Leaderboard

I got tired of looking at my growing collection of "scrap wood" yesterday. I sorted it all by wood type and size and started applying different patterns that I have that will fit. I'm finally going to get rid of it and make some nice stuff in the process. Ill get started after my coffee. Feel free to stop in for a cup. Pot is always on.

As usual i forgot to take a picture of the 3rd. one but next doctors appointment i'll see it again.All 3/4" plywood and i tryed different fonts in microsoftoffice word 2006 for a change.

A few tips that might help: Practice with scrap of the same thickness, and cut circles, tweaking the angle, until you get it set perfect. Biggest secret for getting these perfect is to make sure you cut without any "side pressure." Take it very very slow on the corners (the blade needs to be caught up with zero bow). Hide your entry hole in the deep area behind the wing, between the wing and the tail. With a little practice. you can put the hole right at the edge of your line, in the waste area, and drill through so that it just barely hits the the waste area on the bottom piece, but the angle has to be exact. If you can do that, there will be no visible entry hole at all. It a neat trick if you can pull it off. -----Randy

Some people are sounding offended because I said the Hawk can't cut as fast as my DeWalt.. I've never said I don't like my Hawk.. I've never said it's a piece of junk saw.. I've never stated the DeWalt is a better saw.... I don't believe I've implied anything degrading to either saw.. I like both saws VERY much for different reasons.. I've simply stated a Hawk is slower cutting saw and many of the others have agreed that they are slower less aggressive cutting.. I don't understand why it all gets taken out of context.. I've simply stated two things about the Hawk I've observed and that is.. It's slower cutting... and blades don't last as long.. While maybe I should have stated it's slower cutting for ME.. blades don't last as long for ME... which could be because I end up pushing harder on the wood as it's not chopping away as fast as I LIKE to cut.. though I do not believe that to be true simply because over the coarse of my time on message boards over the last 12 years I've observed that many others state the same exact thing.. Precision cutting? YES.. very much so compared to the other saws I've used over the years..

I'm still using walnut Veneer for the backer. It would be easier to paint black but I just can't bring myself to do it. Just don't like the look of painted wood behind a natural finished one. I'm crazy i guess. Sorry about title I don't think this is from ssv library.

I've never done in-any work before and have a question for those of you that have. I would like to use 1/4" walnut (dove) into 1/4" maple (cross). What size/type blade should I use? thanks

Hello everyone, Happy New Year to everyone. I have been away for a while and been dealing with the BIG changes coming my way on personal front (Iam going to be a single mom to a 3 year old). I was finally able to sort off finish off this project that I started as an experiment to see how it turns out. What do you think? Would this have a market?

Ha! Nice to see my topic is still alive and well as I've been focused on the ribbon cutting event for my map business. Pictures of the event from last night. Yes, I used some of my puzzles as decoration. LOL Keep the "discussion" going.

I would use a FD UR #3

FACT Mr. JT! It comes down to, imo, like I said, how much blade is runnin' in the project, & how fast the blade CAN handle the cut. The more blade cuttin' the project, the longer the blade life, which in turn means less TIME changin' blades in a production setting. BUT, like Iggy, time is money. So, why not study all the ins & outs of speedin' up his operation? Again, imo, from experience, every blade is goin' to cut different in other breeds of saws. There are other factors to look at, I think, too. Rate of feed, species of wood, thickness of material, etc. Get honest. You can beat a dead horse til it bleeds, but everybody has different saw set ups, technique, what have ya. Blade preference, tension preference, etc. But you still have to look at what the machine is designed to do. Period. Like I stated in my last post. Ya have to learn the machine. For instance, kevin, you were one hollerin' at me about pictures. I'll put some on. As soon as my sawbones says I've recouped enough from these two heart attacks to get back to my shop. But, case in point Sir, I cut my own feathers for my dream catchers. With my 26, it takes about an hour to cut a stack of 5 feathers 3/32" thick each, usin' an Olson #0 blade. With the SAME blade, same amount of feathers to cut, w/my CW - 40, I can cut them in about 45 minutes. The ones off the CW - 40 ain't as smooth cut as what the Hawk cut at the same speed. The difference, first off, the cut distance is shorter on the Hitachi, therefore usin' less blade in the project. And, it's an entry level saw. The 26, set at the same speed, cuts smoother, no breakage, & every small cut is made smooth & even. The difference, the 26 is designed for precision cuttin'. If you're a perfectionist, & I am, THAT is the main reason I own a 26. & other Hawks behind it. IMO, it is designed for perfection, not racing. As Mr. JT would say, knock yer socks off provin' to me otherwise. Were I you Sir, I would go to the drawin' board & design a saw & blades to fit your needs. My apologies if'n this ol' country boy offended ya, Sir.

Lots of nice people here to help. Great place!

John, thanks for the invitation, but I think I'll have to reject it. I have no issue with anything you stated, and I don't see any sense in banging my head up against the wall either. Len

Scrollers do not have "scrap wood". What we have is a constant diminishing demenshinol inventory. John Old Dust

This is Neptune's pattern, the moment I saw it I knew I would cut it. It's simple, thought provoking and elegant at the same time, at least I think so. This is cut from old flooring, frame in cherry. It's more challenging to cut thank it looks. Thanks Neptune! Brilliant pattern

So... although not everyone agrees, many agree the Hawk cuts less aggressively (slower) than a DeWalt. I wondered if there was some front to back blade action/movement that might explain it so I shot this quick video and the results are the exact opposite of what I expected. I thought I'd see more front to back movement with the DeWalt. Again, just something I did out of curiosity. If you click the GEARS button in the lower right corner and slow the speed down to .25 you can see it even better. And of course in full screen mode.

Try This: Link to PDF Tutorial In Inlay The site trying to be too smart and Preview the contents of any link, which may confuse some browsers, so using the forum link tool to include the link explicitly seems to work more like what I intended.

Alright Kevin, I have popcorn in one hand and a beer in other, waiting, RJ

Jim Finn is the local inlay expert, you can also ask him if needed, RJ

congradulations on your new business, hope all goes well, RJ PS are they the sissors you use to cut your patterns

I'll have a cup of Earl Grey before you start. Roly

Good for you for cleaning up your piles. It is nice to be able to clean up and actually use all of those bits we save.

I think critical critiques of the saws may be a no win. I personally love critical assessments, but candid conversations are hard to have in the forums without a lot of emotion. I love all my saws for different reasons, but if someone came on the forum and said: 788s/Deltas are nice but for some work are over aggressive and seem to wear out with less hours than the higher end saws. The EX/Clones are great, but the dust collection system sucks, the clamps easily strip, and the stability of the patents holders and the manufacturing companies making them are questionable Jet seems promising, but the top clamps may need tweaking if you change blade sizes radically, or if you want to top feed, you can forget it. Hegners are Awesome, unless you prefer top feeding, a big table, aggressive cutting, affordability. You can use as a clamp firing rifle. Hawks are exceptional, except the Owners don't run their company like a business, the adjustments are tricky, and the clamps swing, and the aggression settings change the angle of the blade making the higher aggressive settings useless for puzzle type applications Ryobi, Harbor Freight, Wen (and all the saws that look like them have bottom clamps that are incredibly inaccessible) and are tools evidently designed for torture. Proxxon sure is pretty, but the 115 model specifically is more useless than stuff used to add nutrients to my garden. CW40, Rexon, PCB 370, Craftsman, Tradesmen, and all the saws that look like the CW40 are great beginner saws, except they wear like a 788, are bottom feed only, and the dust collection panel has to be removed in order to easily access the bottom clamp, and has a table almost as small as the Hegner. Eclipse may be the best saw ever, except changing blades seems a little clumsy, it was very very expensive, and it seems to have died with Ernie. ......if someone were to actually say that . . . wholly Molly would that be bad. :-) I actually love and appreciate most of those saws, (except Proxxon and Ryobi/clones, which I got rid of, and hate without out bounds). -----Randy

Finished this up today. A pretty easy and quick cut. 1/4 butternut over 1/2 walnut. Spray poly finish.

Was a nice day yesterday so I managed to cut a couple of puzzles from Iggy

this is about 5% of what i have stashed. time to clear house! i did manage to get my camera out and figure it out. it takes mucho better pics.

Hi good people! My name is pedro aka by Pabreu, some of you maybe remember of me My life has change and I have less time for Scroll... These are the two last portraits that I have done for my fellows firefighters retirement. Did the pattern and the cut with spiral blades. Hope you enjoy, best Regards, Pedro

Thanks frank,i can't wait to finish in ssv so i can lay on the small heating pad.

Thank Roly ,I thought you'd like a nameless post from me,lol

Well along time ago when i joined SSV,They assured mwe that once bitten my the scroll bug ,That the only cure was to keep Scrolling.After wearing out a dozen chinese saws,And 10- dewalts,i don't think i got cured yet,lol

Thank you for posting the photo and video. I have never seen any scroll saws besides the Hawks I have. So I have been curious after this discussion.

What photos are they??? If this is what you are asking. This topic came up before and I tried to find the thread. To fix the aggressiveness of the Dewat there are 2 methods. This was mine. There is a method that moves I believe the upper blade clamping system. This is that video.

Ha, Ha. That's a good one!

JT, I'd like to see those photos.

That looks great like it both ways painted and unpainted. Thanks for posting it for us to see jim penquin

Better than a video Iggy, because it is so hard to tell at least for me even at low speeds to see any difference, to use a machinist square. There are 2 ways to make sure your blade is cutting at it optimist. I am sure you and most scrollers are familiar with those methods. The first is to make sure the table is referenced 90 degrees to the blade. Not that the table is level. Take a straight edge and place against the back edge of the blade on each side of the blade after you installed a blade in the clamps. I like to use a small machinist square for this. There should be no spacing between the blade and square on both sides. You need to just kiss the side of the blade because any pushing of the blade throws off the test. You adjust the table left or right till you get it perfect. Now the blade is trued to the table and your cuts should be straight up and down. You could also use the cutting test where you cut a slot and then reverse the wood to the back of the blade and it should slip into slot easily. If not adjustments are needed. The next test is to see the forward and backward motion of said blade. This is done with the same square set at the back of the blade. As you by hand push the arm up and down you will observe the travel of the blade from its top stroke position to bottom stroke position. The ideal position is to have the same amount of gap at both the top and bottom of the stroke with the center part of the stroke having the blade flat against the blade. This test will give you a better view of your saws blade travels and you can see how aggressive it cuts. If more gap at the top stroke then it is set for more aggressive cutting. Again this all depends how you install the blade in the clamp. I like to bottom out my blade at all times so I know it is the same for every blade. Some saws allow you to set the blade a little forward in the clamp and this will allow more aggressive cutting. When I got my Dewalt I wanted my saw to cut as perfect straight up and down as possible. I showed the photo here before of how I had to adjust the back end of the table to allow this. Back then Dewalt saws were known for their aggressive cutting action because the top of the blade was a larger gap than at the bottom of the stroke. The RBI has ways that this can be accomplished too. But for me I like to be straight up and down. Maybe this is why I do not see the speed difference in the 2 saws. I can post that photo again if someone is interested.

Great work! Thank you for sharing

Thanks Troy. I'm not a coffee drinker but some company and conversation is a good start to the day. We are finally warming up here in SW Ohio.

I don't own a Dewalt but I do own an older Hawk and your findings support what I also discovered. I found that when I went to push against the back of the blade to rotate the work, the work wanted to move back and forth more than I was expecting.

Sam, I generally make my own frames, but if it's a real special cutting I will buy a new frame or use one of the ones I bought from a yard sale. You can buy wood already shaped for framing, all you have to do is cut it to fit the project. Or, you could use just regular pine or poplar, and make your own frame If you go that way, you can make the frame as fancy or plane as you want. I buy a lot of frames from yard sales, it doesn't matter what the frame holds as I'm only interested in the frame itself. I hope this helps, now start yard sailing looking for frames. It'll save you some money, and you never know what else you might find that's interesting. Len

Hello Fireball, welcome to the site. I'll give my answers to your questions, I think I might do things a bit different then all the others. On #1, If I use plywood for a project, I always frame the item. On #2, You don't have to, but it is advisable too. On #3, Now here's where I'm a bit different then the others, No, you don't have to start in the middle, it is advisable to cut the most difficult part first. I read this in one of the scroller mags, they suggest you cut the most difficult part first, The reason for doing it this way, is because it's the part your most likely to screw up. And by cutting it first, you will learn if you want to complete the cutting or save the leftover piece of wood. When cutting this part first, it's the only portion you drill out. Because if you frig up, you don't have a bunch of holes stuck in a piece of leftover wood. So you could use the piece of wood for something else, you would only lose the portion you drilled out. On #4, I have no answer for you, I'm not familiar with the Pozsgai thing. And in your next posting, I have no answer for you there either, I have never tried cutting what your asking about. Len

Iggy, can't you adjust the tilt to the blade on these saws? I know you can on the Dewalt, but I'm not to sure about the Hawk. So how you have your saw set could make a difference in your findings, could it not? Plus, how you place the blade into the blade holder, could also make a bit of difference also. Plus, I knew the Dewalt was adjustable, so I wasn't real interested in the results. On saws that have the possibility of being adjusted, you can change the amount of forward motion. Have you ever adjusted your Dewalts cutting agressivness, if you have the study is of no value. So it's a moot point, you can change the saw to suit your style of cutting. I wish that when your reporting your findings, that you would include this type of information. Because for someone looking to buy a saw, might find it important. Plus, it could affect their decision making process. Len

Agreed. The more vertically compared to horizontally your blade is set, does have a bearing on blade life, speed of cut, life of the saw, even if won't cut 70 mph. One of the MAIN reasons I invested in my 26 was not to OUTRUN traffic, but to OUTDO the traffic. And, there is a difference, by all means! I've got my 26 set at such a tight vertical setting, I can make a complete 0* radi, & not cut anything more than the size of the blade, & still have adjustment to go. Which brings me to my next point. NO! as said! most of us know blades hate HEAT! This is where issues begin. Hard wood, soft wood, whatever, that blade has to dispose of the dust somehow. I've tried 70 mph blades down to speed limit blades. After so long, that blade is goin' to bust! This is, imo, where BLADE SPEED comes in. In 26 years of scrollin' & 6 saws, I'm yet to run across a project the variable speed NEEDS to run at 100%. This is where the Hawk excels. Not only in adjustments, but perfection, as I've said before. Had I've known Mr. Scott was lookin' for a saw that runs on nitrous, I'd of never suggested The Hawk to him. EVERY SINGLE SAW MADE is going to cut different, run different, sound different, adjust different. Let me put this kinda on "my" terms, ok, if you'll allow me. I drove OTR 35 years, been around trucks since I was old enough to talk like a driver. (damn young) You can go to a truck dealership, I don't care where, & look at the front of the ride. Just bcause it says Peterbilt, Kenworth, International, Freightshaker, whatever on the hood, that don't mean that's what's under that 1000 lb piece of fiberglass. It may Cat, it may Detroit, it may be Cumapart, or even somethin else. Lookin' further back, the trannies ain't built by Pete or whoever, nor is anything else, BUT, in order to make that shiny Pete run 75 mph, do you know how? do you know how to adjust brakes? on & on! Most likely not! Without LEARNING THE RIDE FIRST. KM, I can put you in a ride OFF the lot that you can't say enough bad words to keep up with traffic, but after you learn to shift, stop, & I teach you some adjustments you didn't know existed, you'll get better fuel mileage, tires last longer, & you'll grin instead of cuss. And here's the best part. Everybody else ain't goin' faster, brother, you just learned a few things about the machine you're sittin' in the pilot seat of! So see, if you just slow down long enough to learn, you can cut just as fast, just as easy, without frustration. My apologies for steppin' over the line.

I have the same Type Hegner. 1998 model. Slow setting on speed control does hesitate to a Blink, I run mine around 3/4 speed all the time. All works Great there. Advanced Machinery will be able to tell you more. I Believe in them. Had to call a time or two.............. Keep us posted..........Danny :+}

I've done the same test about a month after getting my first Hawk.. ( Just didn't video the process.. thank you for taking the time to clarify the same findings I had ) I sort of think it's more to do with the blade clamping design being able to rotate on the Hawk as opposed to the fixed / rigid position of the DeWalt.. If you put a blade in both saws.. get a board and with the saw off.. push against the blade with some firm but moderate pressure.. You'll find the Hawk saw has more flex to the blade.. While i don't think this is the total reason for the saw being less aggressive and slower cutting..

Well, I've never tried to cut any of it with my scroll saw, but I do know that it is very hard on carbide tooth, circular saw blades. I've installed enough laminate flooring to dull several blades on my compound miter saw. I'm certain you could cut this material reasonably well, but would expect that blade life would be pretty short on the scroll saw.

As a rule, it's best to start cuttin' your project from the center & work out for the simple reason of project strength. But, as stated in other posts, in cases of fret work or weak points in the project, most cut those places first & some will use blue tape to hold that part together for strength. If you cut the weaker places in your project first, be aware of it as you move the project around to cut in different places. There are a number of ways to get entry holes in the project. The size of the project, placement of entry holes, etc. Use the size of drill bit that is most sizable for the project, & ease of placement in the project w/out destroying your cut lines. You can use a blade you are comfortable with. You just have to learn how to make that blade size work for you. How that may sound to you may be backwards, but, in reality, as some have said, you have to figure out what works for you. In turn, there is really no reason to take your blade out of both holders. You can feed your blade either way. I do all my finish sanding before I put the project on wood. I very seldom frame my finished projects, unless customer requested. After I'm done cuttin', I run a palm sander w/220 grit over the project, then spray 2 - 3 coats of lacquer over it, then spray 2 coats of Watco Clear coat over it, & call it done. Your flooring issue, I'm sure others will jump in. hope my .02 pennies worth helps.

Okay, got it done today. I think my son will be happy. He spoke for it and he is more important to me than a Friends of the NRA banquet. Not much more important,,,, but a little.

Welcome to the village. There is a wealth of information here and you will find a bunch of very helpful, friendly people as well.

Wow guys thanks for the answers! Lots of different ideas to think over and put in practice. I have a Dayton 16” variable speed. It seems like it’s doing a good job for now. I would really like one that the upper arm folds out of the way now that I know that exists lol. Any ideas on the vinyl click together flooring?