I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.

"bf" wrote in
oups.com:

*snip*


I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for
his siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting
blades to make it safer or what.

Don't think that duller/less agressive is safer. Any time you have to
push harder to get a result, you're opening the door for accident.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your
input.


They make hand powered versions called "coping saws." They even use the
same type of blade. They're more work and if you get a bad one you'll
hate it, but I like mine. :-)

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

In article .com, "bf" wrote:
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

Nowhere near as dangerous as a bandsaw. Blades are much finer, so they don't
remove nearly as much material at once -- typical bandsaw blade is 3 to 6
teeth per inch (tpi), whereas 20 tpi might be a bit on the coarse side for a
scroll saw. Sticking your fingers into a moving scroll saw blade means you
need a band-aid. Sticking your fingers into a moving bandsaw blade probably
means a trip to the E.R.

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Less aggressive doesn't necessarily mean safer. Match the blade to the
material, and don't worry about it.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.

Any power tool has the potential to be dangerous, particularly saws, but that
potential is lower with a scroll saw than almost any other powered woodworking
tool I can think of.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"bf" wrote in message
oups.com...
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.


As Doug says, match the blade to the work. Then have him keep the speed
down until he gets the hang of it. Sort of a power coping saw. You can take
a tendon pretty quickly if you don't have that blade guarded and your
fingers out of the way.

Of course, if you have your blade guarded on the bandsaw and keep your
fingers out of the way....

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
.. .

Sticking your fingers into a moving scroll saw blade means you
need a band-aid.

I have a Dremel scroll saw. Sticking your fingers into it makes the saw
stop. It is good only for cutting up to a quarter inch thickness. Perfect
for jigsaw puzzles, perfect for children to use, otherwise a useless waste
of space.

Tim W

"Doug Miller" wrote in message news:kn0dh.130
Nowhere near as dangerous as a bandsaw. Blades are much finer, so they
don't
remove nearly as much material at once -- typical bandsaw blade is 3 to 6
teeth per inch (tpi), whereas 20 tpi might be a bit on the coarse side for
a
scroll saw. Sticking your fingers into a moving scroll saw blade means you
need a band-aid. Sticking your fingers into a moving bandsaw blade
probably
means a trip to the E.R.

Doug - Agree/Disagree. I agree the scroll saw would probably do much less
damage thatn the bandsaw. When working on small, thin stock, I let my
pinkies get closer than I would the bandsaw. However my little Delta could
very easily go to the bone. That's more than enough reason to go the the ER
for stitches, shot and antibiotics.

With that aside, I would probably let a mature 10-year old use one with
close supervision. That is the way a lot of young folks learn to love being
creative.

A 13-14 year old? Ummmm, not so sure.

RonB

In article .com,
bf wrote:
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.

I'd say a scroll saw is pretty safe. If you want to get even safer try
a home built version.
http://1nailbender.tripod.com/full.htm

It shows a home built foot powered scroll saw. I figure it would be safer
than an electric scroll saw, yet easier to use than a coping saw.

"bf" wrote in message
oups.com...
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.


They started us out in woodshop in the 6th grade (11/12 years old), the only
tool we were not allowed to use was the table saw.

I specifically remember using hand drills, coping saws, a router, a drill
press and a scroll saw. I don't remember any safety issues. It's too bad
they cut out woodshop in the schools except as a highschool elective...

Not having a kid myself, take my opinion as an observer. Scrollsaws are
very safe when handled properly and I see no reason that a 10 year old
can't follow instructions.

But clearly, it would be best for you to practice on the scrollsaw for a
month or so before letting your son do it. There are basic tricks to
learn and it's probably just asking for an accident if you try learning
with your son.

What I would suggest is that you let him watch you as you learn. When
YOU feel confident with the scrollsaw, you can slowly ramp him into
using it by starting with the basics (which by then you should have
mastered well enough to be safe).

Better yet ... look for a course in your area. And if possible, take it
with you son!

Just remember, cutting your fingers is only one of the dangers. Always
wear goggles (or some form of eye protection from flying chips) and
always wear a dust mask. I'd recommend a mask that "breathes", so that
you don't find yourself sweating up your goggles.

In conclusion ... I think it's a great idea to get him into woodworking
at this age. But as you said, kids that age get bored easily and you do
NOT want him trying to do something too fast before he's ready.

Good luck.

Jack

bf wrote:
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.

bf wrote:
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.

I'd say a scroll saw is one of the safer powered cutting tools. I have
a 14 year old who has used my bandsaw under supervision for several
years without injury, or even scaring me too much.

One thing to watch out for: For some reason, boys seem predisposed to
"thump" or flick small cutoff scraps of wood away from the blade. They
seem to think the short time their finger spends near the blade makes
it less scary somehow. But it's a movement that is by its very nature
uncontrolled and imprecise. Teach him early on to use another scrap to
gently brush those cutoffs away from the blade.

DonkeyHody
"Every man is my superior in that I can learn from him." - Thomas
Carlyle

In article , "RonB" wrote:
"Doug Miller" wrote in message news:kn0dh.130
Nowhere near as dangerous as a bandsaw. Blades are much finer, so they
don't
remove nearly as much material at once -- typical bandsaw blade is 3 to 6
teeth per inch (tpi), whereas 20 tpi might be a bit on the coarse side for
a
scroll saw. Sticking your fingers into a moving scroll saw blade means you
need a band-aid. Sticking your fingers into a moving bandsaw blade
probably
means a trip to the E.R.

Doug - Agree/Disagree. I agree the scroll saw would probably do much less
damage thatn the bandsaw. When working on small, thin stock, I let my
pinkies get closer than I would the bandsaw. However my little Delta could
very easily go to the bone. That's more than enough reason to go the the ER
for stitches, shot and antibiotics.

Well, I guess that's true -- I probably understated the risk a little bit.
OTOH, it's hard to see how you could accidentally amputate a digit with a
scroll saw...

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

A couple of comments:

inexpensive scroll saws are not the way to go. Too many people have
purchased very low end scroll saws, only to find there is too much
vibration, poor quality manufacturing, and too much blade wobble. They get
frustrated and abandon the hobby. Buy as much saw as you can afford. A
used DeWalt 788 just might be a better bargain than something from HF.

Scroll saw is a skill. It is an eye-hand thing. Except in rare cases,
there are no jigs, fixtures, or fences to buy or build with a scroll saw.
Scroll sawing is an easy skill to pick up, and it don't take long, but you
must build up the skill by doing. You know your son, and as you stated in
you post, you need to start off with easy. The first 20 or 30 tries will be
firewood. Expect that, plan on that, and use that fact to also learn about
applying a finish, including if you want to sand before cutting, or after.
(many times with fret work, it is better to sand before cutting.) Don't let
him get discouraged because he might lack the fine muscle tone of a 13 or 14
year old. It comes with practice and skill development. But his ability to
quickly grow skills through his youthful eye-hand coordination will amaze
you.

Best of luck.
Phil

"bf" wrote in message
oups.com...
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

{snip}

"bf" wrote in message
oups.com...
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.

My boys started using scroll saws at ages 7 and 9. At that point they used
Hegner and Dewalt saws under close supervision. Now, at 8 and 11, they work
on a Dremel scroll saw while I'm in the room but not hovering. They are very
good about following safety precautions (safety glasses, fingers away from
the blade, don't put fingers in the path of the blade) and have gotten quite
proficient at cutting out puzzles. They've also cut out 3D figures and
names.

I've also had them working with hand saws, planes and chisels... even doing
hand cut dovetails and resawing boards with a rip panel saw. If you can
explain and demonstrate the processes well and the kids are attentive and
relatively coordinated you can take them through a skill building process
with good results.

ALSO, a KEY thing to remember is don't give them sub-standard tools to
use... my kids use my L-N dovetail saw, finely honed chisels, L-N planes,
good taper ground panel saws, marking gauges, etc. If you give them junky
tools to work with they'll become frustrated and end up with poor results.

With those things in mind I don't have any serious concerns with the scroll
saw. Seems to me I was about 8 when I started using my father's Shop Smith
scroll saw. We were joking the other night that his scroll saw has lasted
about 50 years so far... course I was the last one to use it and that was
probably 40 years ago. ;~)

John

"Puckdropper" wrote in message
news:457487a1$0$97269
They make hand powered versions called "coping saws." They even use the
same type of blade. They're more work and if you get a bad one you'll
hate it, but I like mine. :-)

Coping saws are coping saws. The hand equivelent of a scroll saw is a fret
saw. I have both scroll and fret saws. For some reason, I prefer doing it by
hand.

You must have an old Dremel or it's defective. I did a name plaque out of
4/4 purpleheart on mine. Never even bogged.

"Tim W" wrote in message
...

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
.. .

Sticking your fingers into a moving scroll saw blade means you
need a band-aid.

I have a Dremel scroll saw. Sticking your fingers into it makes the saw
stop. It is good only for cutting up to a quarter inch thickness. Perfect
for jigsaw puzzles, perfect for children to use, otherwise a useless waste
of space.

Tim W

bf wrote:
I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'm pretty sure that when I was 10 I used a scroll saw frequently
without supervision. By 7th and 8th grade, I was doing intricate
Christmas ornaments. No incidents that I remember. The scrollsaw was
much less intimidating than the bandsaw. I seem to remember always
using the blade guard because it helped keep the piece down on the
table. I would actually be less worried about the blade than getting
hit/pinched by the other moving parts.

At one of the woodworking shows, I saw the Excaliber guy actually put
his finger directly on the blade (on purpose) to show that it would not
cut him. I'm still not clear on why he didn't get cut.

One thing to keep in mind is that a scroll saw is really not good at
making straight cuts. For that, I had a hand-powered miter box similar
in design to this one:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,42884,43836

With those two saws and an egg beater drill, you can make a lot of
stuff.

I would get the scroll saw first because there are so many things you
can do with it that don't require any other tools.

Mark

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 01:17:23 GMT, "Phil-in-MI" NO Spam &
pam wrote:

A couple of comments:

inexpensive scroll saws are not the way to go. Too many people have
purchased very low end scroll saws, only to find there is too much
vibration, poor quality manufacturing, and too much blade wobble. They get
frustrated and abandon the hobby. Buy as much saw as you can afford. A
used DeWalt 788 just might be a better bargain than something from HF.

The only thing about the dewalt is that the guard is a joke. For a
kid to use I'd rather have something they put more than 30 seconds
into engineering the guard. In all other areas the dewalt is
excellent.


-Leuf

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 00:26:35 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , "RonB" wrote:

Doug - Agree/Disagree. I agree the scroll saw would probably do much less
damage thatn the bandsaw. When working on small, thin stock, I let my
pinkies get closer than I would the bandsaw. However my little Delta could
very easily go to the bone. That's more than enough reason to go the the ER
for stitches, shot and antibiotics.

Well, I guess that's true -- I probably understated the risk a little bit.
OTOH, it's hard to see how you could accidentally amputate a digit with a
scroll saw...

I think the band saw is a little bit easier to learn on though,
because you don't have to worry as much about keeping the stock
pressed down (says the guy with a scar on his knuckle from the band
saw in an incident that started with not keeping the stock pressed
down). I've had the scroll saw once or twice get really angry and
shake a piece to bits on me, that doesn't happen on the band saw.


-Leuf

Or he's equipped it with a SCROLLSTOP(tm)


CW wrote:
You must have an old Dremel or it's defective. I did a name plaque out of
4/4 purpleheart on mine. Never even bogged.

"Tim W" wrote in message
...

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
.. .

Sticking your fingers into a moving scroll saw blade means you
need a band-aid.

I have a Dremel scroll saw. Sticking your fingers into it makes the saw
stop. It is good only for cutting up to a quarter inch thickness. Perfect
for jigsaw puzzles, perfect for children to use, otherwise a useless waste
of space.

Tim W

The scroll saw is probably the safest stationary power tool in a wood
shop. But, it can still hurt you. When my daughter was 8 I showed
her the basics of SS operation and safety rules. At that time I told
her she could use it as long as her mom or I was with her. She is now
10 and I feel OK about her using it without direct "standing behind
her" supervision but she has to notify one of the adults in the house
& tell us what whe is planning to do, and let an adult check out the
saw vicinity for hazards before she turns it on.

Now, she was going into the shop and using hand tools on her own from
a fairly young age, and I have been using the scroll saw for several
years. If I was just staring out with the scroll saw myself, I would
not feel comfortable letting her work with it until I had a good
working knowledge myself, to share with her.

One thing about having kids in the shop, remember that when
their friends are around, they sometimes have a lapse of judjment in
an effort to impress or show off. There's a boy the same age as my
daughter who she plays with pretty often. Apparently he did not
believe her when she told him she was using the scroll saw, I don't
need to go into details, nothing bad happened, but she did violate one
the rule about not operating the saw without telling an adult
first.

--
For every complicated, difficult problem, there is a simple, easy
solution that does not work.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland -

bf wrote:
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.

Years ago there was British scroll saw that was completely safe. It
wasn't high end, and it wasn't dear, but was just the thing for kids and
for light work. The blade was a standard scroll saw blade but it had a
very short stroke. You could put your finger on the blade and cut a
piece of 6mm ply at the same time. It cut like a hot knife through
butter . The blade would just catch the skin on your finger and the
skin would move with it without cutting.
Took me a little sweat to test at a wood show but I did and it never
Actually new some people who purchased the machine and an arts class at
a Primary school purchased 6 of the.
Haven't heard about them for ages, but they may still be available.

Regards
John

Thanks everyone for the input.. I'll continue to read. I like the
advice of learning to use it myself first, and then teaching him. I
think it will be safer and less frustrating for him as well if I know
what I'm doing. The last thing I want to happen is for me to be
fumbling in our first experience and for him to decide it's "boring"
LOL.

I ended up buying a used Excalibar. (Seeing the ad in Craig's list gave
me the idea). Got a nice deal, but it was kind of sad. The guy had to
sell it because his health no longer allowed him to do woodworking.
Just another reminder to enjoy life while you can and not take things
for granted.

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 12:42:55 +0000, John B wrote:

bf wrote:
I was considering buying a scrollsaw, primarily so my 10 year old son
and I could do some woodworking together. He's at the stage in life
where he's "bored" all the time.

I've never used a scrollsaw in my life, so I was wondering if they'd be
considered "safe enough" for a fairly mature 10 year old. He wouldn't
do anything stupid or reckless. I'd always supervise him using it.. If
by accident he did rub a finger against the blade, is it as devastating
as a bandsaw? (I'd guess not).

I'd like to have him start by making puzzles out of 1/2 plywood for his
siblings. I don't know if you can get less aggressive cutting blades to
make it safer or what.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of scrollsaws, thus I am seeking your input.

Years ago there was British scroll saw that was completely safe. It
wasn't high end, and it wasn't dear, but was just the thing for kids and
for light work. The blade was a standard scroll saw blade but it had a
very short stroke. You could put your finger on the blade and cut a
piece of 6mm ply at the same time. It cut like a hot knife through
butter . The blade would just catch the skin on your finger and the
skin would move with it without cutting.
Took me a little sweat to test at a wood show but I did and it never
Actually new some people who purchased the machine and an arts class at
a Primary school purchased 6 of the.
Haven't heard about them for ages, but they may still be available.

I remember when I was a kid I got a little toy scroll saw for Christmas
one year--I think it was from Kenner but wouldn't swear to it. Don't know
what happened to it, I think it disappeared in a move. Blade had no
teeth, just a series of rounded indentations--it cut plastic foam and the
like like gangbusters and even managed balsa if I recall correctly. Very
safe little tool and fun besides. Battery powered so it didn't have much
power--you could stall it by grabbing the blade. At the time foam for it
was hard to find and expensive--I suspect that today it would do wonders
with foamcore board.

Another fairly safe tool, by the way, is a Fein Multimaster--cuts almost
as fast as a Bosch jigsaw but you can put your finger on the edge of the
blade with it running at full speed and nothing happens (yeah, I'm dumb, I
tried it, it works). Really needs a shoe of some kind to be able to do
any kind of precision work though. One of these days I've got to see
about rigging one.

"Mark Wells" wrote in message
oups.com...

At one of the woodworking shows, I saw the Excaliber guy actually put
his finger directly on the blade (on purpose) to show that it would not
cut him. I'm still not clear on why he didn't get cut.


Maybe it was a ScrollStop prototype???

"Locutus" wrote in message
...

"Mark Wells" wrote in message
oups.com...

At one of the woodworking shows, I saw the Excaliber guy actually put
his finger directly on the blade (on purpose) to show that it would not
cut him. I'm still not clear on why he didn't get cut.


Maybe it was a ScrollStop prototype???

ugh, someone already beat me to a scrollstop joke...

We never tire of it. In fact, it keeps getting funnier every
time we trot it out -- kind of like that excorsist movie :-)

Locutus wrote:

"Locutus" wrote in message
...

"Mark Wells" wrote in message
oups.com...

At one of the woodworking shows, I saw the Excaliber guy actually put
his finger directly on the blade (on purpose) to show that it would not
cut him. I'm still not clear on why he didn't get cut.


Maybe it was a ScrollStop prototype???

ugh, someone already beat me to a scrollstop joke...

Locutus wrote:
"Mark Wells" wrote in message
oups.com...

At one of the woodworking shows, I saw the Excaliber guy actually put
his finger directly on the blade (on purpose) to show that it would
not cut him. I'm still not clear on why he didn't get cut.


Maybe it was a ScrollStop prototype???

It didn't cut because the short stroke simply moved the skin up and down
with the blade. If he'd bent his finger and placed the middle joint against
it, it could have cut, but it still wouldn't have been deep before hurting a
LOT.

Experience counts!

Pop`

"CW" wrote in message
news

"Tim W" wrote in message
...

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
.. .

Sticking your fingers into a moving scroll saw blade means you
need a band-aid.

I have a Dremel scroll saw. Sticking your fingers into it makes the saw
stop.

You must have an old Dremel or it's defective. I did a name plaque out of
4/4 purpleheart on mine. Never even bogged.

Correct. It is about twenty years old.

Tim w

"Tim W" wrote in message
...

"CW" wrote in message
news

"Tim W" wrote in message
...

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
.. .

Sticking your fingers into a moving scroll saw blade means you
need a band-aid.

I have a Dremel scroll saw. Sticking your fingers into it makes the saw
stop.

You must have an old Dremel or it's defective. I did a name plaque out of
4/4 purpleheart on mine. Never even bogged.

Correct. It is about twenty years old.

Spring return rather than parallel arm, I take it?

"George" wrote in message
t...

"Tim W" wrote in message
...

"CW" wrote in message
news

"Tim W" wrote in message
...

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
.. .

Sticking your fingers into a moving scroll saw blade means you
need a band-aid.

I have a Dremel scroll saw. Sticking your fingers into it makes the
saw
stop.

You must have an old Dremel or it's defective. I did a name plaque out
of
4/4 purpleheart on mine. Never even bogged.

Correct. It is about twenty years old.

Spring return rather than parallel arm, I take it?

Exactly. With a bendy pressed tin body and a fitting for a sanding disc
which also stopped when you touched it. Really a piece of idiocy but I
mention it only because I found it fun for exactly the purpose the OP had -
I could use it on the kitchen table with my kids making jig-saws puzzles,
model aeroplanes, doll's house furniture and they could use it too. You
could never have hurt yourself with it.

Tim w

wrote:
We never tire of it. In fact, it keeps getting funnier every
time we trot it out -- kind of like that excorsist movie :-)


BTW, Franco is still dead.

--

FF

bf wrote:
Thanks everyone for the input.. I'll continue to read. I like the
advice of learning to use it myself first, and then teaching him. I
think it will be safer and less frustrating for him as well if I know
what I'm doing. The last thing I want to happen is for me to be
fumbling in our first experience and for him to decide it's "boring"
LOL.

I ended up buying a used Excalibar. (Seeing the ad in Craig's list gave
me the idea). Got a nice deal, but it was kind of sad. The guy had to
sell it because his health no longer allowed him to do woodworking.
Just another reminder to enjoy life while you can and not take things
for granted.

To reinforce what others have already said: my son, now 9, has been
using the Delta scroll saw for a couple of years at least, has become
quite adept at it, and now does it without problems and without much
supervision. I think it depends much on the maturity of the child and
whether he will "try" inappropriate materials or holding techniques .
He now can operate the drill press safely (not the winged bits, just
the fluted ones, in wood, slowest speed) and a couple of the power
sanders (Porter-Cable half-sheet and orbital sanders), but not the belt
sander. He has started on the Fein sander, but he's not yet proficient
at it. He is not yet allowed to touch any other saw (probably the next
one is the jigsaw). Under close supervision, he will use the drill
press with winged bits. He has held the hand-held drill in a
pocketscrew guide on a couple of occasions.

The rule of thumb was "how much damage would the tool do before he
could realize he is getting hurt and moves his fingers away?". For the
tools he is not allowed to touch, the answer is "more than just skin."
No chisels, but the handsaw. No belt sander, but the finish sander. No
the jigsaw but the scroll saw. When he becomes more mature, he can
progress.

I am also afraid that, should he get hurt, even slightly, he will turn
away.

My $0.02.

Pierre