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General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Blades
« on: July 16, 2017, 05:42:38 am »
its kinda odd in a way maybe, but, I was sittin' at the saw yesterday, & this thread came to mind. I was cuttin' out some places that had a fair amount of detail, & was using a #5 skip tooth. the project is in 1/2" oak. I don't normally use that aggressive of a blade, but the places I was cuttin' had room to turn & I could get thru the project a little quicker. Then I got into some spots where the skip tooth wouldn't dance the dance, so I went to a #5 polar blade. And it does exactly what I need it to do, makes the curves ok. So far the project looks great!
I got to thinkin' a little bit about this thread some more as I kept cuttin'. I think, or feel like this is where alot of scrollers get in a bind. Maybe I'm wrong, but especially the newbies tryin' to learn this hobby. You can use say a #5 skip tooth blade on your project, but you're just not gettin' the results you want. Or you're not able to make the turns w/the skip tooth. The reason I found is the the kerf is to wide on the skip tooth blade, & if you don't have the ability to make adjustments to the saw so it will cut a sharper turn, what next?
You can still make those sharp turns, but use a smaller kerf blade, & slow your blade speed down a little. If you take a look at the #5 skip tooth & the #5 polar blade, you'll notice a difference in the width of the blade. That's the size of kerf it will cut. With a polar blade of any size, you can turn sharper & cleaner, & make a more thorough cut in your project.
Every blade has it's place, don't misunderstand, but if you're dealin' with alot of detail, & you're not havin' much luck w/a skip tooth, try a polar blade of the same size on the detail. A polar blade is a good choice for that situation. Just somethin' I was thinkin' about. Most experienced scrollers know this, but newbies don't, & sometimes a little clarification, for what it's worth, helps out. Just a thought. brad.
I got to thinkin' a little bit about this thread some more as I kept cuttin'. I think, or feel like this is where alot of scrollers get in a bind. Maybe I'm wrong, but especially the newbies tryin' to learn this hobby. You can use say a #5 skip tooth blade on your project, but you're just not gettin' the results you want. Or you're not able to make the turns w/the skip tooth. The reason I found is the the kerf is to wide on the skip tooth blade, & if you don't have the ability to make adjustments to the saw so it will cut a sharper turn, what next?
You can still make those sharp turns, but use a smaller kerf blade, & slow your blade speed down a little. If you take a look at the #5 skip tooth & the #5 polar blade, you'll notice a difference in the width of the blade. That's the size of kerf it will cut. With a polar blade of any size, you can turn sharper & cleaner, & make a more thorough cut in your project.
Every blade has it's place, don't misunderstand, but if you're dealin' with alot of detail, & you're not havin' much luck w/a skip tooth, try a polar blade of the same size on the detail. A polar blade is a good choice for that situation. Just somethin' I was thinkin' about. Most experienced scrollers know this, but newbies don't, & sometimes a little clarification, for what it's worth, helps out. Just a thought. brad.