Contributor post by Rachel of the Crafted Life
It’s official: I’m in love with scroll saws! Unlike other intimidating power tools, there’s less of a risk when using them because the blade moves up and down instead of in a circular fashion (though please still use caution when attempting this project!). And while they are a bit of an investment, the possibilities of what you can create are endless!
Time: 2 hours + dry time
Materials: wood, scroll saw, sand paper, pencil, clear satin topcoat gel, rag, drill
Materials: The length of your wood will vary depending on the length of your saw’s neck, so be sure to measure this before beginning! I used a piece of Makore that was 14”L x 6”W x 3/4” thick.
Step One: If you aren’t great at free-handing text, play around in photoshop with different fonts and sizes. I chose Brannboll Fet at 340 pt. Instead of wasting ink on printing letters that size, I set the fill to 0% and had a stroke of 5 px.
Print then cut out to create a stencil.
Step Two: Lay your stencil on the wood then trace. You’ll use these marks as guidelines when cutting so they should be visible and clean
Step Three: Cut out using the scroll saw. Depending on how familiar you are with the saw, you may want to practice with a piece of pine and then work your way up to a more expensive wood. As long as you take your time and are patient, you should be able to get the hang of it. You can also choose a non-script font so that you can do the letters one by one.
Step Four: To get inside the loops of your letters, drill a small hole that goes all the way through the wood. You’ll then remove the blade on the scroll saw, feed through the hole (like you’re threading a needle), and reattach. Repeat until all of the letters are complete
Step Five: Sand to smooth out any rough edges.
Step Six: Apply your topcoat/stain/paint and let dry!
