Using Tape To Prevent Wood Burning When Cutting Cherry and Other Hardwoods With A Scroll Saw

 

Dragon Patterns Attached to Wood Covered With Blue Tape

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According to Patrick Spielman, silicon on or in the tape keeps the tape from sticking together. The silicon gets on the saw blade as it passes through the tape and provides lubrication. He writes about this in one of his books, where he shows photos of cherry cut with and without the tape. The cherry burns when it is cut without the tape.

I suspect that all tapes are not created equal, which may explain variations in people's results.

I use the tape because it makes the patterns easier to remove. Some tape will pull out wood fibers when it is removed. In some cases, it can be bad enough to ruin the piece.

I have tried every method of attaching patterns to wood that I have come across. I am slowly becoming a fan of using spray adhesive without tape and removing the patterns by soaking the pattern with mineral spirits to remove it. The pattern comes off easily, and any residue is easily removed by wiping with a paper towel dampened with mineral spirits. I'll be saving the expensive blue tape for wood that burns.

You can use other types of tape. Clear packing tape is popular, but it doesn't stick as well as the blue tape, and I do not like the shiny surface.

 

Scroll Saw Patterns for a Fat Fendered Freaky Ford Attached With Blue Tape

 

I try every method of attaching patterns that I find.

I use shelf liner for larger projects or where I need to see through it to avoid some defect in the wood. Otherwise, it sits on the shelf because I find it to be a pain to use.

Gluing the pattern directly on the wood and removing it with mineral spirits works well, except that the adhesive gets into the wood, and there is no way to get it out. It can take a day or two for the mineral spirits to evaporate from the wood. I can't do anything with the piece until it's done. I use this method for delicate pieces where the extra time and the adhesive residue aren't a problem.

Clear packing tape I don't like to use. I find the shiny surface to be annoying, and I have issues with it lifting. I used a lot of it when I first began using paper patterns. I tried taping the wood patterns and applying the tape first, and gluing the pattern to it. Neither method was satisfactory. When I tape the pattern to the wood, the glare from the shiny tape was a problem. When gluing patterns to the tape, I found that adhesives do not stick to the smooth surface well. I use it for taping pieces together for compound cuts and sealing boxes for shipping.

Carbon paper and tracing are unpleasant to use and produce inferior results. I stopped using this method as soon as I had access to a scanner.

I like the idea of printing patterns on labels. I have purchased a box of labels for this but haven't tried it yet. I keep forgetting I have them.

Blue tape is by far my favorite method. It's fast, sticks well even in dusty environments. Blue tape does not leave any residue, and I find it easy to remove from most of my projects. When I use blue tape, I can sand, finish or glue the piece as soon as I rename the tape. The only downside I have found is that it will lift wood fibers from some pieces. It sticks too well. In these cases, I use the glue and mineral sprits method. As for the cost, Steve Good posted in a recent blog post that blue painter's tape was his favorite method, and he calculated that it cost him about $1.50 per month. I don't know what it costs me, but I know it takes a long time for me to use a six-pack of tape.