First try at Fret work

[utbva]

Just wanted to show my first stab at fret work using the praying angel in the last issue of scroll saw. I had a stack of five pieces from 1/8 to 1/4 thickness. The wood is teak, poplar, and silver maple. I used #5 and #3 reverse tooth blades. I still have a lot to learn to make them better. I gave two of them away before I took this photo.

[Rivari]

Bill it looks like your on your way, good job, fretwork is loads of fun.

Just a thought...

I am by no means the most knowledgable person here but I do question your blade choices, they just seem a bit heavy/agressive for the task. I know there are charts out there that give guidence on such matters but my personal preference has always been FD 2/0 tooth spirals on thin material like that. Right wrong or indifferent that my 2 cents (I'll let the real pros correct me now )

BTW, where did you find teak in such a thin diameter? I'd like to try that out.

[BobD (Archive)]

When stack cutting hardwoods like that (especially 5 thick) I'd use a #3 or #5 too...For smaller things, I grab a #1 becaue #2/0 never go where I want them too <GRIN>

Bob

[Gill]

Nicely cut .

It looks like we have another talented scroller amongst us.

Gill

[Greenfield_Bob]

Bill, for your first time at fretwork, you did a real fine job on the praying angel.
I don't stack out many of my ornaments, because I don't sell them so I'm in no hurry, I just give them away. I use #1 and #0/2 flat blades most of the time.
But use what ever works best for you.

Bob

[Rolf]

Your work looks great from the photos.
I have been meaning to cut that pattern.

I am assuming that you stack cut them, if not, then I agree with Rivari about your choice of blades. The #3 would be the largest and I would probably use a 2 or 2/0 straight reverse.
I would never use a spiral on a project like this. The only time I would use a spiral is when there is a large amount of big veining or portrait/picture work.
i.e. Jeff Zaffino patterns.

I am sure you will be getting other opinions even if mine are the right ones

[utbva]

Thank you for your support and suggestions. I am just learing what blades to use myself. Right now I don't have a big selection to choose from and I am just getting samples of blades to determine which ones I like best. Doing these in a stack the total thickness was about an inch. I did try a 2/0 for one cut and it seemed to wander whenever I made a turn. I don't know what was going wrong. Too thick? Not enough tension? I don't know, I just need to keep practicing and any suggestions would be appreciated.

As for the teak, I go to a local hardwood supply store for my wood and I always scrounge through the scrap box for anything that may be useful. Sometimes I luck out and find some exotic wood in it and I just have to pay about $.75 per pound for it. I wasn't sure what kind of wood it was until I cut it and I could tell by the smell that it was teak. The wood was 1" thick and I used the bandsaw to resaw it to 1/8".

[Rolf]

OOPs that will teach me to read clearly.
I see that you did stack them, so your choice of blades was fine.

[workin for wood]

nice first time job. that teak is pretty hard, and your stack had to be at least an inch thick..I'm going to go the opposite way and say I'd use a #9 skip on those. Less bow, and better control around the curves. This bigger the blade, the harder it turns, so it makes for nice consistent curves. I don't know if you have a spindle sander, but if not you should buy one. That's a perfect project for a spindle sander, it can repair the waves on you curves really fast. It's not always how good you cut, but how good you can fix it.

[Rivari]

Those were stack cut? I didn't catch that, maybe I need some cheater peepers for reading.

None the less, good job and keep it up!

Rolf, I'm a spiral blade nut...it is my weapon of choice for all matters.

[workin for wood]

BTW, where did you find teak in such a thin diameter? I'd like to try that out.[/QUOTE]

My local supplier sells teak that's pretty thin, definitly half inch, and good chance they have some 1/4 or 3/8 thick. Teak is always a beauty but it's expensive. I'm sure you can find them somewhere on the internet. They are not a big lumber mailing company, but I'm sure they can do it for you. it's Johnson's Workbench, and they are in Charlotte, Grand Rapids, and Niles Michigan. Or maybe Southbend Indiana...Southbend and Niles are right on the boarder where one town merges into the next.

[Minnesota scroller]

Rolf, for your first attempt, nice job. Ain't fretwork fun? I've never stack cut hardwoods but if I were to I would have probably used the same blades as you. Individually, I would go with a size 0.

[will8989]

Very good!! I never stack cut ornaments more that 3/4" thick total, I find that you get a much nicer ornament as you can use a smaller blade and have better control. When you drill entry holes, you have less chance of the bit going at an angle and the hole on the last one being in a part of the ornament. Sometimes, you have just so much room to drill a hole and you don't want to mess up an ornament. I have found after cutting 100s and 100s of ornaments, slow, easy, 3/4" thick and you end up with a great ornament, no matter what the wood. Of course, it took much trial & error to come to this conclusion, as well as expensive fire wood for when hubby goes camping!!

Betty

[Rolf]

Mike it is not me that is new to fretwork.
I started doing it from day one.

Bill is the newbie and a darned good one at that.

[Rivari]

C'mon Rolf, it's okay if you're new at it...your amongst friends here.