The above eagle was a present to my father for his birthday. The eagle itself was scrolled from Myrtle Wood on my DW788 Scrollsaw. The wood itself had been destined to go into the fireplace. The picture frame is red oak, and the background is a simple mat (scraps from the craft store...).

I cut the eagle using a #3 Flying Dutchman blade. Some of the cuts were also produced using a spiral blade, but myrtle wood is much too soft to use with the spiral blade, so I switched back to the FD blade.

To the right is a picture (click to enlarge) of the eagle before it was framed. It took me quite a while to decide what I was going to do with it. I completed the eagle and then left it sit in my shop for three months before I finally decided with the above version.

I was going to put the eagle in a shadow box (glass top) with a black background, and to that end I created a frame out of red oak.  When I assembled it, much to my chagrin, the frame was too small by an inch.  I had measured the eagle and then used these measurements for the outside dimensions of the box instead of the inside dimensions.  Soooo, back to square one.

For the frame, I finally decided to use some more red oak that was at one point destined to be flooring (thanks, Bob!). The inside edge is a Roman Ogee I cut using my old (and almost worthless) Searz router table and router. Next, I cut a rabbet for the backing using my jointer. I've found that this is the fastest, easiest, and probably the safest way to cut rabbets for picture frames. Finally, I cut the frame to length (8.5 x 11 outside dimensions) on my tablesaw using the miter right accessory. (Next time I'll try my chop saw...).

Both the frame and the eagle were finished with a few coats of sprayed lacquer. I also sprayed my wolves at the same time, so I used my big spray gun vs. the little air brush. You get a lot more overspray with the big gun, but it sure speeds up the process!

Finally, I cut the mat to size with a steel ruler and a razor and then glued it in place. Once that dried, I glued the eagle to the mat.

Below are a few more pictures of the eagle.  Click to enlarge.