mcmike Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 Greetings to all, This is my first post so here we go. I got back into woodworking 6+ years ago after I retired. After doing the fix up the house thing, ( bath room vanity, chair rail moldings and kitchen cabinets ), I settled on making musical instruments ( I played country rock in bars for 25+ years ). I make ukulele’s, which my wife plays, dulcimers, banjo guitars, mandolin guitars, and lap steel guitars. I have a VERY complete shop, but until now no scroll saw. After reading tons of posts on this site I purchased a used dw788. For my instruments I want to use it to make bridges that are more decorative, not just rectangular, and for some open work on the head stock. Instrument building has a lot of “down timeâ€, waiting for glue to dry so I make segmented bowls, band saw boxes, canes, and tons of picture frames ( my brother is an artist ). Now here is where I need your help! Blades ? The bridges are ¼ to 3/8 hardwood, the head stocks are ½ to 5/8 . I would like to make my segmented bowls on the scroll saw. I use ¾ to 1†hardwood. I also have many 5/32 spruce 1/4 sawn pieces leftover from the sound boards. Is this good for the fretwork and pattern work I see on this site, if so what blades do I use? I see Mike sells FD blades and I will get them from him. Next WOOD, for pattern work, fretwork what do you all use. Any and all help is greatly appreciated and remember, I have not used a scroll saw since senior year high school shop I am sooooo glad I found this site Thanks mcmike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Messman Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 mcmike, First off we are so glade you found us here at the village, make sure you show off your work cause we all sure would love to see it. Now to the questions I can answer for you. What kind of wood to use for fret work? Well the answer is what ever kind you want to use. I prefer to use 1/4" stock for my portraits, this can be plywood or solid, the choice is yours. Blades...Mike is a great individual to get blades from and he knows his product and has great customer service. I believe he has on his site a which blade page that will answer most of your questions. I use, almost always, spiral blades and since I dont do much in the way of stack cutting I have never really paid much attention to blade issue like alot of folks have, if it is small enough to get the detail I want I use it (I know not really the right way to do it) I have always wanted to make a guitar for my son and would love to hear more about how you go about doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amazingkevin Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 Hello Chris,welcome to ssv(scrollsawvillage!).I've been here 3 years and can't live a day with out comeing here to see what i've missed.So much to learn and so much fun to have!Everyone helps everyone the best we can. you'll find that you'll get more than 1 answer that works for a question you have on you new hobby.I see your a handyman around the home.The scroll saw will help you spruce it up lot's of ways!Interesting you fix and make instruments.You'll come up with real fancy scroll work to make a one of a kind designs for the face of them.Good choice on the dw788.I 'd like to make a bridge for my banjo and heard you can lower the tone a full octave by doing so!There's so many idea's and free patterns here at your disposal.Open your own user gallery and save what you find for a later date and store photo's, of your work for us to see. click on a user's name in the gallery to see all they have done.I like thin wood as there's less saw dust to deal with but for word art i like 3/4 anything.Of course the harder the wood the longer it'll take to cut.Reverse blades leave a clean edge top and bottom on your work so there's less sanding.Check out all you can here on all pages to see the ton of stuff thats available to you.Got questions just ask ! Welcome my friend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firedkm Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 Welcome to the Village McMike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clayton717 Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 Welcome to the village. For my fretwork I use 1/8" - 1/4" baltic birch usually. some things I've cut from thin hardwoods as well. It depends on what you want to use and what is available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastchance Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolbeltman Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 Welcome Chris...glad you found us....can hardly wait to see some of your work....there's a very helpful bunch of scrollers here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagledrum70 Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 Glad to have you on the village mcmike enjoy and please do share your projects we would love to them . Eagledrum70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WigWag Workshop Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 Hello and Welcome from Central Ohio. The folks here are very friendly and helpful. I am new to the hobby, and have learned a lot from the folks here. Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatie Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Hi McMike welcome to the village. Marg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oges Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Welcome to the Village Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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