Which Woods are best for Scroll Sawing?

[IBMer]

Hello,

  I recently bought a scroll saw.  My Girlfriend fell in love with the exotic woods such as Paduka, Purple Heart, Red Heart.  These are beautiful, but break my blades and take forever to cut.   I've also used Red Oak, and Poplar.

Is there an OFFICIAL LIST of the BEST types of wood to Scroll Saw with?   And what to avoid...

Pine and Birch ply seem to work really well.  What else is recommended and advised against?

[Dan26]

Hi John. There are a number of reasons the blades can be breaking. Usually it's because you are pushing too hard or pushing against the side of the blade. What size blades are you using? Here's a link to Mike's Workshop where he talks about when to use what type of blade.http://www.mikesworkshop.com/whatblad.htm. Here's another link to Sloan's, http://www.sloanswoodshop.com/PDF/blade%20chart.pdf where he has a blades selection guide. These should help. I cut padauk and purpleheart and other hard woods frequently and don't break many blades.
Good luck with your scrolling.

[IBMer]

I use a variety.  I use mostly Dutchman blades and some Olson.  Sizes ranging from 1, 3, 5 and even the Ultra Puzzle for more complex cuts.  It's very possible that I may have been pushing too hard.   I know that I'm probably pushing the limits of my saw trying to cut 1.5" thick Paduka.   The blades all seemed to be breaking while doing a straight line.    I was just curious if certain wood types were harder on the Scroll Saw than others.

I've been making angel ornaments for the past week.   Just for grins, I made one out of plain old pine instead of the Oak and found it to be a breeze to cut.   Once stained and finished it doesn't look half bad..  Oh, and not a single broken blade.   I broke 5 blades on Paduka last night which was 1.5" thick. 

I was mainly looking for a rule of thumb when choosing wood.  When cutting exotic wood, do most people stick with 1/4" or 1/2"  Or are you cutting right up to 1.5" thick hard wood.

[jrpeteo]

You need to have alot of patience when cutting thick pieces. I recently made some corner brackets from 3/4" oak and each cut took over half an hour. Don't push it. Relax. Enjoy the solitude.
Pete

[GrayBeard]

I personally think you are pushing the limits of any scroll saw with 1 1/2" hardwood!
Anything that thick I would have lots of speed, lots of tension, at least a #5 blade and FEED very SLOWLY!
Like the man said...Take your time and enjoy the solitude!

~~~GB~~~

[dgman]

All good advice above. Paduck is a very dense and hard wood. 1 1/2" would certainly be problematic for any scroll saw. You would need to use a very large blade like a FD UR 9 or 12. You need high tension, High saw speed and low feed rate. You need tape on the top and bottom. Most importantly, let the blade do the cutting.
As far as woods to use, The sky is the limit! Currently I am cutting ornaments in stacks of four layers of 1/8" in Yellowheart, Purpleheart, Redheart and Chery all in one stack. All very hard woods for sure! It only totals 1/2" thick but is very hard to cut.

[Dean A]

someone might know this question....

 which wood has a toxic dust when cut, I can't remember what it was(maybe zebra wood?). Anyway, I would stay clear of that.

[GrayBeard]

Go to the top of this page and do a "SEARCH" for 'toxic wood'. This topic has been discussed and a chart was posted here showing what woods tend to be toxic when sawn.

~~~GB~~~

[IBMer]

I didn't realize that any wood sold for the purpose of building projects would be Toxic.     I'll have to check that list.   I've heard that some people are allergic to Cocobolo.  I'd love to try some for a project, but I'm worried that I'll wake up swollen like a melon or something ;-)

[IBMer]

I've read where people dislike Zebra Wood to scroll saw, but I was under the impression that it was due to the grain, and the blade wanting to follow the grain rather than the pattern.   Does anyone have experience with Zebra Wood?