# New to Scroll Bowling



## coolingheat (Aug 12, 2018)

Hi. Just bought a Dewalt 788 with lamp and lift kit and the bowl book by Carole Rothman and thought I could pound out some bowls. Obviously there is a learning curve and technique involved and a couple of wiped out sanding mops proved that. The first one was of poplar. It was so bad (this is the one that wiped out the mops).
What started out as half inch turned into 3/16 after sanding away the poor sawing marks and bad alignments. But my wife loved it after some butcher block oil was applied and it was filled with pencils. (She probably didn't want to hurt my feelings).
Next was a wavy bowl of beech I am still sanding on but down to around an eighth inch. Hopefully I can save it before the whole thing goes up in sawdust. 
Thirdly, the latest incredibly meager attempt was of 7/8 cherry. It was only three rings and won't require as much sanding and am still in the glue up stage.
But with this preamble I just wanted to ask: *Why am I having such a hard time controlling the cut?* I am in NO hurry and didn't have too much coffee. And I know 7/8 cherry at a 45 degree angle is very thick. Heck, I even went up to a number 12 reverse tooth blade at one point to see if that helped. I was using a number 5 blade before. I had the tension set at 5 and the speed dial wide open and was comfortably seated with good lighting. The thing I did not use was the packing tape for lubrication. Will this stuff make that much of a difference? Or does all this just add up to the humbling experience of a 40 year woodworker humbled with a new tool?


----------



## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

It is not as easy as it looks. I would buy some pine and practice cutting circles, straight and squiggly lines until you can cut and stay on the line.

I would not use a reverse type blade but a skip tooth like the Flying Dutchman Polar. I would slow the speed down also. A good forum for scroll saw is Scroll Saw Village with lots of good folks to help you.


----------

