# newbie here saying hello



## darloray (25 Mar 2016)

hi, im getting a scroll saw very soon as ive seen what can be done.
as we make kitchens and other furniture where I work I can get bits of wood to work with for free which is a bonus.

cant pay a lot but I know not to buy too cheap. ive seen these at machine mart

Clarke CSS400C 16” Variable Speed Scroll Saw which comes with a 64 piece grinding kit.
Clarke CSS16V 16" Scroll Saw
Clarke CSS400B 16" Scroll Saw

whats your view of these, the first one is the dearer of the 3.

also,how do you create your patterns from text images. im wanting to scroll some text in some picture frames I want to create.
a friend of mine is the uks number 1 Jessie j tribute and was wanting to make one for her as she has nice scroll text in her logo.any advice on this would be great.

thanks in advance, I hope when im more experienced I can help others


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## nadnerb (25 Mar 2016)

Hello and welcome to the best site for wood workers!!
For making patterns you can use free software like inkscape or Gimp. Even Microsoft word is very good for word art. If your budget stretches to it I would recommend buying a Hegner scroll saw. 
Regards
Brendan


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## darloray (25 Mar 2016)

nadnerb":1x8irkw9 said:


> Hello and welcome to the best site for wood workers!!
> For making patterns you can use free software like inkscape or Gimp. Even Microsoft word is very good for word art. If your budget stretches to it I would recommend buying a Hegner scroll saw.
> Regards
> Brendan



hi thanks for the reply, I sent you an email back


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## scrimper (26 Mar 2016)

If you want to do proper fretwork/scrollsaw work I am sorry to say that I would not recommend any of the Clarke saws you mention above, if you want a saw for cutting tighter curves than a bandsaw for general woodworking they would do fine but if you want to do proper fretwork especially with internal cuts or fine work then I would say save your cash and buy a better saw. A decent second-hand saw would be better than those you mention.


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## darloray (26 Mar 2016)

hi thanks, budgets a bit tight right now,could go to £150.
when you read the info on them they always seem to say the same stuff,so it gets confusing when you see reviews etc.
im up in county durham so will keep an eye out on ebay etc for 2nd hand ones. at some point once things settle down with my bills I will invest in a hegner but cant right now.


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## ChrisR (26 Mar 2016)

Hi.

Welcome to the forum.

Plus one, regarding the advice given by (scrimper).


Take care.

Chris.


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## nev (26 Mar 2016)

darloray":3fdzujox said:


> ...
> 
> also,how do you create your patterns from text images. im wanting to scroll some text in some picture frames I want to create.
> a friend of mine is the uks number 1 Jessie j tribute and was wanting to make one for her as she has nice scroll text in her logo.any advice on this would be great.
> ...



Check out the link in Scrimpers post in this thread...
text-pattern-maker-t82979.html?hilit=creating%20text


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## NazNomad (26 Mar 2016)

darloray":ukiuueai said:


> hi thanks, budgets a bit tight right now,could go to £150.




A 2nd hand Delta.


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## smoggy49 (26 Mar 2016)

Hi darloray,
This is a great forum sound advice from here and lots of it, I think I would agree a good second hand saw is worth looking out for. If you search this site for which scroll saw you'll get lots of links, the archive's a goldmine on here. Incidentally I only live about 15/18 miles from Bishop if your stuck with anything ill be glad to help.


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## darloray (27 Mar 2016)

smoggy49":337zxq1h said:


> Hi darloray,
> This is a great forum sound advice from here and lots of it, I think I would agree a good second hand saw is worth looking out for. If you search this site for which scroll saw you'll get lots of links, the archive's a goldmine on here. Incidentally I only live about 15/18 miles from Bishop if your stuck with anything ill be glad to help.



thanks,smoggy,thanks everyone.i love this forum already from what ive been reading.

just done a car boot sale today at sedgefield and made £180 so its another £90 towards a better saw,(as the wife grabbed half) got £170 put by already. we moved house 2 months ago so selling a lot of clutter to put money by for scrolling projects.


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## Alexam (28 Mar 2016)

Hi darloray and welcome,

I suggest that you don't use all your cash reserve on a hobby, particularly if you have just moved house and don't know what expences may crop up unexpectedly. It's not just buying the machine, but the additional costs that you would need on a regular basis, blades, dust supression, timber etc etc.

Also, don't try to get the very best equipment from the start, as you need to know if you will continue with the hobby. Get something modest to start with, learn all about it and build your knowledge on this forum and by possibly meeting other members and after a year or so, then look to improve. It will give you more time to build a 'woodwork reserve' and look forward to the future. Good luck.

Malcolm


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## scrimper (28 Mar 2016)

Alexam":1txx1kuw said:


> Also, don't try to get the very best equipment from the start, as you need to know if you will continue with the hobby. Get something modest to start with



I am so sorry if I sound like a 'killjoy' but although I agree with what you say sometimes this advice does not work, fretwork can be difficult to start with and if one buys an inferior machine one may find it so awkward to use and doing the work is a difficult chore; so much so that the new fretworker soon gets fed up and packs the whole thing in whereas with a decent easy to use saw one finds the work absorbing and enjoyable and often an interesting hobby for life.

It is a difficult choice to make, one does not wish to spend lots of money on a quality machine only to find the hobby is not for them whereas if you buy a poor quality machine you may be put off a decent hobby for life. It is fair to say though that at least if you buy a decent quality machine and decide the hobby is not for you you will have very little trouble getting a large slice of the money paid back when you sell it on but with one of the cheaper saws you will be hard pressed to get any one to buy it off you.

IMHO one of the problems is that their are a huge range of very cheap poor quality saws on the market and a decent range of top quality expensive machines available however there are not any decent reasonably priced machines in the medium price range.

The quote below (by John Ruskin 1819-1900) always seems true to me -:

_*Its unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little.
When you pay too much, you lose a little money-that is all.
When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that,
You will have enough to pay for something better!*_


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## darloray (1 Apr 2016)

Alexam":1c1u51js said:


> Hi darloray and welcome,
> 
> I suggest that you don't use all your cash reserve on a hobby, particularly if you have just moved house and don't know what expences may crop up unexpectedly. It's not just buying the machine, but the additional costs that you would need on a regular basis, blades, dust supression, timber etc etc.
> 
> ...




hi, thx for yr reply, as for cash reserve, im selling a lot of clutter and doing it in a way of 1/3 in the scroll saw fund, 1/3 in my backpocket and 1/3 in the bank, so I win on all parts.
at work we make kitchens,bedrooms office and school furniture. we have all sorts or offcuts of timber that just goes in the furnace that heats the factory and keeps the scrap down,so I have unlimited bits of wood for free.

im looking forward to a new hobby/interest and hope to get to a point where I find a niche where I can start selling products.
anyone got any ideas of what sells

thx
ray


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## WolfyPete (3 Apr 2016)

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I have the - Clarke CSS400C 16” Variable Speed Scroll Saw which comes with a 64 piece grinding kit.

It's a great machine in my mind and I am new to scroll saw work aswell.

Whatever machine you do deside on getting I hope like me you enjoy learning to use it and creating works of art with it.

Pete


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## Claymore (4 Apr 2016)

.......


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## Homerjh (4 Apr 2016)

to get patterns/text from images you need to have a play around and try to get it to be a line drawing, although you could just print in B&W on your printer and stick it on the wood (i use blue tape and aerosol glue, cut then remove the tape with no ill effects to the wood).

you dont need to convert if the image is clear enough to cut from though, a lot of people are insistent that you need a B&W line drawing on the internet, you dont, just a clear enough print of where you want to cut.

you can use a black pen to draw on the print if you need to add any specific required cuts as well so you dont forget before you remove the image.


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## darloray (5 Apr 2016)

thanks claymore that's a great idea, ill look into that.
homerjh,thanks for yr effort. im starting to use drawplus and learning that. brendon (nadnerb) has done me a fantastic outline drawing using drawplus. so I downloaded drawplus 8.
thanks all, hope I can give back once I get my self sorted


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## darloray (3 Dec 2016)

hi, I put everything on hold since we moved house in February but I still look on here everyday. not posted for a little while.
weve just sold the other house after its been up for sale for a year so as from January we will be mortgage free, 14 years early.
im off for 3 weeks over the holidays so now I will have a lot of extra money, now is the time to invest in a decent scroll saw.
cant wait to get started and start the year off with a fresh start and making things


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## bigbob1 (4 Dec 2016)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Delta-Scroll- ... Sw4GVYOdkw


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## darloray (4 Dec 2016)

thanks, ill keep an eye out for similar. would bid on that but its 280 miles away.


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## skipdiver (4 Dec 2016)

I know diddly about scrolling but welcome.


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