Messages

16

Ask Steve a question. / Re: lesleys patterns

« on: January 21, 2022, 08:40:01 am »

A lot of people are having health problems these days and if she *is* the business then that shuts everything down until she's well again.
Hopefully you'll get a good update soon.
Does sound like a good idea to have a backup plan.

17

Brag Forum / Re: My first scroll saw attempt!

« on: January 14, 2022, 08:58:01 am »

A tip I picked up, possibly here, possibly another scrolling forum, is to clip the very top of your blade to a point.
Take a pair of cutters and just nip off the top front corner of the blade - that angled tip makes it a lot easier to thread it up through the hole.

Of course, sometimes it feels like it catches on the hole and makes things worse.

Steve published a pattern for a thing I call "The ring of poking" that's a great help in threading a blade up through the wood:
https://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2020/05/scroll-saw-blade-bottom-feed-alignment.html

I use pins for the pokers.  I have a shortish one and a longer one (dressmaker's pin).  Put a little glue on, drive the pin into place and cut off / crush the head of the pin as appropriate.  I wear the ring out near the end of my second finger on my right hand.  When I need to thread a blade up I rotate it to point the pin toward my palm.  After the blade is through I spin the ring to point it away so I can work without having to take it off.  It's very handy. 

I've also realized that it's very hard for me to reach a hole if it's more than 4" from the edge so I try to arrange to not have to do that.

18

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Purchasing Scrollsaw Blades from Mike's Workshop

« on: December 16, 2021, 09:00:14 am »

I've been getting all of my blades from them.  When I started doing jigsaw puzzles I tried different brands and their Superior Puzzle blades were the ones that behave best for me.

Never had a bad experience with my orders.

19

Introduce Yourself. / Re: new member

« on: December 15, 2021, 08:54:38 am »

On the Jet you can move the hole all the way out to the front edge, but if the blade is fine it's easy to break it while sliding everything back into place.  The bottom holder makes it easy to get the blade back in place by feel.

I don't do that, I use the magic poking ring Steve came up with -
https://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2020/05/scroll-saw-blade-bottom-feed-alignment.html

I've got a couple of lengths.  For the pin part I used a pin.  Regular pin for the short one, dressmaker's pin for a longer one for thicker wood.  Drive the pin in with a tack hammer, a little glue to be safe, and then cut off the head of the regular pin, crushed the plastic bead on the dressmaker's pin.  I wear it on my second finger and just rotate it out of the way while cutting.
 
KCSteve :->

20

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Transfer

« on: December 13, 2021, 08:35:16 am »

I think most folks here just stick the paper down, often with a layer of blue tape over the wood to make removal simpler.
But I also used to do hand engraving so I know a lot of ways to transfer a pattern.

Graphite: rub a soft lead pencil over the back of your pattern and then press firmly on the front while you trace it.  This will transfer a nice pencil line to the surface.

Acetone: most printer toners (usually not Brother, for some reason) have binders that dissolve in acetone.  Print the pattern mirrored and then place it face down over the surface.  Rub the back with an acetone soaked paper towel.  The binder on the toner will dissolve and the image will transfer to the surface. Takes a little practice to get it just right.  Not enough and you get skips, too much and it blurs.  Need to lift the paper off while it's still damp.  Nail polish remove is usually acetone plus a scent.

Any place that sells sewing supplies should have a transfer paper used to get patterns onto fabric that will probably work.

If you can still find good old carbon paper that should work.

Good luck!

21

Brag Forum / Quick & Easy Advent Calendar

« on: December 03, 2021, 01:37:33 pm »

The picture limitations of the forum made it too tough to put this directly here so I did a quick & dirty web page with it.  Basically, you can make a very simple reusable Advent Calendar in a couple of hours.

https://svandyke.com/AdventCalendar/AdventCalendar.html

Steve, if you happen to see this a pattern like this would be a good choice for early November.

22

Introduce Yourself. / Re: new member

« on: December 03, 2021, 08:54:31 am »

I don't think the Jet needs them.  It's blade holding is pretty sweet.

23

Introduce Yourself. / Re: new member

« on: December 01, 2021, 09:06:28 am »

Welcome to the Forum!

Just in case you're on the same path I was (for six months ) you do NOT set the blade tension on a Jet with the big knob at the back.  That's to get the arms parallel and is a very crude tension setting.  Get it where it should be and then put a piece of tape or a paint blob on it to let you know when it creeps out of alignment.

You set the tension with the blade flip lever.  Spin it clockwise for tighter, CCW for looser.  Once you get it set you never have to fiddle with it.  Put a new blade in the lower blade clamp, then pop it into the lower holder, get the top end between the jaws and flip the lever back and you're all set!

24

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Tree ornaments 28 different one the two sizes of deer

« on: November 01, 2021, 08:38:30 am »

In the past Steve has said that he tries to make his patterns so you can use the pretty standard #5 blade but that for finer / smaller things he recommends a #3.
But as the others have said, it all comes down to what works for you, on your saw.

25

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Dewalt 788

« on: October 22, 2021, 09:10:59 am »

I don't have a DeWalt but I can suggest looking in your manual.  There should be an exploded view - probably at the back - that shows all the parts.  If it doesn't show a spring then you get to figure out where else it came from.

Oh - and that was your 4th post so I think you can post pictures now.

26

Pattern Requests. / Re: Easel

« on: October 06, 2021, 01:25:28 pm »

I don't know where to find that easel, but I've made the one that goes with this God Bless America plaque and I like it a lot:
https://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2020/07/god-bless-america-plaque-scroll-saw.html

And if you're very patient, this is the link to the list of all posts ever that you can go through to find things:
http://www.stevedgood.com/sswslist.html

27

Brag Forum / Re: Snow Flake-Box

« on: October 06, 2021, 12:54:21 pm »

Looks great!  I'm thinking about making one myself.

28

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Dust Collecter

« on: August 08, 2021, 04:09:24 pm »

I have their small dust collector system, with the cyclone and the small vacuum.  It works *great*.
I get a little dust that blows off of the top of the wood and that's about it.

I can always tell if there's a problem because I start to see extra sawdust on the collection hose and my car that I'm pressed right up near.  Usually it's small bits clogging the inlet under the saw table (I have a bit of wire handy for clearing those out).  Every few months it's that the cyclone has gotten full.  If I let the cyclone get full then it winds up getting noticeable dust into the vacuum's bag and it can clog up.  Make sure you keep some spare bags for the vacuum on hand.  I've found that I can knock the bag back clean a couple of times before I have to change it.

The vacuum, being on the back end of my little cart, is just loud enough that I wear hearing protection.  Actually I wear it anyway because the light 'chittering' noise the saw makes matches up well with some hearing damage I have from back in the 1980's so extended time at the saw bothers my ears anyway. 

29

Brag Forum / Re: Deer Head

« on: June 20, 2021, 01:06:11 pm »

As Karl said, good work!

If you go to Micheal's you can get Finnish Birch - it's even better than Baltic Birch (cleaner, almost no voids ever, and the glue they use seems to be less hard on blades).

I've been doing some fretwork lately and where I kill my blades is feeding them up.  I use the little 'ring of poking' that Steve had a while back to help me find the hole but still, bottom feeding out in the middle is a game of hide and seek and blades get bent.  Just a matter of practice.

30

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: looking at this saw, what do you think?

« on: June 15, 2021, 08:58:00 am »

I'll just say that IF you can afford it, spring for a GOOD saw.

I had a little Ryobi 16" I'd had around for years when I got started.  Not a bad entry level saw but as soon as I really started getting into scrolling I wore it out.  Tried a nice one from Menards but between the arm not being able to be raised the way it barely allowed for pinless blades it just wouldn't work.  Took it back in a few days and went down to the local Woodcraft. 

Wound up spending $700 on a 18" Jet but I am very happy with it.  If you're lucky enough to have someplace near enough to go put your hands on various saws it will be a big help.  You can also search here to see what people say about the saw(s) you're looking at.

You do NOT need a high-end saw to do great work.  But a high-end saw will (generally) make it just a bit easier and should definitely last a lot longer.

Good luck!