If you’re trying to assemble a woodworking shop, then you probably already understand how important it is to have the right tools available to you. When deciding which tools are going to be a necessity, there are a few different things that you must take into consideration. First, you have to consider what type of woodworking you are going to be doing, then you have to stop and think about how much room is available inside of your shop, and of course you always have to consider how much money you have available in order to purchase your tools. While all of these things are extremely important, perhaps the most important thing is to understand which tool should be your primary consideration.
If you do not know whether or not you need a scroll saw, then you need to consider exactly what the tool can do for you. While a scroll saw was very similar to a band saw as it comes with a table where you will be working with the wood you need to cut, that’s pretty much where the similarities end. A scroll saw has a blade with an up and down sawing motion, like a jigsaw rather than a fixed stationary rotating blade, like a band saw.
So why can’t you just purchase a jigsaw and call today? Well, a jigsaw is more of a hand tool, whereas a scroll saw is a stationary table tool with its own workspace. Jigsaws do an amazing job when you are cutting very small pieces of wood, but when you have a large piece of wood, jigsaws can often be a hindrance rather than a tool. On top of this, jigsaws tend to have a much smaller blade, which can make it very difficult to cut larger areas of wood when you need to.
Another major problem with jigsaws is that it is often very difficult to control exactly which direction you are going to be cutting. This results in cuts that fall out of your design lines. On the other hand, scroll saws do not have this problem as you are guiding the wood rather than the saw itself. Since it is stationary, a scroll saw will allow you the freedom of movement with the wood so that you ensure you are always cutting on your design lines.
So, now that you’ve decided that you most likely need a scroll saw, what should you be looking for when you go to make your purchase? You can simply go out and buy the very first scroll saw that you find. You have to take into account the needs of your shop that were previously mentioned. Aside from those, there are three main factors that you should think about when you are trying to find the best scroll saw to meet your needs.
First, you should be looking into the speed and power of the scroll saw. There are three different speeds of scroll saw available, slow, medium, and fast. What speed you are going to need is going to depend on the material and type of wood you are planning on cutting. You also have to take into account exactly what types of cuts you will be making, as some scroll saws do not have the features required in order to make certain cut types.
The final thing that you’re going to want to take into account is how flexible your scroll saw really is. Can it do the jobs of numerous other woodworking tools? This is a very important consideration as it will allow you to save money over the long haul by having to invest in far fewer tools.
On a side note, the last thing you may want to also consider is how easy it is to clean up your equipment. Does it allow for you to be able to access multiple areas of the salsa that you can quickly and easily vacuum out sawdust? While it may not sound like a big issue to begin with, in the future, you will definitely want to make sure your saw is easy to clean. Read our table saw reviews here.