I want to buy an inexpensive scroll saw. I seem to always have a lot of smaller items that I would like to cut out of wood for my decorative projects. I am looking at some for $87 a GMC at Lowe's and a Ryobi at HD but these are very nice but are the small table models. Is there some hand held device that I could buy instead? I tried using a Dremel with a bit that was supposed to cut wood but this didn't work well. Thanks Liz
Liz,
I bot a Ryobi for about $100 and was happy with it for a while. When I get better, I found that it limited me. Lots of vibration, sloppy settings, and the blade clamps didn't work well. If I was going to do anything I wanted to be proud of, I'd have to replace it.
My son just bot a Craftsman for about $140 and he's pleased with it. They were highly rated by one of the magazines last year.
Walt C
Boy, this really raises the question of what you're trying to do. There are some decent, but not great, scroll saws in the under-100 category, but I'm having trouble imagining a class of work where you could substitute a Dremel tool for a scroll saw.
A Dremel is good for carving or light milling of wood, such as routing out the interior of a wooden knife sheath, but it's lousy for cutting wood.
--RC
"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.
Hand operated scroll saws are actually called coping saws. No cord to fight or batteries to recharge. X-Acto also makes a variety of razor saws and even sell a miter box for them. Check A.C. Moore or Michael's. The only handheld powered option I know about is called a jigsaw. Black and Decker make several models.
Scroll saws are designed to set on a table and provide an oscillating blade in a solid work surface. They make a clean cut that needs very little finish work, and can cut very tight curves and corners.
I bought a Dremel 1680 retired from a display at Lowe's and am quite happy with it so far, but I don't have room to set it up permanently. It was US$129.
Bob McConnell N2SPP
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