Update on blades

[Chippygeoff]

I wrote an article on blades some time back and quite recently I have been experiencing a few anomalies with the blades I have been using. Over many years I feel that I have used most of the blades available to the scroll saw user and I also feel, without wishing to boast in any way that I get through more blades than most people. Some days I am in the workshop for 14 hours and at least 5 days a week.

Going back some time I think most of us that used FD blades had problems with the blades breaking, it just wasn’t me with a bad batch. As a result most of us stopped using them. I sent off for a selection of Olsen blades at the time, just a dozen of each type and then tried them all out over a period of time. I was quite impressed with 2 of the types I bought; the first one was the double toothed blades, easy to stay on the line and gave a very smooth finish. The other blades were the Mach Speed, I bought 5s and 7s, the 7s were brilliant, they cut 20mm hardwoods so quickly, strangely enough the 5s were not bad but not as good as the 7s. I then ordered 2 gross of 7s and 2 gross of 5s.

It was quite soon after I had placed this order that Mike from Mikes workshop retired, after all he was clocking on for 90 and it was about time he put his feet up and took life a bit easier. Mikes workshop was taken over by the Wooden Teddy Bear Company and are the main dealer in America for the Flying Dutchman blades and are also a main stockist for Olsen blades.
I really missed the FD ultra reverse blades. I had been using them for years and had got so used to them and when I switched to the Olsen blades I had to practice quite a bit on scrap wood in order to get used to the characteristics of the blades.

Going back a few months I was in contact with the Wooden Teddy Bear Company and spoke to them about the quality of the FD blades and the problems we had here in the UK. I had a conversation with a lovely lady there called Kari and she assured me that since they had taken over Mikes Workshop they had not had a single complaint about FD blades. Kari very kindly sent me a load of the FD ultra reverse blades in several sizes free of charge to try out and I have just about used them up. The 5s, ones that I use the most were absolutely brilliant, in fact I did not have a single blade break and it was a joy to be using them once again. Not quite the same could be said of the 7s, Last week I used 4 blades on a single and small internal cut out but overall they were not to bad, maybe the ones I have left are from an old batch.

I have just sent off an order for 2 gross of number 7s and 2 gross of number 5s. The main point of all of this and the conclusion I have come to is that regardless of what make of blade we use, now and again we will encounter a problem, and the most common response is that we assume we have just been unlucky with a bad batch.

I still have well over a gross of the Olsen mach speed 7s and a bit less on the mach speed 5s. The 5s are fine but it is impossible to use any of the 7s I have left and will have to bin them. The reason is that when I put a new blade in the clamps and start to cut I have to hold the wood at a very severe angle, much more than I have ever done before and it is not normal and impossible to keep the blade to the line of the pattern being cut. One of the things I just cannot get my head round is why there should be such a diverse difference in the quality when using the same blades, it’s not just FDs but all the makes I have used. I would have thought in this day and age there would be some form of quality control on the production line, where they take a blade now and again and test it in a lab and check the quality of the steel they are using.

I would imagine that blade manufacturers buy several tons of steel at a time to make their business more viable and surely they must lay down a criteria as to the quality of steel they require. I know they give the steel additional treatment to make the blades better and longer lasting but some where along the line they are doing something wrong and after many years of manufacturing I would have thought by now they would have had it down to a fine art. If my wood supplier kept sending me wood full of wood worm I would soon change my supplier.

 

[finneyb]

Geoff,

I suspect that the blades are of such low financial value to the manufacturer that they only test v intermittently.
A bit like disposable razors, and about the same cost, most are good but occasionally you get a bad one.

Brian

 

[Alexam]

That's interesting, but just as a question that has come up as a result of the statement of not having had a blade break and yet using many blades.

How often would you generally change blades? This has not been thought of by us and we just continue until the next break. Silly I know, but never thought about them getting dull!

Alex

 

[Chippygeoff]

Hi Alex. A very good question you pose. A blade will last around 20 minutes of cutting time. Obviously the blade will cut slower as it becomes dull, another sign a blade is on it's way out is when it becomes a little harder to keep the blade to the line of the pattern being cut. Sometimes though it is the wood rather than the blade that causes a problem with staying on the line. Ash is notorious for being a hard wood to cut as the texture of the wood is made up of very had lines and soft lines so when cutting Ash it's a bit like stop start or intermittent. Oak, especially kiln dreid Oak can be hard to cut as it is like steel sometimes. I get over this by adding extra layers of clear packing tape, which helps a lot. Beech is a lovely wood to cut with a nice straight grain and several other species of hardwood are very good for scrolling.

 

[Cordy]

Cheers Geoff
I'm on the look-out for Beech now

 

[Alexam]

Thanks Geoff, That amount of time is surprising and something I had never realised. That must be why blades are sold by the gross, which I have never understood. I just thought that people buying a gross of blades would be selling on to others, or want a lifetime supply. lol!

Must throw out the one we have had in for weeks................................. or could I sell it on? :roll:

 

[Chippygeoff]

Alex, you could straighten it out, give it a clean, re-sharpen it with a needle file and then flog it. Actually some people are so tight they have tried to re-sharpen their blades and one guy I know turns the gas out when he turns the bacon over. Joking apart. I can easily get through 30 blades in a days work, a good percentage of the things I make are in oak and oak is not very forgiving on blades, if the wood is not covered with a few layers of packing tape the wood will burn with the friction caused and it is not the easiest of things to sand off and very time consuming. On the other side of the coin if you are cutting pine a blade could well last a week, depending on the quality of the blade.

 

[Claymore]

........

 

[tersan]

I use olson blades as well Geoff, mainly 3s 5s and 7s i purchased mine from a supplier and they have been great apart from one batch, when i insert the blade and tighten it the end would snap off immediatly, at first i thought i must have over tightened, but it happened mainly on the number 5s, i contact the supplier and asked if anyone else had this problem, he assured me that was'nt the case and asked me to return the broken blade complete the snapped off piece, i had a lot of trouble finding it but managed to return the bits stuck to a bit of tape.He said he would contact olson and make enquiries, meantime he sent me 3 dozen of each blade 3/5/7 very decent of him, i have yet to hear back from him about the broken blades, will let you know of any update.

 

[Cordy]

Where is a good supply of clear packing tape ?

My current rolls are from the bay or Amazon but it is very thin; usually I cover pattern with 2 layers and plenty on the reverse side
For masking tape I use and like the 2 inch thick blue stuff

 

[Claymore]

.........

 

[tersan]

cordy i only ever use prit stick and 2" wide cellotape, not had problem so far

 

[tersan]

further to my last post cordy, i use 2" wide cellotape first then the pritt stick for the pattern and then cellotape again

 

[Chippygeoff]

Wilkinson's in the scroll sawers mecca. I get everything from Wilko's, why, because the things they stock I have found to be the best despite trying many other brands from various outlets over the years. I buy my masking tape from there, along with clear packagine tape, stick glue and teak oil and in the larger stores wax polish. I could use other more expensive items but there is just no point when the Wilko products work just fine and the quality is consistant. In recent weeks I have not seen any of the clear 2 inch packing tape in the 3 branches I visit on a regular basis so have had to go to the pound shops for the tape.

I will mention here about teak oil. Everything I make gets dipped in a bath of teak oil. I have a very large tupperware type plastic box and I pour the oil into this every time I have a dipping session from one of those 4 pint milk containers. When i first started applying this method I used other makes of teak oil but found that when put back into the 4 pint milk container some makes would solidify making the oil useless. I stumbled across the Wilko brand by accident and to me it is the very best and everytime I get a new stock in I buy at least 10 litres. When I have finished dipping I use a funnel to pour the oil back into the container and I normally dip around 20 items in a session, about 3 - 4 times a week.

Everything I buy from Wilko is their own brand. I also use some of their abrasives as well. They also stock Liberon finishing oil, which I also use on some of the things I make. The idea of using teak oil is to bring the beauty of the wood out. I make many things and without this treatment look uninteresting but onve they have been dipped the true colour and beauty of the wood really does come out and of course it is so much more appealing to my customers.

 

[jonluv]

Thought I had posted on this subject yesterday--- brain going!!!!

I have not had a broken blade for about 3 or maybe 4 years-- using FD--OLSEN-- NIQUA and PEGAS-- cutting mainly thicker than 22mm Hard/Softwood and Ply--- cutting on average 4 hrs per day 4 or 5 days a week using sizes 3/ 5/7/9

Perhaps the reason for this is my use of a beeswax stick to "lubricate" the blade along with clear and masking tape on the wood.
The beeswax applied every 5 mins or so seems to cool the blade down and definitely extends the life of the blade

Well worth a try

John

 

[nadnerb]

I had the same problem with Olsen No 7, and funny enough, they came from the Wooden Teddy Bear as well!! the angle of the cut was nearly 70 degrees off center, impossible to get used to cutting like that, especially if you are using a variety of different blades with different characteristics.
I will never buy Olsen blades again
Regards
Brendan