RM Jones’ Adventure

My wife and I have done a lot of woodworking and scroll sawing. For years we went to craft shows within about a 100 mile radius of our home. Today I thought it might be interesting to some people to read some notes I put together to help some friends of mine that were interested in getting started with a very interesting and productive hobby or part time business. I know that many of you have done a lot of scroll sawing and will agree with part of what I have here and may disagree with some of it. Different people do things differently. It is possible that even the experienced woodworker may find something he/she hadn’t thought of. If you would like to see and download some of the patterns I have made or altered you can check them out at my website www.RM-Jones.com. They are in PDF format so everyone can print and use them. They are copyrighted but you may use them to produce items to sell or give away as gifts. However, you may not sell or give away the patterns themselves. I hope you enjoy the following hints and tips.
Bob jones

Please remember while woodworking of any kind to wear a dust mask and follow safety guidelines for all of your equipment.

First and most important, NEVER use your only copy of a pattern. It may be difficult or impossible to replace it. Mark your original pattern with a “RED X” so you will always remember which is the original. Photo copies of photo copies will degrade after a few cycles. If you mark the original in RED you will always know which is the original. Make photo copies to cut up and don’t forget, you can enlarge or shrink a pattern on a copy machine. It you are making something that requires a close fit such as putting a clock in some of the small clock patterns, make sure the clock will fit before you cut the pattern. I can never remember the formula and have to figure it out each time but, there is a pretty simple straight forward formula you can use to determine how much larger or smaller (percent wise) you need to enter into the copy machine to get your desired size. And don’t forget you can enlarge onto two pieces of paper to make really large patterns.

Here are the steps I use to get good results. This is for fairly thick wood. Remember if you are cutting thin stock you can use spray glue, double sided tape, or even just masking tape to hold a stack of them together and cut 4 or 5 at once.

1. Sand the wood to about 220 grit. (You can omit this step if using plywood).

2. Remove all sanding grit from the surface. Lacquer thinner works very well for this but you can just wipe the surface with a dry cloth or blow off with a air hose. The cleaner the surface the better the pattern will stick.

3. Apply the pattern to the front using the cheapest spray glue you can get. Only put the glue on the pattern. Do not put it on the wood also as this makes the pattern very hard to get off when you are done.

4. Apply plain heavy paper to the bottom of the piece. This reduces chip out on the back.

5. Drill the pilot holes. You should drill these as large as possible to make it easier to get the blade through. Don’t drill the edge of the hole to close to the cutting line as sometimes this will cause break out on the back of the wood.

6. After all the holes are drilled you are ready to cut. Try to stay on the lines but if you get off the line ease back to the line in a gentle movement and it won’t be as noticeable. For sharp outside points that have scrap wood past the end of the point just cut past the end of the point, make a little loop, cut the other side. This will give you the sharpest point. For inside points sometimes you can cut in from both directions without costing you to much time. However, if that isn’t practicable and you have scrap wood next to the line, cut to the point, back up a little, rotate your wood keeping the teeth toward the scrap wood, and back the blade into the point. Turn the wood to bring the teeth facing along the line to be cut and finish the cut. This takes some practice.

7. Double check to make sure ALL of the cuts have been made.

8. Blow as much of the saw dust off as you can.

9. Remove the pattern. A hair dryer or heat gun make this very easy but don’t get to much heat on the wood.

10. Wipe the surface with a rag soaked in lacquer thinner to get the glue off then rinse the whole piece with lacquer thinner to get glue stains out of the cuts.

11. If it isn’t to delicate, finish sand to remove most of the burrs on the back.

12. Remove the burrs with small files or pieces of sandpaper.

13. Apply what ever finish you want. I use Deft spray which is a lacquer and does an excellent job. Lacquer seems to bring out the depth of the color. I also use Danish Oil finish for that “real wood” look that allows you to touch the wood not the lacquer.