So, a #3 blade has more teeth per inch on it than a #5 blade. The numbers refer the the blades' TPI, with TPI decreasing as the numbers increase. Scroll saw blades are often numbered with whole, mostly odd numbers for the sake of simplicity: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 etc. No matter what the material though, more cutting teeth per inch means cleaner cuts that reduce the risk of tear-out in the work piece. For soft to medium woods, for example, blades with a few fewer teeth will actually cut faster. Most simply put, more teeth makes for more aggressive, faster cutting blades, but it's actually more of a balancing act than that. Like wider blades, thicker scroll saw blades cut more quickly and aggressively.įor scroll saw blades, the number of teeth per inch (TPI) usually increases as the hardness of the material increases. Similarly, scroll saw blade thickness should increase as the thickness and hardness of the application material increases. Of course, these blade width requirements must be balanced with the kind of cutting being done, since cuts that curve or turn at sharp angles require narrower, more flexible blades. Generally speaking, scroll saw blade width should increase as the hardness and thickness of the application material increases. Again, this selection process is a little more delicate with scroll saw blades because of the delicacy of the work that they do, so it's best to look at these suggestions as very general guidelines.Īs the cutting gets tougher, scroll saw blades need to be bigger and more substantial to meet the demand. Like with all kinds of saw blades, scroll saw blade dimensions and measurements can help buyers choose the right blades for their projects and application materials. This conventional blade-holding and changing design requires a little more time for blade changes, but plain-end blades of all kinds, even specialty blades, can be easily found on the market.Īlso, very small plain-end blades are easier to feed through very small fretwork cuts, since they lack any pins that might get in the way. Their flat ends affix into the jaws of small blade clamps that hold plain-end blades in the scroll saws that accept them. The ends of plain-end scroll saw blades are expectedly square, flat, and plain. Also, the pins themselves can make it impossible to thread the blades through very small holes in extra delicate fretwork. As a newer blade design, highly-specialized pin-end scroll saw blades become more and more difficult to find as blade specialization increases. The main disadvantage to pin-end blades has to do with blade diversity. Most scroll saw projects require some blade changing, and this design cuts down significantly on changing time. The advantage to pin-end blades is that it is much faster to change them. The pins on the ends of pin-end blades usually protrude 1/16", 1/8", or 3/16" from the blade body. The pins feed into hook-like receivers on scroll saws that accept pin-end blades. Pin-end scroll saw blades have small, round bars (pins) that thrust out perpendicularly from the body of the blades at each end. Each scroll saw on the market only accepts one kind of blade, often a determining factor in scroll saw purchase. As far as compatibility is concerned, there are two kinds of scroll saw blades available: pin-end scroll saw blades and plain-end scroll saw blades. The smallness of scroll saw blades makes it possible for them to thread them through very small holes in woodworking projects, usually fretwork. Scroll saw blades work a lot like really small bandsaw blades. Scroll Saw Blade Suspension and Compatibility Experimenting with several types of blades is usually the best thing that users can do to set themselves up for a solid scroll saw blade purchase. We explain the scroll saw blade compatibility issues, measurements, and cutting tooth principles that help fretworkers and other scroll saw users find the blades that cut just right for them and their projects. Even though scroll saw blades require a little more custom-fitting to their users than other saw blades-and even though it's difficult to lay down concrete rules about scroll saw blade purchase-some general principles about scroll saw blades still go a long way towards guiding a purchase in the right direction. Like other kinds of saw blades, scroll saw blades are manufactured in a huge variety of sizes and types. Most scroll saw users choose blades for their fretwork projects based on great deal of familiarity with their scroll saws, application materials, and individual skill level. Finding the right scroll saw blade for a given project and material isn't always as simple as referring to an application chart or following a straight-forward guideline.
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