Sycamore67

I cut the Baby Elephant from Judy Peterson's new book called "Baby Animals". It is another one of her great puzzle books. One really great thing about the book is that she has a lot or good information for people new at cutting her puzzles. I cut the Baby Elephant puzzles using a #5 FD Polar blade from 3/4" cherry. The puzzle pieces were sanded lightly using a Mac Mop. It removes any fuzzies and rounds the edges slightly to make putting the puzzle together easier. The puzzle was finished with Danish Oil and then a finishing wax and buffed. I also make a puzzle tray to put it together in. The tray is made of a 1/2" BB with a cut out of the puzzle and a 1/4" BB backing. The tray was finished with shellac. I also made another version of the puzzle which is easier and made for younger children. I used the outline of the Baby Elelphant and then drew in easier pieces and keys., Judy Peterson covers doing this in her book.

There are some compound cuts where I do not need tape but others are falling apart unless I use tape and need it to maintain alignment.

You could use polyurethane in the areas you do not want stained.

The question remains about retensioning. If the blade returns to the original length as Jim suggests, then you would not need to re-tension. The coefficient of thermal expansion is 0.0000072. So you would multiply the blade length by the temperature (C)increase times the coefficient to get the expansion. Even if the blade temperature reaches 500 F. The expansion of a 5" blade is only about 0.018" . I think that in some conditions of you are pushing your wood hard you could deform the blade. Or a bit of blade slip in the clamp could cause issues. I just have not been able to measure or see any increase in blade length. I am hoping that others will try to measure. No matter if it is stretch or clamp slipoage, losing blade tension is an issue. The skin temperatures of the SST were not too extreme compared to the SR72 Blackbird. It leaked fuel until the plane got hit enough to expand and seal the tanks

I have used it on compound cuts and really can not tell if it helps. However, I also get sawdust under the tape and at times it will peel back and stick on bottom side. Now I only use it on the second side of a compound cut to hold it together.

This is an interesting topic and maybe someone has measured a blade before and after use. I took some #3 FD Polar blades and compared the length new and they were all exactly the same as viewed thru a magnifying lamp. These blades have a thickness of 0.010 to 0.011". I took a blade and mounted it in my Hegner saw and tensioned it as hard as I thought reasonable and more than I would normally do. The blade had a very high pitch sound when plucked. I then ran the saw at full speed for about 10 minutes and was cutting 1/2" ash. I took the blade out and compared the length to that of several of the new ones and could not detect any difference. With the blade clamps, there is no bending or such where it goes into the clamp. Maybe there is some elastic stretching that happens which goes back to normal when taking it out of the clamp. I could not find any permanent plastic deformation of the blade that I used. Others may find something different but it would certainly be interesting for others to measure or compare their blades before and after use. Maybe other saws put more strain on the blades. It is unfortunate that one can not easily measure blade stretching with a blade in the saw. I have done this on my band saw to measure the tension on the blade. I am going to continue to think about a way of measuring the deformation of a scroll saw blade. It would really be nice to know the exact grade of steel and heat treating that the blades go thru when being made. The best I could find is a high carbon steel which is heat treated using an oil bath for quenching.

Oops...duplicate post....fat fingers today

Those are nice. I just got that book recently and have cut a couple puzzles. Judy and Dave have put out great books and I have all of them. A question....why are the edges of the calf puzzle pieces so dark? It probably is just shadow. I see you cut with a #9 blade and that create a larger kerf. I typically cut their puzzles with a FD Polar #5. It creates a bit tighter puzzle. I also give the pieces a quick sanding with a Mac Mop.

Very well done!

Some people swear by lubricant and others don't. Tape may help but personally I don't think so. I will not use a lubricant as I doubt the effectiveness and do not want finishing issues. But....others will differ.

I would use a #5 or #7 skip tooth blade like the FD Polar blade. The teeth on the ultra reverse are small compared to the Polar skip tooth. White and Red Oak are just more difficult to cut.

Interesting comments about the CO levels. I have a smaller propane heater that I use when I have to work in the garage. it looks like the 35K BTU Mr Heater forced air ones. CO levels are zero even with the doors closed. With my heater, the flame is completely blue indicating complete combustion. I always use a a CO monitor when using the heater. About 15 years ago, a CO monitor saved us as the gas furnace had a small crack and we were getting low level CO in the house of only 10 ppm.

I use a propane heater in my garage and use a CO detector and have not observed any increase in CO. If they are running properly with a blue flame they give almost no CO.

I will do electrical work but do not fool with heaters. There is just too much downside.

Try using Google....It has several sources. Even Amazon has some 1/4" thick sheets.

It is one of the new type mineral spirits. I have no idea is really in it but not true mineral spirits.

Perhaps, a bit too much pressure on the bit.

Excellent comment on how much filtration you need. As I get older, I need better filtration as my lungs do not work as well. I have the Festool for over 5 years and my cost per day is pennies. I use it on the scroll saw and sanders. You cannot see dust hanging in the air in my shop. If I had the HF dust coll, I would get a cartridge filter for it. Many people modify it with such a filter with reported better suction and filtering.

I have made a lot of the reindeer and given them away as ornaments. The biggest was about 6" and the smallest about 1" . Any smaller and the antlers are impossible. But if someone can make a smaller one, I would love to see it.

I just finished a large sanding job. It was all of the parts for two large bookcases. They contain a bit over 5 sheets of red oak plywood. I used a 5" DeWalt ROS and a Festool ROS. The DeWalt works well but the Festool had a lot less vibration . For small jobs, it makes little difference but with hours of sanding it makes a big difference.

I have never had black marks on my Hegner. I do not cut sap wood or anything like it. I do clean it occasionally with mineral spirits or alcohol and then wax with Johnson's Paste Wax.

I often check prices at HomeDepot or others against Amazon. It is hard to beat Amazon one day delivery. For more expensive things on Amazon, I use CamelCamelCamel.com to look at price history. Prices there seem to change prices a lot over time and you can set a price alert for a certain level.

I have gone out shopping for RO Sanders and found big differences in How my hand fits. My criteria are hand fit, vibration and dust control. The HF did not fit my hands but may be fine for others.

I missed it maybe....what kind of wood are you using? The wood makes a huge difference.

Nice but I wish 48 would try to put the pedal to the metal for a change