Oldmansbike

I noticed a lot of you use poplar wood for projects. I was wondering if poplar would be a good wood to use for counter tops? I want to put wood counter tops in our kitchen. Is it as soft as pine and does it take a finish well? Thanks

Mine is a 1996 Ultra Hawk 26 inch. The lower blade clamp is simple once you do it a couple of times. There's a hole in the accessory arm the same size as the roll pin in th blade clamp. You loosen the thumb screw take the old blade out then put a new blade into the lower blade holder then put the roll pin in the blade holder into the hole in accessory arm hold the blade straight then tighten the thumb screw. It takes about 5 seconds to do this once you have done it a few times. Total time for me to change a blade is probably about 30 seconds. It is a bottom feeder if that makes any difference to you. I have never tried top feeding but it looks like it would be a pain to do. I like my Hawk and will probably buy another one if this one wears out.

I had a low just a little while ago. Cutting out a portrait of a Dodge Challenger. I had five more holes to cut. The phone rang in the middle of a cut in a big area so I stopped and answered the phone. Done with call turned the saw back on to finish the cut and I didn't back the blade up. Needless to say it caught and broke off a big hunk of the portrait. There were a few choice words then in the kindling box it went.

Congrats Dave. I am looking to get a new scroll saw sometime next year so I'm hoping you will review your saw here. I have a 21 year old RBI Hawk now and it has never gave me any trouble that wasn't my fault. I don't know if I want another Hawk or a Hegner.

I have been scrollsawing for over 20 years and I have learned a lot of new tricks from this site since I joined a couple of months ago. Thank you guys for sharing your information.

There is ,another set screw in the upper blade holder on the left side that might be out of whack too.

Iggy Have you been using the same lower blade holder in all your trials with the Hawk? I wonder if that could be the problem. Just a thought.

I just went back and looked at the ad. It's now $400 2 years old comes with stand and foot pedal and its in Donahue Iowa.

There is a 2 year old Excaliber on the Cedar Rapids Iowa craigslist for $500. It's been on there for 2 months. If I remember right it was in Donahue Iowa.

The 26 Ultra is what they were called back in the 90s when RBI made them. I think the BM Hawks have a different motor and lower blade holder. Don't quote me on that though.

KM did you ever get it figured out?

I started out with a Ryobi made quite a few projects with it. It only used pin end blades so I was limited with what I could do with it. I decided that I really liked working with the scrollsaw so I started looking for something better. My wife and I were at a show called Splinterfest in the Amana Colonies here in Iowa and RBI was there demonstrating their saws. I tried one and I was hooked on it. It was so much nicer to saw on blade changes were a lot easier and hardly any vibration. So I bought one that day. A 26 inch Ultra Hawk. That was back in 1996 and it's still being used today. It's the only saw I own. Never had any trouble with it that wasn't my fault. RBI went out of business some years ago now it is Bushton Manufacturing that makes them. I have never saw or used one of theirs but the people that have them here seem to like them. In my opinion the higher priced saws are worth the money because they make cutting more enjoyable and in the 20 years I have had the Hawk I probably would have spent more money buying Ryobis as they wore out.

JT explained it better than I did. I put the blade in the top holder against the stops tightened the thumb screw then flipped over the front tension lever. Then go to the rear tension lever release it and screw it up or down until you get the correct tension on the blade. Like JT said ignore the clock numbers.

On mine when I had the same trouble as you are having I discovered that the round barrel looking thing that fits into the lower arm when you tighten the rear tension rod had worked its way up the rod and was creating too much tension. Every time a blade broke or I let go of the upper arm to fast the round thing would get turned sideways and I would reach around and straighten it up. Every time I did this I was turning it up and creating more tension. So I turned it back down a few turns and it's been great since then that was about a year ago. I hope I explained this right I am not very good at explaining things. It would be easier to show you.

Welcome from southeast Iowa.

Good luck with the Hawk. They are good saws.

Looks great. Did you have a plan to go by?

Glad to hear the saw is working great for you. When mine wears out I will buy another Hawk. Mine is 21 years old and still going strong. I hope I haven't jinxed myself by saying that.

Glad to hear your getting this sorted out. I really like my Hawk Ultra not gonna replace it any time soon.

Glad to hear you are getting this worked out. The Hawk is a good saw

I have the same saw and I use number 2 for anything under 1/2 inch and number 5 for 1/2 to 3/4 inch. I don't cut much over 3/4 inch so can't help you there. Where did you find the saw for 75 dollars? I can never come across any deals like that. Was it in good shape? They are excellent saws. I have had mine for over 20 years and it runs like the day I bought and it has been used a lot.

They are made from 1/2 inch hobby plywood from Menards. That's the only place I can find it. My wife and I have ridden Harley's for the last 16 years. 2 years ago we bought a Harley trike (bad knees) hence the name oldmansbike.

I will try the shelf paper and see how it works. I hate going to Wally World I wonder if the Dollar stores have it?

I tried the blue painters tape for the first time today and I will be doing it that way from now on. No sticky residue peels right off.

I tried the blue painters tape on the wood and glue the pattern to the tape today and I must say I have never had a pattern come off so easy in my life. No more scraping patterns with my pocket knife no more getting hot fingers while trying to loosen the pattern with a hair dryer. I should have found this forum years ago.