First and second projects...

[stephshubby]

 I decided to do the "Reindeer Family" for my first project to practice. I finished them last night. I broke three blades. The first one was my fault. The other two I am not sure the reasoning. I don?t "think" the tension was too tight. I have a craftsman 16in and true to the reviews it knocks when it is just a little too tight. The wood I am using is the run of the mill cheep stuff till I get better and it was 3/4 inch thick soft wood from Home Depot. Are there any suggestions I can try to fix the problem?

  I have now started my second project (again with cheep wood) it is the "911" pattern. I have cut the first two layers of the pattern and have not broken a blade yet! I will post pictures for feed back as soon as I get done.
 
Thanks
   

[yyyyyguy]

There will probably be several people here to help with various tips but my opinion is you're already doing trial and error, practice is the best teacher, can't even guess how many blades I broke on my first few projects.

Good luck, glad to have you around here - Pete

[CNLNC]

Hey STEPHSHUBBY, great job that your making sawdust, that is an accomplishment in itself.

About the blades, and I'm sure better answers will follow, but 1. 3/4" is in the thicker side for scrolling so make sure you are using the proper size blade. FDMIKE can guide in the right directionon on that.
2. Breakng blades is part of the "fun", not really, but its going to happen. Sometimes a blade will last a while, and other times the same size blade with the same wood and tension will snap quickly. Just work though it

Remember, you having fun, learning and making sawdust...Good Luck!

[dgman]

You want the tension as tight as you can get it without the blades slipping in the blade clamps. You want to hear a high "ping" when you pluck the blade. Your blade probably broke because you did not have enough tension. As far as blade size for 3/4" pine I would use a #3 or #5. Either Flying Dutchman Ultra reverse blade or an Olsen skip tooth blade.

[stephshubby]

Thanks all for the advice and guidance.

[rtunas]

Plain and simple if you use a computer download the app that is available on the blog. I always thought I had the blade tight but the "Ping" I got was more like a plunk. I was almost one octave lower than what it should have been.