Saturday, September 28, 2019

Cuts are done

Well the night of cutting started out disappointing. I finally figured out why I have been making so many goofs with the cuts. It was just not obvious as it degrading over the time I was cutting. But the reason I was goofing up was I kept noticing the blade was getting loose which was making the fine scroll saw blade to flex and cut where it should not. So you exacerbate the issue by making the blade holder tighter and tighter.

Tonight I could not even tension the blade with out it popping out before I could even start the saw. Finally I noticed the problem. The bottom blade clamp is cracked and as I tighten the blade the clamp moves apart thus applying very little tension. So when I would throw the quick blade tension knob the blade would pop out.

So I take the scroll saw table top off to get a good look and yup there is a nice crack in the clamp. So over the past 6 or so years the thing just had a stress fracture take place. It is not all that expensive to replace but it will take time to get here. Probably not going to finish this in time.

So here I am sitting watching some walking dead on Netflix and suddenly the design aspects of the clamp come to mind and plain as day I know how to secure the blade and cut more! So very excited that I run out to my workshop and implement the idea and sure enough the blade is staying tight. It is going to ruin the blade in a way that it is now a one use blade. But all I have is a couple of large pieces to cut out so I can go with this idea as I will just need two blades to finish. I would probably use two blades anyway so no real loss.

If I had a lot of small cuts it would not have been good to use it this way. But heck now I am done and can get this thing cleaned up and apply the danish oil and drop it off in a couple of weeks for the State Fair!

Yes



Thanks for looking!
Jim

Thursday, September 26, 2019

More progress one more day!

It was slow going tonight so I did not get much done. I had to do more repairs again. I just don't get what is happening. After the second I said that's enough for the night. I thought I was going to finish the cuts but can't keep pushing when something is just not quite right.


Thanks for looking
Jim

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Just a day or so left

Almost done for cutting.  I almost had a huge mistake. For some it would have been a disappointment to have it happen. But over the years I have learned how to "fix" those issues to hide the goof. Thus why I did not cut more tonight. Once I have one of those did I just ruin the piece moments it is time to call it a night. It does not matter if I have been cutting for 5 minutes or hours. My personal policy is to quit for the day or night. It always seems to scare me enough that I loose confidence for the rest of the day/night even after fixing it so it no longer matters. Which is a great sense of relief.

Anyhow here are tonight's pictures

 Front side


Back side


Thanks for looking
Jim

Monday, September 23, 2019

Closer yet

Just a couple more days I expect and it will be done. Which should be good. As I am now officially behind all past years in completing the project for the NC State Fair. I am not having to frame it this year but I still need to put Danish Oil on it and that takes at least 5 days to dry. In the past if I rushed and put the backer on too soon the wood has warped if it is not dry. That is how you learn sometimes by your mistakes. It would be nice if you just would learn but sometimes it takes a goof to remember "Take your time and don't rush!"

There are some large sections still to be cut out. Those will give the trees and owl better definition. Once they are cut everything should just pop. But the large pieces need to be cut last to keep the strength for the cuts near them.

One other thing you should know. The skill is not just using the scroll saw. The skill is knowing how to hide the messed up cut so that it looks like it was supposed to be that way. WHen a person looks at your work they have no clue what the pattern looked like. So long as you keep the gernal feel and look no one knows where you messed up.

Don't toss a project just because there is a goof up. OK sometimes the goof up is a project ending mistake. But with fret projects there is so much room for changes you can usually cover up the mistake. I won't tell you how many are already there but more then one!

This is where I am at now



Not the pattern side.



Thanks for looking!
Jim

Saturday, September 21, 2019

It is slowly getting there!

I just wish I had more time for my hobby. I will get this done but it is taking way longer then I would like it to. Now  a major project at work was moved up a month early and that could take all my spare time. Spare time? Is that not like spare money? You just don't have any!


Anyway I have made more progress on this thing. I should still be able to make it. For the past two years this week was the week that I was putting the finally touches on everything. This year still cutting.

Here is my progress so far.

Front view so you see what it will be.




Back side so you can see without the pattern.





A closeup of the small blade using to cut this.




Just a general shot of it in progress on the saw.





Thanks for looking!

Jim

Sunday, September 8, 2019

More work plus an off the cuff piece

Well I did more on my project. But I was side tracked for a bit as I was finding turning the little handle for the blade tensioner a bit tedious with all the small little bits I have to cut for this project I seem to be spending more time inserting the blade in the the project then I do cutting. So I just "off the cuff" designed and cut this little wooden knob extension to make turning the handle easier. It was quick and dirty just took off one of the handles, there are two, one the arm above the table and one below the table, and I did a quick tracing of the handle profile. . I am a top feeder so I loosen and tighten the one below the table constantly. So this just makes it larger and easier on the fingers. Of course they designed the handle to be wider at the back so it would not fit initially. I just put in a spiral blade and made the hole bigger till it was able to slide on. Then I sanded it to knock down the sharp edges so that it would be comfortable for my fingers. This is what it turned out like and how it fits on the handle. I just put it on to turn the handle then take it right off. I cut this out of some yellowheart scraps I had laying around.

The part





Another view



What it looks like on the knob




Now I did get some more done on my project too. Here are some more pictures of where I am at. Still a bit of work to go but I do have 4 weeks.

The whole board



A close up of the area cut



Thanks for looking
Jim

Saturday, September 7, 2019

It has been a while hasn't?

Well I am working on my next NC State Fair entry. This pattern is by Mike Williams called "As Darkness Falls". By the way the name of the pattern is linked to the pattern if you wish to purchase it.

I am cutting this on a Basswood live edge oblong piece. I wanted to try something different this year and I saw this and figured I could adapt the pattern to fit it. So I printed it out and figured out how much of the pattern I could fit within the slab and I came up with something that looked like it would work.

I have not cut much but it should be done on time.

An overall picture of everything




A shot of what I have cut so far



I am using a new blade this year. I keep hearing so much about Pegas blades that I purchased some. Of  course this is using spirals and spirals are just plain different from normal scroll saw blades and cutting straight with them is not simple since the blade will cut in any direction. These are Spiral Scroll Saw Blades #0. They cut nicely and seem to have very few if any fuzzes on the back which is a nice thing as cleanup when I am done will be quicker then normal. Usually I have to spend a bit of time with very small files getting rid of them. Hopefully these will reduce that time.

Well thanks for looking.
Jim