that's the right thing to do, toneman. Let the blade do the work.
When I was a newbie, 25+ years ago, patience was NOT in my vocabulary. I had my Father to contend w/as a dispatcher & he owned the trucks, we had 10 trucks on the road, 3 of us knew how to count above 10.(the # of gears in the other trucks) drivers who were english, but couldn't follow written instructions in english, couldn't read a map, be on time, had mad farmers barkin' at us constantly! Stress was HIGH, home time was short, & my attitude sucked! i came in off the truck one saturday evening, & my loving bride proceeded to tell me how i looked like hell after just walkin' in the door. Yea, I missed her, too. She loaded me in the pick up & hauled me to the ER. The Sawbones looked me over, he told me if I didn't quit eatin', sleepin', thinkin', & drinkin' trucks, they were goin' to drop me in a deep hole, & damn soon! About that time, my bride jumps up & says "you need a hobby!" The look on my face must've been to die for because they all looked at me and laughed!
The next weekend I was home, my bride had things lined out to go look at wood working tools. And, a single speed scroll saw, ras, & a few other things is what I started with. I cannot begin to tell ya how many books i read on the scroll saw, ras, & router. I was determined to show my bride I could bring light to her act of brilliance. I made who knows how many semi loads of customized firewood before I actually attempted my first project. But the point of all this is that the saw taught me to slow down, relax, & focus, which I'd never done before!!! Slow done in our business was goin' against the grain of things, which created huge waves!
By the time I wore out that single speed Craftsman, I was learning different blades, different woods, & doin' projects. PATIENCE is the key to scrollin', toneman. I still have that ol' saw in the basement, plus five more I've added to the shop since. It is in pieces on account of I'm not able to locate parts for it. But in the last 25+ years, I've perfected the scroll saw, sell my products all over the country. But it taught me a hard lesson not only with the saw, but with life, too. The more you try to push & rush thru a project, you'll just break blades, screw up the project, & say words what ain't proper around womenfolk. It also taught me to slow down enough to think things thru before I start any project. Look it over & study it. Think about the different size blades you're goin' to need in various places in the project, & have them at ready when you get to that point. Just slow down & let the blade & saw do it's job, brother! You'll feel better.
my apologies for the lengthy "rant," but sometimes it takes me awhile to get at what I'm tryin' to say. keep makin' sawdust, & enjoy the time you've got with your saw. Brad.
