Hand cramp

[musomaniac]

Hi everyone ,
i have a hegner multispeed scrollsaw , which i use on an occasional basis , as i make blanket chests ect , but i do enjoy using it , my problem is hand cramp , i was cutting out the heart shaped bowl last week , using 25mm oak , and found i was having to really clamp the wood to the table using my hands as i cut , otherwise the wood kept lifting off the table quite agressively

After a short period of time the cramp in my hands became pretty painful making me take frequent breaks from the saw , i stuck the pattern to the face of the oak with paper glue , and then covered the pattern with cellotape , i didnt have wide clear packing tape .

also tried various speeds  , but still the wood wanted to leave the table , i was using a new number 5 reverse tooth blade , then tried a new no 7 reverse tooth blade but i still had to maintain a lot of pressure on the wood

has anyone else had this problem , and is there a way to cure it

[Judy Hunter]

Most saws come with a hold down clamp that mos of us remove but you might want to check it out.

[musomaniac]

the fact that most people remove the hold down clamp , and dont complain about hand cramp , indicates to me that something is up with the saw , or my technique or both , thanks for the info though

[RangerJay]

If my blade starts grabbing the wood I up the speed of the scrollsaw - or slow the speed of the feed - or go to a finer blade - maybe all 3 - you've got a lotta oak to cut through so I'm going to suggest a little experimentation.


Jay

[Rapid Roger]

I don't mean to be a total Yahoo but I must ask this question.....
Because it has happened to me and all of us at one time or the other.
Are you putting the blade in correctly? If the teeth are pointed up, they will try to pick the wood up off of the table. Needless to say the fewer (more coarse) teeth there are the more effect the up stroke has.
As I said, I don't mean to be a smart @$$ but, stranger things have been known to cause frustration. Like buying left hand drill bits with out realizing it.

[julief]

It really does sound like the blade is upside down.  I can't tell you how many times I have done the same thing.  If it is really fighting you, that is probably the issue.

[campasano]

I also think you may have installed the blade upside down, it is an easy oversight if you do not use your
saw on a regular basis.

Mike

[Jim Finn]

Assuming the blade is not installed up-side-down you may want to try a polar blade that has no reverse teeth on it.  I have a Hegner and do not have this problem with polar blades. (#5)

[musomaniac]

thanks for the replies much appreciated , i am 100% certain the blade are on correct , the reverse teeth on the blade are on the bottom , with the majority of the teeth on the top , i'll try a few blades without the reverse teeth and see what happens

[dirtrider73068]

Is blade tension right? Maybe a loose tensioned blade is letting the blade get bound in the wood makign it jump, only time I ever had this issue was a blade upside down by mistake found out pretty quick once I started cutting, another sign its upside down is the sawdust gets carried on top of the project. Reverse blades can be tricky to get in right may think they are but could be wrong, flip the blade over see if it helps or gets worse, if its worse then the blade was in right. I have never had to fight to keep wood down when cutting just light pressure to hold in place and control it.

[KarlB]

I would also agree with Jay when he says you have a lot of oak to go through.  You have almost an inch of oak and oak is very hard to cut.  Be sure your blade is new and go slow without pushing the wood into the blade.

Karl