SCROLLSAW703

I don't use bb on much of anything, unless the customer requests it. Several reasons why. It burns like paper. Depending on the pattern, the spiral blades tear out, and a flat blade will eliminate that with a smoother cut. And, another main reason is I don't care for the looks of finished project. I've been using rough cut hardwood long enough, & keep enough inventory of different species of hardwood on hand, I can make a project look better with it than bb. IMO. Everybody has their own tastes. I don't use much stain, either. Shellac & lacquer is the extent of it.

I just traded for the Hawk BM-26, & its a top or bottom feeder. The top arm doesn't move much more than their 220 VS. After 23 years of bottom feeding, I'm having issues with the top feeding business, too. I'm sure it'll take practice, & ALOT of getting used to, but, I can't see any time saved, or benefit of it at this point, by top feeding. Is there somethin' else I'm missing here?

Good evening Mr. Danny. As a long time scroller, my advice would be the same as several others mentioned. Save your cash, brother, & invest in a better saw that will be worth the money, & you can get your moneys worth. Personally, I own 5 saws, & 3 are on active duty. My first brand new saw was a CW - 40. We bought it 23 years ago, & its still goin' strong! I also have 2 craftsman saws, one is completely worn out, the other one is on a stand, & used when needed. My workhorse was a 220 VS Hawk. AWESOME machine! I just traded it off on a BM 26" Hawk. IMO, there is no better saw! I guess what I'm tryin' to say is, you're used to your Hegner, right? Try not to drop to a cheaper, less comparative saw. You'll regret it! Even as a back up saw. Hawk has a couple refurbished 20" saws in their show room for $500 - $600. And their tech support is the best in business, IMO, & the Hawk saws are made here in the United States. Its your money friend, & your investment. Do some research, & lots of reading. You won't regret your time spent learning.

Depending on the project, you can lay out your names w/stencils of your choice, then cut the letters. A word the wise, drill your entry holes someplace along the inside edge of your letters, & since you're using 1/4" material, use a #0 or #1 blade. My preference is a skip tooth or polar blade because I get a sharper, cleaner looking cut. Watch your speed, & sand the back of your work piece w/400 grit before beginning cutting. Wax your table good, too. You'll do a fine job, neighbor!

Well thank you obsessed scroller!:) I sincerely appreciate your compliments, Sir! I'd like to think I take ALOT of pride in my work, & after 24 years Of scrolling, I can only hope it shows. I'm part Cherokee, so my love for the Native American has ALOT to do with some of my projects. And, since I'm considered handicapped, I don't work as fast as I used to. I drove truck over the road for 35 years, and up until four years ago, when I had a nervous breakdown in the truck, & wrecked my truck, woodworking was just a stress reliever. But my Sawbones, the Law, & my loving bride decided my driving career was finished. My back fell apart in several places, & I could no longer pass a DOT physical, so I retired. & wasn't even 50 yet. Since that time, I've had one major back surgery, & my Sawbones tells me I've got two more to endure. Woodworking keeps me out of the sanitarium & keeps my hands & mind busy. I'm a self taught woodworker. Bein' in the trucking business my whole life, I didn't know anything else. After the Doc gave me the long face, & told me I was done, my bride decided I needed a hobby. I'd never had one! She picked woodworking. So, we started buying a few odds & ends used tools & equipment, I'd check out books at the library on the tools we bought, took them on the road with me to read until I'd read books on every piece of equipment we owned at the time. By then, I was ready to start hands on learning. I've spent the better part of 20 years learning, doing, learning, reading, well, you get the idea. Now we rent a retired beauty shop across the street from our house, all of our iron is there, & my woodworking goes on there. It ain't much, but, it's ok for us. We have 2 lathes, 5 scroll saws, drill press, table saw, RAS, jointer, belt & disc sander, 2 band saws, air compressor, all the air nailers I'll ever use, & a semi load of hand, cordless, & electric tools. I'd like to think I've got most everything I need. Oh, there's a couple toys I'd still like to have, along w/more lathe tools, but scrolling is my main fascination. My apologies for the ramble, but, I've found sometimes getting to know folks is a little easier when it comes to asking questions if they have an idea of what's in your tool arsenal. To a point, I guess. I enjoy chatting with fellas about scrolling, & tools. Habits, & helping one another. Just my way, I guess. In closing, again, I appreciate you taking a look at our page, & liking our work. Enjoy the evening. I'll try & get some shop pictures, & see if I can get my granddaughter to post them on here for me. Regards & God bless, Brad.

Good work, but..... first thing, one of the reasons for the burn you have in this project Freddy, is you used Baltic birch plywood. Nothing against it, but it burns like paper! Using the right blade, & right speed can eliminate some of the problem. Keep in mind smaller blades need more tension & more speed. Bigger blades need less tension, & less speed. When I drill my entry holes, I try & drill in a "v" spot, or along a straight area. It creates less stress on the blade, & gets your cut started faster. How often do you change blades? Well, that varies project to project, blade type, wood, etc. On this project, you could've used a #3 or #5 ultra reverse blade without issues. Change your blade when you feel yourself having to put a little extra pressure on the blade. Let the blade do the work. You'll get the feel of it. I read a post once about changing blades, & this fella said he sets a timer for 15 minutes. Every 15 minutes, he changed his blade. Nonsense! The scroll saw is a machine designed to create with, not spend all your time changing blades. Keep practicing, read when you can, & enjoy your saw time! Keep up the good work!

Awesome job, Mr. Knappen! I agree, Sir! Cutting them feathers ain't no easy task. I make several dream catchers, myself. Mostly from hardwood. I've been cutting the feathers for a couple years now. It takes some serious time, & focus. And before anybody barks about pictures, I'm perty technologically illiterate when it comes to loading pictures, so I've got a FB page my granddaughter set up for me called Sawdust Haven. You're more than welcome to have a look see at our work there. I just cut 16 cedar feathers for a couple catchers I'm working on. Damn, that was a job! Keep up the awesome work, brother!

Take it back! They are nothing but trouble! Good to hear he took it back. For a few $$$ more, you can invest in a better quality saw that does ALOT more, a better job of cutting, easier to operate, & no grief from the saw. Check out the reviews & read up to see which saw might suit your budget, & your purpose. You'll be happier in the end.

I've been using the Elmer's spray glue for over a year, & it works great! A whole lot easier clean up, & the patterns come off better than w/the 3M spray. I use Elmer's wood glue in the shop instead titebond or the other fancy names, & get just as good, if not better results. Especially when I use it for projects that need waterproof glue.

Kevin, polar blades are good to have around for some fret work, letter & sign cutting, things like that. The polar blade, IMO, has more tear out than a skip tooth blade, depending on the material you're working with. I work with mostly 1/2" hardwood, & they do great in most of my projects. A couple things I have learned w/the polar blade, you aren't able to turn as sharp & fast a corner as you are w/a skip tooth blade. And, the tension needs to be a little tighter than a skip tooth. I don't do much compound cutting, but a skip tooth would be my preference, or an ultra reverse blade. Every blade cuts its own trail. You just have to figure out what works best for you. It is a good suggestion to try calling where you bought the blades from, & explaining the mistake. You never know til you try. Good luck.

I started scrolling about 22 years ago. I was driving truck OTR at the time. I came in off the off road one Saturday afternoon, walked in the house, my bride took one look at me, & said "you look like s***! I told her it was good to see her, too. She decided I needed to see a Sawbones, so, off to the ER we went. After a thorough going over by the Sawbones, he came back in the room, looked me dead square in the face, & said he was goin to put this on terms I'd understand. He told me I was dehydrated, not eating right, bp was high, potassium was low, in overall bad shape. If I didn't quit eatin', thinkin', drinkin', & sleepin' trucks, they were going to drop me in a deep hole, & it weren't far off! My bride jumps up & says you need a hobby! OK! The next week end I was home, we were out looking at woodworking tools. The scroll saw became my first attraction because it was going to be a challenge. We bought several wood tools. They were in storage til I had time to set them up, & learn about them. I checked out I don't know how many books & took with me on the truck to read on all these tools. The scroll saw especially. When I finally got to start playing with the saw, it was tough, & frustrating to learn. But after 2 semi loads of customized firewood, I pretty well had it figured out. Now I own 5 saws. My work horse is a 220VS Hawk. I've cut everything from fretwork to beer steins. Its an addiction for me! Yes, I have a shop full of woodworking equipment, but my scroll saws are the heaviest used in the shop! Since I got off the road, scrolling has kept me out of the sanitarium!! Enjoy every minute you get at the saw! It's a constant learning experience!!

+1 what Steve said. Polar blades work great for compound cuts. They cut clean, & leave a smooth finish. Some speed adjustment may be needed, depending on how intricate your project is, & the thickness of the material.

You're the winner, Mr. Jim! Stopping & starting, getting to warm, to much tension on the bottom arm, blade size, type & thickness of wood, all these variables contribute to the wear & tear on our saws. Some breeds, such as Hawk, for instance, are built to withstand more hours of constant use, & all the above variables, & keep doing the job they're designed to do. I've got a CW-40 Hitachi w/close to 3000 hours on it. Bought it new. All I've done to it is replace the VS & power switch. And soon, the air bellows. Have never had an ounce of problems w/anything else. My Craftsman, that's a different story. My Hawk gets used 8 - 10, or more hours a day, I bought it nearly two years ago, used. It was 20 years old then. I've done some updating to it, but it'd hardly been used when I bought it. I keep parts around for all my saws, that way there is no down time during projects. As far as your other issue, I agree with what's been said. Get at least 50% up front, regardless of the cost of the project. That way, if nothing else, you're at least able to buy materials, & you're not stuck w/100% of the project. I've learned over the years that folks get big ideas in the beginning, but once they start seeing $$$ & bills, & find out wood & labor aren't as cheap as they first thought, then they don't want the project anymore. And this usually occurs when you're about half way thru the project. Live & learn.

Wow! That's crazy, Mr. Jim! The reviews I've read on them aren't to high. Thank you for answering, Sir.

not to be out of line, Mr. Kevin, but 7 DeWalts? I own 5 saws, & my work horse is a Hawk 220 VS. The next one I use most is a Hitachi CW-40. It has well over 2500 hours on it, & the only thing I've done to it is replace the variable speed switch. The other 3 I have set up for different uses. In my 22 years of scrolling, I've had various issues with blades, but haven't ever had to grind the ends. I have a friend that scrolls during calving season. He has been at 10 years, & is on his 5th DeWalt saw. Tell me, out of curiosity, what is it that fascinates folks about the DeWalt saws? The ones I've seen & been around, To be quite honest, don't hold a candle to the Hawk, or the Hitachi, for that matter. They vibrate, they're noisy, obviously have bad quality parts & equipment. Not to mention the fact that I've not read much of anything good about their customer service worth repeating. My apologies if you get the idea I'm picking on you, Sir, because I'm not at all. I'm just trying to figure out why it is that folks want a saw that gives so many problems. When I sit down to my saw, I'm there to create. To enjoy the time I have at the saw. Not constantly fight the same issues every time I use the saw.

Howdy Kevin! What breed of saw are ya using?

Why not just take your thumb screw out & rub it across 100 grit sandpaper? If the problem still persists, take a rag with a little mineral spirits on it, & wipe the blade ends down with that. If that don't do the job, check the alignment of your top arm, blade, & table. Use a business card & check the alignment of your blade with the table. Make sure your blade is tensioned to check it. If it doesn't line straight up & down with the edge of the card, release the tension & adjust the set screw in your blade holder to square it up. Use a small level to check the square of the table. Use a small square to check the square of the top arm to the table. If none of that solves the problem, most likely you're over tensioning your blade.

As a suggestion, try thinking of your blade decision this way. The thinner the material, & tighter turns you're going to be making, the smaller blade you'll want to use. The thicker the material, & less turns you're going to make, use a bigger blade. Tension your smaller blades with less tension, and your bigger blades with more tension. Now, there's a fine line with the smaller blades & tension. If you don't get them tight enough, you won't be able to control the blade, it will heat up & break. But, if you tighten the blade to much, you'll be able to control it, but if you try to feed to fast, you'll heat the blade & break it. It sounds like you've found the blade you like, it's just a matter of adjustment. Keep a close eye on the tension, too. Especially when you start getting close to the end of the life of the blade. Something else that might help, take a piece of 100 grit sandpaper & take your top & bottom thumb screws out of the blade holder, rub them on the sandpaper until you've got a nice, even pattern of straight lines on your thumbscrews. This will give your blade something to pull against instead of a shiny surface. Every style of blade cuts its own path. But, there are variables to get longer life out of your blades. Patience is a virtue. Good luck.

I use 3/4" PVC pipe & two end caps, & glue one cap on one end. I take the sticky label off the bags the blades come in, & put it on the PVC tube. Sometimes, if I've been doing lathe work, to save the end caps, I'll make plugs on the lathe to fit the inside of the PVC & glue it in with a hot glue gun, or super glue. I've made a rack that sits on the bench to hold all my blade tubes. I keep about 15 - 20 different types & sizes of blades in stock.