Blade Choices

[GinaG]

I've recently been playing with doing fretwork, in fact have made the beautiful card holder in the holiday issue of Scrollsaw....... My question is for doing this fine fretwork and even finer, what size blade do you recommend? I use Flying Dutchman Blades and have a DeWalt saw.

[Fremmed]

Hi Wolfie (or is it GinaG)
Your question is kinda tough one to answer. Generally speaking, I try to stick with a FD UR 1 or FD SR 0/2 with my finer fretwork. However, I have used as large as a #7, though not on finer fretwork. Some might also like spiral blades. I'm still trying to figure them out.

[GinaG]

I've been using a 2/0 and sometimes a 3, however, it's been tearing out the back on some of the delicate Christmas ornaments I've been making. I hate that! Some days are better than others did you ever notice that? LOL

I recently did the sleigh and horses in the new issue and lost the long trailing scarf due to tear out. What am I doing wrong?

[Fremmed]

What kind and thickness of wood are you cutting? If you're cutting wood thinner than 1/4" you should stack the wood.

[Bill Wilson]

Originally Posted by GinaG

I've been using a 2/0 and sometimes a 3, however, it's been tearing out the back on some of the delicate Christmas ornaments I've been making. I hate that! Some days are better than others did you ever notice that? LOL

I recently did the sleigh and horses in the new issue and lost the long trailing scarf due to tear out. What am I doing wrong?

Try slowing your blade speed down a bit. I cut about 75 of those ornaments last year. That is a challenging pattern given the thin areas of the reins and the scarf. I stack cut mine, which gives you a little more control and the added thickness offers a little more stability.

FD blades are fine, but they generally seem a little more aggressive, especially in the smaller sizes like the 2/0. I use Olson and some FD, but blades are more about personal preference, IMHO, than one being superior to the other.

One other thing you could try is to add a zero clearance layer to your table top. There are several ways to accomplish this. One is by taping a playing card over the blade hole in the table, with a hole just large enough to easily feed the blade through. Another way, would be to tape down a piece of laminate or even tempered hard board that covers most of the table. Depends on how large the stock is that you are cutting. What this does is add support underneath the wood, directly over the large opening in the table. This is where the wood is most likely to break while cutting.

[Mick Walker]

Wolfie, I use a 28 t.p.i. 2/0 reverse tooth blade available from Scroll Saw Patterns, Plans, Scrollsaw Blades, Clock Parts, Woodworking Supplies Stock #44150 or Scroll Saw Patterns Plans Books & Blades for your projects - On Sale at Scroller Ltd. Item #BL86R. You can make very tiny intricate cuts with this blade.