Cottage Clock-Cutting the Crest Outline

I've gone ahead and finished all the interior holes.  Now we need to do the final cut around the outside of the crest.  The following pictures show the progress around the outside, with a few comments now and then.  This completes the scrollwork on this piece. 

We start at the entry hole and cut to the outside line and then line it up on the line.

 I like to choose a starting point near the hard parts.  You've got to do them sooner or later, so you might as well get it out of the way.  Also, if you really mess up, you've wasted less time!

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 I don't really care for small circles with #1 blades--it shows :-).  As you can see in this series, I tend to cut relief cuts at each point.  It's a little slower, but I get sharper points and corners.
At this point I noticed the blade was not cutting well.  It was taking a bit of force, causing some bending in the blade.  Not only does this cut down on speed, it also can cause bowing in the cut--this shows up especially in the lower piece in the stack.

Notice the blue cast on the blade.

On new blades I take a diamond honer/sharpener and round the back of the blades.  This helps a lot when cutting curves.  I don't do this on the larger blades (#5+), since I only use these blades for straight cuts--I don't need any help on the curves here!

This hone is pretty much worn out--I've got another (the red, medium one), but it's just as bad.  I need to go spend the ~$5 and get another.

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 What I should have done and didn't was cut a small hole in the waste with the old blade.  It's much easier threading the new blade through the hole than through the kerf.  I got lucky this time...

 

I had multiple layers of tape here.  Sometimes this will cause the sawdust to catch in the adhesive and obscure the line a little.  It doesn't bother me much; if it gets too bad, you can use a finger to wipe it off.

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We've gone a couple of inches--the next page continues around the outside.

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