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Scroll saw fretwork tutorials

Scroll saw tutorial of the Medusa box

In this section I show you more pictures of Medusa's box along with several pictures taken during its construction. These pictures do not intend to be an exhaustive account or complete instructions, just some comments that can be of interest.

The box has 12 sides and a diameter of 27 cm (about 11 inches), though of course the pattern can be resized at will.

masking tape, scissors and wood scroll pieces of Medusa's box before removing the glued pattern unfinished Medusa's box

I use masking tape to transfer the pattern to the wood. It sticks strongly to the wood. Once the piece of wood is covered with the masking tape you can glue the pattern to the masking tape and proceed to cut the pieces. The wood used is 4 mm Baltic birch plywood.

When the pieces have been cut the masking tape can be easily removed and leaves no residue at all, at least the one I found. In this case I did some stacking so I got some extra pieces for a future box, particularly the cover of the box, which has many holes.

It is essential to check that all the pieces fit before continuing.
gluing felt behind the sides of Medusa's box Medusa's box with sides protected with masking tape Medusa's box interior finished with glossy varnish

After dyeing the wood and finishing it with several sprayed coats of glossy polyurethane (or whatever you prefer), the back of the fretworked pieces is covered with a contrasting material, in this case red felt. Do not cover the fretwork pieces with felt to the top, leave a short distance uncovered in the upper side so that when the interior is covered with wood a groove is created. This groove is later filled with wood paste.

Once the box is mounted the fretwork is covered with masking tape to preserve the felt clean of saw dust. The interior of the box is covered with pieces of wood. The height of these is the same as the height of the exterior pieces but the width depends on the thickness of the felt you have used. You have to measure accurately and do some sanding here. The groove in the border is filled with wood paste and sanded.

The interior of the box is then treated to obtain the finish of your preference, in this case with several coats of glossy polyurethane.
medusa's box and its cover once finished close view of Medusa's cover showing the red felt side view of medusa's box showing the red felt effect

The cover is treated in the same way. The fretwork pieces are dyed in oak color and the rest of the pieces in walnut, to create a subtle contrast.

The soft texture of the felt creates a staring effect.

The final aspect of the box can be seen here.

Scroll saw tutorial of the Security box

In this section I show you more pictures of the Security Box along with several pictures taken during its construction. These pictures do not intend to be an exhaustive account or complete instructions, just some comments that can be of interest.

The particularity of this security box is that it is entirely made with wood, including the hinges and the lock mechanism. The wheels make for 1.000.000 possible combinations and only one opens the box. Precision cutting and assembling is of utmost importance in this pattern. The computer design pattern is perfectly accurate but minor mistakes can ruin the hinges or the rotating wheels mechanism.

internal part of the door of the wooden security box showinw the lock mechanisms interior of the wooden scroll saw fretwork vault marks for the shelves in the sides of the wooden security box

The beginning is as always, transferring the patterns to the wood covered with masking tape and scrolling the pieces. It is essential to check all the pieces all the time, as they are cut and as they are coated.

We check that the wooden hinges work properly and that the door fits correctly.

Mounting the shelves requires attention, since they do not have slots (these would make the sides of the box ugly). The position of the shelves is drawn in the sides of the box, being sure those lines will be covered.
security box shelves drying in position held with clamps

The shelves are then glued to one of the sides and left to dry.
interior of the wooden scroll saw security box during mounting interior of the wooden fretwork security box without the floor and roof wooden scroll saw security box with the shelves once finished with varnish

After some time the shelves are glued to the other side and hold in position with clamps. The base and top of the box are encased (but not glued!) so that the shelves dry exactly as they will be when the box is finished.

Once the shelves have dried the back of the box is glued in position, also encasing the base and top as before. The interior is then finished, in this case with oak dye, wood sealer and several coats of satin varnish.

The front of the box is then glued in position and also finished. The top and base will be glued at the very end so the finishing of these pieces and the other sides can be left for the end.
fretwork wooden security box showing the mounting of the door circular pieces forming the rotating mechanism of the lock of the security box

Again we check that the locking mechanism works fine (the wheels will be installed later).

The only problem I found is with the hollow rods of the mechanism, they are slightly shorter than necessary. This happens because the thickness of the wood can have small variations. This minor problem has an easy solution, it is enough to cut one more piece for the rods in a thin wood (1,5 mm in this case), glue it and to sand until getting the exact length needed.
edge of the wooden scroll saw security box showing the mechanism rods

After all the care with the precision the results looks good and the pieces fit really well.

Scroll saw tutorial of the Egg Clock

The egg clock scroll saw pattern is the result of my attempt to design a clock that could be made with a scroll saw but at the same time it should be very original.

In this section I show you more pictures of the egg clock along with several pictures taken during its construction. These pictures do not intend to be an exhaustive account or complete instructions, just some comments that can be of interest.

The main part of this clock is the egg, which is made of several dozens of slices. Every slice needs to be scrolled with a very precise bevel angle, determined for each one by the computer. When glued together these slices form the curved surface of the egg. The base of the clock contains a very elaborate fretwork.
frame of the scroll saw fretwork egg clock made in plywood egg part of the fretwork clock formed with wood slides of plywood
The first step to make the egg is to mount the six pieces that form its frame. Then the slices are easily glued one after the other just by gluing and encasing them in their position until completing the whole body. The surface of the egg formed by the edges of the slices is then sanded and finished with two coats of wood sealer and several coats of varnish.
fretworked base of the scroll saw fretwork egg clock fretworked sides of the egg clock base protected with masking tape wood crack being repaired with a tool, wood paste and masking tape
The rest of the clock has no particular difficulty. The interior of the base can be covered with scrap wood for better protection of the felt we use to linen. The corner columns are added and the fretwork is protected with masking tape. These rods of wood are found in most wood suppliers. If the joint of two pieces leaves a too visible crack it can simply be covered with wood paste. Cover the pieces with masking tape leaving just the crack and apply the paste with a shoveler. Then remove the tape and the problem is solved.
scroll saw fretwork egg clock by a table lamp with a black shade scroll saw egg clock with golden clock insert and glossy finish scroll saw egg clock with red felt in the fretwork sides
The finished clock looks really nice and special, very original. The surface of the clock is perfectly curved and shines due to the satin varnish. The horizontal lines show how it is really made with slices of wood, giving it a particular beauty. A closer front view.
fretwork egg clock with red felt and four golden wingeg sphinxs golden Mercury flying of Giambologna on the egg clock golden wooden sphinx leaning on the corner of the fretworked base of the egg clock base box of the scroll saw fretwork egg clock
Observe how the felt behind the fretwork seems to shine with its own light. The golden figure on top of the egg is Mercury flying (messenger of the gods and a deity of trade, travelers and wealth), based upon a famous sculpture by Giambologna. It can be left unglued for easier and safer transportation. On every corner a golden winged sphinx guards the clock leaning on the column. The wings of the sphinxes can be glued more open if desired. Observe the beautiful contrast created by the red felt, the gold of the sphinxes and the clock and the two tones of the wood.
fretworked wooden fence around the scroll saw egg clock fretwork with red felt in the base of the egg clock
Detail of the fence around the egg.

Detail of the fretwork.

Please note that this pattern is registered and copyrighted. If you would like to have it I offer it for 16 € plus shipping. The pattern is computer made, which provides total precision, and nicely printed for convenient scrolling. Click here to buy this pattern. Write me to info@finescrollsaw.com for any questions.

Scroll saw tutorial of the Eiffel Tower

In this section I show you more pictures of the Eiffel tower along with several pictures taken during its construction. These pictures do not intend to be an exhaustive account or complete instructions, just some comments that can be of interest.
scroll saw pattern of the Eiffel Tower glued to the wood Eiffel Tower top marks to guide the cutting of pieces in the scroll saw wooden model of the Eiffel Tower

I use masking tape to transfer the pattern to the wood. It sticks strongly to the wood. Once the piece of wood is covered with the masking tape you can glue the pattern to the masking tape and proceed to cut the pieces. The wood used is 4 mm Baltic birch plywood. I have stacked in groups of two. The stacked pieces are just glued in the sides.

The slots of the floors of the tower must be beveled in a particular way: the short sides are not beveled and the long sides are beveled in the same direction. To achieve this, both extremes of the slot are cut in first place with a round blade. With the round blades the extremes can be cut without turning the piece, which is maintained at the desired bevel angle. Using a flat blade, the two long sides are then cut both of them in the same direction.

Stacked pieces need to be separated before scrolling their beveled sides. Before separating them we make small marks with the blade.

pieces of the wooden model of the Eiffel Tower ready to be scrolled first section of the Eiffel Tower scroll saw wooden model first section of the Eiffel Tower wooden model held with elastic bands

We then separate them, and using a ruler, we complete the shape of the piece or pieces below the main one. We then proceed to scroll all the beveled sides. This method is not valid for those sides of the pieces that are not straight lines. We'll see an example of such situation later.

The pieces of the first section are done and we check they fit well. The inclined sides encase exactly in the beveled slots so we simply have to glue them in position without further concern.

We firstly glue the four sides to their roof and let dry. Then we glue the corners one by one and hold them in position with elastic bands.
scrolled pieces of the third section of the Eiffel Tower scroll saw fretwork wooden model third section of the Eiffel Tower scroll saw fretwork wooden model third section of the Eiffel Tower scroll saw wooden model held with elastic bands as it dries Eiffel Tower project completed, by a lamp with a black shade

The sides of the pieces corresponding to the third section of the tower are slightly curved. Once we have made all the inner cuts and the outside non beveled cuts we separate the stacked pieces, we finish the first piece and we use it as a pattern to draw the beveled sides with a pen in the second piece. We then finish the second piece normally.

To glue the four sides of the first part of the third section we insert these sides in their base, apply glue and hold them in position with welts until they dry. We then glue the inside piece of this section. We proceed in the same manner with the second part of this section.

We then glue these two parts together to form the third section. We hold both pieces with welts as before. They fit with precision, the juncture is very difficult to notice. The corners are sanded slightly to give them a smooth aspect. The project is then mounted and finished as you prefer. A few pictures of the finished project follow.

The finished project calls the attention of everyone.

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