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Note: I was informed that yesterday's Mallard pattern was incorrect. The reader told me that those are Wood Ducks. I am so city that I'm lucky when I recognize a cow. I have no idea what the difference is between a mallard and a wood duck. Anyway, I wanted to apologize to all the wood ducks out there.
Today's pattern is named Birds in Love. Kinda mushy but that's the best I could come up with. :)
There are two parts of this pattern that I can give tips for.
The veins in the leaves will be easier to cut with a spiral blade. You can use a flat blade but you will have to be careful making all the turns. The good news is that if you stray off the pattern no one will notice.
The flower in the bird's mouth will be delicate until it is mounted to a backer board. As always, cut the interior of the flower first. Save the large interior cur area around the flower for the last cut. When you remove the waste from the last cut, do it very carefully. Remember that glue is your friend. If it breaks just clue it to the backer board and no one will know the difference.
Scroll Saw Sanders:
For some reason, I have received a few questions about scroll saw standers lately. Someone must have them on sale. In general, they have wanted to know what I think about the product.
For those of you who may not have seen these sanders let me explain what they are. They are small strips of sandpaper with plastic retainers. They are installed on your scroll saw in place of the blade. Once installed, you can start the saw and move the piece that needs to be sanded into the sandpaper while it is moving up and down.
Do they work? Well..... kind of. They do install in the saw and they do sand wood. The question for me is how useful are they. I have spoken to a few scrollers who like and use the sanders. Many of them use the sanders to contour the edges of small intarsia pieces. For me personally, they are just too inefficient and slow.
The strips are often too large to get into small interior cuts. You are pretty much limited to large interior cuts or the edge of the board. Even in those cases, I think it is easier to use sanding sticks or folded sandpaper by hand. I will sometimes, sharpen a popsicle stick and glue sandpaper on the end.
This lets me get into some tight spots.
I have nothing against using the scroll saw sanders. They do what they are advertised to do. If you have limited space in your shop then maybe they are a nice option. Even though I rarely(never) use them, I do have some in my shop for that time when that they may come in handy. That time has never happened yet but you never know.
By the way. They are relatively easy to DIY. A four-pack is only around $7 so making them won't save you much. You can make some just to see if you like them enough to purchase.
Here is an instructable.com link that shows making a scroll saw sander. His method does not make a flexible strip but it works for some cases.