Older Topic I know..
It is difficult to make very specific recommendations in blade selection
because of the following reasons..
The industery is not completely standardized.
A number of variations among manufacturers do exist
When scroll saw blades made by foreign manufacturers are included.
The preformance of blades can very from "batch to batch"
For example,
You may be able to put one blade to a lot of tension and get extensive use from it;
however,though the next blade is identical to the first one,
the second one will dull or snap in less then half the time,
even though all of the outher conditions appear the same.
The human element plays part in determining which blade to use,
because individual judgments are different.
What is considered a moderate feed rate to one person can be interpreted as something entire different by another individual.
There is no blade that is the absolute best for a given job.
Each blade will handle a range of jobs with various materials and different thickness.
However keep in mind the general guidelines for blade selection:
The finer the blade,the less the thickness that can be cut without problems.
With thick stock and thin blade, the feed rate must be slower;
the results will be a smoother cut and less frequent blade breakage.
roosclan wrote:I use a 7tpi blade and set the tension very high (about 1/8" of flex in the blade -- at most). I run at high speed and am able to cut through the blocks rather easily.
Maybe because the 7tpi blade is used most for heavy duty,fast cutting..
for all woods up to the saws capacity.
Remember,-the thinnest blades are for the thinner materials..
However also remember that medium-size fret blades such as those in the 5 to 9 range are still
very narrow when compared to blades widely used for conventional cutting jobs with a rigid-arm scroll saw.
One more general guideline should be noted:
As the thickness of material increases, use blades with proportional fewer teeth..
In short use a coarse blade for thick material.
The importance of haveing at least two,preferably three,teeth in contact with the work piece.
Because of unique cutting capabilities of the constant-tension saw blades that are finer then usual
can sometimes be used to cut thicker materials.
However don't feed the material too quickly more tension is required:
Slower feed rate at curves to avoid bellied or unsquare cuts.
The amount of detail of your particuar project is very specifically related to blade selection..
Always use the widest blade possible,but one that will still allow you to make the desired curves
with ease.
For sawing soft woods 3/4" or thicker, some have recommend a blade with 7-10 teeth per inch.
for hard woods, use a blade with 10-20 teeth per inch,depending on the type of turns required.
For hard wood 3/4'' thick or thicker,use a blade with 10-15 teeth per inch.
In general,the thinner the material to be cut, the more teeth per inch there should be in the blade to be used.
The coarser the teeth in the blade, the faster the cutting will be.
However, where sanding is to be kept to a minimum, it is often more practical to use a
finer-tooth blade to minimize the surface tearing of the edges cut.
craniac! Your experience of slow cutting with the Craftsman saw sounds similar to ours, and we've tried lots of different blades. While I believe scroll saws are intended to cut wood much thinner than PWD block, it will cut eventually - although it goes