DavidF

Thank you everyone. The support is much appreciated. I'm already addicted but do find myself getting overwhelmed with the amount of choices on so many topics!

Thanks Jerry. It's much appreciated. I did get frustrated the other day when I moved to the normal reverse blades. Couldn't keep my lines straight whereas I didn't have that problem with the PGTs. I look forward to meeting everyone!

Hi Everyone, New to the scroll saw community. I joined a few weeks ago but haven't formally introduced myself. My name is David and I'm new to scrolling, and still a beginner with woodworking in general. Prior to scroll sawing, I had a bit of experience with light (honestly very light) construction. I've built two decks at my parents house, the first one by myself, and the second with some help from my fiancee and mother. Nothing fancy, but decently nice. As for how I started getting into scrolling, my fiancees grandfather was a phenomenal scroll saw craftsman. He made so many ornate pieces that are now scattered throughout our house, as well as her entire families homes. He got polio weeks after going to Korea serving in the army in the 50's. He never saw combat because of the diagnosis but left him with no use of his legs, but he was an incredible person. He passed last December, and I wanted to find a way to include him in our wedding (this coming November). He had made my fiancee a life stages pattern that has a section depicting marriage, and I'm going to copy that design and build it into a ring box pattern that I found from Steve Good's catalog. I've made a few of these boxes as practice runs and they've not turned out super well... but they're functional. I'm proud of how far I've come after only scrolling for a week... but I have a loooooooooong way to go before I am anywhere near proficient with this tool. Equipment wise, I have a barely used Dewalt DW788 that I found on MP for 250 bucks. It works great. I've been mainly using Olsen PGT double reverse teeth no. 5 blades. I'm finding it difficult to actually understand blade types. I have some regular reverse tooth no. 5 blades as well but I haven't really used them. So far I've made a few of Steve's patterns, and also worked through a few of the scroll saw workbook exercises from John Nelson's book, and I'm getting better, but I can't seem to make boxes that are free of gaps and where the fit/finish just look nice and not like poor craftsmanship. I know practice is the key here, but I also am finding it hard to find good tips online. I find most woodworking YouTube channels to be unhelpful. Seems a lot are more for showing off than actually teaching anything. I don't have a jointer, planer, or bandsaw... but I do have a ryobi table saw, skil compound miter saw, and a few other power tools. Anyway, that's an intro to me. I'm really enjoying scroll saw projects and look forward to meeting some of you soon!