Old Boice Crane scroll saw

[Dueane Hicks]

I got this Boice Crane for a song. It is in very good condition and has a nice Baldor 1/2hp and original base. I have been cleaning it up and noticed some strange type of blade holders that I cannot seem to find any commercial blades for. Has anyone ever used this type of scroll saw; and know where to get blades that fit??

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[Rick Potter]

From what I could see, it looks like they take plain old flat blades.

[Bill Dufour]

Some older saws had a clamp on end for the blade. It was sandwiched between two pieces and the entire assembly was then hooked into the machine.
Bill D

[Charles Lent]

Many of the older saws used blades with pinned ends. Each end had a small cross pin pressed through a hole near the end of the blade. This pin went into a hook slot in the blade grip. These older saws used a spring to pull the blade up and a reciprocating mechanism to pull the blade down. If the blade binds in the cut, the spring can't pull it up, but the lower reciprocating mechanism pushes the bottom end of the blade anyway, causing the blade to buckle and break.

Newer style scroll saws have a mechanical design that both pulls the blade up as well as down. These saws also use smaller blades that have no cross pins in the ends. The blade grips are designed to hold with just friction, and when adjusted correctly they work very well. This allows much smaller blades to be used for cutting much more intricate work. I frequently cut with a blade that is .010 thick and .034 from tooth to back, and I almost never break a blade. They wear out and become dull instead. My scroll saw is a DeWalt 788.

I cut the cross shown in the attached photo on my DeWalt saw. Then carved the vine and leaf faces with a dentist drill type air powered carving tool. The cross is about 12" tall. The dragon clock was completely cut out using a different, but similarly designed, scroll saw using blades with no cross pins in the ends. Neither of these could have been cut out successfully using one of the older style pin end type scroll saws.

Charley

[Dueane Hicks]

I got it up and running. They are not very smooth running, but it does work. I can only find 5" plain end blades, so that severely limits the capacity of this saw, as it was made to take up to 8" blades. I may sell it and just tune up my bandsaw. Part of what makes it run noisily is the old cast pulleys. It's a little hard to set up, but when dialed in, there is no adjustment needed to put in 5" blades. Gotta watch yer fingers on this puppy!

[Dueane Hicks]

From what I could see, it looks like they take plain old flat blades.

Your right Rick. I got some at my local woodcraft store; but they are too thin for a saw like this.

[Rick Potter]

Get a 1/8" bandsaw blade and cut it up? That ought to be strong enough.

[Charles Lent]

You might want to look for coping saw blades. Most are pin end type and larger than the present scroll saw blades. Take the pins out if you don't want/need them.

Charley