Reply by William

First thing you do is a happy dance. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for used deals on scroll saws for ages and coming up empty.

As for blade choice, that’s like walking into a parts house and cussing a Ford or a Chevy. You’ll get arguments against whatever blade you use. You can look at my projects though to see the quality of my scroll work. I use Flying Dutchman blades from Mike's Workshop.
A majority of people I talk to swear by Olson blades. I have nothing against Olson at all. They are quality blades. I just took a liking to Flying Dutchmans early in scrolling and have stuck with them.

As for tooth count or set, it depends on what you wish to cut. There are several companies that offer variety packs to get you started. If you already have an idea, Mike at the link I provided above will send you two of any one kind of blade for the price of postage for you to try. He also has an assortment pack that contains the most popular blades for you to try.

Here is a link to Rick Hutcheson’s site. He has loads of reliable information there about scroll saws and the use of them. There are also videos on his site that helped me get started. There is so much about scrolling that a lot of us scrollers could explain, but it isn’t the same as actually seeing it.
Blades are usually available locally. It depends on how much scrolling you do. I scroll enough the I order my blades off the internet by the gross (12 dozen). They’re cheaper that way.

Another great place to start is here at Scrollsaw Workshop. There are tons of free patterns there to get you started. Please do all of us scrollers a favor though. If you get bit by the scrolling bug, do support the fine pattern designers out there by ordering some good quality patterns. Most of the designers do great work and depend on fellow scrollers for their livelyhood.
One example is our fellow Lumberjockette, Sheila Landry.

-- http://wddsrfinewoodworks.blogspot.com/