SCROLLSAW703

thank you for all the kind words & prayers! we appreciate it very much!

don't "soak" your pattern with spray on adhesive. Before ya stick it on your painters' tape on your wood, wave your pattern around to get some air movin' around it. Wait for 30 - 45 seconds before ya stick it down. Leave the packin' tape off of it! That's a waste of time & money, & doesn't do anything for your saw blade except create more for it to cut through. If you're that worried about blade lubrication & keepin' it cool, first learn to run your saw at a speed that you can get the life out of the blades w/out bustin'em, or, use a bar of soap. When ya get to those tight spots, slow your blade speed down considerably. Learn to let the blade do the work, & make sure you're using the right size blade. In tight turns, curves, round abouts, etc, the bigger the blade, the quicker it'll destroy your project. Your feed rate will, of course, slow way down, but, your blade is less apt to tear your pattern off in the tighter turns & curves than with a higher blade speed, Regardless of the material you're cuttin',

5 weeks ago this coming thursday, I had two heart attacks & a lung embolism. They flew me out of here to a bigger hospital with a Cardiologist & all the fancy equipment to figure out what was going on. That's when they broke the news to my bride about the two heart attacks & my lungs. He said my lungs had 2 large blood clots in them, & a smaller one that was going to have to come out that day. The way the Cardiologist explained it to us was the left side of my heart & lungs were getting no oxygen what so ever. Basically, he said, I was slowly dieing. Those clots had to come out that day, no matter what! He said on top of the heart attacks, those are an emergency. So, 6:30 that evening, we were in the heart cath room to remove the blood clots. It goes without saying, it has been a rough 5 weeks. in & out of the hospital 3X, bad weather here, all that took a lot out of me. And my bride wound up with the flu, & has been tryin' to look after me. We have home health nurses comin' in for PT & meds. In the mean time, this bein' the only site I visit, I get on here & see what everybody is up to, as I'm not able to get back in my shop yet. I'd like to say I may sound a little out of sorts at times, but that's not any of you. That's the ol' truck driver in me. Thank you all for your friendship, & bein' here to just be friends. All I'm askin' is throw a prayer our way on occasion, & let me hang out when I can, & post now & then. I'll keep you posted as this goes along. Thank you again for the friendship & brotherhood! It has been part of what's keepin' me goin'! God bless & keep makin' sawdust!

5 weeks ago this coming thursday, I had two heart attacks & a lung embolism. They flew me out of here to a bigger hospital with a Cardiologist & all the fancy equipment to figure out what was going on. That's when they broke the news to my bride about the two heart attacks & my lungs. He said my lungs had 2 large blood clots in them, & a smaller one that was going to have to come out that day. The way the Cardiologist explained it to us was the left side of my heart & lungs were getting no oxygen what so ever. Basically, he said, I was slowly dieing. Those clots had to come out that day, no matter what! He said on top of the heart attacks, those are an emergency. So, 6:30 that evening, we were in the heart cath room to remove the blood clots. It goes without saying, it has been a rough 5 weeks. in & out of the hospital 3X, bad weather here, all that took a lot out of me. And my bride wound up with the flu, & has been tryin' to look after me. We have home health nurses comin' in for PT & meds. In the mean time, this bein' the only site I visit, I get on here & see what everybody is up to, as I'm not able to get back in my shop yet. I'd like to say I may sound a little out of sorts at times, but that's not any of you. That's the ol' truck driver in me. Thank you all for your friendship, & bein' here to just be friends. All I'm askin' is throw a prayer our way on occasion, & let me hang out when I can, & post now & then. I'll keep you posted as this goes along. Thank you again for the friendship & brotherhood! It has been part of what's keepin' me goin'! God bless & keep makin' sawdust!

I sit in a barbers chair while I'm scrollin'. I'm fairly short legged compared to some. I bought my on/off foot switch from Hawk. But what I done was made a 90* out of some 1" x 4" & bolted it across the back end of my BM 26, & mounted my foot switch to that. After 2 major back surgeries, I don't do much standiin' to scroll. I have my shop set up so that I can sit close to every tool if I need to give my back & legs a break. Sometimes its kinda embarassin', especially no older than I am, but since 2009, my health has rapidly declined. So I do what I have to do to keep enjoyin' wood workin'. Otherwise, my bride would have me in a looney bin some place.:(

I like the alexa idea, meflick. my shop is only 400 sq. ft. & rented. I've got cords carefully run as short a distance as possible to my big tools, & they stay plugged in. But my scroll saws & other small power tools are unplugged, & the cords rolled up until I need them. It makes for a real pita at times because my scroll saws are the most used in the shop, but I don't have electrical sockets to catch everything. I've got all my smaller electric tools in Craftsman tool bags under my project table on a shelf I built for them & my air nailers, which i keep in their cases. But both my lathes, drill press, table saw, planer, disc/belt sander, router table, jointer, & my radial arm saw have constant power. But I like the alexa idea! I may have to give that one some thought!

bein' a Hawk advocate, I'm not goin' to say they are good for every type of cuttin', or, for every sawyer. As Randy pointed out, if you're lookin' for the John Deere of saws, the Ex, Hegner, Seyco, & DeWalt are what you're wantin'. If you're lookin' for the Cadillac of saws, the Hawk, imo, is the choice saw. For several reasons. Blade change is easy. Blade speed is easily adjusted. As mentioned, Hawk does have a given speed that they call "harmonic balance". You get around or above that & there is goin' to be some vibration. But, with use & practice, you can learn to smooth out the vibration.Blade Aggression can be adjusted on the fly. Easily worked on. Parts & tech support are superb!!! I'm not goin' to say they don't have imperfections out of the box. Ya may have to tinker with it some to get it just right for you. Squarin' & levelin' the saw is a snap! Everything is out in the open that needs lubed. I have mine on casters, on a wood shop floor, & I have it on HF rubber mats. I have eliminated all of the vibration. Mine will pass the nickel test w/out hesitation. Yes, they are a slower cuttin' saw, but designed to cut with perfection. You'll find that you can cut with a #0/2 blade up to as big a blade as you think you need. I own a BM 26, & I can cut a 2" stack with a #7 blade if need be. I don't cut that thick very often bcause all of my projects are hardwood. I cut each project itself so it's clean & perfect for the customer. I have a CW 40 I also use for certain projects. I also have a Craftsman Set up I use. I've worn out one Hawk. IMO, the question of which saw is best because it costs more is BULLSH*T!! Ya need to test drive the saw for yourself to see if it suits ya! Every saw cuts different, sounds different, handles different, & has a learnin' curve! The best advice I'd give ya, read & study the reviews. Get your hands on the saw BEFORE ya spend yer money. LEARN about the machine. You won't regret it! God Bless & good luck.

well Sir, you've touched on several things. I don't have any experience with any of the saws you mentioned except Hawk. The first decision you have to make is what you're goin' to take on with your saw. Read reviews til your eyes cross! I've heard good & bad about the Seyco, same with the Ex. The Hegner, ehh, my advice would be, from what I know & have been around them, you better have deep pockets & patience. No offense, but, they are a pricey machine. I'm a Hawk advocate. I've owned Hawks before I invested in the BM 26 I have now. The cadillac of saws. The Hawk does cut slower than most, but it's designed to cut precision cuts in every project. It has several lower arm settings from directly horizontal to as as aggressive as you prefer. And will cut at your preferred speed.

i keep my blades in pvc pipe with 1/2" ends. I keep close to 30 different sizes & types of blades on inventory. When I order blades, I take inventory from the pvc tubes, & put the the label on the tube. I have the tubes in racks cut from 1/4" underlayment. YEA! It's kinda cheap, but it was what I had handy at the time.

I'm in agreement with Dan. If those blades came withe your saw, my advice would be to use those blades for practice, or trying to cut different woods. You'll drive yourself to drinkin' tryin' to figure out those blades. My advice would be to go to Flying Dutchman, Olson, whatever breed you decide on & get yourself a sample pack of their blades. They ain't goin' to have every blade they sell, but, they will have the general blades used in most projects by most beginners & starters. From there, write down the blade numbers that work best for you in the projects you have interest in. Keepin' in mind, you're "finesse" of changin' of & settin' your blades will improve greatly as you keep changin' blades. Stick with pinless blades, if at all possible. You'll have less headaches, & gain more knowledge of your machine.

Avoid the entry level saws if at all possible. You're just throwin' money to the wind! And welcome to the site! There are scrollers all over the country that can help with findin' ya decent beginner saw. What do want to do with your saw? What type of projects are you interested in doin' with your saw? Is this something you're serious about? Those are questions ya should ask yourself in lookin' for a saw. It will make lookin' for a used saw much easier. And, tell us your location.

fretwork can be taken many different ways. Most of the time, fret work is, as a rule, thin, small work. Tight cuttin' on a given project, or, a complete project can be fret work. Fret work is fragile cuttin' on a project, around the outside of a project, etc. It entails small blades, slow blade speed, & experience. The main idea, imo, & no offense, but like others have said, go to your local library, find a couple books on fretwork & read them. Then find ya a small fret work pattern, & cut it, even if ya have to cut it two or three times just to get the feel & idea of it. You'll find your own way through the pattern, but easy does it. Try different blades through the course of cuttin' the pattern. My recommendation is to avoid plywood. Try wood first. You'll find as you cut your pattern, how easy fret work breaks & the longer you cut, the more you'll learn about fret work. Hope my .02 pennies worth is of some help. Experience is the best teacher.;) God Bless & keep makin' sawdust!

most folks, & I say this because I teach scrolling as well, have a fantasy in their mind that they can just sit down to the scroll saw & have an instant creation. My sincere apologies, but it don't work that way. At least it didn't in my world. It's taken me 26 years to get to where I am now, & I'm STILL learnin'. First off, it sounds to me like you're tryin' to get in a hurry with your feed rate into the the blade. Regardless of blade speed, the blade is only goin' to cut so fast. It's like drivin' a car. Ya speed up in the straight aways, slow down in the curves & tight spots. sand all your project wood to 220 grit with a palm sander if possible. Reason I have found is the 220 gets all the defects out of the wood that are noticeable, & a palm sander is not as rough on the wood surface as other sanders. Put your tape on, then the project. drill entry holes & begin cutting. Use a blade you're comfortable with. You'll find it easier to stay on the cut line, & do a better job. In turn, less sanding. hope this helps. God bless!

I live in St. Francis, KS. Its been blowin' & snowin' here since mid morning. We've got about 5" so far, but they're talkin' 55 mph wind gusts tonight. They say we're supposed to get 9" - 12" here. We need it bad! Things are dry here! the wind could go somewhere else, but, this is NW Kansas!!

Mr. Kevin, in all honesty, It sounds like things are startin' to click for ya, brother. I'm happy to hear ya got the ol' girl up & runnin'. Now school really begins, my friend. Like I've said in my other posts, I ain't got much knowledge of the DeWalts, or other machines I haven't used. But have read enough to learn. In time, with use & learning the Hawks' capabilities, you'll be amazed at what's happenin'. Like I said before, ya won't be necessarily cuttin' faster than everybody else, but your timing will greatly improve, your precision will be like no other, & blade breakage will end. In the year I've had my 26 Kevin, honestly, I've broke two blades. One was my fault. I have high hopes of hearin' good reports on your Hawks from you. Keep makin' sawdust, & keep us posted. God Bless.

we all have, Mr. Erv. trust me.

I never heard of a scroller with scrap wood. We use every piece we can for everything possible. Match grain, color, etc. like a puzzle.

well kevin, sounds like ya got plenty of ideas to run with. Now you & your neighbor can get busy designin' it, brother. I think if I was dreamin' about the perfect saw, I wouldn't change anything about my 26. But, a bigger saw table with a zero insert, as mentioned, a variable speed foot switch.

Ain't he though, Mr. browning? I'm anxious to hear about your workings on your 26. Mine is my work horse, when my Sawbones allows me to work in the shop. I have other saws set up for other purposes. Hopefully it will do you an awesome job, my friend.

ehhh, kevin, if you're implyin' I'm one of those that seems to be "upset", you've misunderstood. Make no mistake, I'll defend the Hawk in every way, & am entitled to my opinion. You seem to be creative, & like a lot of us here, have a mechanical mind. All I'm sayin' boss, is put that mind to work. Take all these ideas you're kickin' out & design your own machine to suit your needs, & will run the way you want it to. Otherwise, you're goin' the long way around the barn, brother. Everybody has their own likes & dislikes in saws, blades, wood, etc. We have to accept that, & help each other make improvements. On the other hand Kevin, you can keep beatin' a situation til ya drive folks crazy! That's part of why I made the suggestion to sit down to the drawin' board & design a saw that fits you & your needs.

FACT Mr. JT! It comes down to, imo, like I said, how much blade is runnin' in the project, & how fast the blade CAN handle the cut. The more blade cuttin' the project, the longer the blade life, which in turn means less TIME changin' blades in a production setting. BUT, like Iggy, time is money. So, why not study all the ins & outs of speedin' up his operation? Again, imo, from experience, every blade is goin' to cut different in other breeds of saws. There are other factors to look at, I think, too. Rate of feed, species of wood, thickness of material, etc. Get honest. You can beat a dead horse til it bleeds, but everybody has different saw set ups, technique, what have ya. Blade preference, tension preference, etc. But you still have to look at what the machine is designed to do. Period. Like I stated in my last post. Ya have to learn the machine. For instance, kevin, you were one hollerin' at me about pictures. I'll put some on. As soon as my sawbones says I've recouped enough from these two heart attacks to get back to my shop. But, case in point Sir, I cut my own feathers for my dream catchers. With my 26, it takes about an hour to cut a stack of 5 feathers 3/32" thick each, usin' an Olson #0 blade. With the SAME blade, same amount of feathers to cut, w/my CW - 40, I can cut them in about 45 minutes. The ones off the CW - 40 ain't as smooth cut as what the Hawk cut at the same speed. The difference, first off, the cut distance is shorter on the Hitachi, therefore usin' less blade in the project. And, it's an entry level saw. The 26, set at the same speed, cuts smoother, no breakage, & every small cut is made smooth & even. The difference, the 26 is designed for precision cuttin'. If you're a perfectionist, & I am, THAT is the main reason I own a 26. & other Hawks behind it. IMO, it is designed for perfection, not racing. As Mr. JT would say, knock yer socks off provin' to me otherwise. Were I you Sir, I would go to the drawin' board & design a saw & blades to fit your needs. My apologies if'n this ol' country boy offended ya, Sir.

Agreed. The more vertically compared to horizontally your blade is set, does have a bearing on blade life, speed of cut, life of the saw, even if won't cut 70 mph. One of the MAIN reasons I invested in my 26 was not to OUTRUN traffic, but to OUTDO the traffic. And, there is a difference, by all means! I've got my 26 set at such a tight vertical setting, I can make a complete 0* radi, & not cut anything more than the size of the blade, & still have adjustment to go. Which brings me to my next point. NO! as said! most of us know blades hate HEAT! This is where issues begin. Hard wood, soft wood, whatever, that blade has to dispose of the dust somehow. I've tried 70 mph blades down to speed limit blades. After so long, that blade is goin' to bust! This is, imo, where BLADE SPEED comes in. In 26 years of scrollin' & 6 saws, I'm yet to run across a project the variable speed NEEDS to run at 100%. This is where the Hawk excels. Not only in adjustments, but perfection, as I've said before. Had I've known Mr. Scott was lookin' for a saw that runs on nitrous, I'd of never suggested The Hawk to him. EVERY SINGLE SAW MADE is going to cut different, run different, sound different, adjust different. Let me put this kinda on "my" terms, ok, if you'll allow me. I drove OTR 35 years, been around trucks since I was old enough to talk like a driver. (damn young) You can go to a truck dealership, I don't care where, & look at the front of the ride. Just bcause it says Peterbilt, Kenworth, International, Freightshaker, whatever on the hood, that don't mean that's what's under that 1000 lb piece of fiberglass. It may Cat, it may Detroit, it may be Cumapart, or even somethin else. Lookin' further back, the trannies ain't built by Pete or whoever, nor is anything else, BUT, in order to make that shiny Pete run 75 mph, do you know how? do you know how to adjust brakes? on & on! Most likely not! Without LEARNING THE RIDE FIRST. KM, I can put you in a ride OFF the lot that you can't say enough bad words to keep up with traffic, but after you learn to shift, stop, & I teach you some adjustments you didn't know existed, you'll get better fuel mileage, tires last longer, & you'll grin instead of cuss. And here's the best part. Everybody else ain't goin' faster, brother, you just learned a few things about the machine you're sittin' in the pilot seat of! So see, if you just slow down long enough to learn, you can cut just as fast, just as easy, without frustration. My apologies for steppin' over the line.

As a rule, it's best to start cuttin' your project from the center & work out for the simple reason of project strength. But, as stated in other posts, in cases of fret work or weak points in the project, most cut those places first & some will use blue tape to hold that part together for strength. If you cut the weaker places in your project first, be aware of it as you move the project around to cut in different places. There are a number of ways to get entry holes in the project. The size of the project, placement of entry holes, etc. Use the size of drill bit that is most sizable for the project, & ease of placement in the project w/out destroying your cut lines. You can use a blade you are comfortable with. You just have to learn how to make that blade size work for you. How that may sound to you may be backwards, but, in reality, as some have said, you have to figure out what works for you. In turn, there is really no reason to take your blade out of both holders. You can feed your blade either way. I do all my finish sanding before I put the project on wood. I very seldom frame my finished projects, unless customer requested. After I'm done cuttin', I run a palm sander w/220 grit over the project, then spray 2 - 3 coats of lacquer over it, then spray 2 coats of Watco Clear coat over it, & call it done. Your flooring issue, I'm sure others will jump in. hope my .02 pennies worth helps.

In agreement with jt, how many dewalts can ya buy with that 5300 minutes extra time it takes to cut them puzzles? parts? down time to fix them? I've spent my share of time on the Hawk saws. I will admit they may not cut as aggressive as the dewalts. Though I've never spent any time with a dewalt, hegner, or seyco, etc. There is nothing I cannot do on a Hawk. From 1/8" to 3" in depth. I use hardwood on all my projects. No. The BM 26 does not cut as fast, but is a perfectionist saw!! It comes down to more than time. How well of a job of cutting do you want to do? What do you want your project to look like? That's the big question.