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Hi everyone,
I spent my lunch 1/2 hour scrolling today--just needed to do something with my hands... I scrolled the unicorn puzzle by Judy Peterson in the last issue of SSW...First a little background.
I had a piece of Aspen sitting on my desk (left over from another project) that was about 4" wide and 12" long. So I decided to shrink the unicorn pattern down until it fit on the board..
here's what I learned (in a slightly humerous tone)...
1. I'm not skilled enough to shrink patterns yet. In fact, I think I should enlarge any pattern I try by at least 200% (if not more!) If I could fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood on the scroll saw, I should probably use that. The little lobes in the puzzle and the mane and tail details were just too much--so I freehanded them!
2. Don't try to freehand. I ended up slipping more than once when freehanding the details. So I should have just cut them straight.
3. Don't use the bandsaw to cut too close to the outline. It cuts a lot rougher than the scroll saw and if you slip, it makes a bigger mistake.
4. It's good to get down close to see the line, but expect to jump when the blade breakes. That was the first blade that ever broke on me.
5. Find the foot pedal. i was too lazy to dig out the foot pedal for the scroll saw, so I jsut used the on-off switch. When the blade broke, I jumped back all around then rembered to shut off the saw.
6. Running the saw at a fast speed is great when cutting thick wood, but not good when cutting thinner wood wiht as little experience as I have.
7. Lobes don't have to be perfect to hold the piece together. Even though some of my puzzle lobes look like Salvador Dali's version of puzzle lobes, they still hold the unicorn upright.
8. Glue sticks work OK to hold the pattern off, but are a little more difficult to remove. I'll need to get some GOO GONE to remove the patterns...or some mineral spirits! But the pattern never came up when I was scrolling!!!
9. Put the puzzle pieces back together as you cut them. Otherwise, if any fall off your table, you spend 45 minutes looking for a lost piece when all the pieces are there!
As soon as I get the pattern off and the fuzzies cleaned off the pieces and the pieces finished, I'll post some pics, but until then...Happy Scrolling.
Bob
I spent my lunch 1/2 hour scrolling today--just needed to do something with my hands... I scrolled the unicorn puzzle by Judy Peterson in the last issue of SSW...First a little background.
I had a piece of Aspen sitting on my desk (left over from another project) that was about 4" wide and 12" long. So I decided to shrink the unicorn pattern down until it fit on the board..
here's what I learned (in a slightly humerous tone)...
1. I'm not skilled enough to shrink patterns yet. In fact, I think I should enlarge any pattern I try by at least 200% (if not more!) If I could fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood on the scroll saw, I should probably use that. The little lobes in the puzzle and the mane and tail details were just too much--so I freehanded them!
2. Don't try to freehand. I ended up slipping more than once when freehanding the details. So I should have just cut them straight.
3. Don't use the bandsaw to cut too close to the outline. It cuts a lot rougher than the scroll saw and if you slip, it makes a bigger mistake.
4. It's good to get down close to see the line, but expect to jump when the blade breakes. That was the first blade that ever broke on me.
5. Find the foot pedal. i was too lazy to dig out the foot pedal for the scroll saw, so I jsut used the on-off switch. When the blade broke, I jumped back all around then rembered to shut off the saw.
6. Running the saw at a fast speed is great when cutting thick wood, but not good when cutting thinner wood wiht as little experience as I have.
7. Lobes don't have to be perfect to hold the piece together. Even though some of my puzzle lobes look like Salvador Dali's version of puzzle lobes, they still hold the unicorn upright.
8. Glue sticks work OK to hold the pattern off, but are a little more difficult to remove. I'll need to get some GOO GONE to remove the patterns...or some mineral spirits! But the pattern never came up when I was scrolling!!!
9. Put the puzzle pieces back together as you cut them. Otherwise, if any fall off your table, you spend 45 minutes looking for a lost piece when all the pieces are there!
As soon as I get the pattern off and the fuzzies cleaned off the pieces and the pieces finished, I'll post some pics, but until then...Happy Scrolling.
Bob
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