My story

[Eplfan2011]

I'm 60 this year, as long as I can remember I've always butchered wood in some form, from rough carpentery to fine furniture.

A few years ago I started having pain in my ankle and eventually was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, eventually I lost the leg below the knee. I've recovered ( Cancer free now) and have a bionic leg walking is fine but standing still is still a little tiring and painful after a while.
Thus my wood butchering has suffered, I've wanted to give scrolling a try for a few years now and now seems the perfect time to start.
If you've read my introduction post you will already know that I picked up a half decent saw (which needed a few parts that I received today)
And a comfy chair , most important
I'm looking forward to my new adventure and sharing it with you fine people, more like bugging you with stupid questions  

any tips and tricks for a new guy appreciated

Edited August 11, 2022 by Eplfan2011

[OCtoolguy]

Only dumb question is the one not asked. I heard that somewhere. Believe me, I'm 7-8 years in and still asking "dumb" questions. So ask away. Generally the first one is "what blades do I use" or "who makes the best blades"? Ready, set, go.

[Eplfan2011]

4 minutes ago, OCtoolguy said:

"what blades do I use" or "who makes the best blades"? Ready, set, go.

I've done my homework..lots of websites and you tube videos 

Amazon was my friend and supplied me with 5 dozen reverse tooth assorted sizes, same for spiral and skiptooth, I went for flying Dutchman... Oh I got a few modified geometry too.

I'll try them out see what size and style suit me best ....

Believe me my questions will be randomly stupid for example..... I've seen lots of people cutting ply as opposed to solid wood, why ? 

[meflick]

Glad to hear after your cancer battle, that you won and moving into new adventures. Enjoy the new saw and chair. As Ray said, no dumb questions. Ask as you need. Show us your work as you complete them. We like photos.  As far as blades, each type serve different purposes depending on type of scrol project as well as what you like to cut with. 
One of our members here in the Village, @Denny Knappen sells Pegas blades and offers good pricing and also sample packs I believe so you may want to reach out to him at some point and get some of those. I’ve tagged him in this post so he will probably reply at some point in the next day or so next time he is online.

[OCtoolguy]

1 hour ago, Eplfan2011 said:

I've done my homework..lots of websites and you tube videos 

Amazon was my friend and supplied me with 5 dozen reverse tooth assorted sizes, same for spiral and skiptooth, I went for flying Dutchman... Oh I got a few modified geometry too.

I'll try them out see what size and style suit me best ....

Believe me my questions will be randomly stupid for example..... I've seen lots of people cutting ply as opposed to solid wood, why ? 

Hook up with Denny Kneppan here on the Village. He sells the Pegas brand of blades. Many of us prefer them. I'm not sure he has a "sample pack" but I'm sure he can help you out and his prices are the best. Shipping too. Artcraftersonline.com is his website.

 

[kmmcrafts]

Welcome to the village, glad to hear you beat the cancer and getting into the scroll saw side of woodwork. I've been scroll sawing since around 2005 and I still ask questions. Scroll sawing has sooo many different types of projects but not so much always the project types but even material types.. then there is always "other" aspects to discuss such as finishing etc..

To answer your question about plywood.. when using thin stock plywood is more stable.. also sometimes hard to source large enough solid hardwood thin pieces for cutting large pictures such as maybe 16 x 20 inch etc.. unless you do a glue up etc.. gluing thin boards can be challenging and you'd need a big planer to plane down a glue up.. plywood fills that gap easily but I think the primary reason is the stability. Most use Baltic Birch as it is a really solid strong plywood with no voids etc.  

Denny has sample packs. I'll post a link to them, posting links helps his sight get higher rank in google searches so anytime one ask.. I mention him but I also try to put a link as they build traffic to a site much better and faster. 

https://www.artcraftersonline.com/search-results?q=sample+pack

[John B]

G'day Colin,
Another supplier you should also have a look at is "Wooden Teddy Bear". They not only sell blades (Flying Dutchman and Olson) but a variety of hardware suitable for scrolling, not to mention thousands of patterns. I can only vouch for my experience, but they are always quick and reasonable, keeping in mind they send from the US to Aust.
The Wooden Teddy Bear

[Dak0ta52]

Glad you are now Cancer free. Like Ray said, the only dumb question is the one you don't ask. The guys and gals on this forum are fantastic and are eager to offer help or advice. When I first start scrolling, I also purchased the sample pack from Flying Dutchman. When someone posts one of their finished "Brags" on this sit they often credit the pattern maker as well as providing the type of wood used, finishing procedures and the blade they used. I noticed that the Pegas blade seemed to be the blade of choice by a lot of users. Now I exclusively use the Pegas blades. There is a size charts available that tell you what size blade to use with what thickness of wood. I tend to stay on the minimum side of what is required because I like to make the sharp angles where needed in my projects. When I first started scrolling I thought I would never use a spiral blade. After cutting my first piece trying the spiral, I have made them my "go to" blade. It's a little tricky starting out and getting use to them, but once you do, you'll love using them. When I'm cutting patterns with a lot of letters or straight lines, I'm almost certainly got a #2/0 Pegas MGT blade in the saw. Ray also pointed out that Denny Kneppan is a member of this forum and a dealer for Pegas blades as well as other scroll saw items. (Pegas Scroll Saw (artcraftersonline.com) You'll also find that Denny's customer service cannot be beat.

I might suggest starting with a few simple patterns. Steve Good has a catalog with several thousand patterns and a lot of them are easy to cut. (Scroll Saw Workshop Catalog (stevedgood.com) When you get the hang of things, jump on over to the pattern library on this site and check out some of the patterns there. You'll find they get a lot more complicated with a lot more fretwork. Also, you'll find that letters can be a little tricky. Just take you time, and by all means, enjoy scrolling!

[Foxfold]

I too would like to wish you continuing good health. Feel free to ask any question here in the village. These good people are the reason I continue scrolling. Nothing is ever too much trouble and they share their collective knowledge freely. I went from simple silhouettes to complex fretwork with the help given on this site.  As @Dak0ta52says,,        Steve Good is a good place to start, or put 'silhouette' after the name of what you fancy cutting ie.  ( witch silhouette) into your search engine.    Enjoy !!

Edited August 11, 2022 by Foxfold

[daveww1]

looking forward to seeing some of your work

[Scrappile]

Welcome aboard.  Scrolling can become addictive so be carful.  There are lots of patterns right here in the village.. Check out the pattern library.

[rjweb]

Welcome to the forum, you will get hooked, RJ