Which blade for large project

[Matthew Simmons]

I'd like to tackle this project from Scrollsaw Artist. It's a large (for me) village scene, with the largest layer measuring 17"x10". What's the best way to attack one of these patterns? My go to is a #1 or #5 UR, but the thought of twirling a piece of wood that large around to make all those cuts makes me nervous. How do you control a piece like that, especially on a tight turn? Is it assumed that you'll use a spiral blade for a pattern like this?

[Sycamore67]

I would figure out a way to cut parts of it at a time.

[Wichman]

You can use any blade you'd like as long as the piece will swing around the back arm of the saw. When I cut the name with a rose and ducks I was too the limit of my saws throat ( 22" ) and I still used FD Polar #1 blades .

If I were doing more of them I would use aux tables to support the piece from the sides. The hardest thing was sucking in my gut while making the turns on the ends; and I don't have a lot of gut.

here's a video of a gentleman cutting a pretty wide piece, he uses spiral blades, but at the 11:00 mark you can see the aux tables he's using:

 

 

[don in brooklin on]

Here is a cool video doing long words too.

https://youtu.be/qO00Z7hatK4?si=fJzEm43XaM41-M3u

[Matthew Simmons]

@Sycamore67 cutting in sections is quite appealing, believe me, but I'm not planning to paint the result, so I think the seams would stick out. Also I ordered a few sheets of 2'x2' plywood specifically for this project, and I have to use them for something.

@Wichman and @don in brooklin on those videos videos were quite helpful in showing me that the project can be done. Complicating matters, this build is supposed to be done with 1/8" plywood, as compared to the much thicker wood used on both videos. A Schwiboggan thread that touched on stack cutting and the Oak&Feather video's suggestion to use tape got me thinking. I want the thickness to slow down the cut and to reduce flexion, and I liked the tape idea to keep the cut parts of the project together while I worked on the rest. I might combine them. 

I'm thinking about using the large 1/8" sheet stacked on some smaller (cheaper) 1/4" plywood, held together with brads. Say the pattern is 24"x12". I'd have the 24"x12" 1/8 on top, with say three 8"x12" 1/4" sheets as the second layer. I'll leave the heads of the brad proud of the 1/8" sheet, and when I've finished the portion of the pattern that covers one of the 1/4" pieces, I'll pop the brads, move the underlying 1/4" piece by maybe an inch so support is restored, put the brads back in, and move on to the next section. This gives me the moral equivalent of the tape, but a) stronger and b) less likely to do the damage tape does to finer details in plywood. Or maybe just use tape on the 1/4" layer so I don't have to mess with the brads, as (b) doesn't matter on the bottom layer. And of course mark on top where the second layer boundaries are so I know when to expect the blade to start acting strangely.