harpolemond

These past four years there have been Three Illinois state fairs. unfortunately last year was cancelled because of Covid. I generally choose a very detailed fretwork piece to enter into the IL state fairs woodworking scroll saw devision. I have finished 1st place in that woodworking devision for the last three years running. This year I decided on another clock. I will include it in this post as a jpeg. I have seen several places in this forum and other places people wanting to know what kind of blades they use. It is a personal preference for us all, however the following has helped me win first place three years running. Sharktooth #1 and 2 Various Pegas MGT or modified geometry for the line cuts and extreem cutouts Superior puzzle blades by Flying Dutchman for various wider cut outs This is all I use and since it has served me well, just thought some of you might like to know ds

Thanky to all for the kind words, as far as counting interior cuts? I don't have the nerve. After it I just want to walk away. Just a little nerve wracking.

At the Illinois State Fair there is a size limit of 12"wide by 20" high by 8" deep. Depth is relevant and can be more. I say this because last year the Fair was shuttered. I had downloaded a pattern of the Victorian sunburst Clock to enter last year in their Scroll Saw division. That didn't happen so the pattern sat in my shop. But this year the fair was open. Unfortunately this clock pattern was 15" all around leaving me two solutions. Downsize the pattern which means some of the cutouts would be so small they may not work out well. So I opted to size each side of the clock. The result was very different, but turned out somewhat satisfying. The clock was cut out in Dark Walnut with a layer of light pine behind the body facing front. The Actual Sun was cut out of a large block of Hedge Apple plained down to 3/8 width. I have some Hedge Apple Wood left, but have no desire to work with it again unless nothing else will do. It was somewhat sticky and left a yellow residue everywhere, and my shop vac bag both bottom and top had to be washed and bleached to get the stain out. Still, it came out beautiful as the sun. Two years ago they had the fair and I won first place with a Dutch Box, last year the fair was Covid Cancelled, and this year? First place again with this Sunburst Clock. This piece with all its small cut outs will indeed be a monstor dust collector so I will eather need to make a shadow box for it or a cover of some type for over it on the wall. Saws: Jet 22" for the fretwork, and a Porter Cable 18" for some sanding. Blades: various Pegas, Sharktooth 2/0 and FD Superior Puzzle [Spiral blades used for Initial circular cuts] If your going to work with Hedge Apple you will need to use a small blade, slow it down a lot, and be patient Thousands of people go through the buildings during our Fair each year, and this is an opportunity to get more folks interested in Scroll Saw work. I hope I can get the images to load

I would like to see your full presentation on this. As far as I know we have no club around Springfield IL. Where I am from. did you do it in ms powerpoint or open office? If so many of us have those programs to both read and save the presentations and view them on the computer. Open office is free and reads ms office powerpoints and can even edit and save them so if you did a powerpoint computer presentation, I imagine many of us could read it and would love to pic your brain on this. I am always open to comparison and ideas. I have pretty much stopped using pegas on my Jet. I have found that the Olson sharktooth and FD/Niqua are my go to blades for most of the work I do. But I am always open to ideas.

Actually I am not giving up on Pegas as yet, but a half gross of blades all like this? Probably will try just a single dozen in the future. If it is the same then I will know. I do have other Pegas I like. Some skips. but otherwise I use FDs and Sharktooths. I stay away from regular Olsons but those PGTs are pretty nice for a straight cut I just was curious as to if this was the norm for this blade and did I get a dud set thnx for all the replies

ty

I somewhat agree Kevin. Glad I only bought a half gross of these. I have about three dozen left. I have found complaints about the Pegas blades elsewhere, but I do have some skips that seem to be much more consistent. Blade breakage for these blades also do seem to be a problem. That said If I mount six of these blades, [Jet has multiple separate mounts] I could go through all of those pretty quickly, but since they are not mounted as I go but six at a time I loose sight of how they truly preform. But I definitely found these blades not to be up to the standards of some I regularly use. Won first place at the IL state fair in 2019 with an excalibur and FD superior puzzle blades and with Sharktooth 3/0. I think Sharktooth is made by Olson but don't quote me. They are killer and the FDs are some of the best I have in my stock. I don't use any other Olson blade I am in agreement with you about the FDs. I Don't use reverse blades since my Jet doesn't seem to allow those five bottom teeth to contact the wood, so I do my fretwork with the FDs and Sharktooth. Niqua is FD I believe. Thanks for the info. Seemed to me to be one of the oddest things I have encountered recently. Dull points every other tooth? Very odd and I have three dozen of these. Prob throw them away Now I have watched videos of blades being made. Rolls of steel wire fed into the machine and stamped out. Then cut. Depending on blade then they are heated and freeze cooled? Something like that. But at the end of one video they made a statement I didn't wanna hear. When the stamper that cuts the teeth out has gone through some time of use, they become inconsistent. The stamper doesn't cut nearly as sharp ending in less sharp blades and becoming inconstant. This may be what I encountered but even so where is the quality control? TY again for your post

Almost forgot folks, these are brand new out of the half gross set

Will do my best to get three images in here. Bought a half gross of #2/0 Pegas modified Geometry known as the M/G blade. All over the net scrollers are in love with this blade and it appears those who do a varied type of works. So: I do a variety of types of cuts myself, and found this blade to be about the same as a certain few others, which leads to my question. This blade is not nearly as aggressive or accurate as a couple of the FD blade types I have so there has to be a problem. Even though I know that advertisements on the net are overbearing, and many companies are paid to place certain products up front and tout their wonderful attributes, there are still those single folks out there that are totally very good at their work and they also are touting this blade. I am not a newbie to scrolling. My work is sometimes extremely intricate and detailed. So keeping in mind so many love this blade, and I am not new to this sport, what on earth is going on? I cannot find anywhere on the net a very detailed description of the tooth layout of these blades. All I found was how wonderful the new modified geometry of the blade is and that it provides so much good work with no burnouts, lasts longer. etc. But no where could I find a description of the tooth design or layout. I see pics with the blade cut off with three teeth facing right and the rest left with everything in between not shown. I cannot find a total blade pic or a pic of the center of those blades. Soooo. I got my Canon SLR out and went to work on a macro. This is what I found. And it looks this way under magnification as well. Turns out that every other tooth appears to be, "blunted" and only about half the height of tooth before it. In other words, every other tooth is sharp, and every other tooth has a blunted and not sharp point. In fact every other tooth is only half as high and has no sharp point. sooo Not saying what company I ordered from but it is reputable. Many of us use it from time to time. Are these blades the MGs or did I get some duds? I really don't know as I have never seen anything like this before..... I did a negative image of one of these pics to help with the sharpness thing. You can clearly see the teeth in image 5 two teeth located in the center of these blades. One is quite sharp and the next is only half the height and duller. Could use a little help here as this blade is new to me and I always want to learn more thnx in advance as I am sure someone here know something.

If its a larger area especially on the outside of a piece, tape the sandpaper to it and trim it down. Then mount it in your saw. Be sure to grind the teeth off the blade first. I just figured this out this morning by accident. Wanted to post it to see if it would help others. Yep I use the files too. Anything I can use to make the work look better. I have seen so much work that people just don't finish it off. Bought a coo-coo clock in a garage sale last year. It was beautiful, and made on the scroll saw. Turned out the piece when closely looked at, the maker left every outcrop etc on the inside and out. [Where an inside blade cut is finished...] The maker was an old man from Indiana. There was a sticker inside. I tried to contact him to see if he wanted it back. He had passed on. So we will keep it. It is quite striking. Beautiful actually, We were going to return it to him. Most likely jr made pieces and sold them in flea markets etc. I am in Illinois. How it got over here I have no idea. I have considered taking it apart to re create the pattern and try to build my own. The sander I showed here, one was less than 1/8 inch thick or wide. Very small. If you only put sandpaper on one side of the blade it would be one third thinner even. Hope it helps harpolemond

First of all I found this so usable when I stumbled upon it today I thought I would share. It may be out there, but I have never seen it. For a long time I have looked for any resource to file and sand inside cuts on very small cutouts. I have tried mini files, dental files, hand held scroll saw blades, and even cutting down fingernail files. I am working on a very intense piece with hundreds of very small cut outs. The smallest needle file at any store will not come close to getting in the areas I need to reach. I do realize that a perfect cut the first time is ideal, but few of us make perfect cuts every time. Now for a long time I have used the opposite side of the scroll blade to "shave" down a slight bow or irregular area. It does work well but when you have say many hundreds of cuts on a single piece, you know you will have irregularities. I just don't like them, so I have looked for a long time for a solution. Sandpaper on a scroll saw blade on the saw? Yes I do that too. Self adhesive works well and is smaller than commercial solutions. But that solution is for somewhat larger areas to sand. I needed very very delicate control over the sanding blade. Perhaps ten years ago I bought a very used exacto knife set. The blades are now rusted and dull. But in the case there were Three mountable exacto knives in the set in good condition.{ Case had been closed for years. } The kind that you screw open and slide the blade into the top of the knife and tighten it down. So who says an exacto knife blade has to go in there? width size is perfect! See the pics I took two sizes of blades from 1/0 to 3/0. 400 grit The blades fit perfectly into the knife ends and tighten down nicely. I use used blades: Clean them and mount the self adhesive sand paper. [I buy it by the roll] The blades are cut in half with a fine cable cutter so as to add stability and less flexibility. They are sturdy enough to do extreme fine sanding with. And you can even use the knives to put a scroll blade into and "feather" a vein more carefully by hand. Now I can sand the wider areas on my scroll saw, and the most delicate of parts by hand. Sandpaper on only one side of the blade makes it even thinner.... Not sure if I explained this very well but if you experiment with an exacto you will no longer need to hold onto that tiny blade. Now you will have a handle and more control over your work. Try cutting the blades in half Two knives in pics with 400 grit. [One with the Exacto blade still in it.] NOTE: Scroll Saw blade edges are stamped left or right, and.... This can break through the paper and damage the work piece. Solution; Simply quick file the full edge of the blade to smooth using a grinder or file. Exacto knives can be found on the cheap at Walmart. Say three bucks?

Changed Dust Collection to Yes Changed Blade Changing (Toolless/Tools Required) to Toolless Changed Variable Speed to Yes Changed Belt or Direct Drive to Direct Drive

I have owned both the new Excalibur EX16 and this new Jet 22, previously I owned Dewalts 788 and the Delta 40-694 so I can now make comparisons of all of them. But this is about the Jet. So this is more of a comparison review. But mostly about Jet. Note: This is NOT a bottom feed only machine although it is not a top feed at all. I explain below If you have Arthritis in your hands like me, this is your machine. Blade changes can be painful sometimes with all the other machines. Jet makes it near painless. My Dewalt, Delta, and Ex16 all had drift on the tension knob. As does my Jet. Solution? simply place a piece of tape top and bottom of the knob to mark its place and check it periodically. My Jet does not drift too badly, and not as badly as the EX16. My Delta had almost no drift, but I placed markers on it regardless. I don't seem to have any motor speed drift. Top blade mount requires no tool. Bottom blade holder has a built in tool on the side of the saw. RE Feeds: Top;Bottom; and what I call.. the Free Blade Feed: Yep I made that up because no one seems to have referred to it by name online. hmmm I have read some reviews that state this to be a bottom feed only machine. That may be true for many scrollers, but it is also a "free feed system". ie. I do bottom feed on some smaller pieces, but in very intricate fretwork on larger pieces, I simply thread the blade through the hole in the wood before the blade is mounted. Then I slide the blade through the table and insert the blade holder. The blade slides into position and it locks up perfectly. My feed is separate from the machine since the blade holder locks the blade before it is mounted. Hence I have no problem at all with much larger pieces of fretwork. Threading the blade is a breeze. No bottom feed. No top feed. All is separate. This is also very helpfull for intricate cuts and veining. Vibration? Smoother than my previous Dewalt or Delta. About the same vibration wise on the Excalibur. Perhaps the Jet is a little better. This is the least noisy of all machines I have used. Vacuum? I use a large Delta collector attached to the vac port on the underside. That port easily slides out for cleaning. Jet has no built in light. I use an ottlite magnifier. Set up was nearly spot on from the factory. Blower? Works fine now. BUT initially from the factory it was loose and had a tendency to fall down onto the work piece during cuts. Jet simply sent me a new one. Now all is well. I acquired extra blade holders, and now I can switch between blade types without remounting blades. Ease of use I give it 100%. [I also use two different grits of sanding blades [I make my own] so I can switch back and forth with the sanders pre mounted. A nice feature. Before my Jet I needed two saws, one to sand with and one to cut with. Otherwise I would have to remove and remount blades. With the jet and extra holders, I just slide them in, alternating sand grits and blade types. So the only con for me was the blower assembly issue which Jet took care of. White?....And I even like the color: Shows dust which I immediately remove. I will upload a couple of images of a sunburst clock [Not mounted yet] that is a work in progress. All done on the Jet. But just to show you that Jet is not the only good machine out there, I will try to upload a Dutch Box I made with my Excalibur and Delta a year ago. That one won at the state fair Aug 2019 Fair in 2020 was canceled. If the fair is on for 21 the Sunburst clock is what will be entered. Hope this comparison helps someone. now months later...lots of months, I can truly say that I love this saw. I did finish this piece and enter it into the Illinois state fair and it did win first place. I will try to upload the completed work here if possible. The end result is that with my arthritis being so advanced this may be the easiest saw to work with but vibration is very low as well which is another positive for me. With all the saws I have owned, I will go back to this without question.

I am to ashamed of my shop to take an image. I do a project then have to clean up afterwords. If I took pics of all the wood scraps I hoard It would overload my camera. After cleaning and stacking all my wood pieces the shop looks pretty good, but it doesn't last long and I have never found a decent way of stacking or organizing my wood. My shop yes, the wood, no. Just the larger pieces.

I am not a new user but I am new to this forum. Today there is a mega wealth of information available, and many years ago there was a wealth of information available online as well. Still upon making my first work to enter in a contest I clearly lost. Upon looking closely at winners and losers in the case at the state fair, I concluded it was two things in my work that was the weakest points. The finish out process of sand and file, and actual finishing. So clearly one can cut a beautiful piece of work and ruin it with failure to remove burrs and other irregular type cuts. So for me, what I wish I had known, and it is without doubt, I wish I had known much more about finishing off the work. I took a beautiful piece of work and ruined it by poorly finishing it out. Now I take as much time in finishing out a project as I do cutting it. I keep both my old work and my newest entry. A reminder of what I failed to do, and also of what I can do, with the help of knowledge from other users. I will post only one file. My loosing piece not. My winner last year at the IL state fair, first place. I show this to help others to know that your work is only as good as its weakest point. Sometimes it is equipment. Sometimes it is the user. I was the weakest point. I am a member on another forum as well, but I have found you can always learn. I first will study Inkscape on this forum to begin making my own patterns. So an advanced thanks to Scrollsawvillage for doing those tutorials. Note: You don't need a 1000 dollar Jet to do a 1000 dollar job. The sides of this box was done with a Delta. When my wife saw that she let me by a Jet with which I did the lid [much more intricate]. I concluded that with patience I could have easily finished this out on a Delta or even a Porter cable. So the saw is not always the key. It is patience. I look forward to talking to others here. And wish all happy scrolling.