? for spiral blade users

[Mick Walker]

I have a question for spiral blade users. When cutting a picture that has cut lines that are very close together I have a difficut time trying not to blow through the line close to the one I am cutting with a 2/0 straight blade which has a very thin kerf. How do you cut two lines that are very close together with a spiral blade which has a wider kerf? I like to cut Jeff Zaffino's pictures and some of the cut lines are less than 1/16" apart. Just curious.
Mick P-20

[ozarkhillbilly]

Mick, I don't know what to tell you inregards to straight blades, but with spirals the best thing I can tell you is slow your feed rate of the wood into the blade, take your time. For me personally I have the speed on my Dewalt on high, but in those areas your speaking of, I will slowley feed the wood/line into the blade, also I may follow the line exactly on the one cut, but then on the cut next to it, I may just stay to the left or right of the line giving me that little extra of a space between the two cuts, and then continuing to do the same on each consecitive untill I am free of that area.

Hope this helps.

[Old Mooner]

I agree with Bill. I use spiral blades a lot and find that just slowing the feed rate in complicated areas helps a bunch. The speed of the saw is up to you and your technique. Remember that a "pattern" is just that--a pattern. Admittedly, you have to be creful to not "mess up" the design, but a little variance won't hurt (nobody knows but you). Bill's advice of cutting on one line and a little to the side of the next will work most of the time.
Moon

[SharonW0111]

Mick -- I too love to use spirals and I use scotch tape to hold in my tiny pieces after I have cut them. Scotch tape comes off easily when I remove my patterns and it is clear so I can see through and not miss any part I havent cut yet. I sometimes tape a piece on the back as well as the frount - depending on how sturdy I want my piece to be.The tape does not dull your blade and makes the hard jobs a lot easier to do. I always keep a scotch tape despenser next to my saw within reach in case there is a piece i want to tape before I remove it from the blade. I have also made a zero tolarance table top I attach to my sawtop for just these types of projects. the larger top gives me better control on my piece also. I have one saw I have taken the origional saw top off of and made just such a top for .. I really do like the larger top.
Hope this helps.
Sharon

[Mick Walker]

Bill, Old Mooner and Sharon, thanks for your answers. Scrolling for over 14 years with straight blades I think I will stick with them.
Mick P-20

[William Young (SE BC)]

Hey Mick;
I agree with you totally. I use spirals only when I have to and I wouldnt dare try cutting pattern lines less than 1/16 apart as you describe with a spiral but I have done it often with flat blades .
I have seen actual pictures of an identical portrait cut by someone else where many of those areas of the pattern were no longer there due to the use of spiral blades whereas on mine the portrait had all the detail of the original pattern.
Like was mentioned . . nobody will know once the pattern is removed . But occasionally an identical pattern cutting will be shown where one is cut with spirals and one with flats and the difference is very evident.
I really envy the people that use spirals and can get more control over them than I can. But I feel absoloutly sure that if they started practicing with flat blades it would not be long before they would not go back to spirals for many reasons.
W.Y.

[Marsha]

Mick & Bill,
I have just spent over an hour in the shop working with spiral blades. I was actually amazed at how easy they cut. I didn't cut anything I would be willing to show here, but it was the first time I ever used them. They are smooth, there's no spinning of the wood and I believe with a little bit of practice they will be very efficient, if only I could get them to stay in the saw. I'm pretty sure I ordered the wrong type, because the ones I have don't appear to have a flat area to capture in the blade clamps. This is the only problem I had with them.

Mick: I think, if you do fretwork you should give them an honest try, not on a good project, but with some freehand cutting until you get the feel of them. I think someone mentioned before, cutting the alphabet will give you a good idea how to control them. I believe once you learn how to control a spiral blade, you'll never go back to flat blades, especially when doing fretwork.

I will definitely keep trying, I really like the way spirals cut.

Marsha

[CanadianScroller]

I agree with Bill. I use spiral blades a lot and find that just slowing the feed rate in complicated areas helps a bunch. The speed of the saw is up to you and your technique. Remember that a "pattern" is just that--a pattern. Admittedly, you have to be creful to not "mess up" the design, but a little variance won't hurt (nobody knows but you). Bill's advice of cutting on one line and a little to the side of the next will work most of the time.
Moon

Holy cow mooner Welcome Back!

[Neal Moore]

Yeah.....Ditto Moon!!!! Check your PM's

[ozarkhillbilly]

Welcome back moon! I guess we don't have to put out a missing persons alert.....