Scroll Saw Blades

[Grayo]

Apologies to all, I know this has been answered a 1000 times but I've spent the last couple of hours searching through past posts and now my head spinning out of control.

The question is I want to try scrolling names and words into 15/18mm MDF and I'm trying to find the best blade which will leave a good finish on the MDF. After reading a lot of the post the best place to get the blades seems to be Mike's Workshop in the US but there are so many different blade's I'm at a loss so I thought I'd best ask the question.

Also the benefits of pinned or pin less.

many thanks

Graham

 

[scrimper]

Nowadays I always use the reverse tooth blades, I have a stock of all available sizes from 00 - 9, I do have stocks of regular blades but rarely use them now.
The reverse tooth blade helps prevent splintering at the bottom of the work and leaves a finish that needs little sanding.

Not much point using pinned blades unless you have a saw that won't take normal fretsaw blades, pinned type blades are hopeless for fin pierced work.

 

[Grayo]

Hi Scrimper,

Thanks very much for your reply very helpful.

Graham

 

[M P Hales]

if you pm your address I'll send you a couple each of NO's 1,3 and 5 of the blades from Mikes Workshop for you to try.
In my opinion the best blades you can get

Martin

 

[Grayo]

Hi Martin,

Thank you very much for your kind offer. PM on it's way.

Regards

Graham

 

[M P Hales]

No problem
Have had lots of help and ideas from people on this forum.
Seems only fair to pass on the goodwill to somebody else.
Martin

 

[scrimper]

if you pm your address I'll send you a couple each of NO's 1,3 and 5 of the blades from Mikes Workshop for you to try.
In my opinion the best blades you can get

Martin

That is a very kind and generous offer Martin.

 

[Chippygeoff]

Although I do not cut MDF anymore I used to cut loads of it at one time. I use the flying dutchman ultra reverse blades and you will find numver 5s and 7s will be good for what you want. They will leave very smooth sides and very little fuzzy's on the underside. I use the 7s to cut out the main shape and the 5s are good for any internal cuts.

 

[Jmac80]

Sorry to hijack. What fd blade would be good for ply at say 12mm and pine about 20mm or so? Cutting names out etc.

Thanks

 

[Grayo]

Hi,

If you look at the post above your's from chippygeoff and the others they all point towards the flying dutchman ultra reverse blades 3's 5's and 7's from Mikes Workshop: http://www.mikesworkshop.com/

HTH

Graham

 

[scrimper]

Sorry to hijack. What fd blade would be good for ply at say 12mm and pine about 20mm or so? Cutting names out etc.

Thanks

Can I just say that I have used the Niqua Reverse tooth blades for many years and always found them very good, I have recently been using the FD blades but in fairness I have not noticed any real difference in cutting or otherwise, the advantage of the FD blades is that they are available in a better range of sizes.

Hobbies sell reverse tooth blades at £2.00 per dozen but only in sizes 5, 7, and 9.
http://www.alwayshobbies.com/brands/niqua

I have also bought reverse tooth blades via Hegner and found them to be excellent too.

I did try the Olson blades which are said to be the best quality but I never found any difference with them if I am honest, except they were bright and shiny but soon went rusty in storage .

 

[finneyb]

I found this site helped my thinking when deciding which blade to use http://2woodworkingwomen.com/scroll-saw ... lade-5.asp

Brian

 

[Chippygeoff]

Over many years of scroll saw work I have cut most materials and have tried most of the blades available. I wanted to try all the various blades and at the time made notes. Overall I found a reverse toothed blade to be about the best. When cutting thin material like 6mm ply or MDF basically any blade will do the job and a number 3 blade will be fine but then again it depends on what you are making. I make a lot of name signs and a lot of them are made where the letters are incorparated with a base. The base has to be nice and straight so I would use a 5 blade for the thinner materials to get a perfectly straight line.

I also make a lot of plaques round about 11 inches long and the hardwood is 3/4 thick. I made 6 of these yesterday. Cutting the long straight lines of the rectangular blank I used a 7 blade, this gives me a perfectly straight edge without the need for me to use the belt sander. For most of the internal cuts I used a 5 blade, this allowed me to get nice sharp corners with the cut outs. On the same plaques I have some small writing and a five blade would have been to big so I used a 3 blade. These are the three blades I use for most of my scroll saw work, 3s, 5s, and 7s.

When someone starts scroll saw work they are probably like me when I first started and will try many different things and when they are comfortable with a technique or a type of blade they will tend to stick with it. I know one guy who will never change from Niqua blades, its what he started out with and they do what he wants. For me and for what I do I find the FD-UR bl;ades to be a lot better. Everyone will have their own preferences and their own style and thats great, its what your happy with that counts. I along with many other scrollers can only give opinions based on our own experiences and what works for us.

 

[Grayo]

That's a great explanation Geoff many thanks

 

[Grayo]

Hi Martin.

Just to let you know the blades arrived this morning in the post. Many thanks it's much appreciated.

Regards

Graham

 

[M P Hales]

Hi Martin.

Just to let you know the blades arrived this morning in the post. Many thanks it's much appreciated.

Regards

Graham

No problem , hope all goes well

Martin

 

[Grayo]

Hi Martin.

Just to let you know the blades arrived this morning in the post. Many thanks it's much appreciated.

Regards

Graham

No problem , hope all goes well

Martin

Thanks Martin, Just got to wait for the machine to arrive now. I first ordered a Scheppach's Woodstar SD16 from Screwfix but after reading a few reviews on the machine decided to cancel that order and go for the Screwfix brand Erbauer ERB110SSW instead which seems to have very good reviews for a cheap scroll saw. I didn't want to spent to much money as this is my first scroll saw so we'll see how I get on and if it works out I'll invest in a better machine later.

Thanks

Graham