JTTHECLOCKMAN

I do not wax my scrollsaws because I have a clear plexiglass auxiliary top on it. If it does get sticky for lack of a better word. I will hit it with Johnson's paste wax which is what I use on my tablesaw and jointer beds. I even use that on the ways on my lathe to keep the tailstock and banjo sliding freely. You want to be careful what wax you use because silicone will interfere with finishing products thus no car waxes. Kevin takes it to extremes. Never waxed any tools bases. I ask why. He says so sawdust falls to the floor. You must have magic sawdust Kevin. Wax or no wax it lands on the table and the legs and a simple brush with shop vac and cleaned. You have to vac the floor anyway. get back to doing scrolling.

You do know that FD blades are Niqua blades right. I use to have all of Mike Moorlochs notes because I use to test cut for him All FD blades are not stamped. I am not sure because it has been a long time since I bought blades but maybe Denny can step in here and give a list of what he is selling these days. I bet he is not selling all of Mike's blades. I could be wrong.

Do not know how this got double posted.

That is fine but my point is you can not say definetly FD blades drift because they absolutely do not no such thing. Can not say Pegas cut straighter because absolutely not no such thing. You personally find your ability to control them better than the other. if a person is starting out he or she needs to make that decision. I will cut a straight line with FD and you cut one with a pegas. How is that possible if one drifts. Should never be able to cut straight. This is my point. Remember it is newbie asking questions not vets.

No problem. One thing I caution others when reading the statement about blades causing a drift and cutting straighter. These things are worded wrong. FD blades being stamped have the teeth facing more toward a side on some of their blades. This does not cause any drift. It is just that the wood when cutting is slanted more to adjust for the canting of the teeth. Same thing goes for cutting straighter. No blade on the market cuts straight. Pegas blades being a different modified geometry made blade means the wood is pushed into blade in a straighter line. Also the very first turn you make all directions are out the window. Unless you are cutting straight lines and comparing each blade you will never notice what that blade is doing. Your focus is not on the blade movement but on the cut line and you forget all about the blade. As far as staying sharper that again is subjective. I suggest you get some of each blade and you decide which blade suits you best. We as seasoned scrollers such as Ray and I can only suggest things. But these 2 blades on the market are the gold standard for great scrolling blades. Olson has been around the longest and always had huge advertising behind them and thus the name recognition. Good luck and happy scrolling.

FD precision ground blades are not stamped. These comments are opinions

I agree with all that is being said here. To add something to conversation about blades, yes we all find our go to blade and you will too. But your 2 top blade manufacturers are Pegas blades and FD (Flying Dutchman) blades. They do cut differently though so when you do get a feel for cutting you will notice. With that said for size the #5 blade is probably the best because it is the most universal for what we do. Unless you are cutting alot of hard woods 3/4" thick then go to a #7 I like the FD Penquin Silver double reverse tooth blades for just about all my cutting. The reverse teeth is something you will find handy because they cut on the upstroke of the saw's action and they take those fuzzies away for the most part that you will get when cutting. You will see and that is why you need to sand the work after cutting because those fuzzies make the project look unprofessional. Good luck.

I would satin lacquer it for sure. Light coat at first and let dry and then go from there. You say it is sealed so you should not get any bleeding then.

I use those clamps he is showing for gluing boards together edge to edge to make wider boards. They work great for that. For straightening an edge I will clamp a straight edge or even use one of those clamps but would run a skil saw or circular saw as some call them, over it and do it outside. Makes quick work of getting a straight edge on one side.

OK I see it now. You have it clamped to the top of the board.

I have those style clamps and use them alot for both straight edge sawing with a skil saw or router. I have them also in 8 foot versions and come in handy on full sheets of plywood. Just not sure why not use your fence for edging.

I think Kevin said the magic words there. HARD TO FOLLOW ALONG FB is a one time make a statement and flee. There is no follow up and to watch what others are saying you have so much clicking on to do it is nothing like a true forum like this that has dedicated subforums and things are not all rolled into one big topic. I try to stay out of conversations unless I have something I can add or when no one is answer the OP question.

Rolf the benefit I see with a magazine is the variety aspect of seeing different projects that show different styles of cutting and that is all. The seeing of projects done is basically eye candy. But seeing intarsia, fret cutting, compound cutting, stack cutting and things like that are what books and magazines can show and should show and teach along with breaking down of explanations of blades and tips for cutting. Add things like woods to cut, vacs setup to make cutting safer, other materials to cut and things that teach. Seeing projects and plans is nice but to me there are vendors for that. Now you want to say it is their plans that get shown and they are basically advertising then that is a plus point on the signs of the magazine. But today what a magazine is eye candy. There are so many other ways to view plans, to watch utube videos and see with your eyes how to, when a magazine can not do that. It would take so many still photos. People do not read like they used to and do not write like they use. Today there is so many more ways to consume hard copies. Videos are a faster way to learn things. You notice who is still saying they like the magazines here, it is the older generation. I wonder what the youngest scroller we have here. I bet it is not under 40 years of age. Many of us older scrollers are set in our ways we grew up with consuming plans and seeing projects. I grew up with scrolling where we had scrollsaw picnics and gatherings and things were shared that way. That is not happening any more. Today 3d printing, laser cutting, CNC work is more the thing. Scrolling is an old timers hobby because it takes patients. Young generation does not have the time or patients and thus the written word is going by the waste side. Of all the years and it was many that I had gotten all kinds of woodworking magazines I probably got maybe 5 or 6 plans out of them for things I wanted to do. Now I got ideas from photos of things but buying magazines for plans to me you are wasting your money. I bought my plans from the vendors and supported them that way. To sum it up I see magazines follow in the way of the newspaper footprints and slowly disappear.

That happens on all sites. I see this on the IAP pen turning forum I am part of. Is it annoying? After awhile you just let it go. But what I do tell all people is you are missing out. Maybe you will get an answer to your question but not the only answer. As with scrolling there is no right and wrong just methods we develop to suit our needs. Now making suggestions is all we can do. If you follow a site you become familiar with the more knowledgeable people and do trust them more so. Answering the same questions all the time gets watered down the more they get asked. Lots of info gets left out. Then there are those that ask questions that can take a book to answer properly and that is not happening. Forums have become just stops where a quick answer is supplied like google. Even this site there is no real conversations here any more. Sharing ideas goes beyond nuts and bolts and what blade to use. as I seen this on IAP where I have been a member for 19 years. I seen how the forum has changed over the years and what can be said and what can not today because we all have become so sensitive. I left this site for awhile and had some good reasons which are my own. I do not visit as often any more because as I mentioned I lost interest in scrolling but do like following at times. I put in my 2 cents when I can. I feel I am versed in many tools in a woodworking shop because I have used them over the years. Knowing all these new saws on the market is something I have no need to keep up with because I do not change saws. Found my saw and will never try any more. This is all part of the society we have become. Everyone is in such a big hurry to get to that hole in the ground is how I look at it.

To be honest with you Rolf I do not get the magazines for a long time so do not even know who or what is being included in them. I am familar with Judy Gale's work. I am not into intarsia and never was. You have to admit there were alot more pure designers out there years ago and I can list a bunch but not fair because we always leave some out. Not my point. Yes over time we become better at scrolling and that is a good thing and the challenges are few and far between for what the basic idea of what it is. Where we challenge ourselves or at least I do is thinking of projects that are useful and can be handy in today's world. I have a creative mind and always have, so my challenges can be tougher and I look at simple projects a waste of time and thus why should I spend money on a magazine that does not interest me any more. There was a time I use to get over 20 magazines wood related at a time. But for the same reasons one became boring they all did. Magazines just compete with each other. You had more scrolling magazines or magazines that carried scrolling projects in them such as Wood magazine but that too just got redundant. Now do not get me wrong here I still love scrolling and always will. It is what I grew up with for over 35 years. But it does not light my fire any more. I spent many years on the selling circuit trying to sell my products which I spent long hard hours doing and yes again there were the better years when I started and wish each new scroller could have lived through those times. They have no idea what the craze was. Not so much today and if you are selling you better have something that people gravitate to because it is a hard sell. I test cut for John Nelson also( that flexible watch design of his was my cutting and probably his biggest design project he was proud of) and I use to cut for Steebar Corp. Many of the patterns and deigns are mine in his catalog. now that all changed hands so not sure what is still left but again time of a different era. Now my interest or fire is at a lathe doing small projects like pens. I can make and sell pens for far more money than I could have with any scrolling project I ever made if I want to, easily hands down. But being in my later years on the back nine, money is not my goal in the least. I give more pens away than I sell. My point to all this you asked a question about writing into the magazines and voicing opinions. Yes I have. Will magazine stick around, maybe but just like newspapers, not needed any more. So many new ways to get info and so many new ways to advertise. With the big push of Enviromental issues and cutting of trees and things of this nature is another reason you see these items disappearing.

When I still was getting magazines which I have totally stopped getting all magazines, yes I did. I on a few occasions sent Scrollsaw Woodworking and Crafts a letter. Back then that was what we used not emails. I told them their projects are just too beginner oriented and which they were and still are. There was no imagination to take to next level. No offense with your testing and all that but scrollsawing has become so generic. just like with the many woodworking magazines I use to get they all relied on advertising for new tools and the testing of tools which they all test the same tools and just varied their results. They are geared to the beginner scrollsawer and simple patterns because it takes alot more explanation and photos to show more advanced projects which requires more room in the magazine. They are limited of the pages to print. I find it no surprise they are shutting down. The same with newspapers. So many new ways to get info. Plus people are tired of reading about the new tools which probably are not new just redefined. Stop and think what are some new ideas that hit the scrolling world? I can not think of any other than maybe say the 3D stacking of layers to form projects. To get back to that question, the answers were they always geared to beginners. Think about what scrollsawing is, cut holes in wood in shape of pictures. yes that is the basic idea and sounds generic but think about it. Now you got lasers more so today than ever before doing what we did with the saws. One of the reasons I moved away from scrollsawing and turned to the lathe. I can challenge my mind more than what I do with a scrollsaw. I loved my journey and there was a time and place but it has become a fad and the newer generation do not appreciate things that are hand made much any more because they can buy them from china for cheaper money. I go back to the Robert Becker days and we worked together along with John Nelson in putting new patterns and ideas in the magazine. We lost so many great designers and pattern makers over the years and there have not been many new replacements. That means alot. Just an opinion. One other thing I wrote to them about was showing galleries. People like to see what others are doing and that is how the field is expanded. At one time they did not have enough reader projects shown. This is how I get ideas by looking at others work and using it to expand my ideas. Have all my life. This is what people come to forums for. Only so many times you can talk about broken saws and how to fix. Not everyone is mechanically inclined to do this.

That is super cool. Nice work.

I bet it is a wood chip that got stuck in the shaft mechanism that lets the head ride up and down. Simple fix.

Do not understand why you would want to do that. If you want a belt disc sander they sell those. https://www.ebay.com/itm/295773454599?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-213727-13078-0&mkcid=2&itemid=295773454599&targetid=4580428016871213&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=603247657&mkgroupid=1229254994528356&rlsatarget=pla-4580428016871213&abcId=9316139&merchantid=51291&msclkid=a50decbbb95e16f329868912e0cca5cf If you want to use a mop pad then use either a drill motor or a drill press and lower speed with belts.

No Tea--- Time To Flee

Cleaning the contact points of what holds the blade in is always the first line of defense. Not sure what holds the blade in on those saws but if it is setscrews, make sure they are set properly as far as distance in and out. Make sure they are sanded down to get rid of any oils from the blades. also I always sand the ends of the blades I use down on both sides of blade and both ends of blades. They are manufactured with a coat of oil on them.

Yea that would be a huge problem here too. Between the squirrels and the deer not sure how much the birds would get to use it.

I wish you best of luck. Hope to see some Intarsia work. I always loved looking at that type work but never got that pure desire to dive into it. Right now I am finishing up a bunch of pens and my next adventure as I put the pen turning aside for awhile, will be boxes. I want to use up some of the lumber I have stashed away over the years so that when I do pass my family has less to get rid of. I am thinking would be easier to give away boxes than board feet of lumber. Also have some turned trinket boxes in mind. That is my next adventure.

I will never buy any tool with a motor from HF. I do not trust the things they put out. They are cheap for a reason. Yes this so called new line is suppose to be a step up but says WHO? Step up from what. You can have it Wish you the best of luck.

I have to agree that the question is not if a better saw will make a better scroller. A better saw can make scrolling more pleasurable because it is easier to change blades and less vibration and things like that. But with that said there are people who do not have steady hands and no matter what saw they use will not correct that. Being able to relax at a saw for long periods of time is a plus. The Hegners and Rbi's do not get the press because they are highend production saws and are high $$. But you get what you pay for. The double link saws are all clones of one another. They all could come off the same factory line as far as I am concerned. Not much differences in the designs on them. Bottom line is if the saw is working fine for you than have fun and make some saw dust.