Wichman

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.

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.

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.

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

Some of my flowers

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 ).

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

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.

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.

This the second vanity tray, 2 of 2. I finally got a good picture of the finish. 8 coats of rattle can shellac.

The seat I use is a hybrid. The seat came from this chair https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/vibrant-drafting-stool-with-tractor-seat?cm_vc=-10005 the bottom came from this chair https://www.harborfreight.com/biker-style-pneumatic-roller-seat-63756.html The tractor seat is very comfortable to sit on but the bottom ring broke fairly quickly. The motorcycle seat was very uncomfortable for me to sit on (not sure if that changed after my hydrocele surgery). So I took the tops off and switched them, before putting the top back on the chair I added a plywood platform that fits on the foot ring (for the foot switch). The chair seat is tall enough to use with the factory stand that came with the Hegner, the foot switch is a comfortable height from the seat ( the switch on the floor is too far to reach comfortably ). I don't expect you to buy two new chairs to get one that works, just showing how to get creative with solutions

Since this is a skill building exercise the scroll saw is enough. Match the blade to the size of the circle that you are trying to cut I would start with ( this is a starting point, adjust to your preference and cutting style ) a # 3 blade on the small holes and a #5 on the outside.

I am currently cutting 3 (stacked), 5/16" thick pieces (15/16" total) for a double lidded basket. Top layer is oak, the bottom two layers are walnut. I am using mostly FD Polar #1 blades; the tension on my Hegner is 5/4 turns. The waste comes out smoothly either top or bottom ( the bottom piece looks as good as the top ). It sounds to me like you need to increase the blade tension. I use the Polar blades because they are " stiffer " than any other blade I've used and resist bending inside the cut. While cutting I will pause and let the piece float, this helps me not put side pressure on the blade.

Some of my things with color:

On the top ( pattern side ) I dot each opening in red (either a extra fine sharpie or a .035 dot printed ) so I can tell at a glance that the hole has been drilled. Once drilled I use either a hand held "bead reamer" or a Dremel mounted bead reamer to de-burr and slightly counter sink the hole. A light mounted above and to the left of the saw, so that the light bounces off the table and onto the back of the piece. I tilt the piece to the right and thread the blade. Occasionally when the hole has rough edges inside the hole ( stacked cutting ) I will thread a 2/0 spiral blades and "saw" back and forth to clear the inside of hole of splinters.

I cut this pruning blade down so it would fit in my old Delta two speed. Never did find anything to cut with it though.

For me and the way I cut; criteria for the blade falls into the following categories: 1. Width of the kerf a. For the small box with a sliding dovetail I want a kerf that allows for the dovetail to move freely yet not be so large that the dovetail joint comes apart. I've been using FD Polar #1 blades in 1 1/2 inch oak (I've cut the box from purple heart) b. For the small Christmas ornaments I've been cutting ( the dragonfly is 1 3/4" wingtip to wingtip ) I am using FD Polar #2/0. 1/8" basswood, stacked 4 high (1/2") I limit the stack to 1/2" because of the drill bits, not the blade. I use the #2/0 because that the kerf that looks best on the small ornaments. For the larger ornaments I'll change to #1. 2. How tight a corner a. For fretwork I use FD Polar #1 for tight curves and sharp corners. For long straight cuts (generally the outside) I'll switch to a FD Polar #3. Th thickness of most of the fretwork is between 3/4 to just over 1" ( sometimes stacked sometimes not ) b. For compound cutting I use FD Polar blades generally #1 or #3 depending on what the pattern is. On the reindeer I'll use a #1 so I can cut the pattern in a single pass ( no breaks around the outside ) 3. Stiffness of the blades I use FD Polar because, for me, they are the stiffest blades I've used. They resist bending inside the cut, so when cutting thick or stacked pieces the top, middle and bottom pieces are the same. 4. Other considerations, since I like fretwork I prefer stamped blades with a burr on one side. In my opinion this allows more flexibility in cutting because the burr helps to cut a tighter radius when the burr is in the direction of the turn.

The Art Factory has two; Balancing Time (aka the time stealer, and Keeper Of The Time (much fancier and larger than the first).

I have found the needle files too coarse for my needs most of the time. Then a friend gave me a " bead reamer ", designed to enlarge the holes in small jewelry beads, these are smaller than needle files and much finer than typical needle files. Then I found bead reamers that are designed to be used in a Dremel tool. https://www.amazon.com/10pc-Diamond-Reamer-Dremel-Rotary/dp/B018MNCZ4K?pd_rd_w=bE06y&content-id=amzn1.sym.deffa092-2e99-4e9f-b814-0d71c40b24af&pf_rd_p=deffa092-2e99-4e9f-b814-0d71c40b24af&pf_rd_r=EHFFXWZNR00FZ6B88YC0&pd_rd_wg=gUHoq&pd_rd_r=12880f64-d5b1-4b14-b0ba-b30f9717379e&pd_rd_i=B018MNCZ4K&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_i These things are great. one inch long taper, needle point to 1/16 inch wide at the top.

I'm way too lazy for this. I buy emery boards ( for fingernails ).

Just completed for the Granddaughter. Pattern from the Berry Basket, 1/4 inch Elm (from my tree), FD Polar #! for the fretwork, #3 for the outside and large curves, 3 coats 50/50 shellac/denatured alcohol. Stack cut four deep (1" thick)

It's the vacuum. the high pitched whining is just too much for me. The suction noise doesn't bother me ( different strokes for different folks ).

I have a new saw that came with the "dust control thingy" It works quite well in the "blow from the top, vac from the bottom " mode. I don't like the noise from the vac (waiting to see how well it works with the DC in the main shop) so it's normally just the "blow from the top" mode for me.

Here is what I started using last year, works well and you can really load up the ornaments. I use ornament hangers. These racks are available is a variety of sizes and are designed to stack. If I have longer pieces to dry I'll support the ends on buckets.

I didn't want to hijack someone else's thread, so I brought this here. The program I use is " Big Print " by Wood Gears. I've been using it for several years now and it will easily do what I need. The first pattern I used it on was a Steve Good pattern of an old Ford truck, I enlarged the 8.5 x 11 " pattern to 7' long; about 28 pages all told and the program will add an alignment grid to each page, that really helped. The second pattern was the fancy Welcome sign pattern that I have. The pattern is 5" wide as is and I have some 1/4 " stack that is 4 1/2" wide. I as able to easily resize the pattern to fit my existing stock. And the third use was for compound patterns, When I printed the patterns the first time they printed at 1 3/4" and the stock was 1 1/2". The patterns were "supposed" to print at 1 1/2" but.....computers. Big print solved this issue. I had previously used every graphics package for Linux that I could find an every single one of them had issues printing to a specific size ( GIMP was the worst, 5 different settings, spread all over the place, I was chatting with a GIMP Guru and even she missed a setting, and there is no way to save a "printer configuration file" that could be loaded ahead of printing. With big print I can adjust the printing characteristics for each printer and get the printing accuracy down to a pixel. Normally this is not really necessary but it's nice to know it's there.