Choosing the right scroll saw blade can impact several things such as the smoothness of the cut and can also affect the safety of the person operating the scroll saw. In this article, I will go over some of the things to look out for when choosing a scroll saw blade.
The first thing to consider when choosing blades is the type of material you will be cutting.
Most wood can be cut with standard blades but some materials such as Plexiglass require specialty blades. Most manufacturers have charts which show the recommended speeds and thickness of materials for each of their blades. You will need to consult these charts to make sure you are using the right blade for the right job.
The quality of the blade will affect the cut. All blades are stamped from steel blanks. Most scroll saw blades are hardened and tempered. The quality of the steel used and the tempering process will affect the quality of the blade. Higher quality steel and a refined tempering process are used in higher quality blades. The quality of the blade might become important when cutting hardwood. When it comes to hardwoods, a higher number blade is often needed to be used. This is because the blade kerf, the cut width, is larger which allows for easier dust clear out. This will also apply for oily woods. You might need to use a skip tooth blade, where there are more spaces between the teeth, for gummy white pine. This will really require a lot of trial and error.
The thickness of the wood will affect the type of blade you use. You will want a blade that has less teeth per inch, when it comes to thick wood. The opposite will be true with thinner wood. As a rule of thumb, you would want to always have at least 4 teeth in the wood at any given moment. 3 teeth will do if it is very think wood. The reason for this is because if you have too many teeth, the sawdust has no way of clearing out, which causes the blade to heat up and the wood to start to burn. Having too many teeth in the wood will cause the teeth to catch onto the wood causing it go out of control on the table.
You will need a finer blade for very intricate patterns as this will provide more control. You will want to have greater cutting speed if you desire long curves on the outside of the wood. This will call for a blade with fewer teeth. The cut will be rougher but it will be much quicker to cut.
If you are new to using a scroll saw, you should go for a blade with more teeth and a heavier gauge. It will be much easier to control. A blade with a lower TPI (Teeth Per Inch) will be faster than that one with a higher TPI but it will be easier to control.
The number of a blade indicates the thickness of it. The higher the number, the thicker the blade should be. A higher number blade will break less easily than a lower number blade. This means you can put more pressure on a higher number blade and add more pressure against the blade with less of a chance of it going of the path of the cut.
When it comes to selecting blades, you should always try find a middle ground between the cutting speed, finished edge quality, blades' path and the blade life.
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