SCROLLSAW703

yes, kevin, , i'm sure. Ain't that what they send a manual along with the saw for with a parts diagram, & points to lube? They are sealed bearings.

The reason your blade is bending at the top Rocky, is from over tightening. If you're having to tighten your blade that tight in order to keep it in the blade holders, spin out your thumb screw & have a look see at the end of if it. I'm bettin' you'll find it shiny & smooth;) take it & run it across a piece of 100 grit sandpaper a few times & you'll get your grip back. Ya may have to adjust your hex screw in the blade holder just a little to the inside. Ya might try backin' your tension off just a little, too. If your blade makes a high pitched ping when you tension it, that's plenty. The tighter the tension, the more pull it puts on your blade. In turn, is tougher to keep in your blade holder. And puts extra wear & tear on the wedge & threads at the back of the saw. Remember, the smaller the blade the more tension. The larger the blade the less tension. And in bb, ya might try usin' a piece of a candle, or soap on the blade for a little lube.

I use graphite on the wedge of my BM 26 per the Hawk manual & in speaking with Hawk techs. I also use dry graphite in the tension release at the front of the top arm. Otherwise, everything else is sealed bearings.

Howdy Mr. Les. I use wax paper when I've got a project on the saw. But, in between that, I use Johnson's paste wax on the saw deck. I let It dry til it has a white haze over it & then wipe it off, & buff the the deck with a soft cloth. I use Johnson's paste wax on all my saw decks.

I'm a slow to medium speed cutter, rocky, bcause I strive for perfection & looks in my projects. Depending on the project & species of wood I'm cuttin', I may run my blade speed up between 1/2 & 3/4 on the variable speed. That's plenty fast enough. I've never met a project yet that I've needed to any run of my saws at full speed on the variable speed. IMO, that's pointless, & extremely rough on the saw. Rocky, if you were cuttin' a 3/4" piece of pine, & all that was happenin', my first question'd be what size blade were ya usin'? I'd have to agree with MR. JT. it sounds like ya possibly, maybe, had the wrong size blade in place. I'm sure ya had it in right. Remember Rocky, the smaller the blade, the more tension, The bigger the blade, the less tension. And to answer the rest of your question, Sir, the faster your blade speed is, the less time the blade has to clean out the kerf & the teeth of the blade. ESPECIALLY in pine. Reason bein' is pine has a tendency to be sticky anyway, the faster it's cut with a small blade just creates a balled up sticky mess for the blade, which in turn creates heat. And heat takes the temper out of your blade, & dulls your blade faster. Always make sure you're using the correct size blade & speed to match it. You'll know when you've got it matched, Rocky.;)

not this ol' jaybird. i couldn't design a stick man with a box full of pencils & a new drawin' pad! I purchase my patterns, & add to it, or just leave it as is. If i run across a project I like, I'll ask the owner where they found the pattern for that given project.

personally, Its tough for me to say much about blades for thin material as I don't cut enough of it. Christmas ornaments & such is about it. I use a #2 Olson blade for that. All of my projects are hardwood. I use Olson & FD blades. Mostly skip tooth & polar blades. From #0/2 up to #5 blade. Some may think them smaller blades are out of place for cutting hardwood, but, dependin' on the project & the detail involved, the project dictates the size & thickness of the blade.

Rocky, ya don't mind me askin', Sir, what was your reason for pickin' MDF for this project? Any special reasoning? Just curious.

I wouldn't use mdf for a scroll project of any kind for the fine dust & the dust gettin into the workin parts of my saw, not to mention the fact that it gets into the workin parts of every other piece of equipment in the shop. I don't use pretreated lumber of any kind, either. Once you open the wood up, you're more at risk of breathin the chemicals in it & imo, it's not worth the chance. I use strictly hardwood material. No plywood of any kind. Just walnut, cherry, etc. Rough sawn at an 1" thick & mostly 10" - 12" wide. I plane to the thickness' I need.

that's great, rocky! i'm happy to hear you're enjoyin' your Hawk! They're the Cadillac of saws, imo. I hope you get years of service & enjoyment from it, my friend! Welcome to the Hawk family!

I've got some #9 blades Rocky that'd take a fair piece of your finger if'n ya got it in the way of the blade. They are a perty fierce blade. I don't use them to often. Just for sizin' a project & cuttin' thick hard wood. The interestin' part about blades like that Mr. Rocky is a couple dozen last a long time.:) It's good to hear you're tryin' numerous sizes & types of blades, Sir. Sometimes it's kinda fun to take a break from the seriousness of things & try different blades, different breeds of blades, thickness & tooth setting, just for the experience, & to see for ourselves just exactly what tickles our fancy. Dependin' on what sort of projects your interests are centered around, thickness of wood ya prefer, species of wood, all these things, imo, determine your choice of blades you keep in your arsenal. I'm interested to hear what your go to blade is, Rocky.:) How are ya likin' your Hawk, Sir?

i forgot about this, too. my apologies. I've been busy with health issues, & tryin' to keep myself from gettin' grounded from the shop.;) a couple hours at time is about all I can handle for now, & that's not every day.:( but i'm workin' at gettin' more time in the shop. My tools are callin' my handful of friends lookin' for work!;):)

I'm in NW Kansas. I've got a few friends in the KC Area that are woodworkers, but not scrollers. Google scroll clubs & wood worker clubs in the kc area, that should get ya started.

Thank you Mr. Kevin, I appreciate your kind words, my friends. I'm an honest fella, & speak my mind, but from the heart as much as possible. I strive to be the best man I can be. I also believe respect is earned, not given. Our social skills are as much of a valuable tool here as are our abilities. Regardless of the level of expertise you have, there is always something to learn from someone. New friends to make, new folks to help up the trail. That's my take on it.

Ya know JT, you're right. I always read your posts. politely, sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't. I don't have any ill feelin's towards ya, by no means.

In the sense of the word, expert can be taken out of pretense to the point of judgmental. Time & experience are inevitably two of the common factors that make that so called expert. Also, having the pride & ability to do all types of scrolling efficiently. I'm good at what I do, too, JT. But I'm not interested in other folks hearing that from me. JT, I personally believe most of us here have something to "toot our own horn about." We've done a lot of what we like to do, which has brought us all to this site. Kevin, in all honesty, I was giving you respect & compliments for your abilities & knowledge, Not meaning to say, or give you the wrong impression. I have great respect for you because of what I've learned from you. I'm far from a newbie myself, but have an open enough mind to learn from others. I think some folks get the idea they've been doin' something so long, Conceit sets in, & then judgement, on & on. I don't feel that here. Not once since I've been a member here. And that is a big part of what has kept me here. The friendship, the personal support from all the members, the willingness to jump in & help each other with our issues whether it be health, personal, scrolling, wood, blades, whatever it is. IMO, there is no better place to be to get involved with other scrollers. I'm involved with other sites. But this is the bees knees! The joy of reading threads like this one is learning everyone's high points & low points, & helping one another reach their achievements they're striving for. Not just reading the gloatin' & better than you bs I see on other sites. I'd much rather be able to use my time & experience at the saw to help someone. That's what we're about, & the joys of having the wisdom & knowledge we're blessed with.

Mr. Blake, my CW - 40 is the first saw I bought new 23 years ago. Shortly after we bought it, the saw was obsolete. Hitachi stopped production of the saw:( which was a disappointment to me, bcause after startin' out on a single speed Craftsman, this saw was the bees knees for the money! I still own mine, & use it on occasion. I've replaced the power switch, variable speed switch, air bellows & loc line. Otherwise, I've kept it blown out, clean & maintained, and it still cuts like new! I've read a lot of reviews on the saw since I've owned mine, & some are good, & like always, some ain't so good. One of the problems with it that stood out in the reviews to me was the issues with circuit board at the back of the saw. And for a long time, it was obsolete, but I have seen replacements on their website. I wouldn't trade mine for anything, Blake. I was lookin' for another one when I found my first Hawk. I wore it out & traded for the BM 26 I have now. If I found another new CW - 40, at the right price, I'd buy it.

Kevin, Your achievements will overcome you with age, my friend.;) I've got two years in age on ya, & A few more years experience, but I've learned a lot from you & your posts. Don't sell yourself short, my friend. You have a lot of good experience that is helpful to us all here at the village.:) There's a lot I've done on the scroll saw, but there's a lot I want to learn, too. I consider myself a beginner in many ways because I learn from folks like you, Kevin. I'm not a production cutter, in some ways beyond hobbyist, in other ways, the head broom pusher. Enjoy it while ya can! Share your knowledge with others, & most of all, keep on bein' who you are, Sir!

thank you for the information. My Grandfather & my Father had Case tractors we used when I was a young man. Dads' had a bucket on it we used to load & unload feed bales for the livestock, salt blocks, dirt work, & used it a lot when we done engine, transmission, & rear end rebuilds on Dads trucks, too. It wasn't much, but it sure beat doin' all that liftin' by man power! Granddad had 3 we used in the field. They were good ol' tractors!:):)

thank you Les! I appreciate your time, Sir. God bless!

that's the story with smaller blades, Mr. Ray. Especially if they've got several teeth/inch. You could've sped up your blade speed some to increase more air blowin' to your kerf line. But, as much paper & adhesive as you had on the project for that small of a blade to handle, plus sawdust too, to clean out the kerf, it would've been tough to get your blade speed up if you're not comfortable with it at higher speeds. You made the right choice, imo, to jump to a larger blade, & a skip tooth blade. I use blue painters tape on the wood, & spray adhesive to the back of the pattern, & stick it on the tape. Be Careful how much adhesive ya spray on. It doesn't take much, just a light covering to the back of the pattern. The more adhesive you spray on, the longer it'll take it to cure out, & that much more adhesive your blade has to cut thru. In turn, creatin' a sticky mess that will collect sawdust in the kerf, makin' more work for the blade. I use a piece of candle for blade lube, if need be. I've never seen how the packin' tape done anything but make a sticky mess, & create a headache to deal with. As far ya sayin' ya bein' a bother, Mr. Ray, that's not right, my friend. I promise you, we all started at the beginnin', once or twice. It's been said many times here, & will continue to be said that experience has brought us all to the places in our hobby we're at now. We keep learnin' from you new fellas as much as ya learn from our experience. That's what this site is all about, my friend. To meet new friends, learn from one another, enjoy the conversations & ideas, & most of all, help one another to learn more about our hobby.;) keep makin' sawdust, my friend! God Bless!

congrats on sellin' yer saw, Mr. Les!:) Sounds like it went to a good home. So, now whatcha gonna replace it with, Sir? Any thoughts? Also, if ya don't mind me askin', where did ya come across that original Case pattern you cut? I'd like to cut one myself. Just curious. Enjoy the extra room in your shop for more scrollin'! God Bless, my friend!

Mr. Jim, make no mistake about the gifts you hand crafted on your saw & gave as gifts. Most likely them that received them are just as happy, or more so than had you'd of given them things you bought from the five & dime. They all have a part of you in each one of those gifts, & it's somethin' they'll cherish forever. They couldn't get that from the store. I make most all of our Christmas gifts, too. We have all types of folks in our families, from the ungrateful to no matter what it is, it ain't good enough. I've learned to try & pick projects that suit them all. At times, my sarcasm kicks in, & you'd be surprised at what they end up with;);):) Learnin' the saw & gettin' it to do what we expect of it takes a lot of practice, practice, & well, more practice. Hand & eye coordination are critical to turnin' out a successful project. As are creativity, listening, patience, & learnin'. When I first started scrolling 25 years ago, before the internet rage, & videos, I spent more time readin' about it, learnin' wood species, finishin', blades, etc., than I did actual saw time the first year. I was still trucking then, & on the road A LOT, so I took books from library with me to read. After I read every book our meager little library had at least once, some more than once, I convinced myself I was ready to try it. Man! did I create the customized firewood til I started gettin the feel of things, figgerin' out my second hand single speed Craftsman saw. I made some perty ugly projects on that ol' gal til I wore it out. Then we bought a shiny new Hitachi. Man! that was like goin' from a volkswagen to new Peterbilt!;) I spent every minute my bride allowed me to on that saw when I was home. Eventually, my projects began to look like I kinda knew what I was doin'. I started makin' Birthday gifts, per my brides' orders. Anniversary gifts, baby toys, & Christmas gifts. Even picture frames & things. I'd read several times over about the hand & eye coordination, & it came fairly quick after I got the rest of it figgered out. Then the saw became my addiction! It was an awesome way for me to just forget about the headaches of the road & my other drivers for awhile! I managed to get the scroll saw perfected, & in 25 years of scrollin', I've worn out 3 saws, one bein' a Hawk. I still have my CW - 40 Hitachi. Another 16" Craftsman, & a BM 26 Hawk. Since I retired 6 years ago, & had to get off the road, I jumped into woodworking deeper, bought a few more toys, lathes, etc. We rent the 400 sq. ft. shop space we're in. My health keeps me from doin' as much as I'd like, but I enjoy scrolling & wood working to much to give up. Just keep practicin', & spendin' time with your saw. You'll be awesome before ya know it, & will have the right to say "that's my work" anytime ya want!;):) keep makin' sawdust, brother! You're the master of your ability!;)

good idea, Mr. Ray!;)

You're dead on, Mr. JT! I use 3/32" - 5/8" hardwoods in my projects. I have numerous blades in inventory of different sizes, number of teeth/inch, thickness, etc. I take all these dimensions into consideration when startin' a new project. The project itself decides the blades, & I may use more than one size or type of blade on a project, but I do have a couple different blades I use all the time. Like Kevin stated too, it's tough to answer the same question over & over again about blades when we're asked bcause 9 times out of ten, in the question, we're not told what's bein' cut, thickness, desired look, species of wood, etc. And as you well know, all these things together make a difference in blade choice & capability. Hopefully in our answers back & forth, like ya say, will help to educate the beginners for future blade selection. I use FD & Olson blades. Primarily flat blades. Anywhere from #0 up to a #5. I use skip tooth & polar blades for the most part. Spirals on occasion. They have their place. But havin' the number of years of experience I'm fortunate enough to have, I have learned a lot about the different blades since I started. By no means am I an expert, but blades have improved in quality & performance in the last 25 years, which also helps in blade selection. I read a lot, listen, look at the results from different saws. Everyone has their own style of cuttin', & needs to find the blades that best suit them.