Blade Grabs

[monradon]

I am a hobby luthier that will be making parts for stringed instruments. I rescused a 1671 Dremel from a pawn shop and after cleaning and replacing a couple of screws it works like new. But when I went to cut some 5/16 hard maple the blade keeps grabbing. My blades came from ACE .

Is it the quality of blades I was using a 15 point blade. Are some styles better for this are Ace blades any good, I intend to cut alot of hard maple in the future ?? Have not scrolled in years in fact my last one had the little blades in it .

[Greenfield_Bob]

There is a guy right there in SD that can help you.
Here is the link to him.

http://www.mikesworkshop.com/

[BRG]

I have had good luck with the Flying Dutchman blades and especially like using the new #3 Ultra Reverse. The link in the previous response is a good source for these blades.

BRG

[Tor]

Looks like you have some great advise. There exist other good brands (but Ace is not among the three well regarded ones.) Reasons why the blade catches the wood could be that the blade is in upside down. The little teeth should catch when you run up the blade, and slide easily if you run your finger down the blade. Also, it often takes a little time to get used to the proper level of force holding the work down.

Tor

[Minnesota scroller]

Here is a link for everything you ever wanted to know about scrollsaw blades.


FAQ blades

[GrayBeard Phil]

Monradon:

Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy your visits here.

A Luthier eh? I wish you the best with your projects.

About your question and saw--

I hope you are not using pinned blades. I do hope you have chosen to learn to use the pin-less blades as your choices of blade types is so much greater. There are two main brand names of high quality pin-less scroll saw blades: Flying Dutchman and Pegus. Both are mostly sold on the Internet.
Olson blades are liked by many, and are available in specialized retail outlets for woodworkers (as well as many Internet web stores for woodworkers.)

If you really must, and I hope you don't, use pinned blades, a few recommend the following site for pinned scroll saw blades by Olson
http://www.sloanswoodshop.com/

Sugar maple at 5/16" will require a very hard toothed blade. Plus it should have a configuration of skip-tooth design (one or two teeth, then a skip). The skip is for chip clearance.

I would also recommend you cover the top with blue "Painter's Tape" and then cover that with you pattern and cover that with clear package tape.
The clear package tape will reduce the chance of burning the walls of the kerf. The residue of the sap plus the hard wood makes it easy to burn hard maple during the cutting with any power tool.

Phil

[azbison]

Originally Posted by GrayBeard Phil

Monradon:

Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy your visits here.

A Luthier eh? I wish you the best with your projects.

About your question and saw--

I hope you are not using pinned blades. I do hope you have chosen to learn to use the pin-less blades as your choices of blade types is so much greater. There are two main brand names of high quality pin-less scroll saw blades: Flying Dutchman and Pegus. Both are mostly sold on the Internet.
Olson blades are liked by many, and are available in specialized retail outlets for woodworkers (as well as many Internet web stores for woodworkers.)

If you really must, and I hope you don't, use pinned blades, a few recommend the following site for pinned scroll saw blades by Olson
http://www.sloanswoodshop.com/

Sugar maple at 5/16" will require a very hard toothed blade. Plus it should have a configuration of skip-tooth design (one or two teeth, then a skip). The skip is for chip clearance.

I would also recommend you cover the top with blue "Painter's Tape" and then cover that with you pattern and cover that with clear package tape.
The clear package tape will reduce the chance of burning the walls of the kerf. The residue of the sap plus the hard wood makes it easy to burn hard maple during the cutting with any power tool.

Phil

Phil, I understand the packing tape, something in the glue acts like a blade lube, but why the blue painters tape?

[PuzzledMoose]

Originally Posted by azbison

Phil, I understand the packing tape, something in the glue acts like a blade lube, but why the blue painters tape?

Sticking the pattern to the painter's tape rather than directlty to the wood saves having to remove glue residue from the wood after removing the pattern.

I'm not sure how much difference the colour makes. I think the blue is lower tack but I use green because it's much more common round here and I can get it in wider widths and haven't had problems with it ..

[GrayBeard Phil]

Originally Posted by azbison

Phil, I understand the packing tape, something in the glue acts like a blade lube, but why the blue painters tape?

Blue "Painter's Tape" is a masking tape brand made by the 3M company. There is nothing special about the color as noted bu PuzzledMoose.

Other companies make and market similar competitive products.

Here is a link to a chart on "Painter's Tape" and other masking tape.
Link to 3M Masking Tape Selector Grid

Green Painters Mate masking tape link:
Link to Henkel consumer tape products

Purple Masking tape link:
Link to Duck Tape products

Phil

[azbison]

I had just resigned myself to having to sand the residue off anyway. I have had problems attaching the pattern to the wood until I went to full page self-stick labels that I can print off of my computer. Anything smaller than normal letter size, I can put on a single sheet of self-stick.