White oak; Grrrr...

[hawkeye10]

I just got through sawing a very simple cat puzzle of 3/4" white oak. I used a #3 Pegas blade and went really, really slow and still it's tight. It's not so tight that a little sanding won't fix it. If I ever white oak again I will use a #5 or #7 blade. I have cut quite a few puzzles with a #3 blade and never a problem but white oak is hard, real hard.

[WayneMahler]

White Oak is a lot denser the Red Oak. A skipped tooth blade works better cleans out the kerf more. 

[Denny Knappen]

I use FD Polar #5 on my free standing puzzles.

[ike]

I Use a #5 Match olson blade.

IKE

[stoney]

Born and raised on a sawmill I learned early on that if you wanted to drive a nail in white oak you did it before the wood dried or it wasn't happening.   White oak is a very strong material because of the hi density but for scroll sawing I prefer red oak for the obvious reasons. 

[amazingkevin]

4 hours ago, stoney said:

Born and raised on a sawmill I learned early on that if you wanted to drive a nail in white oak you did it before the wood dried or it wasn't happening.   White oak is a very strong material because of the hi density but for scroll sawing I prefer red oak for the obvious reasons. 

Thanks!

[lawson56]

I have never used White Oak,For that very reason,Now I'm glad I haven't.Don't care much for Yellow Pine either.

[CharleyL]

I made one cross from red oak and another from white oak. Both times I swore that I would not try to cut oak any more, but I do cut hard maple quite frequently with no problems, except for the short life of the blades. The oaks just seem to fight with the blade, causing difficulty in following the pattern as well as short blade life. I think I've learned my lesson now, and will avoid scroll sawing oak in the future. This one was made from Mahogany, but the same pattern as the ones that I made from red and white oak.

Charley

 

 

Edited May 28, 2017 by CharleyL

[hawkeye10]

8 hours ago, CharleyL said:

I made one cross from red oak and another from white oak. Both times I swore that I would not try to cut oak any more, but I do cut hard maple quite frequently with no problems, except for the short life of the blades. The oaks just seem to fight with the blade, causing difficulty in following the pattern as well as short blade life. I think I've learned my lesson now, and will avoid scroll sawing oak in the future. This one was made from Mahogany, but the same pattern as the ones that I made from red and white oak.

Charley

 

 

Hmmm! I admit I don't think I will cut any more white oak but I have no problem with red oak. Charley I really like that cross.

[CharleyL]

Don, 

The pattern for the cross came from Wildwood Designs. It's one of a group of cross patterns, but I can't tell you much more about it. It was too long ago.

After I cut it out on the scroll saw I decided that it needed something else, so I got out my air powered dentist drill power carver and 1/16" diameter bits and carved back the vines and leaves lower than the face of the cross and then shaped both the vines and leaves. I then coated the whole cross with Tung oil and let it dry. After it had thoroughly dried and the smell had gone away I used an Antique Green Rub N Buff to coat the leaves, then buffed the leaves lightly by hand after they had dried to bring out the gold flecks in the Rub N Buff. This was 19 years ago and I have made 17 more of these same cross's since then, with two more presently about 1/2 finished in my shop. All but two of these cross's have been made from Mahogany. One was made from Red Oak  and One from White Oak. The Oak ones were nothing but trouble during the scroll sawing as well as the carving, so after finishing them, I vowed to never make them from Oak again and I tend to shy away from Oak for any other projects since then. I developed a real hate for Oak while trying to finish them. They each took me about 2X the time of doing each of the rest  to complete..

My family has consumed the rest of these crosses, with some of my  long lost cousins even showing up to get them., but my wife has this first made one.  One of the early made crosses was given to a very special minister friend who helped me mentally recover after a very traumatic health event in my life. He convinced me that I was going to live through it, and that I would be better than I had been before the incident occurred after I  recovered from it,. We didn't even know each other before that brief encounter.. This all took place seventeen years ago. I made his cross even better than the others, by coating the whole face of the cross itself with Gold Rub N Buff., which, after rubbing it out, made the cross itself look almost like it was made from solid gold. The Rub N Buff had filled the grain of the Mahogany so it appeared to be as smooth as metal.. 

Yesterday and Friday I cut up a 70 ft tall 24" diameter pine tree by myself, loaded about 1/3 of the trunk pieces of it into my truck, took them to the dump, and unloaded all of them by myself. Then I came back to finish cutting the rest of the tree into manageable sizes.They, and the branches are now completely cut up and waiting for their trip to the dump on Tuesday.  I'm 75 years old, have survived cancer twice, have metal knees, the result of a fire fighting accident in 1978, and I have had heart surgery 6 times. I'm actually afraid to slow down, because several of my friends did slow down after they retired and they didn't last very long. All were much younger than me, but I think I may have overdone it a bit this time. I'm tired today and taking it easy all day..

Charley

Edited May 29, 2017 by CharleyL

[hawkeye10]

Charley I will be 75 next month and I almost to the place where I can't do much of anything, I have advanced neuropathy in my feet and legs and the pain is really bad. For you to be able to do what you did with that tree is outstanding and I am glad your still going strong.

I love reading your post here and on the Router Forum and I learn something from each post. Thanks!

Edited May 29, 2017 by hawkeye10

[Vincent64]

I too have used some red oak, using FD UR #3 or 5 blades, I did not find it that bad cutting, it was 3/4" thick stock .

[stu]

white oak is fun cut this 3/4in with #3 and 5 with fdur

[hawkeye10]

On 6/3/2017 at 0:38 PM, stu said:

white oak is fun cut this 3/4in with #3 and 5 with fdur

Very nice Stu! I can see how you would have fun.