NMBob

Ha! I think she WAS a cheerleader in high school. Now she's gragiating college. Too fast. I wonder how tight of a curve could you do with an electric knife, or do the come with really narrow blades? I've only seen the turkey butchering kind about 1" front to back. Bob

The guy with the foam tried with a non-heated knife. He said it took him about 15 passes to get 3/4 of the way through, then either the blade got a bit dull or physics kicked in and it all started to drag and rip. The good part was REALLY smooth, but the bad part was REALLY bad. Bob

ONE INCH! You showoffs kill me. You guys do some amazing stuff. I can almost cut a straight line. The "customer" was right there helping, so I didn't have time to practice. ...It was just a friend from work. They were letters for his daughter's graduation party. Well, now we know. A #1 forwards seemed to work well on 2" foam. If the foam had been thinner running the blade backwards might have worked. I was afraid the blade would get too hot on the 2" and would start melting the foam badly. For the short test cuts it left a really smooth/melted edge, but it was already getting a bit warm. Larger teeth didn't do well, so the smaller the better. I had some 2/0 spirals, but didn't try them. I could almost cut sideways without turning the foam as it was. I could cut a straight line without angling the foam. That threw me for a bit. Results below. Thanks for the input! Bob

Hi Jerry! It's almost time to head for the shop. Glad I saw this. That's a good idea. I'll certainly give it a try. Maybe a very small blade backwards. That might be like a rough piece of string. I have some of the spiral blades, but I think they will be too rough and rip the foam. I'll post the results. Thanks! Bob

That was the 'not looking like an idiot' part with everyone standing around that I was trying to avoid. The one kind of blade I don't have. I never even thought of ones like a knife. There should be plenty of foam to play with. I'll figure out something. Thanks!

Hey youse guys! I haven't been around much lately. Kinda lost my workspace in the warehouse at work when someone jacked up a vehicle with our forklift. Now we are all on the crap list. I wasn't even in town when it happened. Anyway, I have to cut some ~8" high letters out of some of that 2" thick blue insulating foam. Got a scroll saw. Might as well use it. I was wondering about the blade type and speed. I don't want to look like a complete idiot this evening. Thanks! Bob

Nice nice nice! I'll be good like that someday. You should make one for Texas that has "don't mess with me" in it. The serif on the center part of the "E" could be the apostrophe. Take a break!

Yup. It's sure tricky. I didn't do any smart thing you just said. I could have done all of the fancy cutting moves to do corners and stuff, but I was thinking more about how much cleanup work I had to do last time (just because of lousy cutting) and was trying to avoid that. Now I know better. I'm also thinking about just not cutting right on the lines on purpose and leaving a little bit of stuff that has to be sanded off. That would give me a little wiggle room until I'm good enough to do it right the first time. If I get up on the left side of the bed I'll hit the wall, so I think I'm good there. I'm learnin'. Thanks!

Yup. You all said smart stuff, and I didn't listen. Almost threw my saw across our warehouse last night. I DID put one finished layer for my box on the floor and stomp it into pieces and throw it in the trash with the other two pieces. Nothing went well. Cutting that oak in two layers didn't work with any blade or skill I had. I was going so slowly that I kept smelling smoke. Tried different blades. Tried different speeds. Where the blade was at the top of the block of wood didn't match where the blade was at the bottom of the block. So that was two pieces ruined. Broke a blade or two. I have blades "for thick wood", but didn't try them. I'm not sure they can handle the corners. Anyway, I ain't going to do that anymore. Then I just couldn't hold the line when I decided to cut the only piece out of the four that was left ready to cut. That's the one I stomped when I got it finished. I have to decide if I will just cut a new blank out of the wood I have or get a new 1x6 piece and cut and repattern all four layers. I already have one box where the grain patterns in the top layer don't match the rest. I'll have to drive a bit for a new piece. That's probably what I'll do, though. Didn't EVEN go near the sign. That would have been toast in half a letter with the way things were going. New story for this box: http://www.greschke.com/woods/box2.html

Roger, Roger. I didn't get to it last night. I was fooling with that SIGN project! (my life is ruined ) Tonight. I looked, but I have #3 polars, not 5. I'll just go extra slow. I was obsessed with small blades before I knew anything.

I'm not sure what this is. It's that oak shelf material or something that comes planed and squared and wrapped in plastic. It seems kind of "dry" and not really very dense to me. I have another 1/4" x 6 or 7" plank that I bought up in Albuquerque. Other than oak they weren't even really sure what it is. It's very dense. There's hardly any grain. That I don't think I'd be able to cut an inch and a half of. It gets used for the bottom of the box. 1 1/8", eh? OK. I'll keep an eye out for flying pieces of blade. If it gets all screwed up I've got extra wood. Thanks!

I just happen to have some of those. I bought a bunch of random blades when I bought the saw. I'll try it out. Thanks, Jim!

And you're Kevin's accomplice! Thanks. That one's a Frankenstein. The New Mexico and the lines are done in one program, exported as a picture, then sucked into another one, where the The Land Of Enchantment is added as a font, because the white area around the letters can be added in that program, but not the first one...but I think I just figured out a good way to do the lines in the second program. I hope it prints OK. The edges of everything are a little fuzzy on the screen when I blow it up. I have another drawing program that I haven't tried yet.

Yeah, you're the one! Darn sign maker! Shoo shoo. Go away! Get out of my head. You're like a song that's stuck in there. See what you're making' me do?? I got boxes to build!

Hi all! I'm going to start cutting out the blanks for my next box tonight or tomorrow. They are all patteren'ed up and ready to go. I want to do two 3/4" oak layers at a time. Will I want to use a bigger/thicker/higher number blade for that? A #3 seemed to work well for one layer. I'm going to work on cutting out a sign for New Mexico first (1/4" poplar). All you dang sign cutting people are distracting me from my primary purpose! I'm looking at it as good cutting practice. Thanks! Bob