Who, Me, Confused? Nooooo....

[flyboy]

Working with my latest projects, knife handles for my 3 sons in law, I used a Flying Dutchman #5 Reverse tooth blade. The wood was ~ 7/16" walnut.

Slow cutting, and burned the wood on the smallest cuts! I varied the speed, and slowed the feed to almost nothing, but nothing helped! In desperation, I changed to one of the no-name pin-end blades that came with my saw, which has coarser teeth. Instant success, no burning, and quicker cutting.

I bought the FD blades when I asked seveeral guys at the scrollsaw club I visit every so often for recommendations.

Can anyone suggest why the above happened? Did I have the blade in wrong? And how do you tell, with the teeth being so tiny and all? What is a good versatile blade for general all-round newbie use?
Most of what I am doing now is making knife handles from ~3/8" wood and blocks, measuring ~1 1/4 X 1 1/2in. Thanks.

[DWSudekum]

Sounds like the #5R you were using was not clearing the kerf as well as it should have. Were you by chance using tape ... laying down a layer of tape ( either the blue painters tape or the wide clear packing tape ) to the wood then attach the pattern to the tape. This will a lot of times help with your problem for burning as the tapes glue actually acts like a blade lube. I cut walnut all the time with out burning most of the time using a #3r or #5r. If you have not tried the tape trick it is worth it to try.

DW

[Forester21]

I've found with the thicker hardwoods that the FD polar blades work better. But you shouldn't have had problems with the thickness you had, even with walnut. Was your blade dull?
The clear packing tape does help cut down on the burning.
T

[ncsealeveler]

I cut 1" walnut all the time with FDSR 3 & 5 I believe they were and use blue and clear tape.No burning and they cut quite fast.I have a single speed saw and would not know about the speed issue.Tony

[flyboy]

Actually, no, I didn't use tape. I just pencilled the outline on the wood, and had at it! Brand new blade, too. I will try the tape trick the next project I do, tho. It sounds like it will help. Learning curve! Arrrrghhhh!
It did smell really good while I was cutting.

Thanks

[wood-n-things]

If you run the blade (not while it's in the saw) up and down on your thumb nail it should catch on your thumbnail. The catch direction is the way it goes into the saw. You want the blade to cut on the downstroke...You had the right size blade perhaps the UR would clean itself better, but I use the sr all the time.

[nzmerlin]

Flyboy IMHO don't use reverse blades for thicker timber/lumber, the dust don't clear quick enough,.
FD Polar blades #3, #5 should be ok with the thickness you used.

I Personaly use for my compound cutting 1-1/4 inch and above Bens Scroll Saw.com blades. (Double tooth).

Merlin

[JohnB]

G'day Flyboy,
There have been a few times I wished my machine would take pinned blades. They have a bit more width and overall beef than the pinnless.
I use FD blades a lot, but find that the Olson Precision Ground # 7's are hard to beat when cutting thick, hard timber.

[sawdustus]

Basic rule: thick wood - large blade, thin wood - small blade. Although I have recently been cutting Peterson puzzles out of 3/4" and thicker wood using a #2 skip tooth blade. Just takes longer. I generally save the reverse tooth blades for plywood so I don't get tearout on the back of the bottom layer.

That being said...I am currently using a #2/0 RT blade to cut Bubbantenn's triton trumpet from 19/32" cherry.

george

[Bill Wilson]

Did you try another blade from the pack? Every once in a while I'll pull out a new blade that cuts terribly. On the other hand, I sometimes get a blade that seems to last forever and I hate to take it out of the saw. Just something that happens. I generally use Olson, so I can't speak about FD's much, but people buy these things by the gross, so it's bound to happen that one or two lemons will find their way into the batch.