A scroll saw is a saw for cutting fine details. The motion it makes is almost like electric handsaw with a tiny strip of metal so it can get into really tight corners. The blade detaches fairly easily, and is so small that the big advantage is being able to cut inside a board, unlike a band saw. Jigsaws have a problem where the jigsaw blade is only secured on one side so it flaps around a lot, and a cut that looks perfect on one side is raggedy on the other; scrollsaws secure the bleade on both sides so there’s less of that nonsense. The blade is thin, so it’ll curve if you push it too hard and stretch over time, but even then, the worst of the curve is in the middle, not on the end.

I took a class with one, liked it enough to get a ryobi for christmas. Used that till it broke, and then saved up and got the big dewalt. I genuinely prefer using it to the bandsaw for any piece of wood under an inch. I’ve been surprised by how useful it is. Sadly, I think the best use case for the tool is dying out as more people can just get something like a glowforge or cnc. Yeah you may start at 5x the cost of a cheap scrollsaw, but for beginners the resulting work is also much more exact.