Newbie here from Vermont

[neal560sl]

Hi everyone!  I just found this site around two weeks ago and am amazed with the patterns Steve has online.  I am 62 and newly retired and started using the older style jigsaw on my Shopsmith to give me something to do now that cold weather has truely taken hold.  I'm very curious if there is a huge differnce between the older style jigsaw vs the newer scroll saws.

Neal

[Russ C]

Glad you found us Neal. Hi I'm Russ from Florida your local moderator. Welcome to the Scrollsaw Forum. 

[pierre62]

Welcome to the forumNeal
I am Pierre from Qu?bec, Canada.

[julief]

Hi Neal and welcome to the forum.  I'm Julie from Texas.  Glad you are here.  There is a world of difference between a jigsaw and scrollsaw.  The blades on a scrollsaw are connected on both ends because they are extremely thin for cutting fine lines.  The jigsaw blade is thick enough and sturdy enough to stand on it's own.  Even the largest scrollsaw blade is too thin to cut without being connected on both ends.  It would just bend.  Check out some of the videos on Steve's BlogSpot to get an idea.

[neal560sl]

Hi Julie,

I know what you are refering to as a jigsaw(I've always known these as a saber saw), but what I have is a Shopsmith jigsaw which was prior to their scroll saw and the blade is connected at both ends.  The difference being that the upper end of the blade is connected to a spring loaded mechanism instead of another arm which is connected to the lower arm on the scroll saw. I am just curious if they are worth the expense of replacing what I have.  I have tried to attach a picture of what I have.

Thank you,

Neal

[Rover2]

Welcome Neal.  I'm Al from TN.

[julief]

Thank you Neil.  I learned something new today.  I haven't seen a Shop Smith up close and personal in about 40 years.  I would suggest you pick a pattern and see how difficult it is to cut with what you have.  What kind of blade does it take?  Can you make a good turn on it?  I mark up patterns with a 5mil pencil.  The blades I use generally split the line.  The kerf is about the width of the pencil line.  If you blades are much wider than that, you might want to consider a separate scrollsaw.

[Charles Dearing]

Thanks for joining and glad you found us. I'm Charles (or Charlie) from good ol' Texas

[pddesertrat]

Welcome to the forum.  I have not see the Shopsmith saw before.  Does it use pinless blades?  I would think the main difference between your saw and a newer one would be most newer ones are electronically variable speed where older one were one speed or speed was changed via belt and pulley changes.  I would also assume that the newer saws have less vibration and probably run quieter that older saws, but I could be wrong and all think because I am certainly no expert.   

[Toneman]

Welcome! I am Tony,aka,Toneman from Paris, Texas.

[neal560sl]

Hi Paul,

Yes, the shopsmith jigsaw uses pinless blades and will take blades as small as what they call jeweler,s blades.  I recently purchsed an assortment package of blades from our local Lowes store that seem to work fine.  In that it is powered by the Shopsmith, it is variable speed.  It works fairly well, but just wondered if the $199.99 PorterCable at Lowes would be that much better. I wll attach some photos of my actual saw.

Thank you for the replies,

Neal

[wombatie]

Hi Neal, welcome to the forum.  I'm Marg from Australia

Marg

[pddesertrat]

Hi Paul,

Yes, the shopsmith jigsaw uses pinless blades and will take blades as small as what they call jeweler,s blades.  I recently purchsed an assortment package of blades from our local Lowes store that seem to work fine.  In that it is powered by the Shopsmith, it is variable speed.  It works fairly well, but just wondered if the $199.99 PorterCable at Lowes would be that much better. I wll attach some photos of my actual saw.

Thank you for the replies,

Neal

Sorry Neal, I really can't answer your question.  I can only give an opinion.  That being I don't see how the Porter Cable saw would be much better.  Maybe is would be easier to change blades or  something on the PC saw, I don't know how yours works, maybe the table top on the PC is larger, again I don't know.  I do hear the PC is a good saw in that price range of saws.

On Charles Dearing's "Scrolling with Charlie" show last Saturday, Steve Good said he was going to buy one and do a review on it.  He does some good reviews, might be worth waiting and seeing what he has to say.  That is going to happen sometime after the first of the year.