Messages

61

Get togethers, shows and swap meets / Nat'l Old Time Country Music & Crafts Festival

« on: June 30, 2016, 11:46:55 pm »

Just curious if any scrollers or other woodworkers have heard about, or are going to the National Old Time Country Music & Crafts Festival in Le Mars, Iowa? The dates are August 29, 2016 - September 4, 2016. This is it's 41st year. We're going. It sounds like a big time.

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General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: blades breaking in clamp and jumping out of the clamp

« on: June 25, 2016, 10:42:40 pm »

If you've got blades breaking in the blade holder, & coming out of the holder, too, for that matter, could be several things. As already mentioned, the first thing to try is taking your thumb screws out, top & bottom, & rub them across a piece of 100 grit sandpaper until the face of the thumbscrews are flat again, & have straight lines from the sandpaper. This gives your thumbscrew grip against the blade when you increase tension. The next possibility could be over tensioning your blade. This will not only break blades, but pull them out of the holders, too. Your table could be out of alignment with the blade. Blade speed & material thickness could also be a possibility. Blade size could also be another possible cause. If you're trying to feed to fast, or push to hard against the blade, that'll pull the blade out of the holders, too, as well as break them. There could be several variables involved, it'll be a matter of process of elimination. Also, be sure your saw deck is waxed so the work piece can move easily. Just some ideas from experience. Hope it helps. Have fun & be safe!

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General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: project number 2

« on: June 07, 2016, 01:39:38 am »

AWESOME job, Mr. John!! You're doing a fine job, young man!! Keep up the good work, brother!!

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General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: new prodject

« on: June 04, 2016, 03:04:33 pm »

Awesome work, Patriot!!!! Keep up the good work, brother!!

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General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Soft wood scrolling

« on: May 07, 2016, 10:14:37 pm »

Several things enter in to this. My first thought would be blade size & speed. With thin material & fretwork, a small blade & easy speed will stop breakage. The thing most people forget when it comes to cutting to soft material, is patience. Use a polar blade instead of a skip tooth blade. The polar blade won't catch like the skip will. Keep your deck waxed.

66

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Blade angle

« on: March 23, 2016, 02:52:25 pm »

Regardless of the type of your saw, it will be set up with just a touch of forward lean. This is for many reasons, one in particular is for fretwork. The blade leans forward to cut into the material cleaner, straighter, & keep a more accurate cut. It is necessary to check your upper & lower cutting arms for alignment occasionally. Otherwise, as long as your blade is square w/the table, & straight up & down, your saw should cut well.

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Pattern Requests. / Re: Feather Earrings

« on: March 20, 2016, 01:48:42 pm »

Check out woodenteddybear.com. They have several different patterns for earrings. Best of luck.

68

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Not sure what blade to use

« on: March 13, 2016, 04:56:20 pm »

First, Welcome back to the world of scrolling! I commend you for your interest. Oak is one of the "easier" hardwoods to cut on a scroll saw. As you've found out, a scroll saw takes time & patience. Its not designed to cut at high speed per say a table saw. Next, 1/2" material is the ideal thickness for most any scroll project you want to do. The next thing is blade selection. For 1/2" material, & hardwood, my suggestion would be a #3 or #4 skip tooth, or #3 reverse blade. Blade speed, that has a lot to do with blade selection. The skip tooth can handle a fair speed, & steady feed rate. The reverse cut, if you can manage it, will handle a higher speed, & last just long. My experience has been that patience & a practice are better teachers than most realize. JMO.

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General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Blade clarification please

« on: January 21, 2016, 11:20:06 pm »

Mr. Jim, to truthfully answer your question is near impossible here because you didn't give us the type & thickness of your material you're using, & what type of work you are planning to do with given blades. Speaking for myself, I use FD & Olson blades, & keep about 20 different types & sizes of blades on hand from skip tooth to scroll reverse, & #0 - #7. I do quite a bit highly intricate projects, & my personal preference is a #2 skip tooth, or a #3 polar blade. For extremely fine work, I use a #1 skip tooth. For certain things in projects, I also use spiral blades. Sometimes it may be a #1, other times it may be a #3. I don't spend much time finish sanding, the saw does the work. An important point to keep in mind when looking at different projects, is to keep your blade inventory in mind. Every project may take 2, 3, sometimes 4 different types of blades, & at least a couple different sizes. Also take into consideration your material. The thinner the material, the smaller the blade, & the slower the speed. The thicker the material, the bigger the blade, more blade speed, & more blade tension. There are several variables that enter into the decision of blade choice. The only true way is purchase a dozen of a few you'd like to try, & practice. Good luck!

70

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: wax and Tension

« on: January 07, 2016, 03:04:16 pm »

I use Johnson's paste wax on all my tools. TS, planer, especially my scroll saws. With experience, you'll find cast aluminum decks have a tendency to need a little more attention compared to cast iron. One trick I have learned to use on my cast aluminum decks, use 0000 steel wool lightly over the deck before waxing. Basically all this does is help clean the junk off, & polish the deck a little before you put wax on.

71

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: ShopSmith Scroll Saw or Craftsman Contractor Serier?

« on: December 31, 2015, 11:45:43 pm »

I'm with Roger. Don't jump in before ya test the water, so to speak. I try to make it a habit NOT to buy a tool of any sort unless I can get my hands on it, listen to it, use it a little bit. Just my way of thinking. Do a little research on the tool, & see if parts are available. Be careful.

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Tutorials, Techniques and Tips / Re: Help Choosing Proper Clear Top Coat

« on: December 30, 2015, 12:35:57 am »

Since your project is made from oak plywood, my advice would be to use Bullseye CLEAR SHELLAC, along with Watco semi gloss lacquer. Shooting the shellac  is pretty easy. Spray from all four directions, & 2 coats will probably do the job. As far as the lacquer, it's kinda ticklish in it's own way. Lacquer has to meld to itself. In turn, as you put each coat on, it needs to be as even as you can possibly get it. Just my two pennies worth.

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General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Getting Out

« on: December 30, 2015, 12:13:50 am »

So tell me, Tex. I'm curious? what does the handwriting on the wall say? The first time something don't go quite right, throw in the towel? Not to be a pessimist, but, that seems to be easiest way out. My friend, woodworking is like anything else in life. Its going to have its trials, road blocks, set backs, etc. Ya fix the problem, brush yourself off, & go on. I don't know how long ya been scrolling, woodworking, etc., but, why dump everything you own over a problem that may be fixable? Trust me, I realize this time of year everyone's budget is stretched to the limit, my wife & I live on her SS & my disability every month. And that ain't much, to put it politely! I drove 35 yrs. OTR. Made good money, everything is paid for. We still have monthly expenses like everyone else. I've been off the road three years now, & have been slowly building a woodworking business. Clientele is up from last year. But I can only make so much. There again, its taken me 15 years to get this far. How is that possible, you ask? Its a LONG STORY, but I started w/nothing more than a RAS, circular saw, & a few hand tools. Being in the trucking business all my life, I had NO IDEA how to pull the trigger on those guys! I checked out books about the tools, took them with me on the road to read. Long story short, now we own 5 scroll saws, & a shop full of other wood tools. We do custom scroll work from signs to the most intricate designs folks dream up. Memorials, crosses, you name it on the scroll saw. We also do lathe work, too. And most other woodworking in the shop, as well. I am a self taught woodworker. Not bad for a damned old truck driver, huh? And since I ain't as literate w/technology as I am w/my scroll saws, my granddaughter put together a fb page with some of my projects on it, if ya care to have a look see. It's Sawdust Haven. I gave up trying to download pictures on here My advice would be figure out what the problem is, fix it if possible, & move on. Then make your decision.

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General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Pricing your work for selling.

« on: December 17, 2015, 11:12:19 pm »

I'd have to kinda go along w/what cowboy said. I'm not going to sit here & tell ya I scroll for "fun" necessarily, more like an addiction. My work has to help pay its way, or I couldn't do it. I've found the #1 secret to selling your work is making things that folks like & want. Not just lookers, but fascination. Catch the buyers' eye. Once you have their attention, then educate them if they are curious. Your price can reflect several things. Don't blow smoke if you have no idea what you're talking about. Your workmanship will show it! If you're higher than most, folks kinda get the impression you're better than they are. If your prices are in the affordable range, folks are more apt to give you a chance. Make an attempt to recoup your material costs.

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General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Maple wood trivets

« on: November 11, 2015, 11:48:46 pm »

Personally, I prefer rough sawn lumber, but, if you don't have access to such, there's no reason the maple purchased from either place won't do the job. The main concern is to keep your trivets equal thickness. I would hesitate to get anything less than 5/8" thickness simply because of heat distribution.