Tom Harlos
New member
- Messages
- 4
- Location
- Ontario
I have a 24 inch variable speed old Delta scroll saw but am having a hard time finding blades. Does anyone know where to buy these? Thanks.
Scroll saw blades
- Thread starter Tom Harlos
- Start date
- Messages
- 6,942
- Location
- Austintown, Ohio
Need more info:
Are these pin-end blades, or blade with no pins? (no-pin blades are readily available, but pin-end blades are getting hard to find.)
What about blade length? Will coping saw blades work, or does the scrollsaw use shorter ones?
BTW, Welcome to the forums, Tom!
Are these pin-end blades, or blade with no pins? (no-pin blades are readily available, but pin-end blades are getting hard to find.)
What about blade length? Will coping saw blades work, or does the scrollsaw use shorter ones?
BTW, Welcome to the forums, Tom!
- Messages
- 8,476
- Location
- Yorktown, Virginia
Can't answer your question, but welcome aboard. Glad you found us and hope you post some pictures of your saw and projects. 
Leo Voisine
Member
- Messages
- 5,734
- Location
- East Freeetown, Massachusetts
Did you look into https://mikesworkshop.com/
- Messages
- 8,633
- Location
- Thomasville, GA
- Messages
- 790
- Location
- Central North Carolina
Mike's Workshop website is still active, but Mike sold the business to The Wooden Teddy Bear when his health failed. He is now no longer with us. The Wooden Teddy Bear https://woodenteddybear.com/collections/blades carries Flying Dutchman scroll saw blades, as well as Olsen Blades. I do quite a bit of scroll sawing with pin less blades and my preference by far is the Flying Dutchman blades. I didn't look to see what is available in pin end blades. I've always had great service from The Wooden Teddy Bear and delivery has been about a week after I order. Olsen blades are more readily available everywhere, but not near the quality of Flying Dutchman, in my opinion. Nigua and Pegus are other blade manufacturers that are supposed to be good, but I've still got a lot of Flying Dutchman blades to wear out before I give them a try. The Klingspore Workshop sells Olsen and Pegus blades, if you live closer to the East Coast. They have 4 stores in the central area of North Carolina. Most every woodworking supply store should have some blades in stock for your saw.
A word of caution - The old scroll saws use a mechanical linkage to pull the blade down, and a spring to pull the blade back up. If you bind the blade in the wood, the spring will fail to pull the blade back up, but the mechanical linkage under the table will push it up anyway, resulting in buckled and broken blades frequently. When doing inside fret cutting, the pin end blades require a larger hole to feed the blade through when starting to cut these inside cuts than the more modern pin less blades. Newer scroll saws use two powered arms, one to pull the blade down, and the other to pull the blade up. They also have pin less blade grips, so the blades can be much smaller sizes and the starter holes for the pin less blades can be much smaller.
My last pin end scroll saw became a door stop back in the 1960's when I bought my first good scroll saw for pin less blades and the dual arms for pulling the blade both up and down. I'm now on my 4th scroll saw since then. I now make tiny 3D reindeer to give away for Christmas, and the smallest of these is about 1" tall. They become ear rings. A larger size becomes a necklace and the set is given away to friends and relatives. A year ago I made 47 sets of these and gave them away. In the last 16 years I have made well over 5,000 reindeer and gave them all away. These are some of the bigger size. They take me about 8 minutes to cut each one. I also make the tree ornaments seen on the right in the photo, and many other things, but my heavy scroll saw usage has always been for Christmas. For these, and the small ones for ear rings I'm using a DeWalt 788 scroll saw that I keep tuned for high accuracy cutting.
Charley
A word of caution - The old scroll saws use a mechanical linkage to pull the blade down, and a spring to pull the blade back up. If you bind the blade in the wood, the spring will fail to pull the blade back up, but the mechanical linkage under the table will push it up anyway, resulting in buckled and broken blades frequently. When doing inside fret cutting, the pin end blades require a larger hole to feed the blade through when starting to cut these inside cuts than the more modern pin less blades. Newer scroll saws use two powered arms, one to pull the blade down, and the other to pull the blade up. They also have pin less blade grips, so the blades can be much smaller sizes and the starter holes for the pin less blades can be much smaller.
My last pin end scroll saw became a door stop back in the 1960's when I bought my first good scroll saw for pin less blades and the dual arms for pulling the blade both up and down. I'm now on my 4th scroll saw since then. I now make tiny 3D reindeer to give away for Christmas, and the smallest of these is about 1" tall. They become ear rings. A larger size becomes a necklace and the set is given away to friends and relatives. A year ago I made 47 sets of these and gave them away. In the last 16 years I have made well over 5,000 reindeer and gave them all away. These are some of the bigger size. They take me about 8 minutes to cut each one. I also make the tree ornaments seen on the right in the photo, and many other things, but my heavy scroll saw usage has always been for Christmas. For these, and the small ones for ear rings I'm using a DeWalt 788 scroll saw that I keep tuned for high accuracy cutting.
Charley
Leo Voisine
Member
- Messages
- 5,734
- Location
- East Freeetown, Massachusetts
It has been a lot of years since I bought scroll saw blades. I was not sure if he was still with us. I know he was quite ill. Too bad, he was a great scroll guy. I tried my hand at scrolling, but it never took off for me. I kept my Dewalt scroll saw, but I don't use it for scrolling any more.
Tom Harlos
New member
- Messages
- 4
- Location
- Ontario
Since the saw didn't have any blades with it, as I picked it up from a very old guy who had not used it in years, I am not sure what kind of blades it used. I did take a look at the clamping jaws. The upper and lower jaws look like they just clamp on but the lower jaws have a small vee groove cut in them from left to right. So what kind of blades should I buy? Thanks again.
Frank Fusco
Member
- Messages
- 12,793
- Location
- Mountain Home, Arkansas
For what it is worth (nothing) I have never had to purchase new scroll saw blades. I have a ss but have never used it. 
- Messages
- 790
- Location
- Central North Carolina
Post the saw model number so I can look it up, or do it yourself on Google, searching for the manual for it. The manual for the saw should tell you what you need. If you can't find the model number or manual online, post a photo of the saw and maybe I can identify it that way.
Here are the photos that I was looking for yesterday.
Charley
Here are the photos that I was looking for yesterday.
Charley
- Messages
- 6,942
- Location
- Austintown, Ohio
Hard to tell from your description. The vee groove sorta suggests pin-end blades, though.
Do you have a model number for the saw? Since it's variable speed, I'm thinking it might be a newer (under 30 years or so) saw.
Leo Voisine
Member
- Messages
- 5,734
- Location
- East Freeetown, Massachusetts
Those ear rings are awesome
Chuck Ellis
Member
- Messages
- 6,999
- Location
- Tellico Plains, Tennessee
My scroll saw has two speeds, slow and slower, although the slower is supposed to be the faster speed according to the markings on the switch.
Haven't used it in years, might not even work at all now.
Haven't used it in years, might not even work at all now.
Tom Harlos
New member
- Messages
- 4
- Location
- Ontario
No I have not, but will do. Thanks.
Paul Douglass
Member
- Messages
- 4,995
- Location
- S E Washington State
There a several places to get blades that are all good. Here is a good list of them and other items for scroll saw stuff.
www.scrollsawvillage.com
This also an excellent forum to get info on scrolling, and lots of free patterns.. I highly recommend doing some research on this site, and join and ask questions. Will save you a lot of frustration and shorten the learning curve....
Suppliers
Browse our user-submitted scroll saw supplier directory. Explore real experiences and recommendations for scroll saw tools, supplies, and materials.
www.scrollsawvillage.com
This also an excellent forum to get info on scrolling, and lots of free patterns.. I highly recommend doing some research on this site, and join and ask questions. Will save you a lot of frustration and shorten the learning curve....
Tom Harlos
New member
- Messages
- 4
- Location
- Ontario
Thanks Paul, I will check out the site.There a several places to get blades that are all good. Here is a good list of them and other items for scroll saw stuff.
Suppliers
Browse our user-submitted scroll saw supplier directory. Explore real experiences and recommendations for scroll saw tools, supplies, and materials.
This also an excellent forum to get info on scrolling, and lots of free patterns.. I highly recommend doing some research on this site, and join and ask questions. Will save you a lot of frustration and shorten the learning curve....