Scroll saw people - am I doing something wrong?

Cafe Society
1

I know what you’re thinking, “Man, will that girl ever just pick a hobby and stick with it?” Well, no. :slight_smile: I’m waiting to get my space back for bigger-scale woodworking, so I had a sudden impulse I should have ignored and got a scroll saw.

I’m working with the “Scroll Saw Workbook”, which seems like an excellent tutorial. I’m going through the very first exercise - lines, curves, etc. My problem is, when I turn the piece, the blade twists. So when I’m trying to make a sharp angle, sometimes the teeth of the blade end up totally sideways! And they don’t really like to cut that way.

I thought it was the tension, but the book says it ought to ping when you pluck it and it does. The blade I’m using is a pin-end blade that came with the saw - I know plain ended ones are better and you need them for little stuff, but this one just came with the thing and I figured it was good enough for practice.

Is it tense enough? Is it supposed to do that? I want to be turning out decent Christmas ornaments in a couple days, here - help!

2

The blade should have enough tension on it so that it twangs like a guitar string when plucked.

The blade ends don’t make any difference, other than how they clamp in your saw. There are several different types of blades used depending on how sharp your curves are ( :wink: ). The smallest finest curves are cut with a blade that’s actually a spiral with teeth.

Take a look at the Rockler.com site for some different blade thicknesses and styles.

Good luck

3

If your twisting the blade you are going to fast or the blade is to wide for the radius. Also keep your cuts going straight into the teeth of the blade, don’t make the blade conform to the cut. A little secret to making cuts on a scroll saw easier is to drill out as much of the material before using the saw. Or use relief cuts, make straight cuts close to your cut line, as you cut the scrap will fall away as small pieces.