Scroll Saw Wood Art

1. Scrollsaw Woodart: Welcome to citizens woodshop. In this woodworking lesson, you will learn how to go from this to this. I will show you every step starting from how to take apart the pallet wood to my special painting techniques. This lesson is beginner friendly, but basic power to experience is advised. Here's a list of the materials and tools you will need. Don't be discouraged if you don't have access to all the power tools on my list, there are workarounds. The only essential tool is to scroll saw. 2. SAFETY first: Wearing gloves will protect your hands from getting splinters. One, handling the pallets, safety goggles and a dust mask are highly advisable to prevent irritation and permanent damage from the fine would particles that get released during processing. 3. WOOD options: I prefer to work with this card. It would like pallet wood because I think we should minimize the amount of trees so we need to cut down. You can often find discarded pellets at your local supermarket. But if you don't have all the tools to cut the wood down to size, then buying pre-cut width at your local hardware store is always an option. Just give them the exact measurements and they'll cut it down to size for you to remove the wood from the palette. I don't use a crowbar to take them apart because I only need a small part of the slats. So a jigsaw is easier. 4. PLANER: The next stop is the planar. Honestly, you can skip this part as I have done for years, but it often does make the sanding easier because it removes the rough surface on your wood. But sometimes a little bit of a rough look might just be what you're going for. So this is really a personal choice. The main reason I use the planar is to make the word lighter so that the final product is easier for the customer to travel with. As my wood art is sold mostly to tourists visiting our island. Adjusted depth to your desired thickness and gently guide the wood through. Being careful not to let your fingers get too close. And be careful not to make your work too thin because then the word will be too frail. 5. MITER saw: Then I cut the pieces to the exact length that I want using the miter saw. The length of the word will depend on the width of your wood and the figure that you plan on cutting out of it. In order to cut the two pieces to the exact same size. I often just stack them on top of each other and make my cut. 6. SANDING: It's time to go to the belt sander. You can also just use sounding paper if you don't have a machine. The only difference is that it will take you a bit longer. Since I'm mass produce these pieces of art and sometimes I'm making 60 pieces of month for me about Sanders, the most efficient option. At this point, you don't have to send it down to finally yet because this is just a preliminary sounding. After you've cut out the shape of your wood, you will be sending it down a bit finer and make sure that the edges are not too sharp. By holding the wood in an angle to bevel the ends a little bit. 7. STENCIL DESIGN: Now it's time to grab your pencil and stencil, aligned the two pieces of wood perfectly, and then place your stencil in the middle. When you're aligning your stencil, something to keep in mind is that you don't want any frill shapes to be too close to the edge because then the piece of wood is too likely to just break off. So the more complex your shape, the more fragile your piece will be. For my son, Saul's, I simply use old cardboard like from a cereal box using a sturdy material life carts and makes it easier to outline your shape. 8. SCROLL SAW: Now, for my favorite parts, the scroll saw. This is the most important machine and the process. Of course, there is a work-around here too, because you could technically use a hand figure saw, but I haven't touched one of those since high-school. And I can't imagine doing this kind of work with a tool like that. If you're new to the scroll saw, keep in mind that it might take some time before you get the swing of it. I started using one as a teenager. And when I compare my recent work to stuff from back then, I see amazing improvement in accuracy. You simply aim to follow the line because of the thickness of the blade, you're limited to how sharp overturn you can make while cutting. If you forced the blade, it will simply break. But no worries there, easily replaceable. If you notice that it turn is too sharp for your blade, an option is to trace your woods backwards to remove the blade, and then begin your cut again from the other side. When making the cut, you're merely guiding would pass the blade, meaning that you don't need to use too much force and pushing the woods towards the blade. What I did for my projects is that I use the inverted cutout as well. So I technically get two pieces of art from one cut. 9. FINAL SANDING: Now for the second round of sounding, first and let around on the belt sander and then some finer manual sounding. My least favorite part. Smooth out all the nooks and crannies until you are satisfied with the look and feel of your piece. I generally don't go any finer than 120 grit, but this is a personal choice depending on how thoroughly finished you want your piece to look. You can make it as smooth as a feather or just smooth enough so it doesn't feel sharp. To me, it's about giving it a finished look, but there's no need for extreme smoothness because it will just be hanging on a wall in the end and won't have to endure the human touch. 10. ASSEMBLY: To attach the two pieces of wood, you can use narrow slats like these. Sometimes I find these in the woods, scrap yards, but since I have a planar, I can also make these from scratch from pallet wood. Or again, you can just buy something similar in your local hardware store. You'll want the length of these to be a little shorter than the width of your two planks and thick enough to be able to hold it all together without bending. To assemble the piece. I like to use wood glue in combination with Nils because it just adds an extra layer of longevity. Just make sure that your two pieces aligned perfectly and there's no big space in the middle. To attach the slats. I use small nails like wire nails. The length of the nail has to be just a little bit shy of the thickness of your wood combined with the thickness of the slat for nails on each end. So everything stays nice and sturdy. To attach a hanger and tobacco for your piece, there are two options. For the horizontal pieces. I like to use a metal chord instead of a hook. For this, you will need to U-shaped nails and a cord of your preferred material. I like to use the metal cords because it can handle a heavy load and it doesn't slip as easily as nylon. You will wrap the cord around the U-shaped nil at least twice. I like to hammer them into the wood slats on the back because that way it's extended a little outward, which makes it easier for hanging. Once you have one side secured, make sure it is enough tension in the cord, and then security other end. I like to have the court pretty tied because I don't like the wire to be showing when it's hanging. Got the cord with the wire cutter as close to the water as possible, so it's nicely tucked away. For vertical pieces, I find the sawtooth hanger to be more convenient. These are really easy to install. They come with their own nails. All you have to do is place it on the top slot and center it. 11. PAINTING: Now it's time for the creative expression. So grab your paintbrush. Because of my particular painting technique, I always adapt a paint brush in water and make sure that the wood is also a bit moist. Before painting, a little trick I learned is to start with a base coat of white. This will help your top colors pop. And I already have my other colors ready at this point because I have to add them before the white paint dries. You see it's a very delicate blending procedure. You can use as many colors as you want. But the more colors you use, the more complicated this process will get, it might be good to start off with three colors the first time around. You'll want them to be complimentary. Since I want the center of my work to be lighter than the edges, I will start with a lighter color and work my way towards the darker ones. When you move on to the darker colors, you work from the outside in. As you move closer towards the center, your paintbrush will have less of the darker color, making for a nice transition. You have to work really quickly. As you can see, this video is not fast forwarded and my hand is moving rapidly back and forth. If you find that your transition doesn't run smooth enough, you might have to keep your paint brush a bit wetter, or perhaps your paint is drying too quickly. This is a process that you will need a lot of patients for because it just takes practice. But it creates a really nice finished look. So I think it's worth it. You will finish up with the darkest color and be sure to also cover the sides so there isn't any wood exposed. Once you're happy with it, set it aside so to paint can try. When the surface has dried. You can paint the inside with a darker color for contrast. I usually go for shade darker than the darkest color I used for the surface. Be careful to stay within the lines. If your paint bleeds over. Use your finger or a damp cloth to wipe it off carefully while it's still wet. 12. STENCIL LETTERING: Once the paint has dried, you have the option to add some text. You can always buy stencil of various letter types. Are you going to have your stencil custom made with a specific text for the letters, you'll want to use a color that highly contrast your background. There are special stencil brushes and sponges for this that make your life a little bit easier. You just dip it in a little bit of paint and dab, dab, dab. Then you want to move to stencil over just ever so slightly. Because now we're going to create the shadow effect. Dip your brush in some white paint, and then the app again. And that's it. This part also took me a little time to get the hang of because it's not as easy as it seems. It's a very delicate process. So it might actually be a good idea to practice your stencil technique on a piece of paper beforehand. 13. FINISHING : Now for the final touch, I use a clear coat spraying locker to cover the painted surface of the woods to protect it from the elements. Whether you use gloss or math, depends on your preference. But try to use non yellowing lacquer so to color won't fade over time. This should be done in a well ventilated area and just follow the instructions on the spray can. The easier option as opposed to how I'm doing it is to layer on a flat surface and then spray varnish onto it, let it dry properly, and then your piece is officially done. I will attach a PDF file with all the steps for your convenience, as well as a copy of my turtle stencil, which you can print out to whatever scale works best for you. And then either trace the lines with carbon paper or cut it out and simply outline the shape on the wood as I did. 14. OUTRO: And that's all I have for you in this lesson. Hopefully you're excited to start working on your own would project and feel free to hit me up with any questions you might have throughout the process. Let me know how it goes for you. Have fun with it and remembers safety first. Always. Thanks for learning with me and see you next time.