OCtoolguy

Yes, he and I have connected a bit. He is quite a ways from me but at least it would be doable. Ray

Well Wayne, I did as you suggested. It seems that nobody West of the Mississippi is into scrolling enough to start a club. Ray

Thanks Wayne, I'll try that. I thought I had already done that but I'm old. I forget. What was the question again? Ray

Thank you so much everybody. I will take the time to do as you all pretty much suggested. On the subject, what do you all think of the PEGAS brand of blades? I'm just cuious. I see them advertised but I have never seen them for sale in stores. Or mentioned here. It seems to be FD or Olsen that are being used the most. Ray

You mentioned that you use a #3 blade but it wasn't recommended. Ok, what about your new saw? Will you be using the same blade on it as you did on your DW788? Will one blade perform better on all machines or on particular machines? I see some folks use only Flying Dutchman blades. You use Olsen, others recommend others. That's what I guess I'm confused about. The guy whose class I took on marquetry uses nothing but 2/0 blades and he buys them by the gross from OttoFrei. He is the only person who I have heard of that uses that brand. He maintains it's because of price. I guess I will just have to do as all of you folks have done and just figure it out on my own. Thanks to all. Ray

Thanks for that link Jim. Another question comes to mind. Even when the size number is the same, no matter the brand, how do the blades themselves differ? As somebody above stated, the brands are different in pattern, angle, kerf etc. I suppose it's still just a crap shoot until I get enough experience to see the difference. I'm going to cut up some wood and paste the practice patterns on it and start cutting. I'll make notes of what works and what doesn't or whatever. Thanks to all. Ray

I am curious as to whether there are any scroller groups or clubs in the Orange County Cal. area. This might be an area that could use it's own forum or heading. I tried searching for any info that might be here but found none. Ray

Rolf, I did that with the wood carving club. I'm not sure how to find a scroller's club or group. I found the carver's group from the Wood Carving Illustrated site but I haven't found one here. Ray

Well, Florida is really nothing more than a sand bar floating upon the Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico. Nothing but sand.

Hmmmmm, here is Iggy's schedule..............go to lake for farmer's market, sell stuff for 5 hours. Return home and settle in for a short hurricane break and then watch Nascar or a college football game. No sweat. I can see how much folks around you are worried about a hurricane. Nah! Nothing to worry about. Ray

So much great info it's hard to digest it all. One of you mentioned "quirks". That's sort of what I meant when I asked the question. If a newbie has no idea what "quirks" are involved, well it's hard to decide what to fix and what is normal. As you have all pretty much said, it's experience and nothing will take the place of that. Ray

I found it but there was no "download" or save. It just became a sample page showing the font. How do I go about adding it to my font library? Ray

I have been lingering here for quite a while now but I have still never gotten my "dumb" question answered. Or maybe I just haven't asked it in the right way. I have done a bit of marquetry using very thin veneer and a 2/0 blade. But, if I decide to do something else in thicker wood or just for a practice session, how should I decide what blade to use. It would be very simple if there was only one blade to choose from but I have many. I bought a sample pack from FD before they closed up and moved to TB. How does a person know when a blade cuts better than another type blade? Is it truly a "try and drive" situation? I know it has something to do with the wood and the thickness etc. but how do you really know when one blade cuts better than another? I wish I had someone close by to sort of pick their brain. Here on the forum you get so many differing opinions as to brand and size and pattern, it becomes very confusing for a novice like me. I would love to have some good input on this. Leave the brand of blade out of it. Just the tooth pattern and size/number please. Thanks for your patience. Ray

And if you have false teeth, stand away from everybody. Ray

How can I get a job like yours? Ray

Not sure this will help but have you tried going to the Porter Cable website and downloading the owner's manual? I have done that with all of my power equipment because I bought everything used and none of it came with manuals. There are sites that can supply just about anything you need. Good luck with your stand. Ray

Well, there are many ways to answer what you just wrote. The bottom line is though, nothing is made the way it used to be done. And, there are so many joints in a scroll saw as opposed to a bandsaw that there is no comparison. When you buy a piece of equipment today, you must plan on bringing it home and fixing what they didn't. Those Chinese are working their little fingers to the bone to turn out the crap that we are buying. Just as soon as we stop buying their crap, things might improve. Like I have said, I bought a used type 1 that was U.S. made. No problems at all with the exception of the main drive bolt coming loose after I don't know how much use. I used to have a shop full of good U.S. made equipment but when we sold out to go full time RV living, it all got sold. Now, my shop consists of mostly Harbor Freight stuff. I know in my mind when I buy it that i"m buying cheap. So, I'm not disappointed when I get it home and have to fix stuff. My bandsaw is a Chinese Delta. It can't compare to the old one I had but it is still not bad. I guess what it comes down to is this....if you have enough gold in your gold mine, then buy the best you can buy. Otherwise, you just put up with the occasional repair tasks. If your DW788 was as well built as you had hoped, it would not have been a $500 saw. Ray

Your father was a wise man.

Well, I guess I'm one of the cool kids then. I don't like things that don't work as they should. I DO enjoy fixing stuff too. If we lived closer to each other, I'd loan you my saw so that I could bring yours home and fix it. Nothing in my world is beyond repair. Ray

Iggy, we have you and our friends in Fort Pierce to worry about. Our prayers go out to all of you in harm's way. Stay safe and don't do anything crazy. Keep us all updated too. Ray

I don't have room for a full blown table saw so I bought a used DW745 and a new portable base for it. All in all, I have about $400 in it.

Loud in what way? Mine is very quiet. I've got a type 1 that I bought used. It had a loud hammering noise when I got it but I found it to be the main drive crank nut was loose. After tightening that it quieted down immensely. But, I still did the bearing service and that helped a lot too. I haven't replaced any of the parts yet. That will come in the future. I'm in the process of acquiring all the necessary pieces and parts. Anyway.................. Ray

I find a lot of discarded furniture but it's always the cheap particle board kind. Never anything like that. Ray

I don't want to hijack the thread but to answer your noise problem, go to Rick's Scrollsaw site: http://www.scrollsaws.com/ or here:

Thanks Joe_M, I almost did what everybody else has done. If it looks too good to be true.......................................... Ray