Cutting 3/4" White Oak

[HereToScroll]

Hello everybody,

I picked up a white oak board yesterday that's 3/4" thick. I've gotten through some of it but when cutting it seems my saw doesn't want to bite into it, and I feel like I'm forcing the wood which isn't supposed to be happening by all advice. Admittedly this is my first time cutting anything other than plywood so I figure it's just my inexperience with cutting a hard wood.

I've got my saw going pretty slow (about half speed) and I've used 2/0 and 3 size Flying Dutchman blades and 10 TPI Olson (41201) blades. Turns are pretty difficult to do with the smaller blades, too.

Can anyone shed some light on what I might be doing wrong? I can power through it but if I can correct something I'm doing wrong now I'd much prefer to do it right.

 

Also, the board I picked out had a split through most of it (D'oh!) but the part I'm using isn't all the way through. I will likely need to do a butterfly joint to keep it together securely. Any tips for doing this or maybe a neat pattern-alternative to the bow-tie shape to do this would also be much appreciated!

Thanks,

-Chris

[ike]

on white oak i always use a #5 or #7 blade dependidng what I am makeing.

IKE

[HereToScroll]

Thank you Ike! I'll give the #5 and #7 blades a try. They're the ultra-reverse toothed blades, for reference.

Attached are pictures of what I'm cutting out and the splits on the ends of my board. Next will be the name letters under the wood, so hopefully the 5 and 7 will work wonders for me. The splits are where the black sharpie marks are at top and bottom of the project. 

I'm thinking I'll need to get the butterfly joints in before I cut away the majority of the waste, or would I be ok to do it after? I guess let it split then cut out the halves of the butterflies separately? I'll need to watch some youtubes to do figure out how to get them snug.

[NC Scroller]

I cut red and white oak all the time.  White oak is much harder then red oak.  You will find Pegas Modified Geometry a more aggressive blade and better suited for 3/4" white oak.  Like Ike said I would not go smaller then a #5.

[tomsteve]

along with the 5 or 7 blades,ya might have to turn the saw speed up,too

[JimErn]

As well as the #5 blade mentioned, bring the speed up to 3/4 minimum, feed at the same rate, that allows the blade to move up and down more times per mm of cut clearing out the waste

[orangeman]

Scott is absolutely correct! And I would not go to the #7 Pegas mg blade if you want to do tight turns. And be sure to lubricate the blade with packaging tape on the wood.

[Sycamore67]

I would use a #5 or #7 skip tooth blade like the FD Polar blade.  The teeth on the ultra reverse are small compared to the Polar skip tooth.  White and Red Oak are just more difficult to cut.

[OCtoolguy]

5 hours ago, orangeman said:

Scott is absolutely correct! And I would not go to the #7 Pegas mg blade if you want to do tight turns. And be sure to lubricate the blade with packaging tape on the wood.

I was wondering about lubrication. I bought a saw and it came with a bunch of blades and big stick of wax that is labeled scroll saw blade lube. Any thoughts on this stuff? I've not used it yet and was afraid it might harm the possibility of finishing in some way.

[Sycamore67]

Some people swear by lubricant and others don't.  Tape may help but personally I don't think so.

I will not use a lubricant as I doubt the effectiveness and do not want finishing issues.

But....others will differ.

[Jim McDonald]

I had stick of that stuff when I first started, but my thoughts are it will wear off faster than the time it took to apply.

Gave mine to a bandsaw friend who made a bracket to apply it. (Or so he said)

[Rockytime]

I'm cutting 1/2" red oak with a #1 pmg blade. Only time I used wax was when cutting brass with a metal blade.

[NC Scroller]

4 hours ago, octoolguy said:

I was wondering about lubrication. I bought a saw and it came with a bunch of blades and big stick of wax that is labeled scroll saw blade lube. Any thoughts on this stuff? I've not used it yet and was afraid it might harm the possibility of finishing in some way.

Wax WILL EFFECT many finishes.  IT WILL EFFECT any glue up you happen to do.  

[OCtoolguy]

1 minute ago, NC Scroller said:

Wax WILL EFFECT many finishes.  IT WILL EFFECT any glue up you happen to do.  

But, if you have no plans on gluing or finishing, does the wax help or is it conjecture?

 

[Bill WIlson]

I suspect that it is conjecture.  Scroll saw blades are so thin that there is very little surface contact with the wood.  I would imagine that any wax that is on the blade will quickly wear off, so you would have to hold the wax to the blade the entire time it is cutting.  Wax is often used on bandsaw blades, when cutting metal, but they move so much slower and there is a lot more surface area to hold the wax.  

[Wilson142]

1 hour ago, Bill WIlson said:

I suspect that it is conjecture.  Scroll saw blades are so thin that there is very little surface contact with the wood.  I would imagine that any wax that is on the blade will quickly wear off, so you would have to hold the wax to the blade the entire time it is cutting.  Wax is often used on bandsaw blades, when cutting metal, but they move so much slower and there is a lot more surface area to hold the wax.  

34 Years in the metals service industry, I never saw any wax being used on our bandsaw blades. The Do-alls ran an oil based lubricant and the bandsaws we used for up to 6" thick aluminum  shapes and circles ran the same type of coolant that our large plate saws ran. Maybe wax is used on smaller machines. Doesn't seem like it would be very effective for any length of time and I think Osha may frown on applying wax on a running saw blade.

[Bill WIlson]

Yes, the machine shop, where I work, has smaller upright bandsaws, cutting primarily aluminum sheet stock.  We do have a horizontal band/cutoff saw that uses a continuous liquid lube bath, when the blade is running.  They cut several different metals on that.

[OCtoolguy]

4 hours ago, Wilson142 said:

34 Years in the metals service industry, I never saw any wax being used on our bandsaw blades. The Do-alls ran an oil based lubricant and the bandsaws we used for up to 6" thick aluminum  shapes and circles ran the same type of coolant that our large plate saws ran. Maybe wax is used on smaller machines. Doesn't seem like it would be very effective for any length of time and I think Osha may frown on applying wax on a running saw blade.

I agree. But we are talking about wood cutting saws here. I can see using wax on a bandsaw for cutting wood as it's in contact with the wood much less time and also the wax might stay a while on the guide blocks too. I guess it's just another way to sell something to the scroller. Much like fishing lures are designed to catch the fisherman more than the fish. I once saw a device for "sharpening" golf tees. I imagine that they sold some because a true golfer will buy anything related to the game.

 

 

[Wilson142]

20 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

I agree. But we are talking about wood cutting saws here. I can see using wax on a bandsaw for cutting wood as it's in contact with the wood much less time and also the wax might stay a while on the guide blocks too. I guess it's just another way to sell something to the scroller. Much like fishing lures are designed to catch the fisherman more than the fish. I once saw a device for "sharpening" golf tees. I imagine that they sold some because a true golfer will buy anything related to the game.

 

 

Oh, OK

[amazingkevin]

On 11/3/2019 at 8:02 AM, HereToScroll said:

Hello everybody,

I picked up a white oak board yesterday that's 3/4" thick. I've gotten through some of it but when cutting it seems my saw doesn't want to bite into it, and I feel like I'm forcing the wood which isn't supposed to be happening by all advice. Admittedly this is my first time cutting anything other than plywood so I figure it's just my inexperience with cutting a hard wood.

I've got my saw going pretty slow (about half speed) and I've used 2/0 and 3 size Flying Dutchman blades and 10 TPI Olson (41201) blades. Turns are pretty difficult to do with the smaller blades, too.

Can anyone shed some light on what I might be doing wrong? I can power through it but if I can correct something I'm doing wrong now I'd much prefer to do it right.

 

Also, the board I picked out had a split through most of it (D'oh!) but the part I'm using isn't all the way through. I will likely need to do a butterfly joint to keep it together securely. Any tips for doing this or maybe a neat pattern-alternative to the bow-tie shape to do this would also be much appreciated!

Thanks,

-Chris

I use #9 blades I with a 1/16" he hasn't on 3/4"