BIG BOOK OF SCROLL SAW WOODWORKING, from the editors of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine, features more than 60 projects and techniques for fretwork, intarsia and other scroll saw crafts. The projects include basic patterns for the beginner, unusual puzzles and toys, baskets and boxes, a chess set and keepsake portraits. Contributing scroll saw artists include John A. Nelson, Gary MacKay, Ron Brown, Kathy Wise and Rick Hutcheson. The book is a great reference not only for its detailed patterns, but for its tips, techniques and step-by-step instructions.

Fox Chapel does it again; here is a great book for those with aspirations of being a scroll sawyer. An excellent compilation! New to scroll sawing? This is the book for you! Are you an advanced or highly skilled scroll sawyer? This is also the book for you. The Big Book is rife with great ideas and explicit plans for the scroll saw. From simple but elegant Christmas ornaments to the more complex intarsia and segmentation scroll work, you will love this book. Don't think of scrolling in just wood, think beyond the traditional. How about making tiles from Corian or other synthetic materials, the Big Book shows how it's done. Compound cutting is explained so as a beginner you can achieve very complex looking projects like a chess set or holiday decorations. As a skilled artisan you will appreciate some of the more complex designs that will get your creative juices flowing.

Twenty-five scroll saw experts, sixty scroll saw projects - this is a scrollers dream come true. For a book that is largely made up of the contributions from twenty-five scroll saw experts, the Big Book of Scroll Saw Woodworking hangs together remarkably well. The editors have done an admirable job of pulling it together into a coherent book. The book focuses on the scroll saw and its many uses. The introductory sections are good and to the point. They cover topics like selecting materials, working with patterns, scroll saw tips and blade selection. The book begins with the simplest of projects and moves through projects of increasing difficulty to very advanced fretwork projects, along with working with metals and synthetics like Corian . Each project comes with a brief introduction including suggestions for materials and tools, tips on the use of the saw, planning the project, finishing, and so on. The accompanying photographs and exploded diagrams are very helpful and scaled down plans are provided. The book includes sixty-plus projects which range from fretwork, intarsia and segmentation, inlay and relief, baskets and boxes, puzzles and toys, portraits, and working with non-woods like Corian and metal. Among the projects that can be made are Christmas tree ornaments, decorative boxes, a chess set, earrings, salt & pepper shakers, note cards, a corner shelf, and animal and human portraits. If there is one thing that I would have liked to have seen in the book, it would be a discussion of the selection of the scroll saw itself. Having once had an inexpensive scroll saw and now having a better one, they are like night and day. My current saw is a joy to use, while my first one would make some of these projects much more challenging than they need be. That quibble aside, for the reader wishing to explore the world of scroll sawing, this is a good place to start.