I'm looking at getting a band saw or scroll saw, primarily for using to cut pinewood derby cars at first. Which saw is better for use on these cars, specifically cutting 90 angles in a tight space like that.

But I would also like to know what other uses each saw has to give me ideas of what I could use either one for in the future and what may be the better purchase.

First, if I was just focused on pinewood derby cars, those are the perfect project for compound cutting with a bandsaw. You outline the car on a block of wood. Cut the outline of the two sides of the car, then doublestick tape those pieces back to the block. Then turn the block 90 degrees and cut the outline of the top and bottom of the car. (The bottom usually is flat, therefore not cut at all.) And, there you have it, a nifty pinewood derby car body.

Bandsaw, with a couple of sizes of blades, has a lot more diversity, speed, and smoothness. In general you can do a lot more, especially with larger cuts, than you can with a scrollsaw.

Scrollsaw is more for smaller, intricate stuff requiring very tight turns. You can also touch the back of a scrollsaw blade without losing a finger. The bandsaw will take your finger right off. This should not be an issue, but it is possible if you are considering a fairly open woodshop with some very small children allowed in there.

I have just about one of everything, and I almost never use my scrollsaw. It is just a matter of what type of woodworking you will end up doing.

scrollsaws are limited in the thickness of wood they can cut by 1/2 of their stroke length. With a reciprocating cutting motion the sawdust will not clear from the gullet if you are cutting something thicker than half of the stroke length. This means a typical scrollsaw (saw a dewalt DW788) with a stroke length of 3/4" will only effectively cut something 3/8" thick before it gets clogged up and loses effectiveness.

With a smaller blade on a bandsaw, you can make a decently tight radius.

Here is a good graphic showing radius vs bandsaw blade width:


With a scrollsaw, you can get spiral blades which will cut in any direction:

and these have no radius on cutting.

If you have a budget, I could pull some models of bandsaws that may suit your needs. But it does sound like a bandsaw is what you will need, not a scrollsaw.

Basically my budget was the $99 Ryobi scroll saw or $129 Ryobi band saw at Home Depot.

Definitely band saw for the derby cars. I have tried using a neighbor's scroll saw and it was horrendous. The wood is simply way too thick in both directions for the blades to effectively cut (at least with the blade selection I had available). Ended up breaking 3 or 4 in the process. It also led to a lot of drift across the depth of the cut given how flexible those small blades are when you have to open the throat wide enough to make the cut plus allow recip motion. I personally will never try on a scroll saw again.

We mounted a jig saw upside down on a buddy's table saw, with the blade sticking up from the table. Worked well enough for derby cars!

I've been running Pinewood Derby build clinics for our pack for several years.

We keep a couple of coping saws on hand for the older boys, but very few use them. We also have a few shoe rasps similar to this one that do get heavy use by boys of all ages in shaping blocks after they're cut.

We provide one or two scroll saws for adult use. Scroll saws are slow but they work well and are relatively safe. Band saws are much faster than scroll saws for the same reason that they are inherently more dangerous: the band saw blade never reverses so it is essentially always pulling the stock in. It is much easier to lose a finger on a band saw than a scroll saw.

If most or all of your need is for Pinewood Derby, the cheap scroll saw and table top drill press they sell at Harbor Freight will do a fine job. They frequently run sales, and you can always find a percent off coupon on their web site on in the back of magazines. Mine get heavy use for the Derby about three weeks a year, and sit mostly idle the rest of the year. I've also got an old Craftsman scroll saw that is much more heavily constructed and by all rights should be superior to the Harbor Freight model, but the primary difference in practice is that it is easier to change blades on the HF saw.

If you're the only one who'll use the saw and you're confident in your abilities, a band saw is probably better. If it is for occasional use and/or use by inexperienced people, I'd get a scroll saw.

As an aside, there are a few derby specific tools that I highly recommend if you'll be doing this much. There are other sources, but here's a good source I've been using for years: http://www.maximum-velocity.com/specialty_tools.htm

• Pro-Body Jig (to get near-perfect alignment every time)
• Pin Vise (allows cub scouts to use the body jig themselves, and the jig will last longer if you don't use a power drill with it)
• Pro-Wheel Shaver XT II + Pro-Hub tool (for really round wheels)
• Axle Pliers (great for (dis)assembly and making gentle bends to adjust alignment)

Meant to post a couple days ago. For now, yes this would mainly be for Pinewood Derby. It appears the better overall saw based on recommendations is a band saw. I think I can see that being true for cars with fairly straight shapes and minimal angles or a gradual curve to the body. However, if I was trying to do something intricate for instance, such as cutting the rectangular pads and legs to R2D2, a scroll saw would be better for that correct? That's just an idea that comes to mind if I tell him I will try to make the cut for a more difficult design like that, for whatever he might want.

Last year was our first year to do Pinewood Derby and my son's car was cut out with a scroll saw during a meeting. It was slow from what I remember, especially while waiting on the other cars to be cut first, so I understand those saying a scroll saw is not desirable from that standpoint.

I have no experience with either saw, so I couldn't guarantee I could make cuts some of you could that would make a band saw look easy, as well as not guarantee I wouldn't take my finger off in the process. I have 3 boys with the oldest being 7, so if we stick with Scouts, I could be doing this many more times over the years and the safety of the scroll saw also becomes more appealing once I would feel comfortable letting them cut out their car. How easy is the coping saw to use and get the cuts to actually follow your lines? It seems to me those would be hard to keep on a straight plane through the cut with such a thin blade and hand sawing it and that you would end up with uneven and crooked looking cars.

The basic Ryobi band saw I was looking at doesn't have a fence with it, so even though a band saw is more versatile, would it be better to spend more money later on to upgrade to one that is a little nicer and I have more uses for it?

After 5 years of PWD, my son is finished with them, but I purchased a scroll saw specifically for PWD before his 2nd one. I tend to agree with others that the scroll saw is much slower, and I did go thru a couple blades each time. And I had to learn on my own about the drift that Hobbes01 mentioned. But I felt more comfortable letting him cut his own car the last two years. In hindsight, I think I'd rather have gone with a band saw to make it more versatile for my other home needs, but I doubt I would have let him cut the car himself either. Seeing the joy on his face the first time he could say he did everything himself was well worth the price I paid for a saw that gets minimal use.