WoodturningVern

So I have this beautiful piece of maple that I thought I would make into a maple leaf shaped bowl on my lathe. Easy right. I trued it up on the lathe and cut a mounting tenon on what will be the bottom. Then I laid out the maple leaf shape on the top side. That's the dark black line. After that I roughed cut the shape on the bandsaw. The six little holes laid out in a circle are for the mounting flange that I'll attach to shape the bottom of the bowl. The next step is to scroll saw out the maple leaf along the black line. I need to get a pretty good shape now while this is still a blank that is flat on both sides. I double sided taped four small pieces of scrap to the bottom side to give myself a more stable base rather than just trying to hold it on the tenon. The thickness I need to scroll saw out is 1-7/8" and it will be 1/2" raised above the table on the scrap. So, what size blade should I use and what speed on the scroll saw? Any other thoughts? I attached a few pictures of the project. Thanks..... Vern

Hello. I just managed to get registered. Technology was a barrier this time, but we got it sorted out. I'm in Mulino, OR not too far south of the Portland metro area. I do mostly wood turning, but recently got interested in the idea of turning some small bowls in the shape of some of the leaves of the beautiful trees we have here (i.e a variety of maples, oaks, etc.). I thought about it for awhile and decided I needed a scroll saw to cut the perimeter of my blanks to the shape of the leaves. Then I'll mount them on the lathe and turn them into bowls. So, I found a Delta P-20 model 40-680 with a stand on wheels for $100. Of course it's discontinued by Delta but appears to be a solid saw and it runs great. It had been sitting under a tarp for many years so the table was rusty. I got that cleaned up and waxed. I did find one small crack in the table top on the right edge that doesn't extend through the top that looks as though something heavy fell right on the edge. The crack is maybe 2" long and in from the edge about 1/2". I don't think it's a big deal. More concerning is the position of the blade in the table hole. It's offset to the right. As a result the red insert doesn't fit without being tight against the blade. I've taken all the covers off the upper and lower arms and can't find anything that looks bent our out of whack. The blade holders top and bottom look fine, just like the pics in the owner's manual, and they hold the blade correctly. Like I said the saw runs smooth and quiet. I did the little check in the owner's manual for blade alignment and that checks out. Then I did the little cut test where you cut a kerf in front then flip it around on the blade back to check position and that is perfect. So, my plan is to just cut a zero clearance insert such that it fits with the blade offset to the right a bit. Before I do that I ordered a few packs of Olson blades that I should see any day now. Once I have that all together it will be time to cut out some leaves and make bowls. Vern