# What blade is less prone to pull up on the wood?



## loiblb (Jul 6, 2015)

Are spiral blades less likely to pull up on the wood while sawing?
If not what blade is less prone to pull up on the wood?


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

You're gonna have to be more explicit. Spiral blades?? Sawing with what?
Bill


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## wichman3 (Sep 12, 2016)

Spiral blades are -more- likely to pull up on the wood, There are more teeth in contact with the wood when using spiral blades, the upwards pressure in not extreme but it is more than just a standard blade.


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## sawdust703 (Jul 6, 2014)

spiral blades were designed for all sorts of projects. Some sawyers don't use anything but spiral blades. As far as whether or not they're prone to pulling up on your work piece, no, they aren't. Flat blades are more prone to "grab" than a spiral blade. The reason being is the spiral blade has cutting teeth all the way around it, & cut in every direction. Also, they will break before a flat blade will because they are thinner.

The bigger the blade you're using, the more apt you are to have occasional "grabs" because there are more teeth on a bigger blade. Feed rate enters into the conversation here, along with blade speed & tension. The bigger the blade, the more tension you'll want. The smaller the blade, the less tension you'll want.
Thin material requires a smaller blade, & low cutting speeds w/a spiral blade. This helps prevents tear out, & it's much easier to follow your pattern lines. A spiral blade in thin material will create splinters on the back side, & is hard to control. You can use a #02 spiral in thin material to open leaf veins, get into places you're not able to w/a flat blade, things like that, but practice on some scrap pieces first so you know what to expect from the spiral blade. It's a blade you should practice with before using it on a project. You can screw up a complete project with one if you're not careful.

Using a spiral in thicker material, the bigger the blade the better. But easy does it. A spiral blade works best w/ plenty of tension. You'll get a cleaner cut. The best way I've found to use a spiral blade in thick material is to cut everything you possibly can w/a flat blade that you're going to cut w/a spiral. Go back & cut your flat blade cuts w/the spiral again. Your cuts will be smoother & cleaner, & the spiral will be easier to control. Your "grabs" will be less, too.

As far as which blade is less prone to pull up on your wood, in 23 years of scrolling, I am yet to find that blade, & it depends on the thickness of wood you're using, blade speed, & type of blade. If you're using thin material, a small number blade, low blade speed, & slow feed rate. The faster the blade speed, the faster you're going to to feed your work piece into the blade, which in turn, causes a grab. Same with thicker material. The bigger blade, the more teeth. And in thicker material, your blade speed has to be faster in order for the blade to do its job. So, if you get to feeding to fast, & not letting the blade do the work, the blade is going to grab your work piece. And yes, a spiral will grab under the same circumstances, but will generally break because when it grabs, it bends the blade. Therefore creating a spot to break.

Practice with the spiral blades. Learn to let the blade do the work, & adjust your feed rate to keep up with the blade.
Hope this ramble helps, & my apologies for the length. Enjoy the day, & keep makin' sawdust.


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## PaulDoug (Sep 26, 2013)

Isn't ti likely that blades with reverse teeth are more likely to pull up wood? Regardless you have to hold downward pressure on the wood, not a lot but some no matter what type blade you use,


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## CharleyL (Mar 10, 2009)

You're going to just have to learn to hold the wood down better. Smaller blades, and those without the reverse tooth feature will tend to pull the wood up less. The smaller blades will let you make tighter turns too. Until you can get your "holding the wood down" muscles adjusted, use the factory supplied blade guard / hold down that's on the saw. Set it for just slightly above the wood you are cutting, and let it keep the wood from lifting, but as you gain more experience and holding down muscles, these blade guards become a nuisance to more experienced scrollers and we tend to avoid using them. Some of our saws don't even have these guards on them any more.
I still have mine, but it only gets used when teaching a new scroller. Otherwise, it's either in the drawer, or turned around backward and locked in position as high as possible to keep it out of my way.

Use smaller blades without the reverse tooth feature until you get better at holding the wood down. It just takes a few hours to learn to do.

Charley


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Soooo. We're talkin' about a scroll saw. If I had seen the forum header…................
Bill


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