kmmcrafts

My understanding is that ALL of these saws are made in Taiwan with the exception of the Excalibur model EX-21 which is made in China.. The EX-16 still made in Taiwan.. Not sure why it's only the 21" saw.. I have one of the China made EX-21.. While I finally have most the issues worked out.. and the only biggest issue was the knob at the back of the saw liked to adjust itself.. Blue loc-tite took care of that.. Also the bearings had very little grease.. BUT, I guess that is the case with most all these saws these days.. according to Ray at Seyco.. it's hit or miss with these saws with the bearings getting grease good from the manufacture.. Think if I was to buy any of these type saws new.. I might consider taking it apart while still new and add my own grease to it.. I haven't heard a lot of complaints on the new Pegas saw yet... but they are still quite new.. My China made Excalibur probably made it 150 - 200 hours run time before having bearing issues.. But that's probably around 2 years or so work for the hobbyist..

I just placed a small order, was hoping to do more but this year with the kids college bills etc. funds just aren't plentiful.. Hoping that it was a busy month to help Harvey out with his bills.. Only a few days of Sept. left so those that haven't bought and want to help out Harvey.. there is still time left Thanks Scott for giving us all the opportunity to help a fellow pattern designer and scroll sawer

I rarely use a blade that small.. but plywood does chew up the blades fast... I've never broke blades like this with my DeWalt and Excalibur saws.. But every one of my Hawks will break blades when they get dull like this... Problem is.. I run a blade way too long sometimes.. also the Pegas blades seem more fragile than the FD blades.. Never break the FD blades or at least very rarely do I break them compared to the Pegas.. I get between 10-15 minutes of cutting on a blade with my Hawk.. The Excalibur get 15-20 minutes before it gets dull to the point of pushing hard to get through the wood.. Those numbers almost double when cutting solid wood.. so yeah the ply is really tough on blades..

I bought a three way plug and plugged my shop vac into the dust port of the Excalibur and the dust was real minimal.. The issue for me was the noise of the shop vac... I could lug the big ol shop vac upstairs and cut a hole in the floor to run the hose down to the saw.. But I use the shop vac a lot for other things too.. not really wanting to cut a hole in my floor either.. I've been thinking about one of these mounted to my saw from Seyco or a Fein or Festool.. watching for used ones for over a year.. Not much luck finding one.. yet.. Fein is much cheaper than Festool.. Festool has a dealer right at the place I go to get my lumber and plywood etc.. Fein gets expensive as well once you by the HEPA filter set-up.. Maybe that isn't needed.. at first anyway.

Bit pricey but.. it can be contained right to the saw / stand.. and have you priced a high end " quiet vacuum " such as a Fein or Festool ? Then add the dust separator to it.. and if you was moving from place to place.. the bigger vacuums would have to be toted along too.. I feel the set up isn't too bad priced when you factor that stuff in..

Yes, I agree about the signing of your work.. just for this reason.. I've run across pieces at the goodwill as well and looked up the name on the bottom as you did.. Big reason I sign my work.. Though I know there are pieces of mine scattered about the USA, Italy, UK, Australia, Denmark and Canada.. I'm probably missing a few.. but I know I've shipped stuff to these places.. When I think about it.. I often wonder where they is display the piece at in their homes or office etc.. how many people have seen or talked about it etc.. Also wonder if one day after I'm long gone.. will one of my kids or grand kids will come across something I've made much like this and think.. Hey Dad or Papa made this.. Sort of wish I felt it'd be worth putting the date on my stuff but as I've said before... Hate to sell pieces that have sat here for a few years with a date on it.. I did use a date for a short time.. but stopped after selling a piece 3 years later and wondered about how the customer would feel if they seen it..

I've really thought about buying one of these.. there have been a few people report that they liked theirs.. I went to buy one not long ago and they are not on Seyco's website anymore so.. not sure what that's about.. Can't wait to hear what your thoughts are on it..

Well, I wife and daughter wanted to go to the mall ( Bath & Bodyworks ) and the Barns & Nobel is in there so I went up check out the magazine.. Probably not a pattern in it that'd I'd cut anytime soon but I did buy the magazine. Also was quite disappointed that there wasn't more holiday stuff in it.. didn't seem like their holiday issue that I remember getting.. But that said I think I may subscribe to them again.. There are usually $40 worth of patterns a year in the thing and also some good reading.. I never used to use the patterns in them anyway is was more about the stories.. After thinking about it more I also support the designers and many other jobs along the way by subscribing.. Might see if I can get the back issues from when I stopped subscribing.. Biggest reason I stopped was just cutting un-necessary bills at the time.. Sure wish that other magazine was still around.. What changed my mind was a few weeks back I was asked about cutting some angels ( I'll post finished pieces in bragging section in a few weeks ) ornaments that i did way back when.. maybe 2008-9? anyway I had to hunt down the magazine that the patterns was in. I ran across a lot of things that I'd cut now but didn't interest me at all back then.. I also had a great time looking through them in my search.. Sure do wish they offered a yearly digital format one though.. Magazines take up a lot of space when you have several years worth of them, LOL

Quite honestly now days.. I pretty much use Pegas.. I didn't like the Pegas on the DeWalt at first as it was a aggressive cutting saw.. but did eventually get used to using them with the DeWalt before I sold it and got the new Hawk..

Cutting out the pheasant clock from 5/8 cherry I was using a Pegas MG blade.. most likely a number 3 or 5 as that is about the only sizes I use in both Pegas or Flying Dutchman UR blades.. The video of me cutting out the ornament.. I'm using a FD-UR #5 blade.. Takes a lot of practice to cut like that, LOL I've been sawing for 15 years about 3 - 4 hours a day.. pretty much every day.. only about the last 5-6 years have I been able to cut like that on those corners.. But I think it was longer time like that because I was stuck in a groove of thinking I couldn't do it so I did like others have said.. loop around and or shave the edge away so the turn is easier.. so I never really tried.. The videos I make I actually cut quite a lot slower than I normally do because the way I do the video.. You see what I see.. in the video though you see it much larger than I do... I don't place the camera on a camera stand off to the side like most do.. I have a magnifier light like many others do.. I tape my iPhone 4 or 5 depending on how old the video is, LOL to the top of the lens of my magnifier light.. so when I'm sawing in the videos.. I'm looking through my small phone screen to see what I'm doing rather than looking through the large 5" magnifier lens.. so it's kinda difficult to see what I'm doing which makes me cut slower than normal.. With spiral blades I almost exclusively use a FD-NS #2/0 or a #1... Keep in mind I'm almost always cutting 1/2" + thick material.. I stack cut most everything I make except the clocks.. if it's thin 1/8" or 1/4" then I'm stacking it up to be 1/2 - 3/4" thick.

Here is how I do it... Video I put up on my FB page a while ago.. Think I posted this on here a while back.. Here is another video from my blog on my website showing me cut out a complete Christmas ornament.. Stack cutting 4 at a time I think.. I remember when I first started cutting this pattern years ago before i could do turns like that... I hated those couple medical symbols, LOL This is a while ago as I was cutting on my old Dewalt here.. That's been sold and gone for about a year or better now.. Video link below. you might have to scroll down a bit to click on the video.. top image is just a picture.. https://www.kevskrafts.com/post/397335857776/how-my-items-are-made

It's always my wife that's at fault on that one.. When I first started sawing she sold pieces at work before they had a finish on them, LOL One evening she mentioned to me that she was going to take it to work and show her co-workers.. I said you can but I need to finish it first.. It disappeared and never returned.. finally came back as green paper bills.. I said next time wait until I'm done with it... Next time comes and guess what... disappeared again.. I finally got smart and stopped bringing them in to show them off until I'm absolutely done..

I swap back and fourth between the FD-UR blades and Pegas MG blades.. Also like Olsen PGT and Mach speed blades.. Not a fan of the skip tooth blades etc. Do flip around between brands with the spirals as well.. Like FD- SR blades as well but do not like any of the other styles of Pegas other than the MG and the spirals.. But that all said all this might sound crazy to read how I flip blades and for one it does depend sometimes on what saw I'm running.. each saw is tuned differently. Also understand that I saw a lot and sometimes it gets boring and I like to be challenged a bit now and then.... so switching up from a blade that cuts straight to a blade that's a few degrees off makes it interesting again,

That is how I was doing it.. and still do custom / personalized ornaments where the ornament is too small to cut out something personalized.. Just did a couple medical helicopters ornaments with the hospital name on them this weekend for customers.. Much easier to do this way than to free hand it all.. No way would someone buy a personalized ornament if I was free handing them, LOL

Thank you, Yes I sell around 300 ish clocks a year.. and a whole lot of ornaments.. big custom order last week of 200 ornaments for a company that'll be handing them out at their annual Christmas party.. I have 6 companies that order ornaments every year like this.. in the 150- 200 piece order range.. the one last week was a new to me one.. maybe they'll like them well enough to come back again next year then I'll have 7 yearly return customers with large orders. .. It gets monotonous cutting large quantities though.. but the money helps pay bills..

I mostly use a fine point Sharpe pen.. but also have a woodburner tool to do this.. I also have ordered address return labels with my website address and business name on them.. I stick those to the bottom of my clock bases and also to the gift box that I use to put ornaments in.. I find that for me the Sharpe or the stickers work best.. don't have to wait for the burner to heat up etc.. Also for what it's worth.. I sign the project but also put the sticker over the area where I signed it at.. In case the sticker falls or wears off..

Yeah the reviews on that particular one is not good.. I just did a quick search as an example.. There is one called a drafting chair which looks about the same.. and that one has a lot of good reviews..

You're right, I've been looking at new stools as mine it getting pretty old than the padding is pretty broke down from the 15 years of about daily use.. I really want to try one of the stools that have the metal tractor seat pan on it.. Those old style tractor seats are contoured and have always been quite comfortable even without a seat cushion.. That said I'm sure I'll be adding a cushion as the metal pan on a very cold day might not be very pleasing to set on, LOL Maybe I'll look to see what it'd take to put a tractor seat I already have onto my current stool.. There are cheaper ones without the back rest.. But I think I'd like the back rest on it.. https://www.amazon.com/Delacora-LF-214-ORANGEYELLOW-GG-Metal-Swivel-Tractor/dp/B07B62MDVH/ref=pd_sbs_196_7?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07B62MDVH&pd_rd_r=7eaf918d-29f0-4a0d-9c86-652562b34f0d&pd_rd_w=4dwWs&pd_rd_wg=QSmxN&pf_rd_p=d66372fe-68a6-48a3-90ec-41d7f64212be&pf_rd_r=AFE5HP19DVMYHHSBSCYE&psc=1&refRID=AFE5HP19DVMYHHSBSCYE

Some of my issue is my stool is tall and I'm used to the height of the Hawk.. and the EX stand is lower.. so I tower it some.. I have the legs set as high as they'll go.. I had a hard time setting at it for more than an hour because I tend to hunch over.. Just last week I thought maybe it'd help if I put a tilt to the stand.. rather than change the stand itself I added a 2 x 4 under the back legs of the stand.. that helps a lot.. But I really also need a shorter stool as well I think.. I have a 6x6 block that my foot switch sets on and I found that it's somewhat comfy to put my other foot on the top of that lower brace of the stand.. I'm happy I didn't give up on the saw at the beginning.. so many people loved their excaliburs and I wanted to love mine too.. Not knowing in the beginning I had a China made one didn't help me understand.. I'm happy that I kept tinkering around with it.. This saw is really nice running now that I've basically rebuilt the whole thing.. It now will probably have my Hawks set idle, LOL.. At least once I get a shorter stool or figure out where / how to get comfortable for long periods of time on it..

Your welcome, Your website isn't your main focus, events are... which is why it's quiet.. that would switch eventually if you focused the show energy to he website or at least some of that show energy.. You seem to enjoy the shows.. I never really liked them nor had the time for them with young kids at that time.. so my focus went to websites during naps and after bedtimes .. Takes a very long time and a lot of work to get a following online to a point to where you get sales on a regular basis..

Congrats, that's some great exposure for your puzzle business..

I've seen in the past where someone was laminating BBply because they didn't like the look of the face of BBply.. but liked the stability of it better than regular ply.. so they laminated it with whatever type of wood laminate they liked.. My issue with doing that would be the edges would still me the light color of the BBply..

Back in the day when I made bookmarks I used this ebay seller for my real thin woods.. Always got nice wood what little of it I did purchase from them.. Still have a big box of it that i never did use.. https://www.ebay.com/str/thelumberstore I have a local place where I can get the real thin plywood not sure exactly what it's called.. Finland ply? it's like 1/32 or so thick in 60 x 60 inch sheets just like the BBply.. I've never had a use for it myself..

a lot of people like to "save " articles from magazines for a later day or for reference.. Much like bookmarking a topic here.. My parents used to cut out or rip out pages in magazines that they wanted to save.. before tossing the magazine out.. kinda the same concept.. but in a online world it's more like a bookmark.. than clipping to me..

Yes the car magazines are both.. you get a print copy as well as a digital copy.. basically a login on a website.. I do agree with the digital sometimes being hard to read.. In this day and age though.. if you're not digital or online.. nobody knows who you are.. My brothers lumber mill.. as an example.. he's not online.. people don' t look for stuff very often in the actual phone books yellow pages anymore.. they go to their phone to look up stuff online.. Most of the younger folks don't even know what the yellow pages are.. The other thing with digital.. you can clip certain topics that peek your interest.. and save them to your clipped topics.. Sort of like cutting clips from magazines.. There is a place for physical copies.. but there is becoming a bigger place for digital copies.. having both to transition gradually would be best of both..