Stack cutting

[ben2008]

Just curious what others would do.

I'm working on an Intarsia project that I am going to stack cut. The woods are 3/4" walnut and 3/4" aspen. I'm using double sided carpet tape to keep the pieces together.  I'm going to use a #5 Olson PGT blade on med high speed on my old RBI Hawk. I have not done this before with this thick of wood. Maybe 1" max. But soft wood like pine, spruce etc. Never 1 1/2" hardwood. Just curious what others would use and what speed.

[JimErn]

That is going to be some long slow cutting.

Why stack cut?  Are you planning on making two of the intarsia pieces with opposite wood grains?

[Bill WIlson]

I presume it would be similar to compound cutting, which typically uses stock that thick.  The correct blade will make a big difference.  A skip tooth blade is generally recommended.  I'll let others suggest specific size and brand, but I suggest you use the largest size that is practical, given the detail of the pattern.

[ben2008]

2 hours ago, JimErn said:

That is going to be some long slow cutting.

Why stack cut?  Are you planning on making two of the intarsia pieces with opposite wood grains?

It's 2 different colors and I want them to fit tight against each other in this particular area. I'm not good enough to follow a line exactly, then repeat it on another piece. They both have the same grain direction. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by ben2008
Raccoon tail. Maybe this will clear up what I'm trying to do. This is from a Judy Gale Roberts pattern.

[dgman]

Personally, I would not stack cut this. I would cut the pieces individually, then sand the pieces to fit using the different sanding tools I have including an oscillating spindle sander, 1” belt sander and flex sander as well as a Dremel tool with various Spindle attachments. 

[trailfndr]

Stack Cutting 3/4" hardwood is NOT easy.  I have tried it and it was a total failure.  I would do as Dgman said, cut them individually and sand to fit.  OR  you can do as I did, and add a magnifier to your saw, and learn to cut more accurately.  It just takes practice.  Slow down your feed speed, and take your time.  Cutting slow is more accurate and will lead to faster cutting as you become more comfortable with it over time.

[Wichman]

Ben,

I cut 1 1/2 oak all the time with a tight sliding dovetail to boot. I just stack cut 4, 5/16 pieces that came out well (Fret work). I'm using a two speed Delta on high, #3 Polar blades (Flying Dutchman). The one thing that I have to do is: every 1/2" or so I'll back the pressure off the cut and then softly engage the edge of the cut several times to clear the sawdust from the kerf, then resume cutting. The Polar blades are the only ones that are stiff enough for me.

Good luck

 

[jollyred]

If you do this, be sure the blade is at an exact right angle, and keep any side pressure off the blade.  Any deviation from a perfect right angle cut will result in more work correcting the cut than you would go through cutting them separately.  Like Trailfnder said, accurate cutting is essential either way.

Tom

[ben2008]

On 6/4/2020 at 10:22 PM, jollyred said:

If you do this, be sure the blade is at an exact right angle, and keep any side pressure off the blade.  Any deviation from a perfect right angle cut will result in more work correcting the cut than you would go through cutting them separately.  Like Trailfnder said, accurate cutting is essential either way.

Tom

Tom- I'm going to try stack cutting the pieces using a Olson #5 PGT  double reverse blades. Yes, I'll make sure the blade is 90 degrees to the table. Thanks for the tips.

Ben

[dgman]

Ben, it is not advised to use a reverse tooth blade as the reverse teeth forces saw dust back into the kerf, thus casing the blade to work harder, causing increased heat and burning. Heat is the enemy of blades. It’s best to use a skip tooth blade. If you don’t have a skip tooth blade, set your blade so the reverse teeth don’t enter the wood.

[JimErn]

@ben2008

Like many others I suggest you cut one thickness.  When you start fitting it together get one of the wife's tubes of lipstick.  Put lipstick on one piece, fit them together, pull apart and sand off the lipstick on the one piece.  Rinse and repeat.

There are very few, if any, actual short cuts in scroll sawing.

[Jim Finn]

I also like the Blade you are planning to use.  I use them and they work well as does Olsen PG #7.  I have done what you are planning and it works well but I make my intarsia only 3/8" thick so I was cutting total 3/4" of hardwood.  I do not know why most people use 3/4" wood.  Maybe they do not have the tools to easily re-saw the 3/4" to 3/8" like I do.

[dgman]

2 hours ago, Jim Finn said:

I also like the Blade you are planning to use.  I use them and they work well as does Olsen PG #7.  I have done what you are planning and it works well but I make my intarsia only 3/8" thick so I was cutting total 3/4" of hardwood.  I do not know why most people use 3/4" wood.  Maybe they do not have the tools to easily re-saw the 3/4" to 3/8" like I do.

3/4” stock is desired for Intarsia To provide shaping and contouring of the piece to give it depth. You don’t get as much depth with 3/8” stock.

[Jim Finn]

17 hours ago, dgman said:

3/4” stock is desired for Intarsia To provide shaping and contouring of the piece to give it depth. You don’t get as much depth with 3/8” stock.

OK

 

[tgiro]

A couple of years ago, I did a custom teddy bear for a friend of ours. His father-in-law, who was a wood cutter/woodsman had died and he wanted a teddy bear for his mother-in-law, who loved cardinals. While I made this project I put 5 videos up on my youtube channel to show how I made the project.

When I made the teddy bear, I gave him a checkered shirt. I used eastern red cedar and aspen for the woods in the shirt. In  my video on cutting - I explain about cutting out the shirt pieces, and I did a stack cut of the aspen and cedar (1-1/2" thickness of wood). The cutting video is at --

and cutting the shirt pieces start art 5 minutes into the video. Note that I use a #1 blade for cutting the shirt pieces. Just make sure that your blade is a perfect 90° to the table and take it slow and easy. No side pressure while cutting. It will work

Below is a picture of the finished bear. You can see that the shirt came out perfectly.

[amazingkevin]

After reading all the posts about the blade not clearing the dust ,I was wondering if grinding some teeth off the blade would help more?

[dgman]

8 hours ago, amazingkevin said:

After reading all the posts about the blade not clearing the dust ,I was wondering if grinding some teeth off the blade would help more?

Just don’t use a reverse tooth blade!

Now, some folks use reverse tooth blades for compound cutting and have good results, but I get better results using a skip tooth blade Like a FD Polar blade.

Edited June 13, 2020 by dgman

[ben2008]

On 6/10/2020 at 7:32 PM, Jim Finn said:

I also like the Blade you are planning to use.  I use them and they work well as does Olsen PG #7.  I have done what you are planning and it works well but I make my intarsia only 3/8" thick so I was cutting total 3/4" of hardwood.  I do not know why most people use 3/4" wood.  Maybe they do not have the tools to easily re-saw the 3/4" to 3/8" like I do.

 "I do not know why most people use 3/4" wood.  Maybe they do not have the tools to easily re-saw the 3/4" to 3/8" like I do"'

You answered your own question!

I cannot re-saw. Even if i could,I wouldn't in most cases. I like working with 3/4 " wood. If I need 1/4" or 3/8" I just buy what I need. 

[ben2008]

On 6/12/2020 at 8:43 AM, tgiro said:

A couple of years ago, I did a custom teddy bear for a friend of ours. His father-in-law, who was a wood cutter/woodsman had died and he wanted a teddy bear for his mother-in-law, who loved cardinals. While I made this project I put 5 videos up on my youtube channel to show how I made the project.

When I made the teddy bear, I gave him a checkered shirt. I used eastern red cedar and aspen for the woods in the shirt. In  my video on cutting - I explain about cutting out the shirt pieces, and I did a stack cut of the aspen and cedar (1-1/2" thickness of wood). The cutting video is at --

and cutting the shirt pieces start art 5 minutes into the video. Note that I use a #1 blade for cutting the shirt pieces. Just make sure that your blade is a perfect 90° to the table and take it slow and easy. No side pressure while cutting. It will work

Below is a picture of the finished bear. You can see that the shirt came out perfectly.

Great job. Attention to detail is quite obvious. 

[ben2008]

On 6/7/2020 at 3:16 PM, dgman said:

Ben, it is not advised to use a reverse tooth blade as the reverse teeth forces saw dust back into the kerf, thus casing the blade to work harder, causing increased heat and burning. Heat is the enemy of blades. It’s best to use a skip tooth blade. If you don’t have a skip tooth blade, set your blade so the reverse teeth don’t enter the wood.

I already have! Look at my pic above. I cut the outline of the raccoon tail with a #5 PGT RR blade. I did slow down and take my time. Turned out just fine. 

I took a few days off to do some other things. I am going to cut the remaining pieces with another #5 PGT blade. I love the Olson PGT blades. I use them on about 85% of my Intarsia projects especially when there are somewhat long cuts. They cut straight and don't veer.

Thanks for the tips.

Edited June 14, 2020 by ben2008

[Rolf]

I would not use carpet tape to hold things together. I would put in a few nails in the waste area, leaving those cuts for last.