Are you ready for the sweetest scroll saw tip ever published?

Jim Leasor of Kentucky just sent me this tip. I have not tried it myself but how could you pass this one up? While in the checkout line his daughter wanted some candy. She selected M&M's Minis.

Being a scrollers Jim immediately saw the potential of the packaging. After his daughter finished the candy he took the tube to his shop and did a test fit with one of his scroll saw blades. Perfect fit. The tubes easily hold the blades and they are large enough in diameter to hold bunch.

Jim removed the M&M's label and affixed the label from his package of blades. The tubes also come in multiple colors so you can color code your blades.

I did a bit of searching and it looks like the tubes come in two sizes. 1.08oz and 1.94oz. You need the larger size for the blades. I was thinking the smaller tube might be handy for drill bits.

From my searching online it appears that Walmart carries this candy. They seem to range in price from $1.50 to $2.00 per tube. That's not bad considering they come with the candy. I suspect the flap that holds the lid won't last too long but that could be a good thing if you like M&M's.
Jim also whipped up this lazy Susan for the tubes. Thanks for sharing Jim.

No M&M's were harmed during the research for this post. Many of them have mysteriously disappeared however. Local authorities speculate they melted in the mouth but not in the hand.




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Cherie Eppler's Zero Clearance Table.

Cherie Eppler is a scroll saw artist from Missouri. She has been scrolling for several years and runs the website CE Woodworks. She recently was a special guest speaker at the NEOS scroll saw picnic. She discussed basic scrolling and zero clearance tables for the scroll saw. The other day she sent me pictures of her new zero clearance table. I thought I would share them with you all.

The zero clearance table has a few advantages. It provides stability for the pieces when very delicate cuts are made on the scroll saw. It prevents very small cut outs from falling through the hole and into the saw dust under the table. It's like magic when they fall through. You never find them again. Another but some what limited feature is the tear our on the back of some pieces can be reduced.

The pictures below are the table Cherie made for her Shop Smith scroll saw. It is cut to match her table. You will obviously need to cut your table to match your saw. Some scrollers make the table larger to support large pieces of work.

In this first picture she has cut the table to shape and marked the opening for the zero clearance insert. The insert is designed to be replaced as it wears out.
In the next picture you see the table with the cutout for the insert empty.
The best way to make the inserts is to mark the position of the blade on the insert then use a #9 blade to cut up the the blade position. This way you can remove the insert with the blade still installed. You might also consider cutting a small finger nail pull area in the upper right part of the insert. This just makes it easier to get in and out.

In the next picture Cherie has the insert installed and is ready to cut. She used double sided carpet tape to hold the table in place. You can get another advantage from a table like this if you devise a method of easily removing the table. After your blade begins to dull you can remove the table and when you start cutting again on the regular table a new set of teeth are exposed. It's like getting double life from your blades.
Cherie used 1/8 inch Baltic Birch plywood for her table. She has also tried acrylic but said the tape she uses on her wood tends to stick to the acrylic very easily so she switched to BBP.

If you only cut delicate work occasionally you may want to consider a temporary zero clearance. In the picture below I have used a credit card. Just cut into the card about half way and use clear box tape to tape it down.