Penguins

I got this pattern from Scroll Saw Art Puzzles by Tony Burns. The projects seem more like segmentation than puzzles, but they are still neat. I made this one for my wife for her birthday. She has brown eyes and I have blue so the penguins reflect that. I colored the wood with watered down acrylic paints. It really raised the grain. I think next time I'll use stain or dye so I don't have to deal with it. Finally, I clear coated it with acrylic spray. They're pretty neat. Would make great items for a craft show.

3/4" Poplar
Colored with watered down acrylics
Clear coated with spray acrylic.

First Picture Puzzle

The image is from a birthday card I recieved. Spraymounted onto 1/4" birch plywood I found at Home Depot.

I still have to work on my smooth cuts. They stop and go quite a bit. The keys also need a lot of work. They didn't lock in the way I'd hope. If you pull from a corner, the puzzle will fall apart in sections. I also had a bad habit of making some of the sections too thin. I also cut into some of they keys. That would make the assembly much more difficult and defeat the purpose of a key.

I tried a freehand heart shape in the center. Man that turned out bad. I'll need a lot more practice. I wonder if puzzle makers do those first then come back and do the rest?

I think I'll have to order those Flying Dutchman puzzle blades. Even though I used the smallest blade, it still seemed like a large kerf.

I think I'll keep this puzzle in a bag. I'll pull it out in a year and see how far I've come!

Horse Puzzle

This is my first attempt at a puzzle. Made from 3/4" Oak. I got the design from the MSN group Absolutely Free Scroll Saw Patterns and was designed by user JayP.

I don't thing the keys were as big as they should be. The pieces have a lot of play. I used a thin blade. I suppose I should have used something more aggressive, as I tended to bend the blade a bit. The tail section isn't square. I think I was flexing the blade too much. I also should have sanded the wood before scrolling. It would have made it look nicer. I still need to work on smoothing out my cuts. They're a bit haphazard right now. But this is only my 3rd try with the scroll saw. I just need more practice.