Most wood turners have a bandsaw to cut their turning stock for the lathe. These tools are very expensive and I have not yet saved enough for one. I can cut my blanks with a handsaw, and in fact did for many months, but then I started using my scrollsaw. The problem with a scrollsaw is that the blades are so fine that they break very easily. They are only meant to cut softwoods or thinner hardwood stock for intarsia projects etc. One day a few weeks ago, I was in the Sears store at Polo Park and I saw this Blade Runner by Rockwell. Sears was clearing them out and they were on for $100. It is basically an upside down jigsaw with a table. The guard arm is like a sewing machine foot that holds the piece in place and the saw blade comes up from below. Although I haven’t needed it yet, the saw comes with a mitre gauge and you can get a circle cutter for it as well. It makes short work of the pen blanks and I don’t go through many blades. The saw also comes with a wall mount that seems to be a storage rack, but you can use it mounted on the rack. All in all I am very impressed by the ingenious nature of this tool and hope to get many years of use out of it.
To Everything, Turn...Turn...Turn 