Scroll Jigs

[RegionalChaos]

Hey guys,

I got a question about scroll jigs. How do you get the first part of the scroll to stay on the jig? Do you use pliers that have a flat face so they don't mark the metal? Tongs? A curl on the end of the scroll?

[Candidquality]

Yes! I have actually used all of the above. Depending on the scroll is't very easy to start a half penny and use that to hook inside a jig. I've seen other jigs that use removable posts at intervals to bend to a location. All a matter of taste. A pair of vise grips properly smoothed on the jaw can work wonders for starting. I would imagine you'll get as many different answers as there are posters here. unless you are trying to duplicate several of the same scroll I would recommend doing each by hand on the anvil without a jig. Excellent practice. Even if you are to do a repeat. it's pretty satisfying to be able to lay out a chalk pattern on a flat plate and simply match by hammer.

[prof]

Do you have patterns for scroll jigs. Looking any type patterns i can find.

prof

[IronFist]

I've also used a hand bending fork, applying force the opposite direction of the scroll.

[Daryl]

As far a patterns for scroll jigs... If I require many scrolls of a particular finished size (by many, I mean more than ten), I make a new scrolling jig and either mount it on the vise or make it fit the hardie hole on my anvil. I currently have over ten different scrolling jigs from over the years, all are different in some way or another. When it comes down to where you are making jigs for your scrolling, it's not time to be a purist and spend hours making it the same way a blacksmith would have done two hundred years ago, just form it from out of the fire, make sure it's going to be right and then weld a piece to the bottom of it so it can be mounted in the anvil or the vise.

[Glenn]

Look at BP0075 for one method.

[prof]

To Daryl and Glenn;
Thanks for the advise, watching the pot and waiting for it to boil just didn't work so i got off my butt and started bending what i thought i wanted. And hey, for some unknown reason my jigs worked. The mind is a wonderful thing when it works!!!!!!

[RegionalChaos]

I'm working on making a scroll jig now. Timely bump

[HWooldridge]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that the scroll form functions at the negative space inside the scroll. In other words, make the form fit the inside of the chalk drawing so the finished scrolls follow it.

I typically will make a form if I am producing more than 2 scroll ends alike - even if it's only to start the ends and finish the rest with forks.

[Ron Hicks]