WiZeR 's Adventures in Scrollsawing *pics*

[Gill]

Hi Woody

Creative Woodworks and Crafts comes out 8 times a year and Scroll Saw Workshop comes out 4 times a year. To be honest, delivery can be a bit hit and miss because they are sent by ship. I'm still waiting for the latest issue of SSW although I should imagine that Lin's had her copy for quite a while now.

Gill

 

[Woodythepecker]

Gill, thanks very much for the links. Both mags certainly seem full of information, and $45 for 8 issues is good value when compared to some of our own woodworking magazines, so much so i am going to try Creative Woodworks and Crafts out for a year.

Regards

Woody

 

[Lin]

Gill, If it's the "Holiday Issue"...yes I've had mine for about three weeks or more now....I have cut several of the ornament patterns from it.....
Momma Sues' Owl is in it......not one I'm ready to try out yet.......lots of pieces to that one......
I enjoy both mags......I don't ever seem to have the time to cut all the projects from them I want to but always have them for when I have time...
Lin

 

[wizer]

well, i'm clearly not a natural at this:

:?


Lots more practice for me. Going to have some lunch and move onto exercises 2.

Will try first few exercises again when I get the FD Blades.

 

[Lin]

Wizer, Do not despair.....I was not what you would call a natural either....I bought my saw in April of 2002......and didn't have a piece that I was willing to show someone.....even family members untill approx two months later........And I really tried hard to follow that line......My cirlces and ovals were very bumpy and still today sometimes I have to sand a bump or two.......I had a heck of a time making those turns....the blade did what it wanted to for a long time before I got the hang of spinning the wood.....I got to where I would cut to the turn then back up and turn into the waste and back up into the cut I had made to come outta the turn.....I did that for a long time to salvage what I was cutting......Some projects I work on now I have to do that to get the sharp tip on them still now.
I looked at your practice cuts and I don't see that you are doing poorly at all......Just remember when you cut an actual project........when the pattern comes off....noone else but you will know that you were not dead on that line.....I still to this day do not always stay dead on the line.....I shoot for staying on the line but a bit of a waiver here and there does not effect most pieces. I made lots of "Wooden Frisbees" at first....Thinking with each that I pitched that I was never going to get this but it fianlly started to become easier. My first completed pieces that some one saw.....was two ornament patterns that I enlarged big enough to cut them as trivets.....I cut them from 3/4" pine......both only had three or four interior cuts.....took me a few sittings at the saw to get those cut.....For me that turned out to be the easy part.....I had glued the pattern directly to the wood......and didn't know about using mineral spirits to take it off......I sanded the pattern off.....or so I thought unitl I stained the pieces and found that there was still pattern and glue still on them.....I had to sand them again.......a lot to get down to the wood......then I did it right........more or less. Those first two trivets were given to my neices in late June of 2002.....After that experence I started doing better with each piece.....but I still messed up and sometimes would cut off something I wasn't suppose to.....Sometimes the piece would still look ok...sometimes I could glue back on.......and many times I had to start over. It will come....just practice and give it time.
Lin

 

[Gill]

Those practice cuts don't look too bad for a first attempt, WiZeR. The next cuts you make will improve if you try not to worry too much about following the pattern lines too closely. I realise that statement might seem a little strange, but you can always spot a novice by the way he over corrects if he starts to veer off line. As a result, he'll get a zig-zag of little bumps in the general vicinity of the line instead of a smooth cut.

A more experienced scroller will accept that he's going to veer off the line from time to time and not worry about it. When it happens, he'll try to steer back onto the line very gently, making it as smooth a curve as possible.

At this stage, WiZeR, don't worry about cutting dead straight lines or following curves exactly. The skill you need to be developing is that of getting back onto the pattern line so that nobody will notice when the pattern's removed.

Sorry I didn't see your earlier post when you first made it on Thursday - I'd have offered advice earlier if I had.

Gill

 

[wizer]

ok the FD blades turned up on Saturday but life has got in the way til now. However I have hit a brick wall. I can;t seem to work out how to fit the blades to the saw.

The old blade looks like this:

and fits like this:

It fits via the little cross section on the bottom and top of the blade. The FD blades do not have that?

Have I bought the wrong type of blades?

Also the FD blades seem tiny compared to the old one, I couldnt even get a clear shot of it:

 

[StevieB]

Hi Wizer,

Since everyone seems to be at TOOLS2005 (except me sob - SWMBO is about to give birth at any moment so I was banned from being over 4 hours drive away!) I will have a bash at answering your query.

There are two types of blade in terms of fixing - so called pinned and pinless. The first one you have is pinned ie it has a pin at each end to hold the blade in the holder. Pinned blades tend to be larger (deeper) than pinless and generally thicker. Pinless blades have no pin and require clamping in the holder rather than sitting on a pin. Have a look at the holder and see if there is a grub screw that will tighten the blade holder and clamp the blade. Most saws have this, very cheap one may only take pinned blades. I tend to clamp the bottom of the blade first, then push the rocker arm on the top down and clamp the top of the blade, but thats just the way I find easiest - do whatever works for you.

Since the blades are thinner it is possible to snap them (DAMHIKT) when clamping, but it is more common that it slips from the top clamp because the grub screw is not tightened enough. Once you have it clamped then away you go - just remember because it is a thinner blade the feed rate needs to be slower, the blade will bend and snap far easier and the blade can overheat if you push it too hard.

If you cannot fit pinless blades then a saw update may be necessary, unless you can fit new clamp holders but someone more experienced than I will be able to advise on that!

HTH,

Steve.

 

[Gill]

It fits via the little cross section on the bottom and top of the blade. The FD blades do not have that?

Have I bought the wrong type of blades?

There are two types of scrollsaw blades - flat head and pin head. Whilst there are machines that can take both, most usually take one or the other. The photograph of the the blade you have been using shows that it is a pin head; this sort of blade rests on a cradle on the upper arm of the saw. Flat headed blades are held in place by a clamp on the upper arm of the saw.

Since the blades Mike sent you don't have pins protruding from them, they will be flat headed blades - hardly surprising because these are the blades which are most commonly used. Have a look at the blade holding system on your scrollsaw and see if there are two clamps on the upper and lower arms as well as the cradle for locating the pins. Such clamps will probably be of the type that is tightened with an allen key, if they are there. If you can find such clamps, then you'll be in luck - and able to use the FD blades. If not, you'll need to find some pin headed blades. I don't know if you'll be able to find some in a warehouse such as B&Q (you ought to be able to find some there - B&Q sell scrollsaws such as the Rexon which uses pin head blades) but you can certainly order some from Hobbies of Dereham.

Gill

 

[wizer]

SWMBO is about to give birth at any moment

Fingers Crossed mate! 8)

Sadly no grub screw to fix the pinless blades

Just refitted the original blade and cut this

So that blade aint too bad, i'll persevere with it until I can afford to splash out on a better saw.

Thanks

 

[wizer]

Thanks Gill, Ordered a doazen of each.

 

[dedee]

Shame about the blades Tom - but the pussy cat cat looks good, it would convert easily into a nice jigsaw puzzle.

Andy

 

[wizer]

Thanks Andy... Something for the Cat to eat:

 

[dedee]

Wots the significance of the shaded area "LH index finger" on those excercises?

Andy

 

[Gill]

I don't know if you're noticing the improvement, WiZeR, but I can see that each picture you're posting is showing a progression in your technique. Heck, as things stand, you're only one step away from producing something like this:

I've got (welcome) competition :wink: !

Gill

 

[wizer]

Decided to have a go with hardwood, freehanded a heart on some 22mm beech. Hardwood is hardwork! seemed to take forever, but then maybe the blade is blunt.

Also had a go at stack cutting but that didnt go well either! I glued the pieces together with spray mount, worked great for the first cuts but when it came to drilling holes for the inside cuts the drill pushed the pieces apart.. looks like I got a lot of cutting to do!

 

[wizer]

Andy, it tells you to hold your left hand index finger still and pivot with your right hand. The marker is just a reminder when you start. Must admit I dont always do this.

 

[dedee]

I see thanks.

I think masking tape may be a better way of holding stacked pieces together.

Andy

 

[Gill]

Hey, nifty sharp turns on the stack cutting 8) .

Like Andy says, masking tape is a good way to hold pieces whilst stack cutting - so is double-sided tape. For myself, I would have applied a spot of PVA on each layer in the corners marked with a red dot:

I'd have also glued the fourth corner too .

Then I would have cut from the inside to the outside, cutting the area marked green first and the areas marked blue second. Only then would I have cut around the outside, releasing the shape from the glued areas.

Your cutting technique is coming along nicely and quite rapidly . Can I suggest you apply some low tack masking tape between the wood surface and the pattern? If you do, your blades will last longer.

Gill

 

[wizer]

Thanks for that Gill. I'll give it another go tomorrow!