jpillivant

I have had my Dewalt 788 for two years and have no problems at all. It is easy to change blades and set the tension on the blade. It's a great saw and I would recommend it to anyone getting started.

I would have liked to know more about picking out a good saw to start with. I purchased a saw from Lowes and took it home and tried to use it, what a piece of junk, took it back. I had sent Steve Good an email about scroll saws and he recommended the DeWalt 788, so I purchased one of those and that has turned out to be a good decision. It would have been nice to have a better understanding of blades. I began using the blades from Lowes, not the best quality, but they got me going, since I have purchased the Pegas scroll saw blades, the are a whole lot better quality, and much sharper (http://www.scrollsawbladespatterns.com/pegasblades.htm). You have to be more careful using a sharper blades as it is so easy to cut into the wrong area of the pattern, and that is another thing I wish I understood more, blade control or controlling the piece of wood. You should also know that cutting thinner wood the blade cuts easier and so controlling the piece is crucial. As some of your blades become less sharp as you are cutting lets say 1/2" or 3/4" you can use those to cut 1/4" or 1/8". Another thing I wish I knew was more about blade tension, not using the right tension can cause your blades to break, nothing like when you break a blade. I have only been scrolling myself for two years now, getting better at and still learning. The biggest thing is to get started and as Steve Good will tell you go make some sawdust. The Scrollsaw Village website is filled with resources so use them and have fun.