SCIENCE 
IS 
KNOWLEDGE. 
KNOWLEDGE 
IS 
POWER. 
A PRACTICAL JOURNAL OF 
HOME ARTS. 
Vol. V. 
NEW YORK, NOYEMBER, 1882. 
No. 11. 
Scroll-Sawing Woods. 
ANY of our best 
scroll sawyers 
seldom use 
more than two 
kinds of wood, 
black walnut 
and white 
holly, and now 
and again 
cherry and but- 
ternut. These 
woods, of 
course, are all very well, and by a proper 
harmonization may be made to appear 
very handsome when worked together. 
These varieties, however, do not exhaust 
the list of woods suitable for the scroll- 
saw outfit. True, black walnut and holly 
rate very high, both on account of their 
colors and fine qualities, but we must say 
that oak or ash might frequently be used 
in place of the lighter wood, where a 
strong contrast is not needed. Holly is 
very nice for card baskets, small photo 
frames, silhouettes, or mottos, but is not 
adapted for large baskets, cabinets, or 
other large work. Indeed, holly soon 
loses its fine creamy-white color if it is 
left exposed to the air for any length of 
time, and then looks like basswood or 
poplar. Brackets sliould be made of wal- 
nut, oak, or mahogany, and mottos of 
holly; and when the latter is nicely 
glued on a dark ground of fine black wal- 
nut, and surrounded with an appropriate 
frame, it shows that the maker— to my 
mind— possessed a proper sense of the 
fitness of things." 
Flies and dust are among the worst ene- 
mies of fret work, and it does seem as 
though they preferred to roost on white 
holly more than on any other wood. The 
white wood may be protected some little 
by varnishing it with a coat of bleached 
sliellac before it is cut. It would also be 
well to use thin pieces of ba.sswood, pine, 
or other cheap soft wood on each side of 
it, the upper one to paste the pattern on, 
the lower one to prevent any beard from 
forming on the holly. The three pieces 
should be tacked together with the holly 
in the centre, of course. When fret work 
is cut this way it saves time, as no sand- 
