If you are more comfortable having it mounted on the saw, leave it there. As you can see from all of the responses, nobody really uses a blade guard. Yes, they get in the way with blade changes and inserting the blade into your project. Personally, I have never used the blade guard and only knicked myself once with a number 5 blade. Bleed for 30 seconds and stopped. You really do have to try to hurt yourself on a Scrollsaw.