Scroll Saw Tips and TechniquesPattern Adhesive and RemovalWhen attaching my patterns, I use 3M super 77 spray adhesive. Generally speaking I use a fairly heavy coat, due to the fairly large amount of thin areas in my designs (ie blades of grass, feathers etc.) If you don't use enough adhesive, the pattern will lift and you will be left trying to guess where to stop your cut. A heavy cut of adhesive can cause you some troubles when it comes time to remove the pattern from the cutting though. The best way I have found to handle that is to use an old windex bottle filled with low odor mineral spirits. Thoroughly saturate the paper with the mineral spirits and allow it to soak in for about 5 minutes. Your paper will take on a sort of gray translucent appearance when the solvent has worked its way down to the glue. Once that occurs you can simply grab the corner of the pattern and lift. The pattern can usually be removed in one piece. Getting the paper off is only the beginning, mist the wood down again, only this time rub gently with the balls of your fingers. That "slimy" stuff you feel there is the residue from the adhesive, continue to rub until the wood feels smooth and you have gotten all the glue off. Use a clean rag (a cloth diaper works great) and blot off the excess thinner. Two questions may have come to you at this point: 1) Will the mineral spirits discolor my wood? The answer is no let the thinner dry thoroughly (overnight if possible) before finishing and you won't be able to tell the difference between it and a piece that wasn't saturated with thinner. 2) Will the thinner raise the grain of my wood? I have never had a problem with that. Realize that I do almost all of my cutting in either BB (Baltic Birch) or Oak ply. However I have used this technique on solid wood and not had any problems. Using a solvent on your wood is the equalivent of using an oil based finish like stain. |
