Be My Valentine Scroll Saw Pattern

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Sheila Landry Designs (Free Pattern)

I have a very special treat for you guys today. Sheila Bergner-Landry, Contributing Editor for Creative Woodworks Magazine and owner of Sheila Landry Designs has generously contributed a beautiful pattern for the readers of the Scrollsaw Workshop.

Sheila is an artist/scrollsaw pattern designer. You have seen her work in Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine. She has designed and published many wonderful patterns for sell on the web. Do yourself a favor and visit her website. I guarantee you will find something that interests you.

This incredible Easter Cross segmentation pattern will have your family and friends amazed at your woodworking skill. Sheila lays out the materials and steps needed to build the project with ease. She will introduce you to a color stain product from Saman that will give you the rich colors you see in the picture below.

After you finish this free pattern drop by Sheila's website and purchase one of her many beautiful patterns. While your there drop her an email and say hi.



The picture below is a See Creature. See Creatures are whimsical eyeglass holders. This is a pattern available on Sheila's Website that is sure to be a hit at craft fairs or with family and friends. As I write this article the pattern is on sale. The price is $3.95. The pattern includes full painting details. There are several different See Creatures available now with more to come.

Guys these have the potential for profit. Low material cost, reasonable production time and unique design equal sales with profit. Practice the painting until you can turn these out quickly and make several for your next show. Click to see the full line of See Creatures.


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Easy candle cup and how to get thin wood for projects.

I am always looking for ways to use up small scraps of wood. This project fits the bill. A couple small pieces of wood and a candle purchased for $2 and you have a quick and easy project.

I use a lot of thin wood in my projects. I receive email all the time asking where to get thin wood. The best answer is usually not what they want to hear. If you plan to make the occasional project then its fine to buy thin lumber online. There a several places that sell wood for scroll sawyers.

However if you are going to enjoy the hobby as more than the occasional gift for someone then there is really only one answer. You need to have the tools to dimension your own stock. It's cheaper to buy rough lumber and make it into what you need.

Here is what I suggest. Start with a planner. A planner will let you take a piece of rough lumber and make it any thickness you need. Sounds great problem solved. Not really. The rub on planners is that they are very wasteful. If you need a 1/8" piece for a project and you start with 3/4" stock then most of that board ends up as saw dust.

Let's solve that problem. A band saw that is powerful enough to re-saw lumber is the answer. Re-sawing lumber means taking a board, standing it on edge and making two boards. These two boards will now be what ever thickness you need. Okay if the band saw will make the boards any thickness we need then why start with a planner?

Re-sawing lumber is considered a rough cut and the board will need to be either sanded or planed flat to remove the cut marks from the band saw. You can use a flat bed sander for this but they tend to me more expensive than planners on the low end.

The best combination is to re-saw with the band saw to rough thickness then plan the board to the desired final thickness. This is the most economical technique in the long run and the tools will pay for themselves. Depending on how much scrolling you do they can pay for themselves rather quickly.

Ryobi makes a serviceable planner in the $200 dollar range. It's not built for industrial use by any means but most scrollers will find it adequate. DeWalt makes a very nice planner but you can multiply the cost by 3.

The band saw is going to set you back a bit of cash and that's one reason I say start with the planner. The band saw you buy needs to be powerful enough to cut through six inches or more of wood. That really rules out all the low end band saws. It's best to be able to re-saw up to 12 inches but that is a real wallet buster. Jet and Grizzly both make band saws that are capable enough to re-saw 6 inch boards. You are talking about spending $400 to $600 for an acceptable saw.

I know this is a bunch of cash and not everyone wants to invest this much in a hobby. Perfectly understandable. If you are planning to sell your projects at craft shows or online then the economics just make sense to keep the costs of supplies as low as possible. The only way I know to do that is to dimension the stock from rough lumber.




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Videos by Carole Rothman

Here are three videos showing the beautiful scroll saw bowl techniques of Carole Rothman. Watch and learn. She has this technique perfected.

If you are reading this in the email newsletter you may not be able to see the videos. Please visit my blog and watch them there.

Click the book to purchase on Amazon.


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Lynda.com One Monthe Subscription Winner, John Baker.

The winner of the Subscription Giveaway was John Baker. John lives in Leicestershire United kingdom.

John has a couple of Hegner scroll saws that he puts to good use cutting beautiful puzzles for his website Waywood-Creations. John you sure look happy standing there in your workshop. It's funny, that's the way I feel after a long days work when I get in my shop also. Congratulations and I hope you enjoy the subscription.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter.

Working Widget Technology Custom Wood Inlays

A reader sent me an email a couple weeks ago asking if I had seen a product he saw advertised on the web. He told me about a company that sold small medallion sized wooden inlays that could be customized and used as a signature piece on woodworking projects.

It sounded interesting so I took a look at their site. The name of the company is Working Widget Technology. You can visit their site here. After looking around for a while I emailed the company for a sample.

I received the sample above. The wood choices are cherry, walnut and maple. They could not be more simple to inlay in your project. You use a 1 1/2" Forstner bit and drill to 1/8" depth. Glue in the medallion and finish. I like simple.

The product comes in three styles. Clip Art, Signature and Design Your Own. Each style gives you more or less customization. The Design Your Own lets you send you own artwork for laser etching.

I would say the product looks good. The walnut and Cherry seemed to show the laser etching better for some reason. I would have thought the light maple would have made the laser marks stand out but for some reason they looked lighter.

Now here is the catch. These things are expensive. The Clip Art kit which comes with six medallions and the forstner bit is $39.95. The Signature kit is $44.95 and the Design Your Own is a whopping $49.95. All the kits come with six medallions and the forstner bit. The difference is the amount of customization you can do.

At first I almost talked my self out of even reviewing the product because of the expense. Here is what changed my mind. There are certain projects you build that are special. A fretwork clock with hundreds of inside cuts that takes you weeks to complete. A baby crib for your first child or grand child. A commemorative plaque for a special event in your families life. These are projects that are worthy of a custom signature. I think in that situation I would be happy to use this product. Because of this I give this product a thumbs up.





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Reader Picture Post.

The first eight pictures are from Wes Brooks. These are very nice projects that anyone would be proud to display. Just look at the detail in the train. Thanks Wes for the inspiration.







This beautiful basket was sent my way by The Abman. Looks like Zebra wood, purple heart, oak and maybe maple.
I recently did a tutorial on the product Inlace. It looks like Robert Riggs put the material to great use by adding the inlay material to these wonderful crosses. The turquoise and beautiful hardwood look fantastic together. It sets these crosses apart from the crowd that's for sure. Super work Robert.

Rick also used the Inlace material to inlay these projects with his child's school mascot. I think we will be seeing many more inlay works on scroll saw projects with the addition of Inlace to our toolbox.
The next two pictures are from Pieter. He enjoyed my 3d circle puzzle from last month but wanted to add different characters. Looks like he did a fine job with these sheep dog patterns.

Frank sent me this next picture. It is the dragon plate I designed a while back. Every dragon pattern I make gets a high number of downloads. There is just something about dragons.
David Sylvester sent this business card holder. This is one of my patterns from a couple years back. If you do craft shows make sure you take along some business cards. Don't let potential buyers get away without some way to contact you later. Great job David. The wood looks nice also.
This set of bird plaques comes from Bob Calhoun. Bob always sends me pictures of his work and they never fail to impress. This is the type of work that gets away from the standard fretwork that can be difficult to sell sometimes.
Bill Purcell sent me this set of book ends. Not only is the project very cool it reminds me of my day job. Pushed on one end and pulled on the other. :)



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Play That Mountain Music by Jo M.

Jo M. was kind enough to send us this pattern. Jo has recently started learning CorelDraw and this is an early result of the work. It a mini clock pattern and requires a 2" clock insert. The hole is 1 7/8". You did a great job on the lettering.

It's great to see so many people working on their own custom patterns. Designing your own patterns really adds a lot to the hobby. Thanks Jo and keep up the good work.



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Book Safe created with a scroll saw.

The scroll saw can be used to cut paper. This download shows the steps to make this secret book safe. Hide your cash, jewelry, hand guns and any small valuable items. In this example I cut a rectangular opening but you can trace the shape of the object you need to hide for a neat custom safe.

This project was inspired by Kara Witham. She is a Secret Safe book maker who sells her work on Etsy.com. Check out her site here. Kara wrote me an email a few weeks back and showed me her book safes. Thanks Kara for allowing me to show my readers the project.

The drawing for the free 1 month subscription to www.lynda.com was completed this morning. The winner has been sent an email and will be announced as soon as I get a reply from him. Thanks to everyone that entered.



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Contest Deadline Soon!

The deadline to enter the giveaway is today. Don't get shut out.


I have no affiliation with Lynda.com. As a subscriber I received a coupon for 1 month free activation to give away. I receive no compensation from Lynda.com for this giveaway. I just like their product and wanted to share the coupon with one of my readers.

Click the link below to go to the entry page. READ and FOLLOW all the rules to be eligible.

Click here for entry page.

The Scrollsaw Workshop is primarily supported by donations. If you enjoy this Blog and would like to make a donation please click this link. Your support is greatly appreciated.
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Inspirational Word Clock Scroll Saw Pattern

Sometimes a piece of wood is so beautiful that you don't want the pattern to take away from the work Mother nature has already done. I had a slab of Ambrosia maple that I wanted to use to make a clock for my desk.

I made the design as simple as possible. There are a few different inspirational word patterns in the book to choose from. I know this pattern won't be to everyone's taste but it was exactly what I was looking for.



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Remote Control Home

How is it possible for a remote to get lost when you never leave the recliner. I swear there is a remote thief in my house. He sneaks in and hides the thing under a cushion or in a drawer that is never used.

I don't know if the remote thief will be defeated by this project but I built it anyway. The project uses a 36" x 6" x 1/2" board and a few inches of 1/4" dowel rod.

I used the dowel to pin the pieces together but they are mostly decorative and could be left out. Glue is more than strong enough to hold this project together.

All the pieces were cut to size on the table saw and then the scroll work was completed. This insured an accurate fit during assembly.




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Cherub Clock Scroll Saw Pattern

Requires a 2 3/4" Clock insert. Woodcraft part number 142320. This is an easy pattern to cut.

One of the things I enjoy the most about writing this blog is receiving email. Unfortunately as the blog keeps growing I keep getting further behind on answering email. This is a great problem to have because it means the interest in our hobby is as high as ever. Keep the email coming. Please don't be offended if I don't get back to you right away. I am working on a couple ideas that might help so hang in there with me. Thanks guys.

Don't forget to send your entry for the Lynda.com free one month subscription. See the Sunday January 17Th post for details.




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Yin and Yang Scroll Saw Box

This scroll saw box is four inches in diameter. I used some 2" thick sycamore for the walls. The top is made up of Birds eye maple and a piece of mystery wood I don't recognize from my scrap box. I wish I would have used a little more contrast in the wood choice but you can learn from my mistake.

You don't have to make the box so tall if your saw can't handle the thickness. Sycamore is a very easy wood to cut so my saw handled it with no problem. I would try to keep the walls at least 1" deep if at all possible.

Notice how the lid pieces are rounded over where they meet. This makes any cutting errors less noticeable when you close the lid. The lid pieces pivot on dowel rods inserted into the walls.




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Free 1-Month Lynda.com Subscription Giveaway. Valued at $25.

Hey guys I have an activation code good for one free month of training to give away. The code is good for CorelDraw or hundreds of other training courses available on the Lynda.com site. The coupon expires March 31st, 2010

You won't be obligated to continue the subscription after the one free month. I subscribed to Lynda.com to take their CorelDraw X4 training. It is almost 12 hours of great video training. They have courses on hundreds of software titles. The courses are broken into several small videos.

If you are interested in using CorelDraw X4 for creating scroll saw patterns then this training will be invaluable.

To get a preview of their training click this link. You can watch the first few video free.

I have no affiliation with Lynda.com. As a subscriber I received a coupon for 1 month free activation to give away. I receive no compensation from Lynda.com for this giveaway. I just like their product and wanted to share the coupon with one of my readers.

Click the link below to go to the entry page. READ and FOLLOW all the rules to be eligible.

Click here for entry page.

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Rubber Band Racer

Enjoy building this rubber band racer for your child or grand child. Make sure to take the age into consideration with this toy. If broken there could be small parts that toddlers could get in their mouth. Be safe.

You need to cut the wheels carefully to make sure they are as round as possible. Good practice for circle cutting.

Notice the rubber band tread on the back tires. The drive shaft is inserted into the rear axle by carefully drilling a 1/8" hole dead center.

Watch the video below for details and to see the racer in action. Click the full screen button on the video for a better view.

If you are reading this post in the email newsletter you may not be able to see the video. Please visit my blog and watch the video in the daily post.

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