The Scroll Saw

• A scroll saw uses a narrow, thin blade about 5 inches in length mounted in a C-shaped arm, much like a hand coping saw. The blade cuts in a slight rocking motion or straight up and down, perpendicular to the work table. The small size of the blade enables the craftsman to make very intricate curves in the work piece with great accuracy. Captive cuts--holes inside of the wood rather than the edge--are a special feature of the scroll saw. The blade is easy to detach, pass through a pilot hole drilled in the work piece and reattach, enabling an internal cut not possible with other tools.
  
  

Using the Scroll Saw

• The scroll saw is not a common tool in the wood shop and is added when a project calls for the accurate curved or captive cuts that only it can make. The frequent and common long, straight cuts are not a strength of this tool. The thin blade will wander and make these cuts very difficult to accomplish. Tight curves and internal cuts are its specialty, and adding a scroll saw to the tool chest enables the craftsman to explore new woodworking skills such as complex inlays and fretwork to add finishing touches to other furniture and cabinet jobs.
  
  

The Band Saw

• The band saw gets its name from the blade that it uses. It is thin, ranges in width from 1/8 to 1 inch and larger and is connected at its ends to form a circular band. The blade is mounted over two large wheels that power the blade. The saw passes the teeth through the work piece in a continuous fashion as it is fed through the blade. The radius of the curved cut that can be made is dependent on the width of the blade in use.
  
  The band saw excels at resawing. Depending on the size of the saw, the throat opening between the drive wheels exposes 8 to 36 inches of straight blade. A board stood on edge and passed through the blade results in two thinner, matching boards. From thin veneers to book-matched boards for a cabinet front, only the band saw can make this cut without a lot of waste.
  
  

Working With a Band Saw

• The band saw is one of the most versatile tools in the shop. It also requires the most adjustment to work properly. Each task that requires a blade change requires the saw to be adjusted to work properly with that particular blade. This includes adjusting the tension of the wheels, the run out of the band, and squaring the work table and fence to the new blade. Despite the initial setup, the capabilities of the band saw cannot be matched by other saws, making it almost essential in the shop.
  
  

Do You Need Both a Scroll Saw and a Band Saw?

• Both of these tools will cut curves in wood, but they are not interchangeable. The scroll saw is the only power tool choice for tight, intricate and accurate cuts. Resawing can be accomplished with hand tools or even the table saw, but neither can match the precision of the band saw cut on the final product. The scroll saw can make straight cuts of short lengths, but it cannot match the ability to pass the entire length of a board through the blade to resaw the wood into large pieces of veneer.