This Santa stands over ten inches tall. He asks the most important question of all. Have you been naughty or nice?
Update on the Seyco St-21 Scroll Saw
I have had the Seyco ST-21 scroll saw in my shop for just over six months now. I am still getting regular email asking my opinion after I have used it for a while. Sounds like a good time for a quick update.
According to the hour meter I have 34.6 run-time hours on the machine. That's not a huge amount of hours but it has given me plenty of time with the saw to have an updated opinion.
Performance: This is the easiest topic because the performance has been excellent. The machine still has very minimal vibration. It cuts great and is very easy on blades. In six months I have maybe broke two blades.
I have cut a wide range of woods both thin and thick(1.5" thick max). It performs fine for all stocks.
I have the saw adjusted for minimal front to back movement of the blade. This make it wonderful for delicate fretwork. I am not a production cutter so the small loss in speed of the cut is not a problem for me. If you cut eight hours a day you would probably want to make the machine cut a bit more aggressively. On this machine that's easy to do and you can speed cut to your hearts desire.
Gripes: There has never been a perfect machine produced and the Seyco ST-21 is no exception to that rule.
One issue that sounds trivial and probably is but it bothers me is this. Occasionally when you release the blade to move to another entry hole the upper arm will stick and not lift easily. All you have to do is bump the foot switch and it becomes free. There is just once certain spot where the upper arm hangs on something internally.
I talked to Ray about this and he explained exactly what happens. I won't go into detail but it is not harmful to the machine and it is not something that needs to be repaired. Bumping the switch is the recommended work around. Keep in mind that it only happens 1 out of 100 times or less but it still always catches me off guard.
A few of the original air blower hoses would not stay in place. Mine had the problem and Ray gave me an updated hose link that solved the problem.
In my original review I mentioned that the magnetic cover had a blemish that was caused from a maladjusted table. There was a metal part of the frame sticking proud of the table top. When the wood ran over that area it marred the surface. I adjusted the table correctly and the blemish never grew from it's original size.(Shown in the picture below)
That original blemish cause some concern from a few readers about the durability of the magnetic replaceable table top. The next photo shows how the top has held up. The blemishes you see are very shallow almost imperceptible to the finger when you run over that area. They certainly do not cause any issues when actually cutting.
Some people like the top some don't. I'm in the crowd that likes it but only because it is so slick. I normally wax the top of metal top saws every other month. I will never have to do that with this machine. It may have to be replaced someday but have you even seen the table tops of some well used scroll saws. They can be extremely marked up with scratches. With the Seyco I can spend a few dollars(I think Ray said they cost around $25 but don't quote me on that) and have a brand new top.
For the foreseeable future the Seyco ST-21 will sit in my #1 spot. It does everything a scroll saw should do and it does it well. I appears to be reliable and I trust Ray from Seyco to take care of his customers. He always has and I see no reason for that to change.
There are a few great saws on the market right now. I would be happy with most of them so I'm not saying the Seyco is the only saw to buy. I'm just saying that it should be in the running for anyone who wishes to have a high quality machine.
This is not a paid or requested review. The opinions are mine. I'm not always correct but I always try to be honest because my mother-in-law reads this blog.:)
Signature coin orders are coming along well. I will be taking another batch of finished orders
to the post office today. I will email you with the invoice if your order is shipping.
Orders placed today are probably going to ship within five days. That can possible change and I will keep you updated here.
International shipping:
Unfortunately I checked the postage to ship these signature coins outside the US and it is crazy expensive. I had several people from Canada ask so I checked and it's almost $13 to ship just across the border using 1st class. That was the cheapest option. I just don't want to charge that much so for now I am going to stick with US shipping only.
15 more days to enter to win.
Two lucky winners.
3 dozen Pegas Scroll Saw Blades.
$25 of any clock parts ordered.
The Simply Wooden Creations 2017 Scroll Saw Contest is over.
All the entrants did a fine job. It's going to be tough for
Russ to select the winners.
Here is the video playlist link of the entries
Limited time offer. Free shipping on all orders over $100.
Take a look at their Scroll Saw Blanks. These are glued up panels that are color matched and sanded. They look great and give you a nice large board for projects.
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Let me teach you to create a beautiful wooden portrait pattern. I will show you everything you need from start to finish. The video will show you the free software program you can download for Windows or Mac OS. I will show you how to install the program and configure it for best results.
Then I will show you the technique to take your photograph and make a pattern from it. When the pattern is complete we will go in the shop and cut it.
The DVD is $10 plus shipping. This is a data DVD that you will use on your computer to watch the video tutorial
Purchase the entire Scrollsaw Workshop pattern catalog for offline access.
This DVD has 1,964 patterns published from 2007 thru 2016.
The DVD is $20 plus shipping. Ships to 60 countries around the world.
The DVD is $20 plus shipping. Ships to 60 countries around the world.
You can view a video showing use of the DVD on a Windows PC and a MAC at this link
Click here to Order.
Click here to Order.
My two "Wooden Vases on the Scroll Saw" books make it easy.
The books are $12 each and available for instant download after purchase. Click for Video
Demonstration.