kmmcrafts

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I sent a message to BW last night with my order number and the info needed to prove that I bought the blades from them.. They returned message this afternoon saying they was sending out 2 gross of new blades right away.. I guess that means I have to take back the negative comments I've said about BW.. I don't like ordering from them because they take forever to get here.. compared to DnD.. But then.. DnD also gives good customer service and they have advantage over BW because they are in the U.S. and BW is Canada.. Anyway, I'm happy to throw these blades in the recycle bin.. Thanks everyone for all the comments..

I get a lot of my lumber from my brothers mill up the road.. But most times I don't get to pick and choose the species.. and it's usually green so I bring it home and sticker it out in my old shop.. I've only been getting wood from him for about 1-2 years now and what I got a couple years ago is finally drying out that I can use it.. Most of it is Cherry, Walnut. Ash, Spalted Maple, Hard Maple, and a few odds and ends of various species.. Before getting lumber from my brother I just bought it since at the time I didn't have my big bandsaw to resaw it and also didn't have a planer and his lumber is rough cut.. I still buy a lot of wood since I cannot pick and choose and since most of what I have is still needing drying out.. Our local LLJohnson workbench store runs a wood expo show every Sept.. great deals on lumber during this time so I buy the bulk of my lumber during this event since it's a good 30+ % off normal pricing.. So I typically spend around $800 + or - on lumber and BB ply at this show.. every year I get busier and end up either running out or very close to that before the show comes up so every year I buy a little more lumber, LOL.. I try my best to not need to buy any more lumber until the big sales event.. somehow.. I managed to stretch it the last two years with the help of some of my brothers dried stash of lumber.. and only needing a couple of boards from his stash.. He has two huge barns full of dried out lumber that he has pulled off the mill to use as projects over the years.. and now he is about retirement age.. tells me I just need to come get most that stuff because he'll never use it in his lifetime, LOL Most the lumber I get from him is what is rejected / cutoffs from the grade lumber buyer / inspector.. They have certain specs they have to go by and I think a board has to be 100% clear of any knots etc splits..what have you and they have to get at least a 8 ft clear board maybe it's 6ft? not sure.. but anyway they cut off the ends to get a board they need.. one end might have a knot at the 6-8ft mark even though the board might be a 12 -14 ft.. they cut that off to get their clear board.. and leave whats left behind.. My brother doesn't mess with it and just burns it in his wood burner.. if I don't take it..

Oohh Boy.. her site is like a candy store to me.. I use to get her and Steve Good's email updates.. but all of a sudden they stopped.. well not really.. somehow they keep going into my spam folder that I rarely check.. I've set up my email program to accept the emails.. but only a couple came through as they should and back to the spam folder they go again.. Anyway, Thank you for the heads up on this..I've got some patterns on my wish list on her site.. probably a good time to make the wish list become a reality

I just sent Bear Wood a message.. I have receipt in my bookkeeping files so i have proof of purchase with order number etc.. at one point I had 4 gross of these.. I only ordered 2 gross from BW.. so the others was from DnD.. But I used them and some of the ones from BW.. I have not as many as i thought I did but I do have 1 gross that hasn't even been opened yet and most of the second gross..

Thank you for that info.. I'll be contacting them because I have two gross..actually 2.5 gross.. so that is around $70 value that I figured I'd have to throw out..

Thanks Ray.. I guess I can place my order now..

I suppose that would work.. But why do it the easy way..

This is sort of why I'm trying to find out if they ever got the #5's issue figured out.. I've heard two stories.. 1) is that they ran a bunch of bad blades that got through QC... 2) they are trying to make them marked for what side is top / bottom but messed up some and are experimenting with that process... In either case... Pegas has been my go to blade for a couple years now... and don't think the others have better QC and that they don't get into the hands of the users.. a few years prior to me switching to Pegas... FD ran a whole bunch of bad blades... so they all do get a few bad batches that reach the end user.... I've gotta order a few gross of #3's and wondered about ordering some "hopefully" good #5's hoping they have this bad batch sorted out.. and I could get back to my #5 Pegas.. which was my most used blade. Guess if nobody has ordered and confirms that they now have good blades.. Maybe I'll order a dozen instead of a gross and see what I end up with..

I don't think I could put mine in high enough to clamp as you say.. the notch on mine is about 3/4 inch down from the top of the blade.... I suppose if i lowered the upper arm on the EX I could use them then.. but the arm wouldn't be parallel to the table then.. probably change the way the saw cuts drastically too.. I have 2 gross of them.. did have 3 gross but I used up the one gross I got from DnD.. these ones I have now are from Bear Wood.. it was during the time DnD was out of stock because they was replacing the bad blades.. I got in too late on that deal.. so I ordered from BW..in hopes of getting a good batch.. turned out to be worst yet.. Now I'm setting on 2 gross that will probably end up in the trash.. I'll message BW to see what they say..

Some of you may have remembered about the #5 MG blades having the notch cutout on them and having some being longer than others etc. I'm wondering if anyone has bought any blades recently and if so.. is the notch still in them? I remember reading on FB where someone said they made them that way on purpose to mark the top / bottom of the blades.. I've basically stopped using the #5's because all they do in my Hawk is break.. so I started using the #3's which seem to be working really well.. I may send BW a note about the blades I got from them.. as they are definitely not right.. every few blades I've also noticed that the last downward tooth just before the reverse teeth has a solid tooth.. ( like squared off and not sharp pointed like the others ) Not sure what they'll say about it since I bought them last Dec. but at any rate what good are they to me if I can't use them on my Hawk saw.. They don't break nearly as often on my Excalibur.. but still break from time to time so it's not just a Hawk issue.. It's definitely a bad batch of blades.. especially the ones with that funky tooth.. I call them snagga tooth blades, .. and I believe they are all kinda dull.. as even in thick wood.. the #3's kick butt.. compared to the #5's Anyway.. just wondering if they still have that notch.. seems to be where mine are breaking at.. I may just stop using the #5's and use the #3s and #7's #5's take about 45 minutes to cut a stick of butter in half.. not with the grain.. across the grain. The ones with the goofy teeth.. not sure what way to put them in.. I've tried both right side up and wrong side up.. on both front and back sides of the blades... yep.. even mounted sideways.. still cut about the same in any of the positions

Great looking boards.. I've always wanted to try my hand at making some of these.. just never have.. My Father and Brother in law play something similar but it's with big washers.. and instead of a slick smooth painted board they use a non slip coating to hold the washers.. Always looked forward to playing that when we go to Texas to visit them.. Last time we was there he built me a set to practice with so I could beat them at it when I come back.. I haven't been practicing and never when back either, LOL They were good at it and was on tournaments etc..

I kinda see both sides.. on one hand I understand the people copyrighting things because it protects their logo or whatever from being used.. Being small business I don't like people copying my items I've designed and sell either.. But I can deal with that more than those folks that go steeling my photos from my websites because I took time to take nice photos with many angles etc.. and put them up on their own site selling the same things.. This was a big thing a few years back and probably still is.. I've found sellers in other countries having websites using my photos and my product titles and descriptions.. many sellers back then were watermarking their photos... but google kicks you out of searches doing that... Not much one can do but report it.. so I mean.. I do understand the stuff.. I've been told a lot of times about my car clocks are safe from it if I'm not using their logos.. The couple of clocks etsy did take down from me was ones with logos.. but they never touched the others that didn't have logos on it.. Now.. understanding the logo thing because they have a artist create a logo for them etc and that is their trademark.. I get that.. but one that gets me is.. phrases..that are trademarked.. really? it's just words..yeah some goofball made up a phrase or word and some rich person decided to copyright / trademark it..

I taped all four sides and worked from one end to the next end.. the tape held fine just taping the four sides.. I got a length of packing tape about the same length of the puzzle and taped to the top then stood up and bent tape over the edge and around to the back side.. The very middle piece once you cut off the one taped end does bounce a bit more.. and required more pressure by my fingers.. but it went okay.. 3M -77 is strong stuff.. but they do make a stronger adhesive too that says permanent bond.. Can't remember off the top of my head what the stuff is now.. we used both 3M-77 and the stronger one in the body shop biz.. I think a wood glue for bonding the photo is a stronger hold.. I used wood glue on my first puzzles I made.. first one I got too thick of glue on it and put my thumb print into the photo by picking up the thing before the glue had fully harden.. but boy was that picture stuck good.. the second one I used too little glue and it lifted during cutting.. I also used the 3M-77 with what i thought was just "okay" results.. I don't know what to say about the fuzzys though.. my puzzles got the sander on the back side as they was only one sided puzzles.. Be interesting to see how that works out for you.. Sounds like what Steve suggest is what i did.. but i put a paper towel over the photo before taping the top 1/8" sacrificial BB ply to the good piece.. to help against scratches etc.

I'm not sure what method you're speaking of JT.. I think it was Steve Good site where I got the template from years ago when I did some puzzles.. I glued the photo to the wood.. then I put a layer of paper towel in top of the photo ( after gluing and spraying triple thick glaze over the photo etc ) and then taped the template / pattern waist piece on top of that.. Only issue I had was the bouncing of the pattern board on top of the paper towel did sort of smug the edges of the outer part of the puzzle..( maybe I didn't tape them together tight enough.. I only taped with clear tape just around the edges.. did not wrap in tape..) The blades do tend to leave a very fine and small amount of fuzzys though.. and I don't know how you could really avoid that.. Maybe small enough amount that it's not a very big problem to hand sand a few of the pieces.?

I used Titebond III wood glue to glue my feathers back down.. I should be good for a long time now.. Uh Oh... I hope everyone agrees that Tite bond glue is good... and nothing you posted raised my feathers anyway..

JT, some of the conversation went on behind the scenes via PM's .. Sorry if I've made some confusion of that statement.. I get a lot of PM's and many times I forget if it was posted on the forum or a PM, LOL

Thanks Scott, Gives me something to ponder.. You may be seeing a order from me soon, LOL

Are you selling these patterns or are you just modifying the non-puzzle pattern to make what you need? I'm considering buying a lot of patterns from you maybe the non puzzle so I can make clocks and maybe some of these too.. Like the choice of hooks.. when i sold a few of these in the past I used a wooden dowel type and I wasn't super impressed.. I'm curious about your wall mounting? I see spots counter sunk for screws there on the front side.. anything offered for the back? You supply the screws? Thanks for the feedback.. I'm kinda looking for something to maybe replace my car themed things that I'm possibly fazing out..

It was on the news earlier this year and it's been all over some of the selling forums I belong to about how they are cracking down on this sort of stuff.. I posted that they are doing internet sweeps on etsy and other handmade selling sites.. along with Amazon and Ebay.. I posted a heads up a few weeks ago.. basically my post got mocked and what have you about it.. then some took it personally as if I was calling them out personally and they start asking me if I got permission for this and that.. so be it whatever.. trying to do a nice gesture and heads up to save you're butt in some way and nobody even said a thanks for heads up etc.. Oh well.. Maybe they'll take you seriously.. with this post.. Let me say thank you for taking the time to give another heads up.. These copyright holders are not messing around.. I'm quite surprised that they didn't take the automotive logos.. logos of anything is a big NO.. My car clocks I'm working to sort of faze out.. but they could fall under fair use.. too as with maybe the logos.. either way.. I'll be selling what I have and fazing out the stuff.. I had my Harley puzzle taken down but mainly because I used the word Harley to describe it.. However I won't be making more of those either.. Not sure if you make that one of not.. but I'll say.. be careful because Harley don't mess around with it either..

JT, I respect your opinions and value your wealth of knowledge, I guess I get a little touchy on the low end product bashing as many of us start out buying cheap tools.. I started my business with nothing but a freebie scroll saw and even some leftover scraps of plywood and built it up over the years.. When I started out I was using a block of wood and stapled sandpapers to it.. going from that to a power sander was night and day difference.. there is a reason for those HF stores.. not everyone can afford a cheap sander let alone a Festool sander.. I do realize that you get what you pay for.. just as one gets out of business what they put into it.. Everyone has a difference in opinions as to what a good value is.. as someone stated back a few post.. why buy high end stuff that your kids won't cherish.. and would sell for dirt cheep at an estate sale.. For me buying higher end stuff makes a little more sense because I'm business.. but I'm also realistic and do not buy ANYTHING I don't have cash money in hand for the purchase..

Yeah they dull quick and do not last long at all.. especially on plywood.

You're right.. but how can one steer one away from a product they've never used.. just basing their opinion on a product based on the price and the store that it's sold at..

Exactly!! But what gets me about these type of topics is the original poster typically is trying to help out others that are less fortunate by showing others what they think is a bargain and someone comes along and says they’d never buy that or they’d never use that. I look at it as though a cheap HF sander is an upgrade to a piece of sandpaper and your hand. Nothing wrong with buying/owning high end or low end stuff as long as you have the cash to buy it.

I'm not that old yet but I still like to buy low cost things.. unless it's something I intend to use for business that would require a lot of use.. that said i still cannot see $400+ for a random orbital sander.. maybe I'm just not seeing the value as others do in that.. I'm not knocking them in anyway.. If I was retired and rich like some of the others and just scroll for fun to give away my projects.. Sure I'd buy the best.. Maybe.. But I'm feeding a family of 5 and putting one of the kids through college etc etc... I can't afford not to sell my crafts.. as I couldn't afford the wood and electric to run my shop otherwise, LOL So in my eyes.. many of the lower end tools and stores like HF etc.. really appeal to me..for many tools that may end up getting limited use..

So that must mean the Festool must be a 4 speed.. ON, Low, High and Off