Saw blade organization

[OCtoolguy]

Ok, Here's a new topic to chat about. At least it's new for me. How do all you more "seasoned" scroll sawers keep your blades organized. Pictures please. I am using three different brands at this point in time and I have bought them in sizes ranging from 2/0 to 7 and many different configurations of tooth patterns. I haven't done enough cutting yet to know which blades work for what so I have to have a way to keep them separated in some sort of organized order. I just finished making a turntable that has 26 tubes in two concentric circles. Actually, it came with my Hegner saw and I just made some additions to it. Not sure if I will keep it though. I just thought it might be an interesting topic for discussion here.

Ray

 

 

 

[new2woodwrk]

30 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

I just finished making a turntable that has 26 tubes in two concentric circles. Actually, it came with my Hegner saw and I just made some additions to it. Not sure if I will keep it though. I just thought it might be an interesting topic for discussion here.

Ray

Hey, where are your pictures of your turntable? LOL

Good thread - currently, I'm keeping mine in the containers they came with  (bubble packs) since I don't have that many yet anyway.

I saw pictures of blades in tubes standing up and laying down in a drawer. Amazon sells these tubes - not sure where you would get free tubes like that or be able to make something along the same lines

[Iguanadon]

Test tube holder and plastic tubes.  I use the sticker from the baggy the blades came in to wrap around the tube.  I need to buy some stickers for blades that don't come with a sticker.

[Scrappile]

I purchased these tubes off Ebay a couple years ago.  They were dirt cheap and I've got to find them again, I am running out.  They work great, and I roll the label that come with the blades and insert it in the with the blades so I know what blades are in there.  The box they are in is from some chisels or something I bought from Harbor Freight.

[Rockytime]

Here is my system. I even got a chance to try my HF trim router.

[meflick]

I use something like Iggy's holder - It was a Steve Good pattern he created.  It can be found here: http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2017/01/scroll-saw-blade-holder-pattern.html - he lists a site to get the test tubes from on Amazon but that is not the ones I got.  I ordered some previously from another site.  Mine have flat bottoms and are plastic with a plastic lid.  I had 24 test tubes so I modified Steve's plan so that it would hold 12 each (his pattern has 5 each side so 10 each.) I also do like Scott and Paul and cut the labels off and roll and insert inside the tubes for each blade type.  I don't use as many different types of blades as Paul shows (yet ) so this has worked well for me.

[fredfret]

I use PVC pipe a little longer than Rockytime with end caps. (it's real hard to seperate them when you drop with out caps) made a rack to hold them the sizes I don't use very often #7 spiral, #12 skip tooth are in the sane tubes in the tool box.

Fredfret

[OCtoolguy]

3 minutes ago, new2woodwrk said:

Hey, where are your pictures of your turntable? LOL

Good thread - currently, I'm keeping mine in the containers they came with  (bubble packs) since I don't have that many yet anyway.

I saw pictures of blades in tubes standing up and laying down in a drawer. Amazon sells these tubes - not sure where you would get free tubes like that or be able to make something along the same lines

The turntable that came with my saw had 13 upright tubes made of 1/2" PVC. All I did was to drill 13 more holes in an inner circle back of the ones that were already there with a 3/4" forstner bit. I epoxied them in the holes. I am thinking it might be overkill at this point though. I'll bet that I'll end up using a half dozen different blades in the end. Oh well.....it was fun. Attached pics of carousel and the Hegner I picked up for $300. The carousel is meant to clamp onto one of the saw's legs but I'm not sure about it yet.

 

Ray

 

 

[kmmcrafts]

I have one similar to Iggy's as well and have test tubes.. 

As for stickers.. I made some of my own with inkscape and printed them out on my shipping label papers.. cut to size , peel and stick.. 

[OCtoolguy]

1 hour ago, Iguanadon said:

Test tube holder and plastic tubes.  I use the sticker from the baggy the blades came in to wrap around the tube.  I need to buy some stickers for blades that don't come with a sticker.

I'm totally surprised Iggy. I figured you would just have one big box of all the same blade. You do pretty much use the same one for all your puzzle cutting don't you?

Ray

 

[Iguanadon]

11 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

I'm totally surprised Iggy. I figured you would just have one big box of all the same blade. You do pretty much use the same one for all your puzzle cutting don't you?

Ray

 

I like to look like a professional as opposed to the one trick pony hack that I am.  LOL

Yes, I use 2 blades... one for the word puzzles out of poplar and one for the kids puzzles out of pine.  :-)

[new2woodwrk]

I'm liking the test tubes - but I think I like the pvc more - since I have so much of it and it's real cheap LOL

Thanks all so far - good thread this one!

Update: I went and priced the tubes on amazon and bought a dozen - they were .25 each - if I were to buy 1/2" pvc it would cost me twice as much.

Now I'll just make a stand for them once they get here

Edited January 29, 2018 by new2woodwrk

[trackman]

Saw blades are like your fishing tackle box, you pick up a lot of choices but usually only use a couple of the same ones all the time. 

[OCtoolguy]

2 hours ago, trackman said:

Saw blades are like your fishing tackle box, you pick up a lot of choices but usually only use a couple of the same ones all the time. 

That's exactly what I'm afraid is going to happen. I got all fired up when I first started and bought way too many blades of differing types and brands. Now, I have to figure out what I actually will use. Probably get down to a half dozen or so. If that many.

Ray

 

[dgman]

Here's mine. I do several demos and teach several classes a year, so I decided to make mine a little more appealing. Made from Mahogany with a BB overlay on the back. The overlay is a Steve Good pattern. The tubes are from Sloan's Woodshop. I make the labels with my Brother Label maker.

Edited January 30, 2018 by dgman

[SCROLLSAW703]

i keep my blades in pvc pipe with 1/2" ends. I keep close to 30 different sizes & types of blades on inventory. When I order blades, I take inventory from the pvc tubes, & put the the label on the tube. I have the tubes in racks cut from 1/4" underlayment. YEA! It's kinda cheap, but it was what I had handy at the time.

[lawson56]

Same as Iggy's,Found the pattern over at Steve Goods site.I do the same same the lable and wrape it around the tube with some tape,place it on a shelf within arms reach,I'm good to go.

[MrsN]

This is the one I used for quite a while. I'll take pictures tonight of my current system.  I would recommend a system that has covers for most of the tubes. I knocked this one over a few different times before I added more pvc caps

[OCtoolguy]

15 hours ago, dgman said:

Here's mine. I do several demos and teach several classes a year, so I decided to make mine a little more appealing. Made from Mahogany with a BB overlay on the back. The overlay is a Steve Good pattern. The tubes are from Sloan's Woodshop. I make the labels with my Brother Label maker.

That's beautiful Dan. Thanks for sharing. I'm getting so many great ideas. 

Ray

 

[OCtoolguy]

I noticed many of you mentioned that you print labels using Inkscape. I'm in the middle of trying to learn how to use that program but so far I haven't gotten too far. Too many other things to learn right now. Anyway, can any of you offer up a quick easy tutorial on how to go about creating and printing your labels? I might be asking too much here but if its quick and easy, I know I for one would greatly appreciate not having to learn a new technique in Inkscape right now. Thanks for anything offered.

Ray

 

[new2woodwrk]

55 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

I noticed many of you mentioned that you print labels using Inkscape. I'm in the middle of trying to learn how to use that program but so far I haven't gotten too far. Too many other things to learn right now. Anyway, can any of you offer up a quick easy tutorial on how to go about creating and printing your labels? I might be asking too much here but if its quick and easy, I know I for one would greatly appreciate not having to learn a new technique in Inkscape right now. Thanks for anything offered.

Ray

 

If you have word it may be easier to use that instead of learning a new product while trying to learn the saw at the same time

Word, has wizard  you can use. Depending on which version of word you have, put a sheet of labels in your printer, select the label size in the wizard, enter your text and print - save the layout for the next set of labels

Aside from that you can get an inexpensive label maker from amazon

[tomsteve]

organize blades??? ya cant just put em in a pile and know which ones which by feel????

me neither.

one thing i suggest whichever one ya build:

if the blade storage isnt mounted down, have some tops on the tubes. i knocked mine over a few years ago, which is very similar to rockytimes. fortunately i only had about a  dozen of each of the 10 sizes/styles unwrapped, but it was still unfun sorting them.

[barb.j.enders]

I use Ziploc bags, write on the area provided and then hang with Christmas tree hooks on a rack.  May be changing when the workroom is up an running again but not sure.

 

[Gonzo]

An old ceiling tile screwed to the wall and a thumb tack to hold the blades. I cut a slit in the top of each packet.  Dirt cheap and very easy to see the selection of blades 

[crupiea]

I have like 8 tubes and use 1-2 of them. the rest are just full of blades that are rusting and get used once a year.