Given the current pandemic worldwide due to the corona virus, people are simply confused about what to do and where to go as they have been confined to their homes due to the rapidly rising death toll everywhere.
Since the virus spreads fast upon contact, everyone is advised to keep social distance from strangers and crowded places as they are quite vulnerable outings to be on, alongwith washing their hands for 20 seconds.
On the positive side, people have found out a way to undermine the grim atmosphere by staying at homes and engaging themselves in numerous indoor activities, apart from games.
Gardening has become a more frequent practice than usual in the past few weeks and the lawns look greener and cleaner than usual, which is a step in the right direction as this practice will make them care for nature more.
The people most hit by the virus are the labor workers with wood cutters and merchants topping the list as their business has hit rock bottom and they have no means to fend for themselves.
Pedal Saw
Since we are on the subject of woodcutters, let us focus the topic of discussion on one of the most important tools that a woodcutter of high repute should possess, which is the scroll saw.
Now, most people are familiar with sea saw or electric saws in the field of wood, but scroll saw is one tool that most people have neither seen nor heard, despite it being such a common tool.
To begin with, scroll saws are basically electric saws but of smaller size than the regular ones and is operated with the use of pedal and is used to cut the most intricate and delicate curves in wood, metal and various materials that have been left out by the regular saw.
The blade is so sharp that it cuts faster than an electrical jigsaw and much more easily than a manually operated coping saw. Falling in line with similar tools, they are capable of creating edged curves that are so jagged that a simple brush of the skin would make it bleed profusely.
As the name suggests, the name of the tool comes from scrollwork and ornaments of different culture that contains scroll related designs that are based on antique pieces of the bygone era and that are lost with time with very little remnants.
Size and Shape
It is similar to a sharp bladed electric saw, but as mentioned above, it is mainly for the purpose of clearing of the sharp edges and wood shavings that are left out. These saws have been described as being the size of a human’s throat that covers up the distance from the blade to the backend of the saw.
In this case, the throat is referred to the front side of the saw and is named so for understanding purposes as a man’s throat is visible from the front itself and the size of this throat determines the piece of wood that can be cut, be it large or small.
If you look at it closely, you’ll observe that many scroll saws emanate light if placed in flexible hands which illuminates the entire area right in front of it but at the same time the wood carvings and cuts are clearly visible to the naked eye.
It is an admirable thing that in an era when there was no advanced technology or computer graphics, people used to achieve everything through the hard work of manual labor as it is virtually impossible to think of doing the same now.
The regular saws in old times were used for making bigger objects that were by attaching or hanging the large linkage mechanism to the top of the ceiling and thereby making up a convincing deep throat.
Hobby
As given in the first paragraph, the corona virus has reached wreaked havoc over the entire world and forced people to go into house arrest due to which they spent most of their time home.
While gardening is a good practice, scroll saw is also an excellent alternative that can be taken up as a practice hobby which will help you to learn some new technique about the same like cutting wood and the different types of saws that can be used.
The first thing that comes to mind is what saw should be purchased as they are quite versatile in nature and a beginner wouldn’t know which one will be useful for the task at hand.
If you want to upgrade the old one then it will take a lot of time to do so and if you want to purchase a completely new model, you need to understand the basics of scroll saw itself.
Important Points
We are going to look at certain tips that have to be taken into consideration while purchasing a scroll saw and they are as follows:
- Blade- The most important aspect of the saw is the sharpness of the blade so as to get the job done properly and every model should have a blade of atleast 5 inches. While pinned blades are the most preferred ones, they have limitations like difficulty in cutting off the small splinters that have been stuck
- Budget- Quite obvious, budget constraints play spoilsport all the time so take care to buy the one that you can afford but a commendable scroll saw costs a minimum of $300
- It is not that you have to buy the best scroll saw in town but take care to maintain its speed is noteworthy because it is determined by the number of strokes it takes per minute and it should be according to the material you have like hard or soft wood while the choice is yours
- The size of the throat needs to be ascertained before purchasing the model which only involves the length between the blade’s rear end to the very rear end of the scroll saw as both are different
To conclude, a scroll saw is a hobby that can be taken up currently but it should be done by keeping the above points in mind.
