My first scroll saw attempt!

[Nicole]

Hello All-don't laugh!
I realize that this isn't amazing, but it's the first scroll saw pattern project that I have ever made. I was wondering what you guys thought of it? I had to alter Steve's original pattern a bit as I only had enough Walnut on hand to fill in the cutout areas on the poplar boards for the birds. So I went ahead and just glued together a couple of craft boards and spray painted them with some milk paint. Provided a much better contrast than the craft boards by themselves. Thank you Steve G. for having provided so many wonderful patterns to choose from!

[Rodney]

Nice work Nicole. I see nothing wrong with your project. I really like the grain in the poplar.

[Nicole]

Thank you Rodney, I appreciate you taking the time to comment. I wish that I had planned it a little better and realized beforehand that the green grain tones in the poplar clash with the green/blue of the milk paint. But live and learn I suppose!😉 In any case I am completely hooked on scrolling now! Went ahead and upgraded my single speed 16" Craftsman scroll saw (circa early 1990s) to a DeWalt DW788. Should be delivered Friday. Which means I should probably figure out how to properly assemble it before then...

[Bluebird]

Hello Nicole,
 it looks very good. I like it, once you've started you don't want to stop.

Greetings

[Rodney]

Congrats on the new saw. I'm still working on getting my funds together to purchase a new saw for myself. I'm looking at the Seyco or Pegas. My current saw is also a 16 inch but it is a variable speed. It's actually a good saw except for the blade clamp setup. The only other issue I have with it is the upper arm doesn't lift for easy feeding blades when cutting fretwork.

Anyway, again, congrats on the new saw. Give us a review after you've used it a while.

[Nicole]

To be perfectly honest, I had to be a little creative myself in order to come up with the funds for the new DeWalt. Which included getting an amazon prime store credit card (which I will never ever use) simply because they offered me a $150 incentive gift card to do so. Then returned my recently purchased Wen 3921 and applied the refund towards the new scroll saw as well. I still couldn't really afford it, but after reading all the posts on this site that said it was cheaper in the long run to spend more now on a machine that will be more enjoyable to use and hopefully also last a good while longer before needing to be replaced-(unlike the cost of having to buy another Wen every year or two when it wears out). So I took their advice and am glad that the advice was so easily available! This site really is pretty amazing. I am curious though, having only used the old Craftsman saw before, and then the Wen 3921 for less than 5 days in all; I am not quite sure I even know what it means to lift the upper arm of a scroll saw...guess I will learn that tomorrow!


I'd love to  get a Seyco or Pegas! But I should probably learn the art of scrolling a little better before I make the decision to sell a kidney to pay for it haha. Kidding. ;-)

[Rodney]

You'll find that lifting the upper arm makes it so much easier to thread the blade for fretwork. You may want to purchase a Dremel with a plunge router attachment to drill you pilot holes for fretwork. I have a drill press but the chuck doesn't tighten on the smaller drill bits I use for a lot of my projects. I will sometimes use the #60 drill bit which is .040. It is sometimes very hard to thread a blade through that small of a hole with an upper arm that doesn't lift. Seyco also makes what is called a scrollers drill that accepts very small drill bits for $140.00.

[Nicole]

Thank you for the advice Rodney, I will look into that first thing tomorrow!

[KCSteve]

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.

[Intarsia92]

Nicole. You did an Awesome job scrolling for your first project. Keep it up.

[Nicole]

Thank you Al, that means a lot coming from someone of your skill and talent!

[smyrna5]

Very Nice, Nicole.

[Marshall Border]

I think you've done well , just think this is just the starting of a great hobby . I myself have so many patterns and so little time , and if you keep this up you'll be the same way one day . Carry on and good luck .