Sycamore67

I like the non colored one.

I do not do fretwork but this is an amazing composition. The cuts are intricate and would selection/color is excellent. I really enjoy looking at this and absorbing the details.

Wow.IMHO..I think you should find another hobby to enjoy. You appear to think of this as a competition. You think you need to do it as fast as others. All of us take a different amount of time to do a project. It matters very little to me if it takes 1, 2, or 8 hours. I do not time any project in my shop. I am here to enjoy the journey. My last project, T Rex, took months and I enjoyed it. I hope you can find some enjoyment in scrolling and stop worrying about how long or how good or how others did something similar.

Why are you in a hurry? Is this a hobby or business? If you keep pressuring yourself on time, it will be difficult to enjoy it. I spent a career in a very time pressed production environment and now I want to take my time.

Cutting rpck/stones with a tile saw could be dangerous. It is very difficult to hold a roundish rock in a tile saw. It would be very easy to come loose and fly around. This is a Geode I drilled a hole thru to insert a LED with a diamond hollow core drill. It was tough going.

I think it is a bad idea as stones are much harder than coins. In addition, you could get grit into your machine and damage it. I have drilled holes in rocks but used a diamond coated bit immersed in water at very slow speeds. You might cut limestone or other soft rocks but anything with silica in it will dull a blade very fast. They do make diamond coated scroll saw blades.

Before I recommend a saw, it would be good to know what kind of scrolling you will do. Are you new to scrolling or what?

Your blade choices kind of baffle me. Yes, if you are using a blade with reverse teeth, cutting 3/4" pine is tough especially with smaller blades. And given the shapes have no difficult corners, using a smaller blade not really needed st least for me. I would have been using #5 skip tooth blade such as FD Polar. IMHO you can make it easier on yourself by using a skip tooth blade on thick pine. They will cut easier requiring less pushing on the piece and clear sticky saw dust better.

Looks like a great idea.

Unless you are into selling projects speed is of no concern. Scrolling for me is a hobby and the main objective is to enjoy it. Why hurry? I have a very bad back but have a great tall office chair that provides excellent support. It was not cheap but worth every penny. Your chair, tilt of saw, height of saw and others will make it a bit easier on your back. Also taking breaks is important.

I think sending biological waste thru the mail might not be avoid idea. I think you should just return it to Amazon. I have had very good luck buying wood online. Ocooch Hardwood is excellent as well as Bell Forest.

My Festool is HEPA rated so fine dust not escaping. The important point for me is to get the dust pickups in the best position to capture the dust. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on the dust collector/extractor and not enough on the dust pickups. For me, it is capture dust as close to the source as possible . Rolf and I along with others are using 3/4" Loc-Line to help do this.

I have a Festool Dust extractor and use it on my Hegner and works very well. I also muse it with my sanders.

The picture is not good enough to really tell. However, no matter how old, you can get parts. You should see it run to make certain motor and speed control are ok. They are expensive. Also, how many blade chucks it has as they are not cheap. If it looks good, I would maybe go to $100-150 max.

I am very pleased with my Ego battery tools. I have the chainsaw, string trimmer and blower. They are really about the weight of gas powered ones. I have three batteries..A smaller one(2.5 amps) and two bigger ones(5.0 amps). I use the smaller one mostly as it is lighter. However for any bigger jobs, I will use the heavier ones.

The pull cord on my pressure washer with a Honda GC160 was not easy and now gone. The switch on my electric SunJoe is very easy.

I have sold a number of tools lately and never get what I want. So, I wait until the person I like comes along and give them a good deal. I recently sold my Stihl chainsaw and a Stihl Kombi unit with attachments. I liked the guy and gave him a good price. Same thing with a Jet 15" 3 hp planer. I sold a Simplicity ZTR to a jerk and gave him the worst deal I could. I was about to kick him out when he coughed up the full price in cash. I am gradually selling some bigger tools as I get older. I have replaced my gas chain saw and string trimmer with Ego battery ones. I a!so sold a gas pressure washer and got an electric one. I just can not pull the starter cord multiple times to get things started Selling things is a pain.

I use FD Polar #5 for compound cuts which is similar to the Pegas you are using. In my experience, cutting 1-1/2" maple is difficult. I typically do not cut maple thicker than 1-1/4". You can go to a coarser blade but turns and details are more difficult.

What blade are you using? A skip tooth blade is good for thicker woods like compound cuts. Other blades with reverse teeth are more likely to burn.

Those are very nice. Sorry about your problems.

If you have an allergic reaction to a wood, it would be best not to use it. Allergic reactions are very serious and with increased exposure could get much worse. Even with the best they collection, you do not get all the dust.

Unfortunately, quiet shop vacs are typically not cheap. My Festool is very quiet but very expensive. My dust collector is outside of my shop so noise is not an issue.The box fan idea is cheap and works OK. I personally do not like the idea of blowing fine dust around as you will breath it. It is best to collect at the source. A number of people have posted very good ideas for dust collection at the saw. I think it would be a very good idea to move your filter down out of rafters where it will do a better job for all tools. Your eyes are warning you about allergic reaction and you could be susceptible to a worse reaction.

What kind of dust collection do you have? It sounds like an allergic reaction to me. I think you should avoid cutting any wood which cause allergic reaction and have good dust collection.

An outstanding work of art !

This is just my thoughts. I typically cut thick woods which are 3/4" and even thicker. I do mainly Intarsia and accuracy is the primary concern so that fit is tight. I aim at cutting half of the line. Also, some of the woods are difficult to cut. I change blades quite often as a dull blade results in inaccurate cuts. I really do not care about the price of blades. I may only cut one piece with a blade and make no attempt to reuse a blade. I use either FD Polar #3-#5 blades. I also use PS Woods SuperSharps. My saw is a Hegner I can tell when I am pushing too hard just by the feel. I have had blades go dull in just two inches. The point of all this is that the type of project makes a huge difference. I might have a difficult time knowing when a blade is dull on a fret work project or other thin wood with different blades. What blade to use and how long it lasts depends on your saw, blade type, material type and thickness, your style and a bunch of other things. One needs to experiment and carefully watch how your blades are reacting. There is no secret formula or rule.....just lots of experience.