Grumpy old man rant

[Wichman]

Good grief,

When  I was at HF last weekend they had their cheap Scroll Saw on the "returned items" shelf price tag $44. On the shelf support was a note that said "all return items" 50% off listed price, so $22. Not bad for a cheap backup saw, or for cutting outlines. All well and good, the saw runs, so I haven't lost out there.

I've seen where Bear Woods sells Pegas Pin end blades, and they have the size (.009" x .0787" x 25 tpi) I used to use in my first SS (3" pin end blades). But they have a $8.00 min order, the blade are $7.97/dz (found this out when I tried to check out). I reached out through FB and they can't go around that 3 cents. So, for 3 cents they've lost a customer. Danny doesn't sell the pin end blades, so Amazon it is.

FYI I had a problem with  Klingspor a few years ago and now I will not use them ever again;

     I bought a "surface conditioner" from HF, the thing is a beast and uses a 4" x 4" keyed sanding drum. Klingspor sells replacement drums, I bought three different grits at about $50 a drum, one of the drums was out of round on one side, Klingspor replaced it with one that was a little less out of round, while waiting for the replacement (6 weeks to get the first ones, 6 more weeks to get the replacement) I was using one of the other drums when it started losing sanding flaps, at 25% of the rated speed, one while sanding , two more just running. I had the machine mounted upside down on the workbench next to the scroll saw with a foot switch installed. The goal was to be able to power sand the fuzzies off the back of scroll saw items, but if I can't trust the sanding drums not to catch a piece and either break it outright or throw it against a wall, then I can't really use it. The tool will be relegated to processing wood blanks to wide to go through the planer (planner is 12 1/2" and I do have some planks wider than that)  so it's not a total loss.

     The upshot is I burned a bunch of money on an idea that fissiled because of poor quality products.

     I can't find the size I need on Amazon because their search engine sucks so much (shows all kinds of drums that are the wrong size). Waa.

End of Rant

For now

I guess  

[Be_O_Be]

6 hours ago, Wichman said:

End of Rant

So, other than that, how's things going ?

[Wichman]

1 hour ago, Be_O_Be said:

So, other than that, how's things going ?

Dragon rod rack is coming along, don't want to rush any part of that project.

We're under a 3 day air quality alert ( SE Idaho, wildfire smoke from Cali, Or, and W Idaho fires )

See a foot Dr this Wed.

Biopsy of my Thyroid nodules came back benign ( Yea )

So, some good, some not so good; about normal.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I know this is your rant and you have the right to go about it but have to take you to task and ask a couple questions if you do not mind. First why in the world would you buy a pinned blade scrollsaw in todays market? I do not care if it was free. Just does not make sense. Why not buy 2 doz of the blades if you like it so much and then get your discount? You saved on the saw. 

Next what do you use the sander for? Do you strip alot of metal?? From the videos it looks like that was its main purpose. To use a tool like that for sanding fuzzies off has to be rather abrasive and aggressive in my opinion and a flat wood sander would be a better choice. A random orbital palm sander would be safer. As far as processing wood blanks, that is what a planer does. To me a tool that is not needed in the shop and money wasted on sanding rolls to begin with.  Just had to respond to this because I did not see the logic in either tool and it caused you some unneeded  frustration it seems. 

 

https://www.harborfreight.com/9-amp-surface-conditioning-tool-58079.html?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=425671830&campaignid=425671830&utm_content=1159985908236229&adsetid=1159985908236229&product=58079&store=393&msclkid=d68839cf1e2c1f8947765f697ef6771c

[Wichman]

>      First why in the world would you buy a pinned blade scrollsaw in todays market? I do not care if it was free. Just does > not make sense. Why not buy 2 doz of the blades if you like it so much and then get your discount? You saved on the     >  saw. 

The Village gets lots of new scrollers who have bought pin end machines and I would like to be able to give them advise based on personal experience cutting on a low end machine, instead of just advising them to buy a better machine. Many people just cannot plunk down the money for a high end machine, but would like to see if they are interested.

If you don't care about passing to torch onto the next generation, then just move on

[Wichman]

Next what do you use the sander for? Do you strip alot of metal?? From the videos it looks like that was its main purpose. To use a tool like that for sanding fuzzies off has to be rather abrasive and aggressive in my opinion and a flat wood sander would be a better choice. A random orbital palm sander would be safer. As far as processing wood blanks, that is what a planer does. To me a tool that is not needed in the shop and money wasted on sanding rolls to begin with.  Just had to respond to this because I did not see the logic in either tool and it caused you some unneeded  frustration it seems. 

 

"The tool will be relegated to processing wood blanks to wide to go through the planer (planner is 12 1/2" and I do have some planks wider than that)  so it's not a total loss."

I have projects that will require wide live edge planks, I have thirteen large planks ( up to 18" wide and 8" long ) and all of them are too wide to go through the planer that I have ( 12 1/2 incher ). The drums that I have for the surface conditioner have the following grits; 40, 120, 240  grit from HF, 200, 400, and 600 grit in the drums from Klingspor .  I have started on a couple of smaller planks and the tools seems to work well on them. I'm not building furniture out of the planks, so a small amount of variation in the thickness won't bother me. If I get a couple of planks done and they take off like hot cakes, then I would consider a larger planner, but the cost is rather prohibitive.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

39 minutes ago, Wichman said:

>      First why in the world would you buy a pinned blade scrollsaw in todays market? I do not care if it was free. Just does > not make sense. Why not buy 2 doz of the blades if you like it so much and then get your discount? You saved on the     >  saw. 

The Village gets lots of new scrollers who have bought pin end machines and I would like to be able to give them advise based on personal experience cutting on a low end machine, instead of just advising them to buy a better machine. Many people just cannot plunk down the money for a high end machine, but would like to see if they are interested.

If you don't care about passing to torch onto the next generation, then just move on

Really that is the reason. Then by all means pass the torch as you put it. Why are you ranting Then?????????

[barb.j.enders]

Bearwoods lost me as a client a few years back because of poor customer service.  I ordered 1/2 dozen blades and asked if they could just put them in an envelope, like Mike did (Mikes workshop) because shipping costs were going to be about $20 (or more, I don't remember but it was ridiculous). They told me NO and I didn't know what I was talking about.  My job at the time was "shipping" for a manufacturer.

[kmmcrafts]

3 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

Bearwoods lost me as a client a few years back because of poor customer service.  I ordered 1/2 dozen blades and asked if they could just put them in an envelope, like Mike did (Mikes workshop) because shipping costs were going to be about $20 (or more, I don't remember but it was ridiculous). They told me NO and I didn't know what I was talking about.  My job at the time was "shipping" for a manufacturer.

I had a similar customer service issue with them several years ago.. I placed a order and two weeks later I still had no shipping / tracking info so I inquired about it and their response was they mailed it out a few weeks ago, LOL.. then a few days later I got the tracking info showing it was dropped off at the post office and would be on the way.. 

I don't care about it being late as much as I care about the lie.. we're all human and forget to mail things or whatever.. own up to it then and say it'll be mailed out asap then.. don't lie and say you mailed it and then actually do mail it a few more days later.. LOL 

[BadBob]

On 7/29/2024 at 8:16 AM, barb.j.enders said:

Bearwoods

I'm not a fan of Bearwoods and will not do business with them unless there is no other option.

[scrollerpete]

1 hour ago, BadBob said:

I'm not a fan of Bearwoods and will not do business with them unless there is no other option.

I second this opinion

[OCtoolguy]

4 hours ago, scrollerpete said:

I second this opinion

Third!

[TAIrving]

[Scrappile]

My wife recognizes me for it every day!

[OCtoolguy]

1 hour ago, Scrappile said:

My wife recognizes me for it every day!

My wife is the grumpy one.

[barb.j.enders]

21 hours ago, TAIrving said:

Happy Grumpy Old Man day @TAIrving

[TAIrving]

23 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

Happy Grumpy Old Man day @TAIrving

Thanks @barb.j.enders.  It is seldom enough that I get recognition for anything and I will happily take this.