Scroll Saw Tips & Techniques

Spiral Blades

A note about Spiral Blades

Why you should consider adding them to your scrolling arsenal

Spiral blades blades offer a host of advantages that are often overlooked. Perhaps the most odious is that they have the ability to cut on the entire 360 degree surface of the blade. Meaning you no longer have to worry about turning the wood. A handy use for that; consider cutting a sign in a large oval board let's say 50" with the throat (distance from the blade to back of the saw) of most saws falling in the 20-24 inch range we have a problem we can't turn the wood around the blade without hitting the back of the saw. Spirals eliminate that problem, but allowing you to run the board from left to right.

Another often overlooked feature is their ability to make extremely tight inside corners. According to Ralph Costa ( a design engineer with Pegas saw blades) a 2/0 spiral blade will create an inside corner with a radius of .012 (the equivalent of 3 human hairs!) That's going to do a nice job on just about every corner you will ever need to cut.

Finally, consider how Much faster you can cut a piece with an extreme amount of detail. No more spinning the wood for each little wiggle, instead you can accomplish the same thing by simply wiggling the wood on the saw table.

Common Misconceptions

I know some of you are intimidated by them, you have read or heard how hard they are to control, how “sloppy” they cut and that they are difficult to get into the blade holders. Spirals are no different then standard blades they do take some getting used to.

To help with control; try stacking an extra piece or two of wood with your cutting, or using a blade that is smaller then what you would normally use. Increasing the thickness of the wood or downsizing the blade will slow the rate that the blade cuts to an extent. If that doesn't help give Mike with Flying Dutchman a shout, he has some new spirals that are much less aggressive then the standard blade, and because of an innovative new tooth design they cut much straighter.

Don’t try to turn the wood around the blade, use the entire 360 degree cutting surface that a spiral offers, tracing the line in whichever direction it goes, changing the direction you feed the wood into the blade instead of turning it to always feed into the front.

As far as sloppiness is concerned, spirals do create a lot of fuzz I wish there was a way to stop that, but the best we can do is find an effective way to remove those fuzzies without taking longer to clean the back of the piece then cutting it took. I share an effective and speedy remedy to spiral fuzz here.

Reverse spirals are available and they do help with the fuzzies, but they won’t totally eliminate them. Personally, I don’t care for them; although there are a number of scrollers out there that love them.

It is true that spirals can be difficult to get into the blade holders without bending or breaking the ends, but when you first tried it was hard to consistently get a standard blade in straight each time you did it, you learned by repetition; spirals will work out the same way.

Try to work past your initial frustration and you will develop a feel for them. Some choose to flatten the ends with pliers and that works, but it adds another step into each blade change. Another option for you is the spirals that come with flat ends, they are out there and they are effective if you have problems getting the blades into the holders.

Spirals will take some getting used to, but they have taken my scrolling to a level I never thought possible and they can do the same for you