Stack Cutting and blade questions

[ThCube]

I am going to attempt my first stack cutting. The wood is 1/4" and one stack has 3 pieces and the other has 4 pieces. Which blade do I want to use, or do I use the same blade I cut the single sheets with?

I also have a pack of 360 degree blades, what do you use those for?

I have seen many people mention a 2/0 (or was it 0/2) blade, I don't understand what that means?

Thank you for your help!!

[dale]

Hello TheCube About the blades to use I am kind of new at this also. But I will give you a link to Mikes Workshop frequently asked Questions where he explains some of what you just asked.
This man has been scrolling for ages and seems to know quite a lot. He also sells Flying Dutchman Blades. I personally like them but everyone had their own likes and dislikes.

He also explains what the differnet blade are good for.
I am also giving you the link to his home page where you can read all of his infomation.
dale

Q & A http://www.mikesworkshop.com/Q&A-FP.htm

Home Page http://www.mikesworkshop.com/index.htm

[Jediscroller]

The 2/0 refers to the size of the blade. Unfortunately, there's no standard so a 2/0 Flying dutchman blade won't necessarily be the same size as a 2/0 Olson or Pegas. As a rule, the lower the number, the smaller the blade. Regarding your stack sizes, for hardwoods such as oak, I'll typically use a #5 or #7 reverse tooth blade for a stack that thick. With a softwood such as cedar I'll use a #3.
The other blades that you refer to are referred to as spiral blades, these allow you to cut a piece without turning the wood. They leave a wider kerf and not quite as clean an edge as flat blades though some people love them.

[Bill Wilson]

What kind of wood are you using and how intricate is the pattern? As stated earlier, generally the thicker the stack, the larger ther blade. If you are doing a very intricate pattern with lots of tight turns and small detail, you will probably want to lean toward a little smaller blade.

Spiral blades come in handy when the piece you are cutting has lots of inside cuts and is too large to fit in the throat depth of your saw or just too big to swing easily between you and the blade. They are also often used for veining to open up the cut line a little more than a standard blade.

[ThCube]

Thank you all for your help.

I posted this last night but was afraid to do any cutting until I heard from someone.

The wood I am using is oak and poplar. I was told these are good for newbies. I am making a woven basket. I'm not too sure if these are considered tight turns or not, since this is my first attempt. Are these considered tight turns? (If the picture did not show up, could you tell me how to insert a picture into here please?)

As for the blades. I am using Craftsman blades. I don't understand where the numbers are. I have a pack of Reverse Tooth splinter/sand-free cutting, 360 spiral, assortment (these have numbers like 9-27060, 9-27061, 9-27062, 9-27064) and Reverse Tooth fine finish cutting). So which of these would I use for a stack of 1/4" oak, 3 high and 4 high?

[ThCube]

Thank you all for your help.

I am using oak and poplar, I was told these are good woods for newbies. I am making a woven basket and since I am so new at this I don't really know if these cuts are considered tight or not. (I tried to insert a picture of the pattern, but couldn't figure out how to do it.)

As for the blades, I'm using Craftsman blades and I'm still not understand the numbering you are referring to. Here are the blades I have:

Reverse Tooth - fine finish cutting
Reverse Tooth - splinter/sand-free cutting
Spiral - 360 degree cutting in all directions
Assortment - the numbers on here are: 9-27060, 9-27061, 9-27062, 9-27064

Which of these blades would be good for 1/4" oak, stacked 3 and 4 high, to make a woven basket? I also am making collapsable baskets and I don't understand which blade to use for those either.

[ThCube]

OK, can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? I have posted here 3 or 4 times and my posts are not showing up. Where are they going? Am I missing a step? And why are these short posts working but the detailed ones aren't?

I'm so confussed!!!!!!!

[BobD (Archive)]

There must have been someting in the post that our spam-eliminator didn't like. They needed to be approved. I've done so; you shouldn't have any more problems.

Bob

[ThCube]

Thanks Bob, I thougth I was loosing it!!!

[will8989]

ThCube, first of all, glad to meet you. I also cut baskets like you are cutting but I don't use oak, especially when staking. I have found Oak to be a very hard wood to cut, sometimes the grain makes the basket rings break and cutting it in a stack of 3 or 4, which is 3/4" to 1" high, is very ambitious to say the least. I would start with a 9 reverse blade and go to a 12. When I cut those baskets, I only cut two high of 1/4", makes a much better finished product, but that's just me. If I cut three I make them 3/16" which is less than 5/8", using a #5 or 7 reverse blade and this makes a nice ring for a basket. When cutting these baskets I always use a "softer" wood, if there is such a thing. Poplar is good but my favorite is cherry, sycamore or blackwalnut. Believe it or not, I have found black walnut not to be as hard as oak. Hope this helps!!

Betty

[ThCube]

Betty, thank you very much, it helped a lot. And wow, black walnut is easier then oak??!!! I did one basket in poplar but it didn't have enough grain for my liking. I thought maybe oak would. I am going to be ordering some other wood since the only thing I can find around here is oak and poplar.

I have not cut my stack yet so maybe I will reduce it since this is going to be my first. I want to practice on the curves with scrap wood, but I don't have any scrap oak yet.

Again, thank you for your help!!

Terry

[PeteB]

Properties of wood

ThCube, here's a thread linking to a site about hardness, etc., of different woods:

http://www.scrollsawer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9113

And here's a site I had bookmarked:

http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/species_guide/display_species.asp

There's a ton of information about wood online, if you get into researching certain species.

Another wood that I would recommend for your baskets is SOFT maple, often sold as 'sugar maple'. That would give you a white to go with your red cherry and brown walnut.

Pete

[Bill Wilson]

Hi THCube,

I have no idea how those Craftsman part numbers correlate to blade sizes. There should be some indication of the actual dimensions and tpi on the package somewhere. I suspect Craftsman brand blades are probably made by Olson, but don't know. You could go onto Sloan's website where they have a chart that lists all the different sizes, tooth configurations with their respective dimensions and tpi. Compare the Craftsman dimensions and cross reference it to the size numbers (2/0, #3, #5, #7, etc) and see what you have.

As for the turns in your pattern. They don't look terribly tight to me, so you can probably get away with a larger blade size.