Bill WIlson

Greetings fellow scrollers. I'm Bill and I live in Western, PA, about an hour north of Pittsburgh. I've been a member of this forum for a few years, but haven't been active here for some time. I recently paid a visit and have posted in a couple threads, so I figured it would be proper etiquette to re-introduce myself. I've been scrolling for about 20 years. I recently purchased an EX-21 to upgrade from my Dewalt, but haven't gotten it set up yet. Need to make room in the shop first. I'm currently president of the Blazin' Blades Scrollers of Western PA. I'm glad to be here. I'll try to keep the noise down and not track too much dirt onto the clean floors.

Chipping is a little different than the normal burrs/fuzzies left on the edges of the cut, on the back of the piece. Those are pretty common, especially with spiral blades. There are a number of techniques for dealing with them, but getting rid of them altogether is probably unlikely. That said, chipping may be a horse of a different color. If the surface layer of the veneer is lifting and breaking away, then it may be a problem with the veneer itself or with the blade. Sometimes on some plywoods, the surface veneers aren't adhered properly and will tear out dramatically, even using proper blades and techniques. Not much to be done about that, other than stack a sacrificial piece underneath it when cutting and let the tear out happen on it. Too large and aggressive of a blade may also contribute to the problem, especially with no reverse teeth. Try a test cut, with a reverse tooth, flat blade to see if the problem persists. If the reverse tooth blade cuts cleanly, then your spirals may be the problem. If the reverse tooth blades tear out, then it may be the plywood.

Couple things could be going on. If your blade clamps use set screws/thumb screws, first check the set screw to make sure it's threaded in past the inside wall of the clamp. If the set screw has backed into the clamp body, then the thumb screw will push the blade into the screw hole and kink the blade. The other thing that causes that is if the blade isn't resting flat between the set & thumbscrew, it will kink when the thumbscrew is tightened. In other words, if the set & thumbscrews meet on a section of blade that is not flat between them, the thumbscrew will try to flatten it, often causing the hockey stock affect, if the blade stays in the clamp at all. This can be especially problematic in the bottom clamp, where you can't see it as easily. To solve this problem, I suggest taking two pairs of small needle nose pliers and untwist the ends of the blades until you have flat ends that are parallel to each other. In my experience, this works much better with Flying Dutchman blades than with Olson. When I tried it with the Olson blades, they broke, more often than not. the FD blades untwist pretty readily. Flat end blades are great and easier to work with, not they aren't available in all the sizes. I needed some #2/0 and #3/0 spirals and only FD had them that small, but they didn't have flat ends. They did untwist nicely though. Good luck and have fun making sawdust!

Here in Western PA, we are blessed with an abundance of hardwood forests and there are small, local sawmills all over the place. Wild cherry is one of the most commonly found hardwoods and is prized by woodworkers around the country. Stuff grows like a weed around here. Also we have red & white oak, maple, ash, black locust, walnut, hickory, poplar and others. We even some sassafras (which is a real treat to work with).

Todd, What you are describing is a problem that many DeWalt users have experienced in recent years. Not all DeWalts exhibit this problem. I have a Type II that cuts perfectly vertical and I've never had to do any modifications or adjustments to it. I believe the problem is in manufacturing tolerances allowing a cumulative error to occur in some saws where the top blade clamp is actually positioned slightly forward or behind vertical, when compared to the bottom clamp. You are correct in that there is no adjustment within the saw that will allow you to easily correct this problem, however, I've read on Rich Hutcheson's website http://scrollsaws.com/ of a fix that seems like it can be readily performed by the user. Take a look at the DeWalt Tune-up page on Rick's website and scroll down a ways until you find the section called Front to back blade movement fix; DW788 blade forward travel Good luck!

I find myself cutting in both clockwise and counter clockwise directions. It all depends on the pattern and how the blade is cutting. If I'm cutting an area that is delicate with little margin for error, I'll cut from which ever direction I feel I have the best control and least risk of overcutting. Generally speaking, for fretwork, I start in the middle and work toward the outside, cutting the most fragile areas first.

For me, it depends on the pattern and how I want to finish the ornament. Some ornament patterns are very intricate and delicate. If I determine that there is a significant risk of breakage, I will lean toward 1/8" baltic birch. I also often use baltic birch ply if I intend to paint them. Mostly, however I tend to favor solid wood, with a clear finish. The species doesn't matter. I use a variety, depending on the color and look I'm after. I like my flat ornaments to be fairly thin, so I usually don't go over 1/4" and usually am around 3/16" thick. This makes stack cutting easier, as well.

Hi Clayton, I've had a DeWalt for several years. I like mine, but given a number of chronic quality problems that have plagued the DeWalt recently, I hesitate to recommend them. If I were to buy a new one today, I would give serious consideration to the Excalibur, simply because it has all the features I love on the DeWalt plus a couple additional, such as the tilting head, as opposed to a tilting table. Based on reviews and comments I've read on a number of different forums, the EX has better and more consistent build quality, so problems should be fewer. There are never any guarantees, but I also read better reports on the customer service for the EX than I do for the DeWalt. The biggest complaint about the DeWalt is that some saws do not cut square to the table, relative to the front of the blade. The table can be adjusted for a blade that is out of square side to side, but there is no easy adjustment to correct the front to back squareness. There are fixes, but who wants to fix a brand new saw? Compounding the problem is that DeWalt customer service seems at a complete loss to understand or correct the problem. I know of one fellow personally who had to send back 2 saws and reject a 3rd at a brick & mortar store before finding one that cut true. I would recommend that if you wish to try the DeWalt, get it from someone who will let you try it before you buy it. That way you can test it out before laying your $$ down. Sorry for the long rant. I generally like DeWalt tools and I have several in my shop. I'm just disappointed that an otherwise excellent saw has been allowed to decline in this manner.

I think you'll find that mail order sources offer a much greater variety of blades of higher quality and lower prices than what you can get at Lowes or Home Depot. As has been mentioned, Flying Dutchman blades from Mike's Workshop are probalby the most popular brand/supplier. Personally I use Olson's from Sloans, but the most important thing, IMHO, is to try different blades out. What works for someone else, you may not like. It has a lot to do with the types of woods and patterns/projects you typically like to cut. Scrollsaw blades are very application specific, so one blade may work great for one type of cutting, but not so much for something different. Hope this helps. Have fun making sawdust!

Hey Geoff, Like any good hobby, the relentless need for more equipment is part of the bargain. I've been making sawdust for over 30 years and have come to accumulate a number of tools. I still find that there is no end in sight, as old tools wear out and need replaced or upgraded or new ones come to light that I just discovered I needed. Sometimes I think tool hoarding is half the fun.

Very nice work WWG! Our scroll saw club founder had a contact in Italy who would send him patterns for great old classic fretwork pieces. He found some really ornate and elaborate stuff. Your mirror reminds me a lot of the kind of patterns he would get. Great stuff!

Thanks everyone!

Hi folks! I just joined and introduced myself in the Introductions forum. Thought I'd see if I could figure out how to post some pictures on here. These are a few things I've done recently. I don't have a lot of digital pictures of my work and unless I can find my camera, I may not have too many more. Thanks for looking.

Greetings and salutations fellow scrollers! I'm Bill and I live about 40 miles north of Pittsburgh. I've been scrolling for a number of years. I have a Dewalt saw and belong to a local scroll saw club. Just stumbled onto this forum while I was looking for something else and figured I'd jump in and introduce myself. If I can figure out how to insert pictures, maybe I'll try to post a few. I look forward to joining in the conversation. Bill Wilson