OCtoolguy

My comment wasn't meant to upset you. I just don't like noise. I too will be looking for an answer to the dust problem. If I come up with something, I'll sure let everybody know. Ray

I love what you have done. Very ingenius. My only thought is that I don't want to hear a vacuum running all the time. I go out to my shop for the quiet and solitude it offers me. I am going to try a box fan with a furnace filter on it. I love to hear the saw and the cutting of the wood and as your video shows, the air flow drowns out your voice. But, I must hand it to your for your diligence. Ray

We are going to a flea market tomorrow and I will have to be on the look out for frames now. I have been trying to find baby food jars to make a hardware organizer out of but I'm coming to the conclusion that people aren't feeding their babies anymore. At least where I live. I have checked Craigslist too. On Ebay, they are going for about a dollar each. I can't believe it. Folks used to throw the darned things away. Are they feeding the babies kibble now? R

This guy has an interesting website. I watched the video here and then went to his site. Lot's of good info. Thanks for posting. Ray

Scrappile, I have the same problem. I keep a scrap of wood near by and just run the blade up and down the edge of the wood. Not hard to feel the drag on the cutting edge. Ray

Ducky, read it again and you will hear it. Ray

Kevin, it works slick. Just a good way to hold the blade while positioning it. I am using 2/0 blades so they are very hard to hold/see what you are doing. Ray

I don't know if anybody else has ever come up with this idea but I find with my old eyes and fumble fingers, trying to hold a blade and getting it into the blade holders can be a lesson in frustration. So, what I have started doing, and it works great, is to get the blade in it's correct relationship and use a pencil magnet to hold it while I'm inserting it into the lower holder and tighten it up. Then, I can now insert it into the upper holder. Once that's done, I loosen the lower holder and let the blade straighten itself out before retightening it. No more fumbling with the blades. Ray

Hey OldHudson, I like your design on that cabinet. That would solve a lot of space problems for me. Did you design it yourself or did it come from someone else's plans? Would you consider making a copy of your plans and PM'ing them to me? I really do like that design. Ray

Jim, that looks like way more planer than I need at this time. I just want to be able to make my own craft wood. Ray]

JamminJack, I have to agree with you but what comes into play here is my age. I just turned 72 and I have to be realistic about what use I will get out of it. What I think I will do is start shopping Craigslist and ebay and see what I can find. I have bought all my shop equipment either used or new at HF. The only thing that I have bought at HF that wasn't ok out of the box what the 4 x 36 belt sander and I fixed the problems with it myself. So far, I have bought a Delta 14" bandsaw, a Dewalt portable table saw, a Delta bench top drill press, my Dewalt scroll saw all used and in good shape. I didn't pay over half of new for any of them. I did but a new portastand for the Dewalt portable table saw and it works neat. Oh and I bought a Dewalt 12" compound miter saw used too. I'm not in any hurry to buy a planer so I'll just start looking for a good used one. I am leaning in the direction of a Dewalt at this point but if a good clean Delta comes up, that's fine too. Ray

Congrats on your fine new saw. And obviously on your wife for letting you have it. My wife never complains about my tool purchases because number one it keeps me out of the bars and she knows number two, I can't complain when she buys something for herself. Smart woman. Ray

I just got back from Home Depot and I was looking at what they call "hobby wood" and it's prices. I can see it wouldn't take too long buying those that a planer would pay for itself. It's amazing at what has happened to the price of wood. I built that heavy duty stand for my scroll saw last week but I still needed a piece of wood that would fit the top of the stand for the saw to sit on. It had to be 18" x about 30" so my choice was either plywood or a 24" x 48" pine board that had been glued up. So, I bought one of the latter and out the door it was $26.68. Absolutely ridiculous but what choice do we have? I know the I could have gone with the plywood but I just didn't want to. It would have taken away from the looks of the stand. I'm going to sand it all down and put a stain of some kind on it. Maybe just a clear finish but it has to look good. I'm OCD. I can't stand anything that doesn't look good. My wife is a fine example. Ray

Hey Merlin, I'd sure love to come down your way sometime just to see your country. New Zealand is definitely on my bucket list. Thanks for your reply. Ray

Thanks DW. I used to have that Delta and it worked great. They do produce a lot of chips and sawdust but I thought that maybe it would be nice to have one again to plane down wood for scrolling but maybe it's overkill for what little I might really use it. I guess I'm just looking for an excuse to have one again. So, you feel that the HF is ok for light use? Ray

I was just wondering how many of you have portable thickness planers. I used to have one. It was the first model that Delta came out with but it got sold when we went out on the road full time. Now, I'm thinking about another one and I thought I'd pose the question of who has what and what do you feel is the good and bad about what you have. I see that Harbor Freight now has one but I'm not sure I would trust it to be very accurate or long lasting. I'll now sit back and wait for your answers. Ray

Wow, must be nice to live in an area where that kind of stuff still exists. Nothing here anymore, It's all been torn down and built over. Great little gift for you. Congrats. Ray

Thanks DGman. I have been trying to keep the speed way down on what I have cut up to now. I just happened to turn up the speed dial to see how my saw reacted and it really did shake. I thought maybe it was the wood cutouts that I had glued to the blade knobs that were making it shake but after talking with a few of the folks on here, they assured me that the knobs were probably not enough weight to make it shake. So, I started trying to determine what was wrong. I knew that the stand was a big part of the problem. Now, I have a very heavy stand and the saw is mounted in carpet. But after watching the videos put out by Bob Brokaw I decided to take my saw apart and check it out. I got it down to where I had to take the switch housing off and that's when I found the loose bolt. So, I tightened it up and did a visual on all the rest of the bearing points. It is smooth as silk now. Thanks again for your input. I value it very much. Ray

Thanks to everybody. I will put together an assortment of those types of blades that you all mentioned. I am a bit confused though by the comments that go by thousandths of an inch. I don't recall seeing them sized that way but I wasn't looking either. I took a class on marquetry and the instructor had us all using 2/0 blades that he gets from an outfit by the name of Otto Frei. So, I bought a gross of those blades and a dozen #68 drill bits. But, before I get into doing more marquetry, I wanted to learn to use my saw on some scrap woods so I bought a few different Olson blades. I have quite a good selection but I haven't started actually changing them out yet. Ray

I know that this subject has been discussed ad infinitum but I don't have enough life left to search out all the postings so I'll just ask it again. With all the brand and blade type choices that we have, how does a newbie like me know what blade to choose for which project? I'm not so much interested in which brand but which blade design and tooth count/pattern. Ray

Well, after finding that loose bolt on the tension wheel and building a good heavy stand, mine is now 99.9% vibration free at the top setting. I'm very happy with my saw at this point. Ray

Courdorygirl, you are right in what you say but let me warn you about a couple of things. I have been in retail for most all of my working years. I am now retired. In retail, it's a daily grind to keep your cool because there are so many jerks who will spoil your day. You must concentrate on the good customers in order to keep your sanity. Another thing that some wise person once said, is "don't try to turn your hobby into a business as it will ruin both". My wife and I had a Hallmark Card Shop for about 6 years. We had wonderful customers on a daily basis but when I think back to those years what I remember is the few folks who chose to make our lives miserable by stealing from us and robbing us. Those experiences stick in my mind more than anything. Also, never, ever extend credit to anybody. At some point, a good customer who has been given credit will "crap" on you and you will end up hating them. Just my sage words of advice. Now, back to scroll sawing, This is such a great hobby and the folks here in the Scrollsaw Village are the BEST!!!

Hey Heppnerguy, did you ever check the allen bolt that holds the tension adjuster on? That's what was shaking on mine. It has a wave washer under it but it still managed to work it's way loose and was almost half way out. Once tightened, my saw runs at full speed without any vibration. Of course the new heavy duty stand it now sits on helped too. The factory tubular stand will be relegated to some other use. Someone else mentioned using it for a drill press stand and that may become it's eventual use.

I just hope you majored in something that will make you some money. So many of the kids nowadays are majoring in stupid stuff. Like dance and philosophy and Russian history. It just blows me away why would anybody who wants to earn a decent living take any of those. Ray

Len, that's exactly what I decided to do. I picked up a couple of hinges yesterday. But, it would still be nice to find those that were pictured. I found them at a hardware store in Australia but the cost was exorbitant.