what blades should beginner buy

[floridagramps]

I ordered a Dewalt 788 from Woodcraft and it ships tomorrow. Included in the order is a scroll sawing workbook with 25 lessons which I have seen recommended elsewhere in this forum. I am the newest of the new and have yet to touch a scroll saw

 

Would appreciate a suggestion as to what blades I should order and who I should order them from. I am planning on using 1/4 inch Baltic Birch for first projects. Good idea?

 

I want to keep it simple until I get a feel for scroll sawing. Would Steve Good's suggestion to simply dip the finished scoll saw cutting into a lemon oil bath be adequate for finishing first projects.

 

Hope to produce a valentines gift for SWMBO as my first project.........will help justify this investment. Can someone point me at instructions for attaching digital pictures to new threads and I'll show you my first attempt?

 

This is a great forum and I'm glad I found it.

 

I really look forward to growing in this hobby and sharing ideas and resolving questions via this forum

[amazingkevin]

HOWDY florida gramps,you came to the right place to ask questions.I'll help a little but soon you'll be swarmed with valueable help from seasoned scrollsaw villagers!I think on the first page when you come to the village there is a selection of topics and the one you are going to start off with will be F A Q,frequent asked questions.Thats a good start.Basically i'm a beginer and have learned so much about scrolling and the use of computers here.You'll catch on quick.I'm always learning and the more i do the more i learn.A good start for any wood is to allways have at least 3 or 4 teeth in contact with the wood at all times 1/4 " wood would take a blade with 16 teeth per inch. Any blade will cut but thats a good tip.Skip tooth blades seem to cut alot quieter as i cut in an apartment building with close neighbors.One or more teeth facing up leaves a clean cut top and bottom on the wood,but it fuzzys up your paper cut line while cutting.They save alot of work sanding ,esspecially with delicate work.I've been buying blades from mikesworkshop.com .His delievery is so fast and the product is quality steel.his motto is the customer comes back not the product.I've ordered 100's of blades and no problems.breakage usually comes from not tight enough rather than too tight.looseining and retighting the blades alot on projects tends to fatige the blades.i've cut puzzles with 1 blade and 1/2" thick mgf material,85 piece puzzle 8" by 10".i cut oak and maple alot 3/8 " As far as pictures i'll let the next guy go to it to help you there.It was hard for me to learn that at first and am still learning.You can change the format of the picture being sent with your computer such as jpg.gif tiff?etc.jpg is something anybody can use and the others are specialty.At the bottom of this page is some help ,click on upload attachment and try your luck till you get help.looking forward to seeing your work! clickupload attachment,go down and click browse, find where you picture is ,click on it , open it,click add file,click place in line once,clickpreview,click sumit etc. That will send us your picture.!helps coming![

[Messman]

I ordered a Dewalt 788 from Woodcraft and it ships tomorrow. Included in the order is a scroll sawing workbook with 25 lessons which I have seen recommended elsewhere in this forum. I am the newest of the new and have yet to touch a scroll saw

 

Would appreciate a suggestion as to what blades I should order and who I should order them from. I am planning on using 1/4 inch Baltic Birch for first projects. Good idea?

 

I want to keep it simple until I get a feel for scroll sawing. Would Steve Good's suggestion to simply dip the finished scoll saw cutting into a lemon oil bath be adequate for finishing first projects.

 

Hope to produce a valentines gift for SWMBO as my first project.........will help justify this investment. Can someone point me at instructions for attaching digital pictures to new threads and I'll show you my first attempt?

 

This is a great forum and I'm glad I found it.

 

I really look forward to growing in this hobby and sharing ideas and resolving questions via this forum

Lets see if I can answer your questions here.

 

As to which blades to get this is a matter of personal preference. We each perfer different blades, for example I like spiral blades and others perfer flat blades, If I were you I would get a sample of each and find the blades you perfer. If you contact Mike (amazingkevin recommended) and tell him you would like a sample pack of the blades he would recommend for the 1/4" baltic birch in both flat and spiral he will send you some (probably free-I don't know if he is still doing this or not)

 

1/4" baltic birch is a good place to start for doing portrait type cuttings.

 

As far as the finishing process I use a spray on poly which works wel for portrait style cuttings. Again this is a matter of preference. I would try different finishes and find the one you like best. I can not speak directly about the lemon oil dip because I have never done that finishing process, but I know some on here who have and I hope they will chime in and speak directly about that process for you.

 

here is a link that will take you to the how to use SSV's features and you will be able to learn how to attach files upload patterns and what not: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1350

 

Good luck with your scrolling, I can not wait to see your work.

[Travis]

You'll have to mailorder your blades. The blades they sell at hardware stores are really meant for construction type of work, and isn't very good for hobby scrolling. There are three major brands that is a good choice; Flying Dutchman, Olson, and Pegas.

 

But, it really depends on what you're cutting. Small blades tend to wander a bit, while larger blades do arches and straight lines better. Small blades turn tight corners much better. The thicker the wood, you'll want a larger blade. Here are my go-to blades:

 

#3 for most cutting up to 3/4" that require sharp corners.

#5 for 3/4" wood or when long straight lines or gentle curves are needed.

#9 for hard and thick woods.

#1 or #3 spiral blades only for portrait style cuttings that have a lot of organic lines (curvy).

 

I use Flying Dutchman from Mike's Workshop. So if I was to buy 12 dozen blades, here's my shopping list:

 

[*:1aia71f0]#3 Scroll Reverse (FD-SR No. 3) - 6dz
[*:1aia71f0]#5 Scroll Reverse (FD-SR No. 5) - 2dz
[*:1aia71f0]#9 Scroll Reverse (FD-SR No. 9) - 1dz
[*:1aia71f0]#3 Spiral Flat/End Scrollsaw Blades (FD-SP-FE No. 3)- 3dz

[Clayton717]

I agree get in contact with Mike about the blades. Myself I keep several different sizes on hand in a couple brands, olsen and flying dutchman. I use the FD blades more. I used to use spirals , but now just can't get the hang of them. I can get tighter corners with a flat blade. Mike has great service and can point you in the right direction about which blade is best for what you are cutting.

I order my blades(both brands) from the www.woodenteddybear.com just for the fact that when I order blades I am usually ordering patterns and other supplies I use.

As far as finish never used lemon oil, but like Chris I use spray poly. Or spay acrylic both with a satin finish. I don't lke thing extremely shiny.

Good luck with the new saw, and hope to see some of your projects.

[amazingkevin]

that was good news to my ears,i learned more of what i did'nt know too thanks ,I have a question too thats been buging me. I buy lots of blades and see that if you buy by the gross the price is differant. I'm sure it's a savings but don't know what a gross consists of .help help .Please and thank you!

[paul44224]

A gross is a dozen dozen, or 12 dozen.

Amazingkevin, did you get my pm?

 

Paul