James E. Welch

So I haven't been very active here for a while. I have been pretty busy of late. I got my work into a local store and it's keeping me pretty busy. I'm not complaining though, it has been a great little side gig. Anyway, thought I'd post a few pictures of my latest stuff to try to catch up.

I'm curious about this too. I'm not having any issues with my Hegner but I have often wondered if bolting it down to the floor would change anything.

Is this why people are leaving California in droves? I've seen a lot in the news about California folks moving to Colorado and Austin Texas.

I've had one for probably 6 or 7 years. Works great. I've often looked at the more expensive ones but can't justify the purchase when my little Wen works so good.

I heard someone once say, "first you get good and then you get fast". Take your time and don't beat yourself up about it taking a while. This is a good time to practice technique, speed will come naturally as you practice.

I like the color one

I'm kind of surprised to see so many recommendations for padding and/or matting under the saw. I tried this on my King Industrial 16 and it made things worse. I began with a carpet then went to a thick rubber mat trying both bolted down and unbolted. Ultimately for me removing the mats made it better. I found that the more solid I made things the better vibrations became. I originally had it mounted to a 3/4 plywood top but later changed to a 2x4 top (think butcher block) and the vibration is much better. I managed to get the vibration to almost gone, except for one spot at about 3/4 speed. Then I bought a new Hegner with the stand and it is solidly mounted all the way through, with no cushion anywhere and it is super smooth. I realize this could be other factors associated with the build quality of the Hegner or the differing motor type used by Hegner though. In the end it's whatever works best for you and everyone's setup is different. I say try different stuff until you are happy with the results but don't rule out rigid mounting without cushion because it might be just the ticket.

I gave intarsia a try. It's not perfect but I had fun.

My brand new one did this soft start thing, ran fine once it kicked on though. It ended up being an issue with the switch. They sent me another one and it has never done it again. Fingers crossed.

Coolant Fluid Reservoir – Advanced Machinery (advmachinery.com) They do sell a reservoir. I'm not sure about the use with stone though. It mentions metal and plastic in the description.

I have no experience with the hawk saws. I will say however that there was quite a learning curve with the hegner and I'd been scrolling for years with other saws. I'm assuming this is true of the hawk as well.

They vary. Some are thinner and some thicker. Probably between 1/2 and 3/4 inch

Here's my latest work. Old cedar fence boards and a cedar crawfish.

This has turned out to be a good topic. Thanks for the participation everyone. I'm looking forward to more replies. I think i picked up something from every reply.

Getting some good tips from this exercise. I hadn't thought of the cutters or the canned air. I like both ideas. Also the flashlight is a good idea.

I thought those would be fun. What tools do you have at or near your saw for ease of access. You can post a picture or just tell us. Please explain what you use the tool for though. At my hegner on the left there's an angle gauge used for setting table angle. An air conditioner remote control because I live in Louisiana. Some blade holders for extra blades and amazon firestick remote for watching TV (I mainly put on podcasts or true crime that I don't need to see but just hear). There's a handle for helping me to pull myself and my rolling chair near the saw. On the right is my guitar tuner - see previous post where I opened a can of worms with that topic. ... My hegner blade tool for changing blades, an awl for pushing out small pieces in pieces I'm working on and also to open the back side of drill holes as needed to help the blade slip in easily. A small pair of curved needle nose pliers for pushing stubborn blades in and out of work pieces. I've had blades break in the pieces I'm working on and this makes getting the blade out much easier. My seyco drill sits nearby so I can drill holes that I forgot to drill, happens all the time. A extendable magnet, this is for picking up the hegner blade clamps when the blade breaks and the holder falls on the floor.

Thanks for the reassurance. Sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake starting a thread. For me it's never meant to be argument provoking or confrontational but some of my topics cause this nonetheless. It's good to know that it was helpful.

I had a feeling it would devolve into a blade discussion. I'm really not advocating one over another. I wanted to tell the story of how something simple like a bad batch of blades (giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming its a bad batch) can cause major frustration. And how you should keep trying because sometimes finding that simple problem can make all the difference.

Everywhere. Sometimes the top, sometimes the bottom, sometimes the middle. They're just real brittle. Someone mentions on Facebook that maybe I got a bad batch.

I'm not posting to start a debate. I hope that was clear in my post. I know there are preferences and variables. This was about being unsatisfied with my saw purchase and finding out that it was a blade issue. I just wanted to share that sometimes it's something simple.

I really don't want to start a debate. I just want to tell you guys what I experienced. I bought a hegner (had a king) and around the same time bought a bunch of pegas blades. I didn't put the two together though and just knew that I was breaking blades like crazy on the hegner. I thought it was the learning curve or something. Well long story short I eventually put the two together and bought some flying Dutchman. They came in today and I'm not breaking blades at all. Could be lots of factors involved, I know, but so far it feels like flying Dutchman has awoken the great saw that was hiding under a pile of broken blades and I'm excited.

Got the frame on.

Got it from etsy https://www.etsy.com/listing/623673319/054-tiger-scroll-saw-pattern-pdf-jpg-dxf

Used about a million blades on the hegner unfortunately I'm finally starting to figure out the tension I think though. Maybe...

My latest creation. Got the pattern on etsy. Not finished yet. I still need to attach it to the backer and maybe do a frame.