Wichman

Welcome to the Village.

Here's a video from the manufacturer:

The bottom clamp is similar to many other scroll saw clamps. The bolt pulls the sides together to clamp the blade between two flat surfaces. The quick clamp is very different. On the left side is an adjustable set screw to allow for wear. On the right side is a bolt with a knurled knob on the outside , the inside of the bolt resembles the end of a c-clamp, a rotating surface that is independent of the screw, this reduces the twisting force on the end of the blade. If you need them, I'll try to get pictures of mine.

1st paragraph. In general, yes. Your mileage may vary. 2nd paragraph. Kerf, a slit made by the cutting of a saw.

Rob, I can't see where you're from on your profile. Are you in the US? Anyway, your next purchase should be a fractional caliper (this style of caliper will allow you to accurately measure the thickness of the blade and the width of the blade) and, if you set the caliper to 1 inch, you can count the teeth per inch (TPI). My caliper allows me to measure in fractions and in thousandths of an inch. This allows me to accurately measure blades, drill bits, dowels (toothpicks are 5/64s) wood blanks, plywood, etc. The rule of thumb is, the thicker the wood the larger the blade and the tighter the turns the smaller the blade, so it's a balancing act. Additionally, it appears that your saw is a ridged arm saw with a spring tension device (as opposed to a constant tension saw). Your saws design limits somewhat what you can cut. If the kerf clogs with sawdust of if you turn too tight a radius or if the grains pulls your blade, it will have undesirable results (the blade can bind or catch and bend inside the cut). You will have to make test cuts and practice a bit with new material and or new patterns. Here is a link to the Olson chart: https://www.olsonsaw.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-scroll-chart-WEB.pdf

I was visiting with my brother today (61st birthday) and I finally got a picture of the eagle I cut for him 30 odd years ago. 1/4" plywood, oak stain, cut with my first saw; 13" craftsman knock off of a Dremel. 3" pin end blades 25 teeth per inch:

I used these blades about two years ago. I really liked the blades and the way they cut and their durability, but they are not good enough to justify the price IMHO. If I had a specific use for them (I'm currently working on a bear pattern that has a lot of long jagged runs, breaking a blade in the middle is a PIA, so in this instance I would be temped) I might buy them again, but for now... no. Let us know how they work for you and your application.

What was your solution for the circle cutting for coasters?

use a spiral blade.

Just use a straight piece of 1 x 2 clamped to the table, adjust until the fence is the distance you want from the blade, and use a spiral blade. If you feed the piece at an angle to the table (not 90 degrees but say 15 degrees so that the piece being cut bypasses the arm of the saw) you can have unlimited length of cut.

The pattern that I use (from Wood Gears) is very close to your pattern. My current size is 7/16" thick, 1 7/8" long, and 2 1/2" tall. I use mostly 1 x 2 pine (construction castoffs). These are very popular.

Here are my current wands :

I have the HF (Bauer) lunchbox planer. I got it from the returned section for $185. I have a local store about 3 miles from my house and they carry the replacement blades for $25.00 a set. So far it works very well, nice smooth cuts. I have it set up on my miter saw stand (I bought extra brackets for other tools). I can easily feed 8' boards through it by myself.

One of the vendors at the Farmers market is having a rough week. The farm has a pumpkin patch and corn maze each year. As a side thing the farm wife goes around the area during the season and gives deserving people pumpkins as the "pumpkin fairy". So, to cheer her up I made her a pumpkin wand:

I'll second the FD polar blades. I have cut sliding dovetails in 1 1/2 purpleheart with these. In addition to going slow, when you come to a turn back up and gently go back and forth to help clear the sawdust from the kerf. The cutting looks top notch.

Welcome to the Village from Idaho. I'm an old sarge too. Ask away, we're here to help.

Yes, I did try adjusting the tension and it seemed to have no effect. Some blades would last pretty good, most failed after one or two cuts, six blades failed before they were installed.

Yes, I meant #2/0 blades. Here is a closer view of the wing. I'm not sure why it was so hard to cut, this is my first real attempt to use spiral blades, and the blades kept breaking. I broke 6 blades (they would snap in my fingers) before I got them installed in the saw. I even went back to my old saw (Delta 2 speed with quick clamp) and broke just as many. The new saw ( Hegner 22") is better than the old saw about breaking standard blades.

This project has been haunting me for months. 1/2" Baltic birch ply, some Olson #2 spirals (about 14) FD new spiral #0/2 about 36), pilot holes with a #65 bit, min-wax classic gray 271 stain, DecoArt craft twinkles crystal (clear)(for the highlights),four coats Minwax clear satin finish, pattern by me (from a photo).

My take on this: one more thing for the bag of tricks. I've seen a circle cutting jig on youtube, the author uses spiral blades to eliminate drift, spirals could be used with this as well.

I like the play on words with "Wich Sticks" .

Al Baggetta, a member here, designed several wand patterns that were featured in Scollsaw woodworking and crafts magazine. Another trio of wands were featured in the next issue. Fox Chaple has a new book out with additional patterns. They look like they could be good sellers so I am trying my hand at making them. Because of copyright issues I wanted to back away from the word "wand". Since my first name is Wichita and my business name is Wich's Wonders (a pretty good catchall) I decided to call them "Wich Sticks" a play on words from several directions. These are intended as something that looks "cool" on display. I make a small heart box with a locking pin that is held in place with a magnet, it takes a "magic wand"(dowel with a magnet) to open it. One of these "Wich Sticks" has a magnet in the tip so it can be used to open the box, just a fancy option. The stick with the crystal is just another attempt to make it fancy (so I can charge more).

Those first two picture are pretty dark, this one better.

Hot off the scrollsaw, variation of a Baggetta pattern. 1" square dowel, poplar, red oak stain, #5 FD polar blade, blue tower crystal ( I liked the contrast ).

I'm planning on adding a small rare earth magnet to the end so they can open my heart box with it. I have ten small (just under 1/4") that I can play with. these things are strong, will hold together with your finger in between. A new pattern has a box structure on the end with a rod coming out of it, I'm planning to replace the wood "rod" with a tower crystal.