Messages

16

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Grrrrr

« on: November 02, 2017, 03:40:08 pm »

I'll second Tony's advice.  Slow down, take a breath.  Maybe even slow the blade speed down a bit, if it's cutting too aggressively for you to readily control.

You want to minimize applying side pressure the to the blade, as this can cause the blade to not only stray off the line, but the blade may not be cutting truly vertical.  This will be most noticeable in thick stock and could potentially spoil the piece.

Applying slight side pressure is sometimes necessary to get the blade to do what you want it to, but the focus should be on trying to feed the cut straight into blade.  You will need to develop the feel for how and when to turn the piece to follow the line.  This will come with practice.  It takes patience and some time, so don't get discouraged. 

Good luck and have fun making sawdust!

17

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Sandpaper

« on: November 02, 2017, 03:26:47 pm »

By & large, I like to do as much of the necessary sanding as possible, before cutting anything out.  For sanding bare hardwood, in preparation for a finish, I usually will start with 100 or 120 grit.  This is for wood that I've planed, to remove the milling marks.  It really depends on what the wood surface looks like when you start.  If it exhibits lots of roughness from milling or other surface defects, you may have to start with a coarser grit and work your way up to the 100/120.  From there I go to a 150 grit, then stop at 180 grit.   The objective is to progress through finer grits to minimize the scratches left by the previous grit, without trying to sand the whole way with the finest grit.

For plywood, I generally skip the 100/120 grit step.  Most plywood has been pre-sanded and if it's veneered plywood, you must be careful not to sand through the veneer.  Veneered plywood will get a light sanding with 180 grit.  Baltic Birch ply will start out with 150 and finish with 180. 

Sanding with anything finer than 180 grit may not really accomplish anything.  As long as the wood surface is smooth and scratch & blemish free, sanding with finer grits isn't really necessary.  Once you apply a film finish, you will have to do some sanding between coats to get the surface smooth anyway.  One exception to this is if I intend to  use an oil finish, such as Danish oil.  Since it doesn't develop much of a film, I may sand the bare wood to 220 or 240 grit before finishing.

18

Ask Steve a question. / Re: problem ( I Think )

« on: October 30, 2017, 02:19:01 pm »

Putting too much side pressure on the blade, while cutting, can contribute to this as well.

19

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Tolerances

« on: October 28, 2017, 02:01:25 pm »

Tolerances will vary depending on the pattern.  Some patterns are so finely detailed, or contain shapes (like letters), where much variance from the line will spoil the look.  Others are more forgiving.  Bottom line is that once you remove the pattern, no one knows exactly what the original was supposed to look like.  The only standards you need to meet are yours (or if making a gift, those of the recipient).   Practice will make it easier to follow the lines, but even the most experienced scroller will wander a bit from time to time.

20

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Angle

« on: October 26, 2017, 01:37:49 pm »

Several manufacturers of saws also offer stands for them.  Most of the time, these stands are designed to be able to tilt the saw forward to varying degrees, by adjusting the height of the legs. 

21

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Advice needed please

« on: October 26, 2017, 01:32:22 pm »

General rule of thumb is that the larger the number of the blade, the bigger it is, the fewer teeth per inch (TPI) is has and the more aggressive it will cut.  Large size blades are generally used for cutting patterns without a lot of fine detail, out of thick, hard wood.  The smaller the number, the smaller the blade, the more TPI and the slower it will cut.  Cutting patterns with a lot of fine, delicate detail, out of very thin wood requires the control of a very small blade.  Everything else is kinda in-between.

Blades also come in several different styles.  The most popular ones are reverse tooth blades for general fretwork, spiral blades for portraits and projects that are too large to spin, within your saw's depth capacity and skip tooth blades that are best suited for thick wood, where a little tear out on the back of the wood is not problematic.  The websites of blade suppliers usually have general recommendations, describing what the blade is best suited for.  That gets you started.  After that, it's all about personal preference that is generated via experience.

22

Ask Steve a question. / Re: Wood

« on: October 26, 2017, 01:22:21 pm »

Most commercially available patterns will suggest the size and thickness of wood needed.  The species is up to you.  Baltic birch ply is a very versatile and relatively affordable alternative, but it lacks the beauty and character of solid hardwood.  If you are looking at using solid wood, then choose the species that offers the appearance you desire.  Natural hardwoods come in a variety of colors, shades and grain patterns, so use them to your advantage to make the piece as visually appealing as possible.

Provided you have no allergies, then just about any wood can be utilized.  Some folks scavenge wood off of old pieces of furniture, shipping crates and pallets.  Cabinet shops generate a load of scraps that sometimes can he bad for the asking.  Cut what is available to you and affordable.  That said, the ease of cutting the wood is also a major factor.  Some hardwoods are extremely dense and hard to cut, especially imported exotic species like bloodwood purpleheart, etc.  Most North American hardwoods aren't quite as hard, but it's good to know their relative hardness rating to judge how difficult they may be to scroll.  Google the term "Janka scale" and you can find charts on-line that will tell you how hard each species of wood is.  I don't know what is available to you locally, but if you are ordering lumber on-line, from a place such as Ocooch Hardwoods, you will have a variety of species to pick from. 

23

Introduce Yourself. / Re: Staining Baltic Birch

« on: September 01, 2017, 09:46:46 am »

If you were to stain a large, flat piece of BB ply with a pigment stain, such as Minwax, you would very likely see variations in absorption across the piece, which is often referred to as "blotching".  This is because Baltic birch is a fine grained wood with tight pores.  The surface does not absorb the stain evenly, so some areas will be very dark and others will look like there is hardly any stain in it at all.

On smaller pieces or pieces of fretwork, where you don't have large, contiguous surface areas, the blotching may not be all that noticeable.

You can use various pre-stain conditioners that are available, to help minimize the problem, but be aware that they will prevent the stain from absorbing as deeply as it would naturally and this will affect the final color.  You might also try a dye.  Dyes can take a little practice to achieve the color you want, so I would recommend testing on some scrap BB ply first, if you go this route.

24

Tutorials, Techniques and Tips / Re: Using Mineral Oil -Does It Ever Dry?

« on: September 01, 2017, 09:33:53 am »

Mineral oil is a petroleum distillate and does not cure.  In order for oils to dry, they have to have drying agents added to their composition.  Boiled Linseed oil will dry, because it has metallic driers added to it (it isn't really "boiled" anymore).  Otherwise, pure linseed oil would never fully cure either.  I only use mineral oil on items that come into contact with food, such as cutting boards.

Some folks have reported good results using mineral oil as a finish. If mineral oil works for someone, I won't argue against them using it in their specific application, but I would suggest that this is not a good practice for all applications.  Mineral oil may cause problems if one tries to top coat it with another film finish.  As you have discovered, it can leach out of the pores of the wood for a long time after it is applied.  Mineral oil was never designed to be a wood finish.  It's primary use is as a natural laxative.  The fact that it can work on wood, in some cases, is probably more a matter of a fortunate convergence of circumstances than anything else.  I would recommend if you want to use an oil to pop the grain, that you use something specifically intended to for this purpose, such as boiled linseed oil.  But even BLO isn't really a finish, per se.  It requires a top coat of some kind to really offer any kind of protection or anything other than a dull sheen.  If you want a protective finish, then use a product designed for that purpose.  You have many good choices.

25

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Foot Switch

« on: May 29, 2017, 08:47:49 am »

I have the deadman switch.  Doing fretwork, I find that I rarely have the saw running continuously for more than a couple minutes at a time, before needing to stop anyway, so I don't have any issue with fatigue.  Used in that context, the press on/press off style would be a little awkward for me to use.  For other tools, with longer run cycles, I can see the benefits of the on/off type.

26

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Blade Help Needed

« on: April 06, 2017, 07:47:51 pm »

Possibly blade put in upside down?

You nailed it!!! :-)
Thanks to you, I looked at the package again and there is a top & bottom. I feel so stupid.
I reversed the blade and tested it in the same wood. It cut like butter! Awesome! Thank you!

Hey, don't feel bad.  I've put blades in with the teeth facing away from me before.   

27

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Coasters

« on: March 30, 2017, 02:45:45 pm »

I've been toying with the idea of making coasters and trying some of that 2 part epoxy, bar top finish.  It's a little pricey, but it's available at the Big Boxes and you can mix it in small quantities to avoid wasting it.  A buddy of mine built a bar counter and used it for a top coat.  Said it worked great.

28

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Replacement parts for Excalibur

« on: March 30, 2017, 02:33:20 pm »

This is at least encouraging.  I bought an EX-21 a little over a year ago, with the intention that it would be the last scroll saw I should ever need.  Once I heard that they were being discontinued, I fretted (pun intended) over the long term viability of my new saw.  Perhaps I made a big mistake not going with a Hegner or a Hawk?  I know Ray is focused on customer service and it stands to reason that he wouldn't leave thousands of loyal EX customers out in the cold, but still I'm not happy about the situation with the EX.  The fact that the Seyco uses many of the same parts is good....for the time being.  Invariably there will be changes to that design and as long as he maintains backward compatibility, so that the older EX saws can be supported, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

29

Tutorials, Techniques and Tips / Re: Scroll speeds

« on: September 30, 2016, 04:23:21 pm »

I don't think there is any hard and fast rule.  I often change speeds during a cut, so it's all about what you are comfortable with.  Material, pattern, blade & feed rate are all variables that will affect how fast you will want to run the saw.  I probably tend to cut slower than most and I almost never run my saw wide open.  I've been scrolling for about 20 years.

30

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Scroller

« on: September 02, 2016, 10:31:36 am »

I have to admit that I was oblivious to this practice.  I've been participating in various scrolling forums for several years and I can't recall ever seeing this mentioned before.  I've purchased patterns from some of these places, never even suspecting that they may not be original.  Given the sensitivity within the scrolling community for copyright issues, I'm amazed such a practice is permitted to continue.  How is it that something like this isn't more common knowledge, or is it common knowledge and I'm just completely clueless?