Scroll Saw Classes


Scroll Saw Classes

Scroll sawing is one of the most creative and rewarding pastimes on earth and I take great pleasure in teaching the craft to others. Classes are presented in Gauteng and the beginner class comprises a slide show and theory session, followed by a practical session during which several projects are completed.

Beginner Workshop summary:

  • Safety procedures
  • Parts, features and functions of the scroll saw
  • Types, features and selection of blades
  • Selection of suitable materials
  • Wood preparation, supplies and tools required
  • Methods of pattern transfer
  • Practicing cuts
  • Scrolling several projects, using various techniques
  • Sanding and finishing methods


For more information contact Sue Mey

Scroll Saw Art Class 1- Introduction

The modern scroll saw is a small, electric, switch operated saw used for cutting irregular curves where a jigsaw or coping saw is not suitable. Its major function is to cut curves and openings in flat wood. It is similar to a band saw to some extent, but where a band saw operates with a saw blade in the form of a continuous loop, a scroll saw uses a very small, thin blade which is held taut between the ends of two horizontal arms that move up and down in unison to create a reciprocating cutting motion. The blade moves vertically through an opening in the saw table. The operator supports the work piece on the table and advances it into the blade in a manner which is similar to feeding fabric under the needle of a sewing machine. Because of the narrow blades, extremely sharp arcs and turns can be cut to make highly detailed and intricate shapes.

Scroll saws are available in a variety of brands and models. Some of the better saws are the ‘Excalibur’ manufactured in Canada, the ‘Hawk’ and the ‘Eclipse’ models made in the USA, the German made ‘Hegner’ and the very popular DeWalt saw which was originally manufactured in Canada, but now made in the Far East. There are also a number of mid range and low-end scroll saws offered. These include: Delta, Proxxon, Dremel, Kraft, Craftsman, Jet, Ryobi and others.


There are various types of scroll saw designs, with the most common being the parallel arm mechanism. Scroll saws of this type have a motor attached near the back of the arms, and the two arms always remain parallel to each other. Then there is the C-arm design which has a solid "C" profile, with the blade being mounted between the two ends of the "C". The parallel link design, used by Excalibur and DeWalt, operates with rods in the upper and lower arms that are "pushed" by the motor to move short articulated arms and the end which hold the blade. A design which is no longer used is the rigid arm mechanism. These saws consisted of a single-piece cast iron frame and they were very popular up until the 1970s. This devise operated with the blade being attached to a pitman arm on the bottom to pull the blade down, and a spring in the upper arm to pull the blade back up again. The flaw of this system was that tension on the blade changed with every stroke of the blade. All contemporary scroll saws are "constant tension" saws.

Scroll saws can cut a wide variety of materials, including various metals and plastics. Some scroll saws have more capability and capacity to saw thicker and larger sizes of wood than others. The size of the scroll saw is designated by its “throat capacity”, the distance from blade to the rear of the machine. A 15 inch saw, for example, can cut to the centre of a 30 inch diameter circle. The rate at which the blade moves up and down in strokes per minute is called the “blade speed”. Some saws have just one constant speed. Variable speed saws allow for better control when cutting thin or soft materials, as well as the ability to efficiently cut metal and plastic. Some other features are up-front controls, i.e. an on-off switch, blade tensioning, and blade speed adjustment. Many saws offer adaptability in terms of the possibility to add a light, a magnifier or a dust collector. A foot switch frees up both hands and is often used as an accessory. Another important feature for ease of use is its capability for changing blades quickly and/or threading the blade through the work piece easily for making inside cuts.

There are some other points to consider when choosing a saw.  Higher priced saws have additional features and options that improve the overall performance of the machine. Consider the full range of work that might be done with it in the future to see which saw best matches the overall long-term sawing needs. If it will be used on the occasional weekends as a hobby, the most expensive saw is probably not an option. To start a sideline business of scrolled products for sale, consider a saw that has more features and is able to handle the cutting volume. Whether the user is a hobbyist or a professional scroller, the absolute best saw within one’s price range is the most excellent choice!

Scroll saw blades come in many sizes and styles and the standard scroll saw blade length is 5 inches long. Low-end saws often use pin-end blades. These blades restrict the intricacy of internal cuts one is able to make, as a fairly large drill hole is required for the pin to fit through. The ideal blade is pin-less (also known as flat-end blades or plain-end blades). Sizes are designated by numbers and range from No 10/0 for making jewelry (about the size of a coarse hair) and No 2/0 and No 0 in very fine, to No 1, No 2, No 3 and No 4 in fine, to No 5 and No 7 in medium, and No 8 to No 12 in larger sizes. A general rule is to use wider blades with fewer teeth for sawing larger curves and cutting thicker woods and to use narrower blades with more teeth for intricate details in thin woods. Harder substances require larger teeth. A very complex pattern will require a blade with small teeth.

The major types are:

- Standard tooth blades
The teeth are all the same size and distance apart. The two major kinds are wood blades and metal blades. Wood blades have larger teeth and more space between the teeth, designed that way to clear the sawdust as you cut.

- Skip-tooth blades
Similar to the standard tooth blades, but every other tooth is missing. The space between teeth is much wider. The design provides for fast sawdust removal and cool and smooth cuts.

- Double-tooth blades
This is a skip-tooth blade with a large space between sets of two teeth. They cut slightly slower but leave a very smooth cut.

- Reverse-tooth blades
Exactly like the regular skip-tooth blade, except the last few bottom teeth point upward. This prevents tear-out or splintering on the bottom of the cut and is especially good to use with plywood.

- Precision-ground blades
This is a skip-tooth blade with small teeth that have been ground to shape, rather than simply filed. They are much sharper, cut in a straight line (unlike any other blades), last longer and leave a very smooth surface. These are very aggressive blades and are quite expensive.

- Spiral-tooth blades
A group of blades twisted together so there are teeth all the way around. You can cut in all directions without turning the wood. They leave a rough surface and a wide kerf, cannot make a tight or sharp corner and have a tendency to stretch with use.

- Crown-tooth blades
The teeth are shaped like a crown with a space between each crown. There is no upside-down with these blades, so they can be put in either way. They cut a little slower than a regular blade but are good for cutting plastic and acrylic.

 - Metal cutting blades
Hardened steel are used to make these blades. Metal blades have much smaller teeth and less space between teeth.

- Diamond blades
A wire coated with diamond bits for cutting glass.


Sunday, December 30, 2007

An interview with Sue Mey Scroll saw artist and published pattern designer.

Free Scroll Saw PatternsSue Mey is a scroll saw artists and pattern designer from Pretoria, South Africa. Sue has been working with her scroll saw for several years and has been published in magazines such as Creative Woodworks & Crafts, Scroll Saw Workshop Magazine, The Home Handyman, Craftwise Magazine as well as online scroll saw pattern collections. Her first carving project is appearing in the current issue of Carving magazine.

The scroll saw is not Sue's only creative outlet, she also enjoys wood carving, photography and many other crafts. Sue's love of animals shows in her patterns. Please take some time and visit Sue's website to get an ideal of just how creative and prolific this talented designer really is. http://www.scrollsawartist.com

Sue has graciously granted me the opportunity to ask her a few questions to give us some insight into her creative process.

(SW)Sue thanks for taking time out of your schedule to talk with us. Could you tell us a little about your artistic background and what brought you to the scroll saw?

(Sue)Hi Steve and thanks for the opportunity!

I’ve always been interested in art & crafts. At one stage I specialized in watercolor painting and pastels. About five years ago I entered the craft market in a big way and did all sorts of crafts for stores – wire, tin, beading, tole painting, decoupage, sewing crafts etc. And wood… there was always wood ~smile~. I saw scroll sawing demonstrated at a show about 14 years ago and decided to try it. My first saw was a Delta and after cutting some stand-up puzzles I was thoroughly hooked. I upgraded to a Hegner soon after that and never looked back. I LOVE scroll sawing!

(SW)You are a very prolific designer. Where do you generally get the inspiration for new patterns?

(Sue)My inspiration comes from multiple sources and I seem to go through stages. Lately I have been doing a lot of Paint Shop Pro drawing. Not every drawing is a success and sometimes I spend hours on a drawing just to shelve it. Others are quicker to draw, so they balance the time lost on the disastrous ones. Up to five months ago my main source of inspiration was photographs and I still use them, especially for animal portraits. I am fortunate to be able to photograph my favorite subject, the leopard, and other wild animals, in their natural habitat.

Certain patterns start as an idea in my head; I get some brilliant ideas just before I go to sleep at night – the frustrating thing is that some mornings I wake up and know it was a great idea, but cannot remember what it was. One starts to look at every object as a possible scroll saw pattern – the reflection in a glass of soda that would make an excellent trinket box lid, the scrolls in a cast iron staircase that would be perfect in a Victorian picture frame…it can become quite incommodious!

I also look at what type of patterns are not yet available on the market and try to take advantage of that. On the other side of the coin, I make my own versions of popular types of patterns that have been made by others, so that I have a variety available on my website, to appeal to a broader customer base. If a certain genre of pattern proves popular, I develop more patterns along the same lines. Then there are also the patterns that are developed on request by customers i.e. “I need a Husky dog” or “Can you make me a BMW R1150GS motorcycle?”

(SW)On average how many hours would you say it takes from the idea, to the finished pattern which you sell on your website?

(Sue)Now and then I will complete a pattern within 30 minutes but most take a lot longer than that. I have been known to work on a pattern intermittently for many months before I was satisfied with the result. It all depends on the success of the process to put the idea into a cut-able pattern – some ideas work straight away and others need a lot more effort.

(SW)Which do you find more difficult, coming up with the idea or actually designing the pattern?

(Sue)Ideas are plentiful and abundant – designing the scroll saw plan is definitely the harder part of pattern making.

(SW)What tools do you use to design your patterns? Could you tell us a little bit about how you use each tool?

(Sue)As I get those ideas from things around me, I make rough drawings in a note book. I then use a drawing board, drawing pad, sharp, soft pencil and eraser to put them on paper. Once I am happy with the result, I use a fine-tipped drawing pen on the lines and then I scan the image into my PC at 300 dpi, with the “unsharp mask” setting ticked. The image is imported into PSP or Photoshop and modified into a pattern as described below.

Some patterns are drawn in Paint Shop Pro, combining preset shapes, picture fonts and text. Since these are vector based images, one can enlarge and scale to suit before turning the finished result into a raster image. I like to do my basic drawings in PSP and then open the image in Photoshop for modification and manipulation.

For photographs I use mainly Photoshop. Obviously there are many tools and actions one can use to make a pattern, but it can get quite lengthy and complicated so I will discuss some basic procedures here. Good quality, high resolution images work best. The digital image is opened in PS and turned to grayscale. The first thing I do is to duplicate the image and save it using a new file name, so that the original remains unaltered. I then change the image size/canvass size to a standard dimension i.e. 8” x 10” and the dpi to 300. The next step is to adjust the brightness/contrast to see which lines and areas need to be added, thickened or erased. Undo the brightness/contrast and work on these areas with the pen tool, using black to add and white to erase. Sometimes you need to draw in certain areas and add your own lines to make the pattern work. Be careful not to leave too many “squiggles” on the edges of black (cut) areas, rather smooth out the edges using black or white. This makes for a neater pattern. The smallest pen tool sizes I use are 3 for vein lines and 6 for areas where a blade entry hole has to be made. Use the brightness/contrast adjustment at regular intervals to see the result, but undo the adjustment each time until you are satisfied with the results of your modifications to the image. Make sure that there are no “floaters” (white areas surrounded by black) anywhere in the pattern. At this stage I print the pattern to see how I’m doing and make more adjustments. For some photos the Filters>Sketch>Photocopy adjustment also works quite well.

Parts of the pattern can be moved, skewed or rotated by encircling it with the lasso tool and then using the move tool or the edit>transform actions. Certain elements or portions of other images/photos can be incorporated in the pattern by using copy>paste. Each ‘paste’ action places the image portion on your pattern as a separate layer, where you can make modifications. Once you are satisfied with its position, use layers>flatten image to merge the image bits into the main pattern.

(SW)Let's change the focus here just a little bit. An interesting thing that I have noticed since writing my blog is the large number of women that enjoy scrolling. Do you have any opinions as to why so many women are attracted to this form of woodworking?

(Sue)I think the scroll saw is a much safer tool than many other woodworking tools and therefore less intimidating to female beginners. Many female scrollers have expressed the opinion that they find it easy because of the correlation in working action between a scroll saw and a sewing machine. At a woodworking show, more women are inclined to try a scroll saw, than for instance, a router. However, in my experience, it normally does not take very long for the ladies to move on to learning other tools like the table saw, disc/belt sander and router.

Another reason may be that because scroll sawing demands a certain amount of patience and persistence, women generally do well with this form of woodworking.

(SW)I know you also teach scroll saw classes. What are your two favorite tips for people just getting started with their scroll saw?

(Sue)Most people have not yet bought a saw when they do the class, so to them I always advise to buy the best saw they can afford. I have seen so many prospective scrollers throw in the towel because they did not find it a pleasurable activity. In all cases the reason for conceding defeat was an inferior, low-end scroll saw. One cannot enjoy using a saw that vibrates excessively or that will not hold a blade properly…Or working with a saw that restricts you to cutting profiles with a quarter inch wide pin-end blade, when you’d really like to cut delicate fretwork. Furthermore, the quality of the scroll saw is reflected in the end result of the project and people are often disappointed with their completed projects.

I guess the second tip has to be “practice, practice, practice” – as with any new activity one starts… be it driving a motorcar or using a new software program, one gets better at it with practice. Do not be discouraged if the circles are not perfect or you have a problem staying on the pattern lines; just keep at it and every project you undertake will be better than the previous one.

(SW)I read on your website that you use a Hegner scroll saw. I get questions every week asking which scroll saws I recommend. Would you recommend the Hegner saw? Could you also give us some of your likes and dislikes about the saw?

(Sue)I enjoy my two Hegner saws tremendously. I have never worked with an Excalibur, Hawk, Dremel or Diamond so I cannot compare, but have had the opportunity to put a DeWalt through its paces for a week. I have also used Proxxon and Delta saws. My one Hegner saw has been running for 14 years now and I have not had a moment’s trouble with it. The only maintenance required is lubricating the upper and lower arm bearings from time to time. The one part that can be improved upon is the dust blower which is not very effective – I replaced mine with a gooseneck-type blower tube. The Hegner runs quietly, cuts smoothly, and has an easy blade change system as well as the added ease of a quick blade clamp for use in making multiple inside cuts.

(SW)The other question that everybody always asks is which brand of scroll saw blade I use. Which brand do you use and what are your favorite types of blades?

(Sue)Over the years I have imported various brands of scroll saw blades. Now I use Mike’s Flying Dutchman blades exclusively. My favorites are the FD-SR skip tooth reverse blades in all sizes and I also like the FD-HD no 2 heavy duty blades for cutting thick material. I will be trying the two way blades with my next order. Here is a small tip for getting a bit more use from a blade, if you don’t want to go the auxiliary saw table route: Once a blade is worn, I snip a quarter inch off each end, using a side cutter. Adjust the saw tension accordingly and reinsert the blade. Now you get to use some brand new teeth on the blade!

(SW)Okay here is an important one. Do you listen to music while you saw and if so what kind of music?

(Sue)Yes, all the time – the type of music I listen to depends on my mood and the type of project I work on. It varies from Mozart’s piano concertos to 60s and 70s rock like Jethro Tull, Toto, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. The selections are balanced with contemporary varieties such as Seal, Nelly Furtado and Michael Buble. I also enjoy Latin American music from Cuba, Brazil and Argentina.

(SW)Sue I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on scrolling with my visitors at the Scrollsaw Workshop. Is there anything else you would like to add before we wrap up?

(Sue)I would just like to say that for the most part, the scroll sawing community is a wonderful group of people and many have been generous with their feedback and praise for my work. I appreciate this sincerely and hope that I will be able to continue to make my small contribution to this industry that I take so much pleasure in, for a long time to come.

I have some free patterns available for download on my website and will be adding new ones on a regular basis. To be kept updated of special offers or new patterns added to my site, join the mailing list by dropping me a line. Thank you!

Website: www.scrollsawartist.com
Email: sue@scrollsawartist.com


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Copyright © 2007 Scroll Saw Artist.