. Of course, I still have sanding and glue-up to do. I am waiting a 36mm Forstner bit to come in tomorrow so I can make the tea light "cup". They are small 1.25" flickering LED candles. That will sit in the little circle behind the nativity scene. I have noise-canceling earbuds, that are blue-tooth and I listen to music as I cut. I just relax and enjoy... PS to add: I looked closely at your piece. That's some damn fine cutting you did for a newbie! In particular for thin wood. Keep the same pace and relax and don't worry.. You will be just fine!

Those are beautiful cuts. the lines are super. Red oak is a nice hard... wood...

DUDE!!! Whoa!!! WOWZERS!!! They're creepy and they're kooky Mysterious and spooky They're all together ooky

Actually, with this NATO display and any other flag presentation, this is one time the Flag protocol of the USA is not followed. It's the same with any NATO flag display. All 31 Alliance member countries of the Alliance are equal to each other and to the NATO Flags. Even at NATO HQ SACT which is hosted on a US Navy base the US flag is at equal height to all others. The only time a country flag is features is on "National Days", or other special country events and the flag is moved to the middle section of Flag Plaza. Still, all flags remain the same height. Below the first photo is a front view of HQ SACT FLag Plaza (I work on the top floor of the "Blue Cube"). Photo 2, The Sunrise one I took with my back to the building looking out to the North East. Photo 3 is from the middle of the plaza looking out.

Jerry Here's what mine looks like with 3 flags. Here are the two things I think you should do if you are going to do 3 flags. First scale up 40-50%. Next, for the two outer holes for the flags, I would angle 15 degrees outward, this will give the flags a place to open up. Below is how this one looks according to the PDF. I think I am going to make another. I gave this one to our cleaning lady, and she was so thrilled.

Thank you. Our cleaning people are people just like you and me. They are just as important as any NATO officer or civilian in the job they do at HQ. We all treat them with respect as a team member. Behind the scenes, they keep the place clean and sterile. The restrooms are super clean and actually smell nice in comparison to other military bases I have been on. Not too difficult to treat everyone with respect. We need more of it.

PDF Attached Adapted from a desk organizer. You might want to scale up 50% for 3 flags. flag holder.pdf

I have been so busy at work @ NATO SACT HQ, finishing up one project and starting another one, plus I have been working on my permanent dust collection system in my workshop the last two weekends. Did a very easy project this AM. I really love walnut and how it finishes with raw linseed oil. The chocolaty color is yummy! This is a flag holder and it is for one of the cleaning ladies at NATO SACT HQ. I see her at 5:30 AM when I go from the 5th to the 3rd floor to get ice and filtered water. Somehow when we were talking she mentioned needing a flag stand for her flags. This actually holds three (3) flags. So it will have the NATO Flag, the US (or any other country) Flag, and the HQ SACT Flag. I like this design so much, I might crank out another one for my desk!!! Perhaps making it a hair bigger 30-50%.