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General Category => General Scroll Saw Talk => Topic started by: etcher on January 05, 2013, 07:49:55 pm
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Hi, me again!! I finally have my wood working shop put together in the basement!! After much running around the house collecting everything I would need, I was finally ready to make the first cut.
I chose one of the simple Christmas ornament patters from this web site; it had a bit of filigree to it but way easier than anything I would carve on an egg.
Ummm...it was pretty tough to stay in a straight line and cut a corner. I think that part of the problem is that the "air blower" is junk and I'm constantly blowing dust off the piece...but wow indeed, this is going to take some practice.
I already purchased some flat Flying Dutchman blades that haven't arrived yet (the Ryobi blades aren't as friendly as I hoped and the top pin made me mad when trying to get through a drilled hole for fret work; so I cut off the top...works okay now) so I'm making the best with what I have in order to get some practice in. I am happy to say that the Ryobi is working pretty good for me; not very loud and zero vibration. I'm also very glad that I bought a foot pedal but I'm going to have to get used to that one too...
Please tell me it's going to get better?? The possibilities for really cool projects are endless but mastering this is seeming fairly daunting.
So, with that said, please give this newbie some tips to stay on track!! Motivate me!!!
Thanks as always,
Dixie
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Hi, Dixie:
Welcome to Scroll Sawing! You will find that it is like anything - with a little practice, things get a LOT easier. You are in a good place here and there are lots and lots of wonderful people here who are willing to share their experience with everyone. As with most things, there are several right ways to do things. You just need to try different things and figure out what is the most comfortable for you.
I don't know if you are aware, but I hosted a free online class at a site called Lumberjocks.com, which is a woodworking site. If you want to visit it, the link is here:
http://lumberjocks.com/scrollgirl/blog/series/4134 (http://lumberjocks.com/scrollgirl/blog/series/4134)
It is geared for people just starting out and I offer some free practice pages and there are lots of videos and diagrams to help you on the way. I hope you go check it out.
Otherwise, just ask away on this forum and I am sure you will get lots of good answers to any question you can come up with.
I hope you have fun and enjoy your journey. In answer to your question - YES! It does get easier! It is a fun way to be creative and relax.
Sheila :)
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Hi Dixie, First of all make sure you have high tension on the blade. You want to hear a high "plink" when you pluck the blade. If you hear a "clunk", there is not enough tension. On most blades there is a bur on the right side of the blade. Because of that, the blade will not track straight. Start with some straight lines. You will quickly learn to move the board to compensate for the drift of the blade. Next make some curved lines then combination lines. Instead of tackling projects straight off, practice with drawn lines as I explained to get used to the saw. Good luck!
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It will get better! Do a lot of "Googling" different issues you're having and ask a lot of questions here. Practice and getting experience is the main thing though.
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Sheila, I actually stumbled across your web site a few days ago when I had a slow moment at work. Your filigree work is amazing!! I'm also going to look into your scroll saw class...I'm thinking I'm going to need it.
I'm staying hopeful that I can pull this off, I just need to keep at it.
If you're bored, here's my blog that I've chronicled other projects on; I swear, I have talent...I'm just not seeing it on the scroll saw yet :)
http://etchstitchandburn.com/
dgman: you seem to be one of the wise one's here too (after reading most of the posts ever written in the forum), I appreciate your encouragement as well! I did notice the pull to the right when I was cutting (I'd read about it happening due to how the blades are made) and corrected it fairly well...turning the blade quick enough to make a sharp corner is the challenge now. I think I'm doing pretty well on setting the tension so far but I'll keep practicing!!
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When I wanted to make a corner when I first started and still do this, I cut to the corner then back up and in the waste wood cut again beside the previous cut and keep doing this till I have room to make the turn then take off cutting again. It all takes practice, get some easy basic patterns and start with those or print off some lines curves, corners put on some scrap wood and practice you will get the hang of it before you know it.
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Dixie, Here is what I do to make a sharp inside cut. First cut just to the corner. Back up just a little. Widen the cut the thickness of the blade. Now that the kerf is wider, you can easily turn the blade to the line. This is what I call a parallel park. Another way to do this is to cut just a hair past the line. Back up a little, then turn into the waste, then back up back to the corner, then turn out to the line. This is what I call an In & Out. I name these techniques to help my students remember them as they cut!
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Dixie, Here is what I do to make a sharp inside cut. First cut just to the corner. Back up just a little. Widen the cut the thickness of the blade. Now that the kerf is wider, you can easily turn the blade to the line. This is what I call a parallel park. Another way to do this is to cut just a hair past the line. Back up a little, then turn into the waste, then back up back to the corner, then turn out to the line. This is what I call an In & Out. I name these techniques to help my students remember them as they cut!
Yea thats how I was trying to explain how I did mine, open the kerf just as wide as the blade make the turn on the corner then keep on cutting, but once I am done with that area I go back to the corners and square them up.
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Hi Dixie,
Here are a few sites what might be of some help:
http://www.mikesworkshop.com/whatblad.htm
http://www.mHikesworkshop.com/Q&A-FP.htm
Some have said this already but good tension, good speed and low feed rate.
Feel free to email me if you have questions about blades.
FD Mike
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When I got into scroll sawing, Gabby gave me some good advice on making sharp inside turns. http://stevedgood.com/community/index.php?topic=6646.msg63296#msg63296 (http://stevedgood.com/community/index.php?topic=6646.msg63296#msg63296)
Jim
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Hi Dixie,
If you follow what they all have said to do, I start all the people I teach to copy the Aphabet train from Steve's sit. By the time you get done with that you will be ready for other stuff. The train has just about every kind of move you need. And when you are finished, you can give it to so kid to play with.
gene
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Dixie All the advice given is great. Probably the best advice is what the native New Yorker answered to the tourist who asked how to get to Carnegie Hall. His answer practice practice practice
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Yes it will get easier with practice. I am nowhere near where many of these folks are but their advice is golden. One other tip is to wax your table. Just whatever cheap floor wax as long as it doesn't contain silicon which would cause problems during finishing. A wax-slick table will help with the twists and turns. I learned that tip maybe 6-8 months into my scrolling career and I felt like my skills advanced dramatically after usuing the wax. I didn't get any better that fast of course, but the process became so much easier that my results showed dramatic improvement.
I also found that slowing the saw speed slowed the whole process and helped me stay on the lines. Thinner woods, too large a blade and high speed can make it hard to control, IMO. While a fast saw speed doesn't mean you have to feed the wood fast, I still have trouble with controlling that so I just slow it down. I cut at about 1/2 speed or less unless I am doing something delicate. Then I go even slower. A lot of the folks here go full speed all the time but I guess I am just not good enough yet. And that's after 4 years of practice! :)
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As everyone has agreed above, it does get easier. My best advice is to go back to past posts on this forum in all the different categories and read them. Lots to learn here. Good luck Dixie.
Mike
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Dixie, Yes it will get better, and you will be surprised how quickly your cutting will improve. The advice given already is excellent advice, the only thing I will add is that when your new Flying Dutchman blades arrive you will notice an immediate improvement in your cutting. I used cheap and nasty blades that came with my first saw (it came with a selection of 200various sized blades). At the time I wasn't in the forum and I was under the impression that all blades were the same whichever make you use. when I joined the forum and was given very similar advice as you have been given and was also recommended the FD blades. I ordered the blades from Mikesworkshop and the difference in my cutting was immediate, it improved by 100% instantly, I found FD blades allowed me to follow a line very easily and my cutting was so much smoother as I didnt need to go back and recut where I had drifted off the line. Apart from that as the others say, it is just a matter of practice practice and more practice. Hope this helps you.
Keith
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I have been scroll sawing for a number of years now and am comfortable with it now. I recently read , in a post, that following a line with a scroll saw is similar to driving a car. You do not just hold the steering wheel with a death like grip, but you keep a light touch and swing the wheel left and right as you drive. Same with a scroll saw. I realized that this is a good description of what I have learned. To make sharp turns cutting into the waste and then back to the line does not work when doing inlay work. Double bevel inlay is easy to do but unforgiving because there is no waste to cut in to. What I do for corners is round them off a bit and start them just ahead of the actual corner. No backing up when doing inlay. So if you ever want to try inlay I suggest working on making corners without cutting into the waste side of your line. I do not do any fret work. It does not intrest me...yet.
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Everyone here is incredible!! Thanks for the motivation and the tips, I will try them all!!
Dixie
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Well Dixie, you have received about all the advice anyone can give on learning the scrollsaw hobby!
Now my nickel's worth....
DO NOT get ahead of yourself and expect to be a master scroller in a week!
If you set YOUR expectations too high at the very beginning you are doomed to have a large paperweight in your shop.
Give yourself some time and some room and PLEASE have some patience with yourself.
Sure it gets exasperating but you are learning a whole new set of skills so read all you can, experiment as much as you have time for and above all....RELAX and ENJOY the process.
You have the ability and creativity! Now you just have to learn the skills, the tools and the process.
Good Luck...
~~~GB~~~
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That's very good advice, GB! I guess I'm so used to mastering my crafts fairly quickly, I get a little frustrated when I have trouble with it starting out.
After looking at everyone advice (top notch at that, thanks everyone again!), I went to the Sears and found tiny blades that were fairly cheap and figured it would be good to practice with. I'm still waiting for my Flying Dutchman blades to show up but I'm hoping I can get a little more practice in with the one's from Sears before hand.
I promise that I'll keep everyone posted with my progress
Dixie
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My advice is keep coming on here and feel free to ask tons of questions. I learn so much from this family of wood workers. Also don't be afraid to try things. I jump in and try. Some things are good and others are learning mistakes. As for the straight edge cutting...some of my projects dont have the straightest lines. I find a good sander can fix mistakes. Also dont worry if you dont cut a perfect line. I get off my pattern sometimes and when all is said and done no one but me knows. I also suggest trying to use a spiral blade. Either you will love it or hate it. Many cutters dont do well with them, but there are a few of us who swear by them.
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RE: Spiral Blades...
I use them about 85% of the time ... but I do mostly portrait type projects.
Learn to use the flat blades BEFORE you even think of ordering Spirals!!!
They have a totally different learning curve and seem to have a mind of their own.
My experience has been that when I need long straight or gently curving cuts that the FD Polar #5 is my go-to blade.
~~GB~~~
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Hi Dixie,
I'm new here too but have been scrolling for a while now. The saw I have now and my last one as well both had weak blowers on them. What you can do is pick up a fish tank pump at a pet store or maybe wal-Mart. They are not too expensive and make great dust blowers.
Eddie
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if scrolling was easy everyone would do it ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Besides my neighbor would not have wood to burn. ::) ::) ::) ::)
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I know King. I took two buckets of designer heat and put it in the owners wood burning boiler yesterday.
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Dixie,
While all the advice you have been given so far by everyone is great, the one thing I found that is the most helpful is to concentrate on the cutting line slightly in front of the blade. (1/8" -1/4"). It is too late to make corrections with the travel of the blade if you concentrate on where the blade is, instead of where you want it to go.
The car driving analogy is good- point it the direction you want to be not where it is now.
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Again, thank you all for the wonderful advice!
The good news is that my new Flying Dutchman blades came in (I bought a variety pack so I'll be able to experiment with the different types).
The bad news is that between work and a sick hubby, not much time in the wood shop. Oh well, it'll happen soon enough.
Oh yea, love the idea about the fish pump! I should look into that the next time I'm able to get out.
Thanks again!!
Dixie
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It will get better with practice. I started cutting about 2 months ago. My first project was... Ugly for the lack of better words. Now I can cut just about anything, and 10 times faster than when I first started. Like everyone here will tell you, make sure that your blades are correctly tightened as it will make your cuts more accurate. Also, once you learn that blades don't cut straight lines, it will really help. By that I mean, when they make blades, one side is sharper than the other which makes it hard to cut a straight line. You'll learn to hold your wood at an angle to compliment how the blades cut.
Oh, and start with soft wood like Pine. I learned on super hard, dense woods and was shocked how much easier it was to work with baltic birch ply, and pine. Night and day.
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I started with pine then moved up to poplar i think it is easier to cut than pine tried some oak and struggled a bit all i can say is practice practice