All About Scroll Sawing

Scroll sawing, fret sawing and jig sawing all mean precisely the same thing and that is sawing interlaced and ornamental designs out of wood, or fretwork as it is called.

With a scroll saw frame costing 50 cents and a few thin boards you can saw out the most exquisite patterns and make the most dainty articles imaginable. There is more pleasure, of course, in using a regular foot power scroll saw, but you can do just as good work with a hand frame and though it takes a little longer you’ll enjoy it immensely.

Scroll Sawing Outfits.

—A scroll saw is a very simple piece of apparatus and it consists of a fine saw fixed in a frame, or otherwise supported, so that it can be moved up and down, and it is narrow enough to turn sharp curves.

Now scroll saws, as I shall call them, are of three kinds and these are (1) those worked by hand; (2) those run by foot-power, and (3) those operated by other kinds of power.

Fig. 8. a simple and cheap scroll sawing outfit

A Cheap Scroll Sawing Outfit.

—The simplest and cheapest scroll sawing outfit consists of (a) a scroll saw frame; (b) a dozen saw blades, and (c) an awl, all of which are shown in [Fig. 8]. If it is your idea to saw out brackets and other fancy knickknacks you ought to have a sheet of (d) impression paper,[9] (e) some [sheet designs],[10] and (f) some fancy wood.

[ [9] This is ordinary carbon paper such as is used for typewriting.

[10] See [Fancy Woods] for Scroll Sawing in this chapter.

The scroll saw frame is a bent iron or steel bar, usually nickel-plated, which forms a frame about 5 inches wide and 12 inches long. A handle is fitted to one end and a clamp to each end so that the saw blade can be held tight in the frame.

How to Use the Scroll Saw.

—The first thing to do is to put a saw blade in the frame and be sure to have the points of the teeth down, that is toward the handle.

Next mark the design you intend to saw out on a thin piece of wood[11] planed nice and smooth on both sides, hold it flat on the edge of the table with your left hand, grip the saw handle with your right hand and hold it so that the saw blade is vertical as shown in [Fig. 9].

[11] Both can be bought of L. H. Wild, 171 Avenue A, New York City.

You are ready now to begin to saw out the design; set the sawblade on the line, jig the saw frame up and down and be careful to give it even and smooth strokes. You will be surprised to find how easily it works. When you are sawing turn the wood and not the saw frame—the latter can be turned a little sometimes to advantage—and hold it so that the back of the frame is always toward you and the blade should move forward but very slightly.

Fig. 9. the right way to use a hand scroll saw

When you want to saw a piece out of the inside of the board, take your awl and make a hole in it by giving it a twisting motion to prevent it from splitting the wood. Now unscrew one of the clamps of your saw frame and put the free end of the saw through the hole, clamp it in the frame and start to saw again.

A Few Other Helpful Things.

—A Hand Saw-Table.—You can saw out your designs much more easily and neatly if you use a hand saw table as shown in [Fig. 10]. This is a board about 4 × 6 inches on the sides with a V sawed out of one end and a clamp screwed to the bottom of it.

Fig. 10. a hand scroll saw table

This makes the end of the board project out from the table it is clamped to, raises the wood you are sawing from the surface of it and gives you a firm grip on it. You can easily make a saw table or you can buy one for 50 cents.[12]

[12] The Millers Falls Company, Millers Falls, Mass., makes them and nearly all tool companies sell them.

Files for Scroll Work.

—To do a really neat job at scroll sawing you should have a set of scroll saw files. These files are long and thin and are made round, oval, knife edge, half round and three cornered as shown at [A in Fig. 11].

A Twist Drill Stock.

—A twist drill stock and a drill, see [B, Fig. 11], is far better for making holes in wood than an awl and as they only cost 50 cents you should have one. You can make a hole in a ¹⁄₈ inch thick board in the ¹⁄₁₀₀th part of a minute.

A Pair of Pliers.

—A pair of flat-nose, side cutting pliers is a very useful tool which will go a long way toward making your scroll sawing efforts a success. A pair is shown at [C in Fig. 11].

A Small Hammer.

—And finally get a small hammer to drive brads with as pictured at [D].

Scroll Saw Blades.

—There are two kinds made and these are known as (1) Star saw blades and (2) German saw blades.

A TWIST DRILL STOCK
SCROLL SAWYER’S FILESSAW BLADES (HALF SIZE)
FLAT NOSE, SIDE CUTTING PLIERSA SMALL HAMMERTHE TEETH OF A SAW ARE PLACED WIDE APART TO CUT CLEAN

Fig. 11. some necessary scroll sawing tools

As one is as good as the other by all means buy Star blades. The sizes from 1 to 10 are shown at [E in Fig. 11], but three smaller and two larger sizes are made. The smaller sizes cost 10 cents a dozen and the larger sizes 15 cents a dozen. The spacing of the teeth on the blade is shown at [F].

How to Trace a Design on Wood.

—You can draw your own designs or buy them printed ready to use. In either case you must transfer the design to the surface of the wood you are going to saw.

To do this lay a sheet of carbon paper as typists call it, or impression paper as jig sawyers call it, with the prepared side next to the wood; lay the design sheet on top of it; and fasten the corners of the sheets to the wood with glue, or, better, with thumb tacks.[13]

[13] Thumb tacks are short, flat headed tacks used by draughtsmen.

Now take a sharp, hard lead pencil or a piece of pointed bone and trace the outline of the design. When you have it all done you will find that the design is plainly marked in black lines on the wood—that is except where you forgot to trace it.

Designs for Scroll Sawing.

—Designs in great variety can be bought of H. L. Wild, Publisher, 171 Avenue A, New York City. Besides glove boxes, handkerchief boxes, bird cages, clock cases, thread and thimble stands, photo frames and a thousand and one other pretty and useful articles you can get patterns for doll furniture, alphabets and mechanical designs like the horizontal engine shown at [A in Fig. 12] and the fire engine shown at [B].

Foot-Power Scroll Saws.

—There are several makes of foot-power scroll saws on the market and the prices of these range from $4.50 to $25.

The Cricket Scroll Saw.

—This is the cheapest foot-power scroll saw that you can buy and is the one that sells for $4.50. It has a table that tilts which permits you to saw your work on a bevel—that is on a slant—so that you can inlay it with some other kind of wood or metal.

A—A HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINE

B—A FIRE ENGINE

Fig. 12. mechanical masterpieces made with a scroll saw

This little machine weighs 17 pounds and is 33 inches high; it is made of lighter castings than the machines which follow but it will do just about as good work as the higher priced ones. [Fig. 13] shows what it looks like.

Fig. 13. the cheapest foot-power scroll saw made

The Lester Scroll Saw.

—This is a well made saw, has a cast iron frame and the arms of the saw frame and the pitman—that is, the rod which connects the crank wheel with the frame—are of ash.

The Lester has several very handy attachments and these are (a) an automatic dust blower, which blows the sawdust away from the line you are sawing on; (b) an adjustable lever saw clamp with a hinged jaw which prevents the saw blades from breaking; and (c) a drilling attachment.

Fig. 14. the lester scroll saw with turning lathe attachment

This saw, which is shown in [Fig. 14], costs $10.00, is 35 inches high and weighs in the neighborhood of 30 pounds. The lathe attachment costs $2.00 extra.

The Fleetwood Scroll Saw.

—This is the best and consequently the most expensive foot power scroll saw made. It has a swing of nearly 16 inches. It is fitted with a tilting table, a vertical drill and a blowing attachment. A scroll saw of this kind with a plain stand can be bought for $21.00, or one with a fancy stand, see [Fig. 15], can be had for $25.00.

Fig. 15. the fleetwood scroll saw

How a Foot-Power Scroll Saw Works.

—If you will look again at Figs. 13 and 14 you will see that the scroll saws shown have saw frames very like a hand saw frame. The lower part of the frame is connected with a crank on the end of a spindle, which has a small grooved wheel fixed to it, by a pitman or rod and the treadle is connected with the large drive wheel by another pitman; finally the drive wheel is belted to the small grooved wheel.

Now when you work the treadle with your foot it produces a reciprocating motion and this is changed by the pitman into rotary motion which it imparts to the drive wheel. Since the grooved, or driven, wheel is smaller than the drive wheel it revolves faster and this gives the pitman connected with it a very rapid rotary motion on one end but as it is pivoted to the frame which in turn is pivoted at the rear end it is changed into an up and down or reciprocating motion exactly like the treadle but many times faster.

The Fleetwood works a little differently, in that instead of a frame the pitman is connected with a metal block that slides in a guide. The lower end of the saw is fastened to the upper end of this sliding block and the top of the saw blade is fixed to the end of a long, curved spring whose elasticity tends to make it fly up.

This action keeps the saw blade always taut and pulls it up except when the pitman pulls the block down and the saw with it. This is the principle on which large power jig saws used in shops are worked.

How to Saw on a Foot-Power Scroll Saw.

—Lay the board you are going to saw flat on the table of the machine and put your finger tips of both hands on top of the board; when possible keep one hand on one side of the saw and the other hand on the opposite side of it.

Press down hard enough on the work to keep it on the table against the up strokes of the saw; as the top of the table is polished it is easy to slide the work around and keep the saw on the line. Run the saw at an even speed and do not feed the wood against the blade too fast.

TABLE OF SCROLL SAW WOODS

NamePrice per foot
planed to a thickness of
¹⁄₁₆ to
¹⁄₈ in.		³⁄₁₆ in.¹⁄₄ in.
Poplar, or White Wood or Bass$0.07$0.08$0.09
Spanish Cedar.10.12.14
White Maple.10.12.15
Sycamore.11.13.15
Hazel Wood.11.13.15
Oak or White Ash.11.13.15
White Holly.12.14.16
Black Walnut.14.16.18
Bird’s Eye Maple.14.16.18
Mahogany.14.16.18
Cocobola.20.25.30
Amaranth.20.25.30
Rosewood.25.30.40
Satin Wood.30.35.40
Tulip.50.60.75
Real Ebony.50.50.50

These woods can be bought of H. L. Wild, 171 Avenue A, New York City, or of J. Gabriel and Company, 672 Grand Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Fancy Woods for Scroll Saw Work.

—Fancy woods that are planed on both sides for scroll sawing can be bought in thicknesses of ¹⁄₁₆, ¹⁄₈, ³⁄₁₆ and ¹⁄₄ inch. Wood that is ¹⁄₈ inch thick is the best to use for all ordinary work.

The foregoing [list] gives the name, thickness and price of the chief common and fancy woods that are good for scroll sawing.

Trimmings for Boxes, Etc.

—Brass hinges, knobs, screws, drawer pulls, box hooks, French screws and wire nails, that is brads, catches, metal legs, small locks, escutcheons, turned moldings, etc., can be bought of the above dealers who specialize in scroll sawyer’s materials.