# Help - Scroll Saw Blades Breaking



## Darkcobra (Jan 10, 2010)

Hello, I'm new to these forums and fairly new to woodworking.

I purchased a new Skil scroll saw that uses pin-end blades. I'm cutting 3/8" to 3/4" pine with fine details, so I'm using 18.5 TPI blades.

One blade came preinstalled in the saw straight out of the box. It lasted for hours of use, even though I probably abused it as I taught myself how to use the saw. Eventually it got dull and I had to replace it.

But I'm having terrible luck with replacement blades. I've been through 12 of them so far. And every one breaks in the exact same place - the second tooth from the top.

They are made by "Vermont American". Probably not the best brand, but given the consistent location of breakage, I suspect I'm doing something wrong.

I install the blades as follows: Release the tension lever. Hook the pins. Engage the tension lever. Rotate the tension lever until the blade sounds "right" when plucked. Tighten the screws on the clamps.

My first four replacement blades were tensioned according to the sound of the original, factory-preinstalled blade. Which I guess was not very tense at all, it had a lot of play; but I assumed it was correct because the original blade lasted so long. These replacements all snapped in under 5 minutes.

I then tried higher tensions, with varying blade lifetimes from a couple of minutes to a half hour. Still, none lasted as long as the original.

On my last blade, I downloaded a sound file which was supposed to demonstrate the sound of a properly tensioned blade. It was MUCH higher than anything I'd tried before. The blade certainly cut very nicely at this tension, but it snapped after 10 minutes. Also, the saw made an occasional ticking noise which I'd never heard before. I'm concerned about this. Is this a sign of overtensioning, and am I damaging my saw?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

I have not encountered blade snapping on my scroll saw, but I am thinking that given the thickness of the material you are using you might have better luck with a coarser toothed blade. My guess is that because you are using a fairly fine blade you might be forcing the wood through a bit. Not trying to be disparaging, only a suggestion. I generally tension my blades only sufficiently to prevent the blade from moving sideways with a little finger pressure, enough to keep the blade from wandering. I may not have them all that tight. As far as I know, Vermont American make decent blades, but if you would like to try a selection of different blades you could give "Mikes Workshop" a try, and order a sample pack.

Gerry


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

Look at the bottom of this page, to similar threads, and read the scroll saw blades threads. 

Gerry


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## Darkcobra (Jan 10, 2010)

Gerry KIERNAN said:


> I have not encountered blade snapping on my scroll saw, but I am thinking that given the thickness of the material you are using you might have better luck with a coarser toothed blade.


I've read they last longer, but the next coarser size I saw (I think it was 12TPI) has a much larger blade. I can't imagine getting that blade around the smaller curves in my projects.



Gerry KIERNAN said:


> My guess is that because you are using a fairly fine blade you might be forcing the wood through a bit. Not trying to be disparaging, only a suggestion.


I made that and every other mistake on my first blade, yet it didn't break. Now I go slowly and use minimum pressure. With 3/8" soft wood and saw at max speed, I cut at most 1/8" per second on a straight line. Is that still too much?



Gerry KIERNAN said:


> As far as I know, Vermont American make decent blades, but if you would like to try a selection of different blades you could give "Mikes Workshop" a try, and order a sample pack.


Mike sells Flying Dutchman blades, which are pinless. My saw uses pinned blades. [EDIT: I reread the manual and found my saw will accept pinless blades. Will have to give the Flying Dutchman blades a try, I've heard great things about them.]



Gerry KIERNAN said:


> Look at the bottom of this page, to similar threads, and read the scroll saw blades threads.


I used search to read those threads and others prior to posting. All I found are discussions on "what's the best saw/blade"; no advice on blade adjustment and diagnosing problems.


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## Lee Songer (Aug 26, 2019)

I have used a scroll saw for years using high quality blades and NEVER had a blade break (my first scroll saw and NEVER had a blade break. From all I've read, you should tighten your blade, then listen to the sound with you "pluck it" - should be around a C tone. Just upgraded my scroll saw, it accepts both plain and pin blades. I use fairly high quality blades and trying to cut 1/4 thick plywood. The blade breaks within minutes, both the pinned and plain end blades. I never had this happen with my previous saw, I adjust the blade based on both the thickness of the wood and if I'm using "real" wood (not plywood), and the type of wood (plywood is harder on a blade). I'm not pushing the wood through at a fast rate, slowly feeding the wood through. What is the problem/


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

Nice response.

I hope you realize that it has been almost a decade since the previous post. Dark Cobra never came back after 2010, and Gerry KIERNAN has not posted since 2015.


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## Darkcobra (Jan 10, 2010)

I'd forgotten all about this until I got an email notification about the update.

In case in comes in handy for someone else - I eventually found the problem on my own. The consistent break location was the clue. My saw accepts both pin and plain end blades. I was using pin end blades, and hooking them in correctly. Then also engaging the clamps, which I had been told were "optional but a good idea" for this blade style. Wrong. They were causing the blade to flex in an unintended way, causing fatigue and then failure. Since I stopped using them, I have not had a single blade break, or any issue whatsoever.


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