Adventures in Scroll Sawing

My name is Ted Branton. Having recently found my copy of an old SAWS newsletter, I realise that I have been a member of SAWS since 1985; where did all of those years go?

My exposure to woodworking began at shop classes in high school. The first power tool I used in shop class was a scroll saw. I remember that at the time there was a band saw nearby and thinking, “Why am I using this thing, I’d rather use a serious/real machine”. (I speculate now, that I have probably spent more hours on my scroll saw than all of my other machines combined.)

More years passed until my wife and I discovered kits for building grandfather/grandmother clocks. We ordered one and thus began my interest in woodworking as a hobby. My first projects were toys for our young children followed by small furniture projects. I discovered SAWS and became engaged in increasingly complex projects.

Eventually I became interested in items requiring a scroll saw. My wife gave me a entry level scroll saw for Christmas. After proving my continued interest, and experiencing its limitations, I upgraded to my current machine.

I find the scroll saw to be an excellent way of consuming scraps leftover from larger projects. These scraps are re-sawn into thinner pieces and thickness planed, usually to thicknesses from 1/8 to 3/8 inch.

Most of my work is with maple, walnut and cherry. I have used oak, but believe the grain patterns interfere visually with the image being created, and find that delicate pieces easily break away when doing fine work in areas of coarse grain. Many other species also produce good results, but I avoid birch, which in my experience leaves massive quantities of whiskers on the sawn edges.

I have created many flat pieces where openings are cut into a single piece of wood.

After finding patterns for the framed Christmas tree ornaments below, I began a tradition of cutting a set based on a different pattern each year and attaching them to labels on gifts at Christmas. After the first set was complete, I moved on to the snowflake versions.

Two more Christmas tree ornaments; the maple leaf was cut from a tree branch that was sliced into 1/4 inch thick “cookies”. I had hoped to retain the bark, but unfortunately it was too loose and fell away in many small pieces.


When a background is desired, a second contrasting layer of wood is glued to the back of the scroll sawn piece. Images may be seen in the wood retained in the front piece or in the wood removed to reveal the background as seen through cutouts. Notice that in the dragons below, shadows in cutout areas take away from the image when the darker wood is in front; this not a problem when the darker wood is behind. The dragons are perfectly identical and the same wood species are used in both.

Three dimensional objects are created by assembling multiple individually sawn pieces.

These two boxes were made from patterns I purchased. Both were scaled down in size from the original patterns. The corners of the four sided box were rabbeted and a small corner piece of rosewood inserted to add my personal touch. I use black leather on the box bottoms to increase contrast with the patterns.

The humming bird shelf is assembled from five identical support pieces that meet at 45 degrees.

The Christmas tree ornament is cut from two pieces with a slot cut vertically up from the bottom of the taller piece and down from the top of the shorter piece; the two parts are then slid together and secured with glue.

The body of this bowl was cut from a single piece of wood. Starting with the largest ring, multiple rings of decreasing size were cut away. These rings were rotated from each other, stacked and glued at each point of contact to create the bowl body. The rim and base are cut from a second piece of wood of the same species.

The magnifying glass handle and box displayed below are my original design. (The metal and glass components were purchased as a kit.) I built four of these as gifts before starting the fifth one, displayed here; my entry into a SAWS Exhibition.

The lid is held in place by four small magnets and the cavity is lined with green flocking. A small notch at the top of the box allows the lid to be lifted off.

The handle for the magnifying glass and the surface decorations on the box lid are Brazilian rosewood; the box and lid are maple. The handle pattern was cut first in the front and then in the side, while the handle blank was still square. The handle’s outside curve was cut last.

Two letters “B” were cut simultaneously, the first glued to the front and the second glued on the back side of the lid in reverse, and both sanded down as thin as possible. This gives the illusion that the “B” is embedded right through the lid, causing a reaction of surprise when discovered on the backside of the lid. The reversed B appears smaller, when seen alone on the back side of the lid, thereby suggesting magnification on the front side; creating an interesting optical illusion.

The magnifying glass shape, used as the lid decoration, was cut from a single piece, glued in place and then sculpted to match the magnifying glass.

The box stands on two rosewood feet.

The snowflake collection displayed below was another submission to a SAWS Exhibition. Each snowflake image was created by drawing a pattern over a photograph of a real snowflake, using SketchUp on my computer. Using the component capability of SketchUp, only one half of one snowflake arm was drawn, automatically mirrored to form the other side and then automatically propagated around a circle to create the five remaining segments. Two snowflake images were cut simultaneously, from two layers of maple, then glued to the front and back sides of hexagonal carriers. The carriers were hung using components scroll sawn from a sheet of solid brass. The woods are cherry, maple and Peruvian walnut.

The Process

My patterns come from a variety of sources: books, magazines, Internet (free and purchased), tracings from pictures using SketchUp, and my personal designs.

I often adjust pattern sizes to suit the material available or for my personal preference. All patterns are printed using a laser printer and lightly glued to a suitable piece of wood using spray adhesive. Holes are drilled into the internal cutouts, using a drill press. I use suitably sized drill bits, where circles or arcs of circles exist and a sewing machine needle (adequate for small blades). Sewing machine needles don’t wander into soft areas, due to their sharp point. Small drill bits will prefer to enter in soft areas and then proceed through at an angle (a problem with intricate patterns that require accurate hole placement). Small drill bits wear and break easily. Sewing machine needles don’t break as easily and don’t wear (I have been using the same needle for several years now).

Blanks are sanded before patterns are attached; the backside is sanded again after the blade entry holes are drilled, to remove raised edges that can catch on the scroll saw table blade opening area during cutting.

After sawing is complete, pattern remnants are removed by gently lifting where the adhesive permits, and by using a heat gun or paint thinner for stubborn areas.

I lightly sand the front and back side again, after the sawing is complete, to knock off fine whiskers which mostly occur on the bottom side. Remaining whiskers are removed using a needle file. I never sand sawn edges; these edges are normally burnished during sawing and would only be degraded if sanded or filed.

When attaching pieces to a backing, I use polyurethane glue. A small puddle of glue is placed on a flat surface and a small pad block used to pickup glue for transfer to the backside of the sawn piece, to slightly wet it with glue. After the entire back surface has been wetted, I use a piece of paper to remove excess glue, using a blotting action. This ensures that only a thin film remains, to avoid bleeding or foaming at edges. I have never had glue squeeze out or glue failure using this technique.

When a background is used, I always finish it before gluing on the scroll sawn pieces, since it is difficult to place finish in small openings. After glue-up, I lightly apply finish to the surface of the scroll sawn piece while avoiding sawn edges.

What’s next?

There are several projects on my list that will require techniques I have not yet attempted seriously, including:

• Creating 3D objects such as chess pieces.

• Embedding a sawn object into and through a background piece. This involves stacking two layers of wood of contrasting colours and sawing an image, with the blade tilted away from 90 degrees to account for blade width and material thickness. The inside object from the front layer will then fit snugly into the corresponding opening in the back layer.