Craigo

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all the input. I'm going to put a lot of this into practice to see where I end up. I will change over to poplar. I happened upon a 12' piece of 3" at home depot last month. It had been damaged (forklift?) and was at least half off. This is why I bought it. Hopefully, I'll see a difference in performance. I did notice that when cutting the pine 2x4, the jumpiness happened more frequently when cross-cutting as opposed to ripping. The blade I have been using is, according to Olson, the right one for plywood and 1/2" to 3/4" plywood. Nonetheless, I'll be trying a finer toothed blade, and trying various speeds. In regards to the Wen, I knew when buying it that it wouldn't be the best (or maybe even good) scroll saw. If I enjoy scrolling enough, I'll buy something more upscale, advice on which I will be seeking then. Even so, I know most often that it is the craftsman, not the tool, that is responsible for the outcome. I've seen some absolutely beautiful work done well before the advances made to modern equipment. Thanks again for your help, and I will be listening. In the meantime, I'll be going back to the shop, doing what I do best.... making sawdust, noise, and mistakes!

Hello, I am very new at scrolling and have a question regarding scroll saw tracking. I have heard that practice is an important element in everything, which would include use of a scroll saw. So, I downloaded some "practice" scribbling to use. I also created my own, which was a series of lines with 90 degree turns. When correctly cut from the waste, the result looks like peg teeth from a jack-o-lantern. I'm having difficulty making the turns, and going straight. The blade seems to occasionally stop progressing thru the wood, then suddenly jumps back to life. My guess is that it is getting temporarily stuck on a difficult spot in the wood, and is slowly gnawing away while I am pushing the piece. If I don't notice the deflection in the blade and push too far, when it does make its way through it jumps. Sometimes, I have attempted make a turn at this point, and as it resumes cutting, the blade jumps off the path. As a matter of fact, it jumps forward, as I would expect it to under tough conditions, but I've seen it jump BACKWARDS as well, which really baffles me! (That seems to happen mostly when I am making a sharp turn.) I can't control the way or place it jumps, so some of the time the damage is done in the waste area. But sometimes not. The jump can be as much a 1/8 of an inch, which when I'm working close up with my reading glasses on, looks like the Grand Canyon! For the record, I'm using a Wen saw with an Olson 10tpi (41201) blade, cutting 1/4" plywood or 1/2" of re-sawn 2x4 which I believe is Fir or whatever Home Depot uses for 2x4s. When I watch videos, everyone else looks to be cutting through butter with the greatest of ease. I am currently using the hold-down foot; I tried sawing without it, but there was no way I could hold down the wood well enough. (The foot on the Wen is not very flat, and when you set it up for a piece of wood, then tighten it down, it re-aligns the foot plate so you almost can't get the wood out from under.) The blade seems to be fairly taut, though I can't tell for sure. I've seen many videos on tension, but it still comes down to my opinion of tension as opposed to the opinion of another person. There is nobody near me that I know has any experience scrolling so I have no other reference. The Wen doesn't have a speed setting, it just goes faster or slower, so "going slow" or "going fast" is also subjective to me. I know that people will see this, and each person will interpret my problems independently. That would give me a bunch of different answers. I will read them. I will make sense of them. They may all be right, and I just want to cut through butter like everyone else! Thank you in advance for your answers.