Tool Review: Pegas Scrollsaw Blades
Fiona Kingdon is an artist in wood, crafting her works using a Hegner scrollsaw. She embraces traditional methods over modern technology. Her dedication to woodworking defies mass production, producing singular pieces that celebrate wood's innate beauty.
Fiona works from her shed-based studio, where she meticulously crafts landscapes and silhouettes into wood. Her work marries intricate detail with traditional craftsmanship and is testament to her reputation as a respected scrollworking artist.
Blades are boring...
Anyone who knows me will know just how little I want to talk about the blades I use. Does it do the job I want it to at a price I like? Then that’s enough for me. Perhaps it’s a girl thing but talking blades bores me to death (that and the machine strokes per minute) and yet it is the most common conversation I have at shows. I would much rather talk about ideas for new work and what is on in the beer tent. And then….. The lovely folks at Classic Hand Tools asked me to try out some Pégas blades and I find myself writing a review.
I get through loads of blades and have mostly stuck to cheap and cheerful Niqua /Hobbies (yellow label) blades- single direction cut, grades 2, 3, and 4 and not worried too much about chucking them frequently. Every time I have ventured into trying different blades, Flying Dutchman, Pebeco etc etc I have never considered them worth the extra cost for the benefits I might get in the kind of work I do. However, I am never averse to trying something new.
...but Pegas Blades are impressive
I have trialled the Pégas blades over two pieces, one a fairly chunky mirror surround of entwined oak leaves out of 22mm oak and a finer 18mm first layer for a landscape, both cut in pretty hard English Oak. I used flat ended blades grades 2 (sskip 16tpi / skip 20tpi)/ and 4 (14tpi) on my single speed Hegner.
In short, I was pretty impressed.
There has been no tendency to burn, the skip tooth clearing the cut effectively. The blades have positive bite, control and resisted any tendency to wander from my intended line. Also, I was surprised with the ability of a relatively fine grade no.2 blades ability to cope with up to 24mm of hard oak when I thought I was pushing my luck. Though I tend to move pretty slowly when working on fine detail, the feed rate the blades would take on roughing around shapes was good too. The only slight disadvantage could find was that the Pégas blades didn’t cope so well with sudden torques, (I guess they are harder, sharper and less ‘tough’?) and were inclined to snap when making hasty changes of direction or if snagging on sudden changes in texture /a knot, but to be fair that is as deficit of mine rather a than the fault of the product. Keep your actions smooth and avoid surprises like random attention seeking cats and they fair very well. The decider for me was that they certainly keep their edge longer than anything else I have tried on English oak, negating any price disadvantage on my old favourites.
So, although I didn’t notice much difference between the Pégas Skip Tooth and the newer Super Skip, I was over all very impressed with both and I will be ordering a gross.
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