Scoll Saw Sanders - Simplify sanding

I don't think anyone minds a little hand sanding, or you probably wouldn't have chosen woodworking as a hobby, Right! But, maybe you were working on a difficult project or had a bad day, and the edges of your project look like an endless mass of ripples. A dauntless task at best for plain old hand sanding. Do you know about Scroll Saw Sanders? They're small sanding belts that fit in place of the blade on your scroll saw. these belts come in two widths 1/4" & 1/2"and for pin end and pin less type scroll saws, with git selection from 80# on the low end up to 320#. Although they will never replace your stationary belt or drum sanders, they make an excellent addition to your shop for sanding small and thin parts.

I have a Craftsman 16" scroll saw that accepts either pin/pin less blades. I like to use the pin less type of sanders as they're easier to fit into the blade holders. Neither the of these two fit into the blade holder without modification, it seems easier to make the flat part of the sander thinner, than to reshape the barrel shaped end to fit the pin type. Before you buy any, you may want to check if these will fit your saw, as I don't believe that they will fit every machine.

When you install the sanders don't go wild on the tension, it doesn't take much, you can leave about an 1/8" - 3/16" of slack to get good results while sanding. The sanders last a long time and you can flip the belt end for end to get more use out of them. You can also use crepe rubber belt cleaning tools on these, like on their larger cousins, to extend the life even farther.

If you're not already familiar with using these belts; I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to clean up the edges of you're work with them. I get mine at Menards, but they are available from Sloans and can also be ordered from Wildwood designs.

Scroll Saw Plans - Scrollsawartist Sue Mey

If you're looking for a wide selection of original artwork patterns , you need to visit Sue Mey at her scrollsawartist website , Sue is a very talented artist and scroll saw enthusiast, she hails from Pretoria; South Africa. I especially like Sue's patterns of wild animals and crosses. Some of the patterns you'll see might look familiar as they have been featured in magazines like ScrollSaw woodworking & Crafts. Sues patterns are reasonably priced and she has been generous enough to offer some free patterns as well. If you'd like to read more about Sue visit her blog at Yahoo 360

Wood Magazine

This came in the mail a couple of days ago; its the latest issue of Wood Magazine. I came across this magazine about a year and a half ago, and look forward to receiving every issue, it comes about every two months (7 issues per year). Wood magazine has great projects in every issue, like the rocking chair on the cover of this issue, and most are geared toward the everyday woodworker with average skills and equipment. Each issue has techniques and shop tips aimed at building your skills as a woodworker by using the information in each issue in combination with the projects.

One of my favorite sections is the Basic-Built, Great projects, Simple tools wood working projects. All the projects in this series cost $200.00 or less, all materials must be available from the local home center and no complicated joinery is involved. These projects can be built even by a novice woodworker, and usually in just a weekends time.

Inside you'll also find advice on picking out the right tools and tips on how and where to buy them, as well as reviews on accessories like saw blades and router bits. etc.

If your like myself and a lot of others; I learn by reading, visually, and then by doing, sometimes a picture ( in this case a video) can be worth a thousand words. Wood magazines website has many how to videos in their library. So if you don't quite get how to make a dovetail joint or how to make all those holes for the shelf support pins in your new bookcase line up, check out the free video library.

Their website is packed with all kinds of helpful information on woodworking and finishing, if you are in the middle of a project and need an answer, first try looking in the tips & techniques section if you can't find what your looking for there check out the forums for an answer. If you enjoy looking for free woodworking plans visit this link.

Try taking their website for a test drive and preview an issue of the magazine, if your like what you see, check out the details on how to subscribe here.

Historical Scroll Saw Fretwork Patterns

We're always looking for new patterns. How about some old ones instead. I was searching the internet and I came upon this site www.finescrollsaw.com . The first thing that came to my attention was the section of historical scroll saw fretwork books and documents.

The author of this site has scanned several books and placed them on the site. The oldest book "Sorrento and inlaid work" by Arthur Hope, was published in 1876 was one of the first scroll saw books to be available in the United States, and made an introduction to marquetry and inlaying. The second book "Fretwork and marquetry" by D. Denning published in 1895, gives the reader an explanation of all aspects of fretwork, inlaying, overlaying, marquetry, scroll saw machines, blades and patterns.

These books are a historical record from more than 100 years ago. Although many of the techniques and materials explained in them are obsolete, they are still worth the read, for if nothing more than to give you a greater appreciation of the technical limitations of the day that artists were faced with, and were able to produce pieces of art that are still greatly admired today.

The site offers many free patterns from the long ago published Hobbies fretwork magazine, which are available as PDF files, also available are patterns for sale from the sites author Pedro Lopez
that have been restored and digitized. The site has many fine examples of scroll saw fretwork in the photo gallery, as well as some tutorials to accompany his patterns.

Whatever your tastes may be as a scroll saw enthusiast, the beautiful and finely detailed fretwork showcased on this site is well worth your time to visit.

Repair Your Scrollsaws Bellows with CA Glue

You've discovered that you have no air coming out of your dust blower, and upon closer inspection you found that the bellows has a large split in the side. This seems to be a very common problem, especially on Craftsman models, mine included. The method below should work for repairing the bellows on any model saw.

This will get your saw up and cutting again, at least until you can order a new bellows. All that's needed is some rubbing alcohol, cotton swab and CA glue. After removing the bellows, squeeze it to open the split and clean around the area with the swab and some alcohol, let it dry thoroughly. After you're sure that all the alcohol has evaporated, again squeeze the split open and apply a drop of thin(best) or medium viscosity CA glue to the edges of the spit making sure that the split closes evenly before you set the bellows down and let the glue dry. Reassemble the saw.

I did this to the bellows on my saw and its been holding for a year now. A friend of mine gave me this idea, he made large custom sized o-rings for machinery at work using CA glue to mate the ends together. I figured if it worked on neoprene o-rings, why not on the bellows on the saw.

Attaching Your Patterns - Part Three

There are a couple of other ways that we have not covered for attaching patterns. Labels, the kind that you get from the office supply store, full sheet labels (8-1/2" x 11"). After you have printed your pattern out on the label, you need to apply either blue painters tape or clear package sealing tape all around your wood, at least on the face or top section. Now carefully apply your pattern, as you probably won't get a second chance, this stuff sticks tenaciously, thats why you applied the tape first, to help make pattern removal easy.

There is a product called Wonder Paper made by Jason of Hays, Ks. This product is made just for the purpose of printing patters on. If you order the small box of 25 sheets, its about 50 cents a sheet. That might seem expensive at first, but by the time you calculate the materials and your time, it might just be a real bargain if it prevents your project from being trashed.

The last method is the iron on tee shirt transfers. You can buy these at craft stores and office supply stores (they're with the labels). I haven't tried this method, but it looks like it has some possibilities.

Scroll Saw Patterns & Supplies

If your looking for patterns for Fretwork, Intarsia, Marquetry, toys, yard decorations, seasonal decorations or anything else related to scrolling you'll be sure to find it at Scroller Ltd. They have a large selection of books and video/DVDs, scroll saw blades, project wood, small wood parts and hardware.

They have been in business for a decade plus, and have well over 1000 patterns to offer, something to suite everyones taste, all skill levels from beginner to advanced. If you haven't checked them out yet, why wait! Scroller Ltd.

Childrens Picnic Table

I built this picnic table for my niece last August. After looking around for a small children's picnic table, all I could find was the cheap plastic stuff. Most of the ones I looked at would have probably ended up in the recycle bin after two years or so. Buying her a good quality wood table wasn't going to happen, so I decided to build it myself. I started to look around for some plans for children's picnic tables, you wouldn't think this would be very hard to do with all the stuff available on the internet these days. I found plenty of plans but some of the dimensions were rather strange for kids tables. Some of these tables were almost big enough for small adults or teens and others were more suitable for doll furniture. I decided to start from scratch and came up with the table that you see above. I measured a bunch of kids furniture that looked like it was proportioned correctly. Then I took a good look at some plans for adult tables that were made nicely and went from there. The table that you see above is my own design, using the dimensions that I came up with. For more picture of the table visit my photo album.

The table is made of 4/4 Western Red cedar, and is assembled using Gorilla Glue and 4 penny galvanized nails to hold the top and seats secure, while the rest of the table is bolted together with 1/4" carriage bolts. All edges have been treated with a 1/4" round over bit, and the corners radiused. To protect it from the weather, the table has 3 coats of Minwax Helmsman Polyurethane finish.

Attaching Your patterns - Part Two - Carbon Paper & Graphite Paper

If you haven't already read part one, please go back and check it out, if you don't want to use adhesives, read on. Many patters that you choose may be to large to be practical to glue on to your work, this may not be an economical method either. Two of your alternatives are, carbon paper and graphite paper. Carbon paper is OK for smaller projects, you simply place the carbon paper on you work piece, put your pattern on top of that, tape in a couple of spots and then carefully trace over your pattern. I like to use a red pencil so that I don't miss any of the pattern. For slightly larger patterns I've taped together four pieces of carbon paper to make one large piece, the only problem with this is that carbon paper can get messy and leave black smudges.

Many people prefer graphite paper. I like graphite paper as its cleaner and doesn't smudge as easily. Graphite paper also comes in very large sheets so that you don't have to tape pieces together for a larger project. You might find the need to press a little harder when using graphite paper in order to get a good transfer . You can find it at office supply stores, craft stores or at your local home center, usually by the patterns.

Another method is to print out your pattern and turn the printed side down onto the work surface, and the apply heat with your iron, the kind you do your shirts works well, try the cotton setting and adjust the heat as needed.I also use a wood burning tool with an attachment made specifically for doing this. You can find wood burning tools at any craft shop and most hardware stores back by the soldering irons.

One thing to remember if your choose the heat transfer method above is that the image will be mirrored or reversed. When you're going to make your print, first flip the image and then make your print, this way after you transfer the image it will be the way that you intended it to be, not backward. One last thing to mention here, copies made with thermal printing probably work best, using heat was how they were made in the first place, some people say ink jet works best, other swear by laser prints. I have an ink jet printer and the copies that it make work sufficiently for my use, your results may be a little different so try all three to see what works best for you.

Hugs for Hope

I read this on two other blogs that I visit. I thought is worth passing on. If your looking to buy some patters, nows the time to pick up a couple, and do a good deed at the same time.

Rick (aka Scrollzlilla) from Spitting Image WoodWoodworking is running a charity drive on behalf of the Make A Wish Foundation. His daughter's Senior class is raising money for Make A Wish Foundation by giving Hugs for Hope. In the spirit of giving, Rick is donating all proceeds from pattern sales between March 12-18 will be donated to this worthy cause.

I think most people are already familiar with the Make A Wish Foundation, but if you're not or would like to learn more, you can go to their website Make A Wish Foundation .

Rick has some really nice patterns for sale, and even a few freebies, so go check it out.
You can also read more about Ricks daughters senior class fund raising project

Cat Silhouette Plaques

This is another recently finished project. I liked these because they reminded me of two Siamese cats we had when I was a kid. There were actually four profiles for this set, but I didn't like the fourth all that much, so I didn't make it. This is an open style of fret work, the plaques are cut from 3/4" clear pine with a no.#5 skip tooth blade. I applied an ogee for the edge treatment on the router table, and the plaques have several coats of clear polyurethane to preserve and emphasize the natural beauty of the grain. The black that you see showing through is black poster board glued to the back of each piece to make the features stand out better. This was a fairly easy and straight forward project and was completed in minimum time. If you'd like to have a closer look with more pictures.

Paul Bunyan Puzzle

This is one of five Paul Bunyan puzzles that I've cut recently. The puzzles were cut from 3/4" clear pine using a no.#5 skip tooth blade. For the back I used 1/8" hardboard. The puzzle was painted with a wash made with thinned down acrylic craft paint. This is a great technique if you want to add some color to your project with out loosing the beauty of the wood grain. The best part of this type of finish is that if your not happy with the shade, you can simply wipe it off with a wet towel before it dries. If you didn't catch it in time, you can let the part dry thoroughly and then sand it off with some 220/320 grit sandpaper, and then reapply your color wash until you get the color that your looking for. Remember to start light, its easier to apply more, than to stop and remove some. After the color coats were applied, I used several coats of Min wax wipe on poly for the final finish, this stuff goes on easy and all you need is a soft lint free cloth, or some cheesecloth. The puzzle was originally designed for children and contains approximately 50 pieces, but I've sold several of these puzzle to adults that collect Paul Bunyan collectibles. The original artwork for the puzzle is by Russell Greenslade and was in the Fall 2007 issue of SSWC magazine. If you would like to see some more photos of the puzzle, you can visit my photo album.

Just in time for Easter - Crown of Thorns Portrait

I recently finished cutting this project for the Easter season. It was in last years Spring issue, No. 26 - ScrollSaw Woodworking & Crafts magazine. The portrait was cut from 1/8" Baltic birch plywood with a no. 3# reverse tooth blade. The backer board is 1/8" MDF, black poster board is sandwiched between the two layers of wood. It is finished in white acrylic paint. I still need to make, or pick out a frame to finish off my project. I have always liked high contrast photography, posterizations & solarizations, so this portrait was a natural choice for me. The original design was by an artist named Enzo Santomarco , he is a firefighter in Talsano, Italy. if you like this portrait check out some of Enzo's other artwork.

ScrollSaw Woodworking and Crafts Magazine

If your new to the scroll saw hobby you need to check out this magazine. ScrollSaw Woodworking & Crafts The magazine is published four times a year, each issue's projects are reflected in that season. Check out the spring 2008 issue. It has step - by - step instructions on the projects in the magazine. It also has some really great articles on how to cut and finish your projects. Its also a good resource for tools, materials, saw blades, patterns, wood and other scroll saw supplies. The magazine also sponsors a message board, club search tool and member galleries where you can look at all kinds of finished project's from other members. One interesting thing about the message board is that members of the magazines staff and authors of the projects in the magazine, participate with other members on the message board. I have been a subscriber for two years now and never been disappointed with an issue. I wish I could say the same for other magazines that I'm a subscriber to. And best of all, you can get your own free issue of this great magazine to see for yourself.

Working with Scroll Saw Patterns - Tips No.1

When your cutting out your pattern the line can often become hard to follow. The blade seems to merge with the line, and then suddenly, disappears, the next thing you know your cutting outside of the line. I have tried several ideas that help to avoid this problem. The first one is to trace over your patterns lines with a high lighter of your choice, I prefer orange or green. The other idea is to print out your pattern in red or another light color that will allow the blade to be easily distinguishable as you cut.