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!
Meet the Contributor:
Rachel Mae Smith lives in San Francisco, CA. She loves do-able diys and strives to make crafting easy and fun over on her blog The Crafted Life. When she’s not pinning pictures, or brushing glitter out of her hair, you can find her exploring and photographing the Bay Area.
