Christmas decorations of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. I cut the scene from 3/4" thick cherry and the base is 1/2" thick with a routed edge decoration.
This project will give you good practice cutting a continuous curve. With a little practice and technique you can cut very nice curves on the scroll saw. Your goal should be to not vary your cut more than the thickness of the pattern line. Better yet split the line if you can. Cutting curves is all about maintaining an even turn rate. You should use your primary hand to establish a pivot point and turn the piece with your off hand. The pivot point will change through out the cut. Once you get the turn rate correct and are tracking the line don't stop and start any more than you have to. Every time you stop you have to re-establish the angle and turn rate giving you another chance to drift off the line.
Don't rust the cut. In a pattern like this a mistake on the top curve will be very noticeable. We are very good at picking out flaws in geometric shapes. In the picture above I never let the blade not touch the line at any point and you can still pick out the flaws. It does not have to be perfect but it should be as close as you can make it.
Enjoy the challenge.
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