Wichman
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Everything posted by Wichman
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In addition to Bill's suggestions. On artcrafter.com all the MGT blade had the reverse teeth, these will pull some of the sawdust back into the kerf. Try their skip and superskip blades. increase your tension slightly slow your cutting speed, sometimes the blade will try to follow the hard grain (thin line in the wood) especially in softwood, most especially in redwood. slowing your cutting allows the blade to cut and not wonder so bad. increase the saw speed slightly How old is the wood and what type of wood is it. This does matter.
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Here are the stats for now. This my cutting style and speed, not everyone will be this slow 4.5 hrs working on the project. 2.5 hrs saw runtime. The areas in red are what I cut today. There was additional time for taping each piece back in place after cutting and with the learning curve of threading the blade through the slot in the table for inside cuts. Pattern from a magazine. 1" thick plywood ( 2, 1/2" thick plaques ) 18 plies total. FD #1 Polar blades.
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Tell you what, scince I have two clocks already, on my next project I'll have one clock on the foot switch and one on the overall time and give both values ( at least as it applies to me and my rate of cutting (slow).
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If you are "just a hobbyist" and want to make a special gift, it is nice to know about how long it will take to make the item.
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I've got more than one clock, so If I need to cut something in the middle of a longer project I can still keep track of the hours I also started keeping track of times so that hopefully I can start extrapolating how long a project will take based on the inches of cutting in the pattern (inkscape: select the object(s). go to extensions > visualize path > measure path... ), this will show you how many inches of lines are in a pattern. For me, its about 25 seconds an inch, for fretwook and that includes blade changes. My clocks. Thrift store finds.
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I've been using a similar setup for years now, I plug the clock, foot switch, and the light into a power strip. When I start a session I turn on the power strip when I finish a session I turn the power strip off. I use the clock to time maintenance of the saw, how long a project takes, and just personal curiosity.
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Note: The woodworking band saws at HF are Central Machinery not General Machinery and as such are not allowed on the 20 to 25 % off coupons. "sorry" I have the 9 inch (smaller) band saw. For a light duty saw it works just fine, I was cutting some lilac wood (2" cubes) and it didn't bog down at all. I don't have any experience with the larger 14" band saw.
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In no particular order I would: Contact your blade source and see if there is a bad batch that they know about check the linkage on your saw and see if anything is binding (If a pivot point binds the blade tension can release just long enough for the blade to kink and then break) check to see if the tension is being held. Run the saw for 10 to 15 seconds and then check the tension again (plucking). If the tension is not being held, that a whole nother discussion.
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where are the blade breaking? at the top clamp. the bottom clamp, the middle, or various?
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I found the group on FB and asked. We'll see if they give a response.
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Barb, Good thing I have a video of one of my boxes time stamped at Jan 2019. I had stopped cutting these because I kept losing the pin, the magnet was put in out of desperation, one day it just hit me, "magnets".
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The best tool/jig I have found for getting close to 90*(I still use the "cut a line and check the backside for fine tuning) is a pair of 1-2-3 blocks; these blocks are machined out of a block of steel and are within .0002" of squareness on all 6 sides, they are about as simple as you can get.
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A puzzle box with a twist; there's a magnet in the bottom of the hole for the pin, with panel nails in the pin to hold against the magnet. And you need a magic wand to open it. The pin was originally a standard heart, I flattened the heart so I could cut the pin in the shape of a key. Wood: 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 inch oak Blades: FD Polar #1 for the pin and sliding dovetail, Polar #5 for the inside void, the outside of the heart shape and to rip the 1/8" bottom. The only tricky part of the puzzle box is the order of cutting must be followed. 1. rip the bottom piece, 2. cut the pin, etc...
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Here are some pictures of the Lilac wood that I have. I'm not sure what kind of lilac it is, a friend brought me some pieces. The pieces have no discernible smell ( I was hoping for ) It cut ok on my HF small bandsaw, but when I was trying to sand it smooth it changed colors, I think the oils in the wood were burning as the whole piece turned darker. I have sanding belts up to 1000 grit and this wood polished up very well. These first three pictures are to show the grain and color the first is without any treatment, the next is fresh BLO and the third is BLO after a day to dry: The next two are just to show color:
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Scrappile, when I get done with the market tomorrow I'll sand the end off of some lilac wood I have and show the color, whatever that turns out to be. I worked with some fresh cut lilac years ago and the lilac scent was so strong I got an unintentional buzz!
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How big a piece of wood do you need? Is this a one off for an intarsia? A small fretwork box? There are two wood types that should grow in your area ( Wash st ) Box elder (mostly streaky) and Lilac (you would need larger specimens that are being removed or larger limbs being removed. I don't know of any commercial wood that would have the light purple.
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Going back to the original question; have you tried cutting without reverse teeth? The reverse teeth may be bending the plywood up and then the regular teeth bend it back down and the grade of plywood you're using just can't take the strain? Another thought would be to use a light coat of shellac on both sides of the project, before, you apply the pattern. This would stiffen the material to keep it from moving as much while you cut, and perhaps penetrating the fibers and reinforcing them.
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Ifn yore gonna use yore wife's pinking sheares, ya'll better not let her ketch you kutting somp'on other than fabric, less you end up in the obituaries page.
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I am a die hard Flying Dutchman user. However, the best blades I have ever used were Delta super sharp blades. At a dollar a blade, $12 a dozen, they're also the most expensive. https://www.amazon.com/Delta-Equipment-Corporation-40-518-Precision-Ground/dp/B0081ZQOHE/ref=psdc_552340_t2_B00004WI1V?th=1 The cost/benefit ratio just isn't there for what I do.
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I'm going through the same decision process myself. I can do anything I could when I was 20, but I may not be able to get out of bed the next day. When I had the tree in the front yard taken down and slabbed I stacked and stickered all the planks (about 125 ) except one; I had a lot of trouble getting around for 2 days cause my feet hurt so much ( bone spurs all through my mid back). I'll be keeping an eagle eye out for next day problems after setting up for the market on Saturdays
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Some of my flowers
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To clarify: all the cuts are at 90*. The plans use a through mortise. I dry assemble the piece and hold it together with clamps, mark the position for the holes ( for the pins ) with a .3mm mechanical pencil, disassemble and drill the holes ( not centered on the line but next to it ). Reassemble and run toothpicks though the holes ( using the tapered end of the toothpick to help feed it through the hole ). Finish with shellac ( which also acts as an adhesive to keep the pins in place ).
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Here are some pictures of the side. The closeup is to show the issue I'm having with the small drill bits, that the bottom piece as I drilled, notice the drill hole is outside the pattern, the drill bit bend inside the wood and by the time its at the bottom of the 1" thick piece the hole is outside the pattern
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Finally got these done. Stack cut, 3 layers, 5/16" thick each. #1 Polar blades throughout, 1 layer (top) oak 2 lower layers walnut, one dip of BLO working on the shellac coat to shine them up. 16 hrs total cutting (5 hrs and 20 minutes each basket). Cutting time for a single basket, including double stacking the sides, ends and lids, was 7 hrs. The size is 4 1/2" wide, 8" tall, 9 1/2" long, a total of 331 holes. The pattern is from the book "Classic Fretwork Scroll Saw Patterns" by Patrick Spielman & James Reidle. I'm lazy and hate messing up the finish because of glue, so these are all pinned joints. There is no glue used in these. pins are toothpicks 5/64 hole.
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I'll work on more pics. The wood is Elm, from a tree in my front yard I had taken down and slabbed. I prefer shellac on fretwork because it doesn't need to be sanded between coats. The new coat of shellac "melts" the old coat and bonds to it. 1/4 inch Elm, mostly #1 FD Polar blades, no glue; it's a through mortise design so I pin the tenons and I pined the bottom ( I use toothpicks for the pins, and just let the contrast be a design element, using pins means no fouling the stain and finish with glue that didn't get cleaned up enough ) If you expand the picture you can see the reflection of the end.
