My friend Bob Eaton, whose Civil War cannon is shown at page 116 of TMBR#3, has put in many hours with piercing saws in his long career as a jeweller.
When I saw Bob at the 2005 G.E.A.R.S. show in Portland, Oregon, he showed me a small variable speed scroll saw he had made. He had drawn up plans and notes on how to make such a saw.


You can click on the photo above to see a bigger picture of Bob's saw.
I am now able to offer Bob's scroll saw plans on my website, with a slightly edited and slightly longer set of How-To notes.

The saw runs with little or no vibration. Blade breakage is much reduced compared to using a hand powered piercing saw frame, and nice work is easier to do. The variabe speed feature is also exceptionally nice to have. A comparable commercially made scroll saw would cost hundreds of dollars.

The plans consist of 3 pages of How-To notes, 3 pages of dimensioned drawings, and 1 page of Xeroxed b&w photos.

Scroll Saw Plans

US customers:  US$19.00, postpaid.

Canadian Customers: (includes postage and applicable taxes)
$19.95  AB SK, MB, QC, YT, NT, NU
$21.28  BC
$21.47  NB, NL, ON
$21.85  NS, PE

Overseas customers: Cdn $22, postpaid.