I do want to ask the newer scroll sawer to politely leave the spiral blades where they sell them.... or else sawing a straight line might not ever come your way......

  I believe operating a scroll saw might be the hardest of all wood working tools to learn! Sooner or later branching out might be on your list. Yep, spiral blades are good for silhouettes.

 I pulled the outside of this pattern off so I could bring it in the house to post.

 I pulled the outside of this pattern off so the line would show better.. And no, there is no way to lay a straight edge down for the blade to cut against to make straight lines easier to saw.

 

 Why the picture of the ladies? well I have two daughters and am curious to see if when finished with two separate pictures will they be worth presenting to them to hang on their walls?????? O r maybe to adorn the walls of my dark dungy cellar......!!!!

Also I think I better change some of the areas before they get to the girls........but they are tuned in to the Patriot Woodworker so their suggestions are appreciated??????

Maybe this resembles your daughters - 30 years ago!

Actually I like the pictures hanging by the printer but I could never produce anything like those...so a little laugh

  The boss man still got the school on lock down??

Bossman has only shut down the upper school (grades 6-12) including his daughter's senior class and homecoming football game and dance, of which she was on the homecoming court. She has a really great attitude about it. It gave her more time to focus on college applications, the first of which are due today. 

I cut both of these out Sun. and now Mon. morning I am starting to shape these guys... The only grinder used so far is the 1 x 42" belt. I'm about to the point where I can let these guys sit while I go back and peal pecans for a while..

  I used the band saw to lower the  wood and it made these girls pop up and smile, I think.

  Something I did to the scroll saw before I ever cut any wood since it wasn't put together yet and still in the box. Using wet or dry sand paper with the electric sander and some WD 40 I gave this cast iron work top a good sanding and I think I used 220 grit? Only about 22 year have passed so not remembering for sure...and then every once on a while I would use Johnson's wax like yesterday. The easier it is to push this heave maple oven the table means smoother lines with the blade....

 

 I think I will leave the carving as what is in the picture... One daughter is a preachers wife and the other daughter is a preacher? Well she has three kids so she better be preaching something to them as they are all college ages. Mercy!!!!!!!

You might be wondering why I have extra faces....I'm not so good in that department so I will probably need a few more before I get done with these girls.... And from this point on I become an inch worm for I keep telling myself a mistake will only make me blood pressure higher.

Hey, Patch - great tutorial.

On this same topic (hard to learn) I found these words of wisdom from Steve Good (which I have included below).  With all of us scrollers the main word is PRACTICE.

 

"I often tell people who tell me they can't use a scroll saw that they can if they just work through the first small failures(perceived failures). 

 

Art has more to do with passion than talent.  If you find your passion then you will struggle through early failures. Those early failures stop 95% of people from trusting that they can do it. You can do it.

 

Don't let that inner voice crush your passion. Your passion will drive you to improve. As your passion grows you will tell that inner negative voice to go take a hike. 

 

Don't be one of the 95% who let an early failure(perceived failure) stop you. Those early disappointments are what makes success so satisfying when they happen. If you keep trying then success is going to happen. "

Moved from Tips to Scroll Sawing Forum