Shaddy,
I still scroll saw anything 1/2" or thicker which includes all the clocks however I have been experimenting with a few by lasering part of the design and scroll sawing the other part. I do that now with my helicopter clocks and the balloon clock but have'nt updated my website with new pics yet. I really like the way they turn out done half & half and hope to do more in the future if I can ever find the time. Most of my 1/4" oak products are done with the laser now. I don't get much charring however the inside edges have a dark carmel look. The outside edges I either do with my scroll saw or on the simpler items like the dog signs I use an Onsrud inverted pin router. That way the natural look of the oak still shows on the outside edge where the customer can more easily see it. After lasering I sand all the signs with a Performax drum sander to take off any smoke or burn marks and then apply Danish Oil and 2 coats of lacquer. I have an Epilog 75W Legend 24EX and I vectorize all my own images by using the bezier tool in Corel. With the dog signs I started with 20 patterns from a Judy Gale Roberts scroll saw book and the other 60 I have traced off of photos myself (very time consuming). I sell quite a few of the dog signs so it makes the time investment worth it. Hope this helps, Jeff.