Newbie needs help cutting 2x- pine

[yekcam]

A novice needs advice or directions to advice on cutting 2x- stand-up pine puzzles.

I bought a used Delta in good condition. I am using a #9 Olsen blade.
Using fairly tight tension and fairly high speed.

I am having trouble with angled and bowed cuts mostly on radiuses. I feel I am applying tooo much pressure?

Any and all advice most appreciated

[Carter-Johnson]

Did you check the recent thread called "Cutting Puzzles?"

[yekcam]

I do not have this problem when cutting 3/4" soft or hardwood; it occurs with 1 1/2" thick material

[BobD (Archive)]

The only advice I can offer is to let the blade cut...don't force it. Make a conscious effort to let the blade catch up...

Wow...1.5" thick...that's a workout for the saw...I'd almost rather cut that with a 3/32" bandsaw blade!

Bob

[Jediscroller]

I haven't cut puzzles out of 2" thick wood but I have cut boxes out of that thickness. The #9 blade should be good for wood that thick. I'm assuming that it's a skip-tooth blade. It is VERY slow going though. Even the smallest amount of pressure will distort cuts in material that thick. I had much better luck with skip-tooth than double tooth (crown tooth I believe is Olson's name for them).
As Bob said, the key is to let the blade do the cutting and use a very light touch. I had better luck with lower speed (about half speed).

[Gill]

You might be having problems clearing the swarf/sawdust as you're cutting. I find that skip tooth blades help enormously when cutting larger pieces of wood because the gap between the teeth allows the swarf better clearance.

Gill

[CanadianScroller]

Skiptooth blade and slow as molasses
Like the others have said, let the saw do the work.
I have cut 2" maple this way and it is fine.
You could even use a bigger blade, a 12 would work fine

[workin for wood]

a 2x4 is 1 3/4 thick. Good for you man !!! Cut slow, use a spindle sander to repair the bows. cut and fix each piece one at a time...the turtle will still make it to the finish line.

[lucky788scroller]

Whats been said pretty well covers it, just make sure you use little pressure, NO sidepressure, and DO NOT use a reverse tooth blade. Your sawdust will not be able to escape the cut, and that'll cause you use a lot of 4 letter words. Dale

[PuzzledMoose]

Mike Moorlach (Flying Dutchman) has some heavy duty blades that I got a couple of samples of last time I ordered from him.

They succesfully cut through 1 15/16" of pine - a box body lid and base stack cut. They are pretty hefty blades - look like they belong in a jigsaw (saber saw) rather than a scollsaw but they work well ... a bit of sanding needed afterwards that's all ...

[Rolf]

Cutting 2x 4 material is not easy the douglas fir is very grainy, hard and soft areas, the blade tends to track along the soft area. I try to avoid using 2x, instead I will glue up layers of soft clear pine or use a 2" thick slab that my neighbor gave me.

[PuzzledMoose]

I'm a little curious why the puzzles ned to be 2" thick ... One's I've cut from 3/4" or 1" seem to be capable of freestanding OK .. well except when attacked by our cat .....

[SharonW0111]

I cut the box bottom for my backpack in 3-inch poplar and I used #7 two way from mike _I had no problem with it cutting at all- just make sure your table is square and have the patients it takes to cut thick wood.
Sharon

[Neal Moore]

Although most scroll saw manufacturers claim their saws will cut 2" wood, to do so is pretty well pushing the limits of the saw's abilities. Some of the higher end saws will do it no sweat but others will have problems. I made a box on my DeWalt that was pushing the 2" limit. Although it did cut it it was a pain to control. Then again, maybe that's due to my limited ability!!! LOL!!!

[yekcam]

Thanks for all the good inputs.

I now believe my problem is primarily using tooo much push pressure (short on patience) and not letting the blade do the cutting and from my use of 2x- fir material. Yes I have noticed an extreme difference in cutting speed between cross and rip cut directions.

Thanks again