Brought a knife to a gun fight

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That's what it felt like anyway.

Found a good wood supplier and purchased some Purpleheart among other things. Played with an Angel pattern on a piece of it. What a learning experience that was.

Tried blades with 7, 15, 18, and 20 teeth per inch. Learned about chatter, burning, SLOW feed rate, the importance of staying loose and relaxed, and breaking off delicate pieces when your nearly done.

By the time I was done, I was done.. Felt like I had been in a bar fight. Need to work on proper tension, correct blade selection, and patience.

Don't recommend 3/4 purpleheart as a beginner selection, but it sure is beautiful wood and was worth the fight.

Ain't scared, I'm hooked! Round 2 should be easier since the opponent is a nice soft piece of cedar. Will use it as training to prepare for my Championship bout with that piece of Teak over in the corner

[julief]

Yep, purple heart is a challange!  I almost always end up with a burn on it somewhere.  Since you are new, you might invest in some poplar.  I is readily available, affordable and attractive.  It cuts easily.  If I have a piece I want to do in an exotic wood, I generally do a practice piece from poplar.  It lets me see the tricky areas before I ruin a really good (and probably expensive) piece of wood.

[jim stiek]

because you say you are new to this hobby, let me say that as with most types of saws the blade is the most important choice you have to make when sawing, I advise you to contact the flying dutchman to get the  best advice on blades and real quality blades.
jim

[Rapid Roger]

I know about purple heart wood! Also go slow with cherry and maple as they burn quite well also. When cutting hard wood (the real hard ones) go slow, let the dust clear the teeth in the blades and watch the heat of the blade closely. In other words, go slow, stop cutting fairly often to let the blade cool and use the proper blade and speed on the saw. Only experience can tell you what that is for sure.
Fortunately, sanding can fix most burn marks but none of us enjoy sanding. Those woods are beautiful when used in projects but, they require some experience with the saw first.
I agree with starting out with poplar wood (it is considered a hard wood too but is not really that hard) and it can be stained darker if desired. Just be sure to give poplar a coat of 1# cut of shellac before staining as poplar does blotch quite easily. Also, real soft woods like pine crack and break very easily to add to your frustration.
Good luck.

Rog

[Tim2beupinAz]

I just cut some purple heart today. I used a #7 blade at a medium speed. I didnt get any burn. Now you ask how did I do it. I use clear 3M Packing tape on both sides of the wood. It cools and lubricates the blade. I also cut at a slow infeed rate as not to push to hard forcing the blade to cut the wood. Hope this helps and just keep trying and find what works for you.

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Thanks for the words of encouragement and advice.

It was a good learning experience. I had to jump on a piece of hard stuff to see what it was like. My wife hasn't seen the pattern so She thinks the Angel looks great. Now like a.dog that jumped the fence and got hit by a car I think I'll stay in the yard for a couple days.

I plan on ordering blades but got a pile of free ones when I bought the used saw so using them for practice stuff.

I had tape on the top, the burns came mostly from my failure to think ahead and stopping mid cut or trying to make a tight turn.

I have some Poplar, will use that for practice. The purpleheart is a bit on the pricey side. I recently added that, some teak, cherry, walnut, red oak, ebony, and mahogany to my stock. I also have some Cedar (Aromatic and red) Pecan, Palm, Pine, Ash, Holly, and a few pieces I'm not sure what they are.

Learning more everyday. Hooked on scroll sawing for sure.

[julief]

Jay, your wife is probably right.  Once the pattern comes off, no one but you knows where the mistakes are and the piece is beautiful.  You will see a huge difference once you ditch those free blades.  They are usually the bottom of the barrel in quality and a good blade will make all the difference.