kmmcrafts

I had never heard of this one.. I've got a quart of shellac I bought several years ago.. I think I may give that a try just to see how it goes.

You are correct.. I always forget about location as my only experience is selling online.. and last I checked.. the internet was world wide with that said.. I have a pretty good idea of what states and countries have money.. Send a lot of stuff to CA TX NY FL DC NC and to the UK Australia ...

Depends on the time of year as to what finish I use for any of my items other than portrait work.. During the warmer months.. I use Danish Oil.. have used the 50/50 BLO / Mineral spirits but I find that Danish oil does the same thing and ads a sealer to it as well which is IMO better.. In the colder months when things take longer to dry etc.. and to avoid mailing out a strong smelling package I use a homemade brew of beeswax and mineral oil.. this finish can be applied and mailed out the same day.. actually I believe as well as many of my friends and family that this mix actually looks better than any of the other finishes.. BUT... it is a tedious job brushing the mix on the wood and getting it into all the fretwork areas etc.. then heating it up to melt it into the wood as a liquid.. once dried it gives a very nice sheen that i cannot get with any other finishing types. But.. for durability and ease of use.. I do use the Danish oil as much as possible.. Portrait work is the only thing I finish with a poly spray.. everything else is the above mentioned..

Yeah that stuff is copywritten or trademarked. I got slapped for that one once..

Is that the same thing as a Hegner? it resembles a Hegner to me.. Sorry I have no answer really to your question.. as I'm not familiar with that saw..

Glad it worked out great for you.. Yes.. I've mentioned many times in these forums that the Hawks are slower cutting.. even argued that point many times with other Hawk owners.. But.. I've also found that the way the blade stroke is on the Hawks..if you play around with various blade styles and configurations.. many times I find I like x blade or x size on the Hawk... but don't like that blade on any other saw.. so it was kind of like learning to saw all over again I'll be curious how the puzzle works out for you on the Hawk.. I cannot stand cutting them on mine.. but love to cut them on my Excalibur.. Maybe I need to find that right blade configuration on the Hawk.. Also curious about how the puzzle turns out if you cut it with the blade in the aggressive cutting slot.. I did that once and the pieces didn't fit together quite right.. but I also had something else out of wack so i don't know if it was either of the two or just me trying to cut too fast.. Anyway, enjoy making sawdust on your new toy

I do inventory my hottest sellers to an extent.. but yeah it does work for me in that I don't have to have a boat load of inventory made sitting around waiting to be sold.. many of my customers want something personalized and I found that personalized names text or whatever it is was selling faster than the inventory I had on hand... so now I somewhat stockpile cut out stuff but don't attach the base and put the finish on because they may want it personalized.. I keep most ornaments on hand because they are small and easy to store.. almost always sell them so i do now stock 20 of each style ornament.. Dang.. that was a lot of cutting this spring / summer since i had hardly any on hand after last Christmas... and I have almost 200 different styles.. still working to build up that inventory.. starting with my hottest selling ones and working my way down that list... and still trying to add new ones to the mix, as returning customers like to come and see what's new.. not the same Old same Old stuff... LOL

Okay makes sense I suppose.. Maybe you got a defective holder? I would think they would have you go through a series of adjustments to try before sending you another set.. could be the saw is out of wack.. could be the screws slipping and need cleaned.. blades come with a oil film on them to keep them from rusting.. that il can build up on the thumb screw or set screw and cause these things.. Hopefully the new set will get things working correctly.

The mentality of pricing something as to how much "YOU" would pay is a poor business decision.. because the market might pay much more than what "YOU" think it's worth.. Some people can go to a dollar store and say the prices are too much.. while others can go to a high end shop and say the prices are too cheap... there are people that value cheap prices as cheap junk.. and there are people that value those cheap prices.. then there are people that say they wouldn't pay that much for something.. then there are people that will brag about how much they paid for something as if they are rich and bragging about it... I have a relative that makes good money.. he values things by the price tag anywhere he shops.. he looks for the high priced things.. The same person that bought a pair of $750 sunglasses.. and was gloating about how expensive they are to everyone on a vacation trip we took together.. he talked about them our whole trip and how much they are.. their made of x material and are unbreakable.. hands them to everyone and says.. bend them up try to break them.. don't worry they have a 5 year warranty not to break.. I had to laugh when we went tubing and he lost them in the river.. asked what kind of warranty they offer for them being lost.. I did a test a few years ago with my relative on the pricing theory.. I made two ornaments ( same pattern.. also same material ) just for kicks.. I stained one of them.. with walnut stain.. I showed both to him and said which one do you like best and you can have it.. I could see he was liking the stained one better.. ( every time he sees things made of walnut he loves that wood partly because he has heard it is somewhat pricey wood ) )he said he liked the stained one but liked both.. he asked about what kind of wood they was.. I explained that the stained one is just some cheaper plywood but I liked the coloring of it.. but the other ( unstained one ) was a rare plywood called Baltic Birch and is kind of expensive.. He really liked the stained one but because of the story behind the plain one he chose that one.. My point here is... sometimes.. showing confidence and knowing how to sell something and what kind of info you give on a piece is what make a sale.. My father use to say a good salesman could sell a rock for $20 dollars and a bad salesman can't even give it away.. Just thinking back to the days of the pet rocks, Not saying you should lie about your items.. but how you present them and how YOU show the value of them can determine a higher or lower price. That all being said.. my family and friends I tell them how much I sell them for.. and that.. they can pay the price - 20% from the website.. or if/when I get time I can make it for them for free in my spare time ( which I almost never have on purpose ) .. The time I spend making them something for free is the same time i could be making something else for money.. so they either pay up or don't get it.. forget about it or whatever.. Personally I pay myself a set amount per hour wage..and since it's a skilled trade and takes expensive tools to make my items I don't mean a minimum wage type of hourly rate either.. I set my prices based on this hourly wage.. then I mark it up from there as to supply / demand.. obviously materials etc.. are also factored in.. I started off real low priced.. gradually learned that it was too low priced.. also leaning that sometimes higher priced sells better than cheap priced.. I just raised a lot of my prices a few weeks ago in hopes of slowing sales down slightly... it did just the opposite.. and each time I've done this.. has had the same effect..I may be raising prices slightly again.. last one was a big jump.. every clock went up by $10 and thinking of adding another 10.. they was on the low end of pricing for me to make my money anyway.. and selling cost for the web site etc have increased etc..

Best advice I've seen.. You really have to just test the waters and see what works for you and in doing the testing... yes you will loose and win.. I don't look at loosing money as a loss.. because it is also a learning experience that you can't get without trying..

Your question mentions Pegas blade holder but doesn't mention what you want to know about the blade holder? I don't do thick wood cutting so i probably cannot answer that question... however.. doesn't matter what thickness you're cutting.. if there is an issue with blade clamping.. it could be many things besides the holders itself.. Maybe give a little more details to your question.. what type of problem are you having... what saw are you using? stock blade holders? or the Pegas ones.. I had issues with my stock blade holders from day 1 with my Excalibur.. no matter if I was even cutting or not.. just insert the blade and run the saw it would slip out from time to time.. but not any once I put the Pegas on... that said... I've really hardly used the Excalibur saw even with the new Pegas holders.. Just like using the Hawk so much better.. Anyway.. give a little more info.. maybe someone will have some suggestions..

A postal worker once told me that they won't cover poorly packaged items.. they require a minimum of 1 inch space between the item and the box itself.. for the most part.. All of my shipping for my woodwork i wrapped in the large bubbles bubble wrap and about two - three inch thick of just bubble wrap.. then.. I use packing peanuts for fill to make the item filled in the box so it cannot get bumped around inside the box.. When I had items damaged several years ago.. I only used wrapped up news papers.. well not news paper but actual packing paper, LOL.. Anyway I showed my postal clerk how I package my stuff.. and they said they could probably get run over by the mail truck and not get broke, LOL.. On a side note.. just three weeks ago I had a return customer message me and said it was a good thing I wrapped all that bubble wrap on his order.. He said the box was delivered sopping wet and dripping all over the place.. the box was mangled and had a tire track on it just as if it had been run over.. he said he was sure it would be broke or at least damaged from being wet.. He said as he unwrapped the bubble wrap.. the item was dry and un-damaged.. He couldn't believe it wasn't damaged.. Bubble wrap is cheap compared to a scrolled piece.. well at least for me.. I buy it 1000 foot at a time.. and cost me $120 usually last me about a year.. Use about 2 bags of packing peanuts a year as well.. that's the big 20 cubic foot bags..

Unfortunately this happens from time to time.. while I'm sure it's a daily thing with the USPS.. but that said.. I mail out about 700 - 1000 items a year with my business and it's only happen to me about 3 times over the last 8 years.. I filed my claims online and uploaded a picture of the damaged goods.. They mailed out a check and I had it within I think like 10 days..

Client from Amazon asked if I could make her a 66 Dart.. not sure how I did on it but it's all I could do.. I made a sloppy pattern myself but I suppose it was cuttable as this is what I came up with.. If I make it again there will be a couple of slight changes but over all I think it came out okay..

Hope the sale goes better than you expected.

I'd consider going with the Jet.. I believe it has a slightly larger work table too.. I may be wrong but I thought the table looked bigger on the Jet when i was looking at them in the showroom floor.. I actually like the blade chuck on the Jet.. but it's the same set up as with my Hawk for the bottom clamp and i like the self clamp / tension in one step.. I see that as an advantage for fretwork like I do.. Jet seems to be close to the $1000 mark and would be with the Pegas upgrade..

I believe you have the tension cam set wrong.. You mentioned it being at 11 o'clock.. but you never flipped that lever down to lock it in.. The setting it at a certain time on the clock is just a starting point.. what you do is put the blade in.. and adjust that back cam lever until the blade is just starting to give some resistance or tension at the set time for the blade you're using.. then you flip that lever down and lock it down.. You do this with the quick release lever at the front of the saw in the tension position.. or locked down toward the back of the saw.. Once you set the tension at the back of the saw you can usually just use the quick release at the front of the saw.. sometimes you'll need to re adjust it if using different size or style blades.. I find that I need more tension with a Pegas blade after using a FD blade.. maybe Pegas are slightly longer blade or something but I always have to add a little to the Pegas.. Anyway, in the video you has that back lever pointed up at the 11 o'clock position and it should be locked down.. Sounded good.. anyway

Spiral blades do typically need a little more tension as others mentioned.. I also use them somewhat like a flat blade still and cut with them on the front portion of the blade.. The way a scroll saws blade motion works.. there is a slight front to back motion on the blade.. so you'll probably find the spiral will cut faster using the front and possibly the rear of the blade as opposed to the sides of the blade.. because of that slight blade front to back blade motion.. Spirals typically wear out a little faster too.. Since I do a lot of my cutting on them on the front like a flat blade sometimes I'll take the blade out and reverse it for the less used teeth on the opposite side..

This is what I ended up with since I couldn’t find the graphite. Not sure how good it is but I figured if it didn’t work well for the scroll saw I could use it for door hinges etc on the car and bicycle chain etc. So far it seems to be slick and easy working on the saw. But still plan to get the graphite next time I go to the store. I know now that I was looking in the wrong area at the store. So maybe next time I’ll find it.

Good to know, just in case I run out of lumber by then maybe I can get some good deals there.. Kind of a drive for me to that one as well.. I'm only about 25 mile ( 30-35 minutes) from Charlotte.. but about 1.5 hours to the SB one

That's cheap compared to our woodcraft.. shows it at $8.99.. I just looked at the website where I go and it's $12.75 for a 5 x 5 ft sheet.. If you buy 1-3 sheets. If you get 10+ sheets like I do.. then its $11.05 per sheet.. then wait for the big sale that they do as I mentioned above and they even do much better on the price..

Okay I see.. I was going to say.. they normally run a wood expo sale there as well.. It's usually a week or so before the Charlotte one.. as they bring the left overs to the Charlotte one so you'd get first picks there, LOL... Maybe they no longer do that at the SB store.. I don't know..

I've been to the one in GR but it's been probably 8-10 years ago.. While it's a nice store I really wasn't impressed with the wood selection they had etc.. at that time.. May have changed now since the LL Johnson work bench closed up.. I believe the work bench in GR was on Burton St? Only time I was in there was during a store closing.. didn't even know it was there.. But then I don't get up toward GR all that much.. about 2 times the distance as Charlotte...

LOL, I actually won't be buying much if any BB this year.. because I bought a lot of it last year and haven't used nearly what I thought I would.. But stay away from the Cherry lumber..LOL no they'll have plenty.. They should anyway.. They have a work crew that runs 24-7 365 days a year.. They use to have a mill there but that's been gone for quite a few years now.. they just contract it from other mills.. and they have a crew that just loads and unloads trucks of lumber pretty much 24-7.. They have a crew that just runs a planner and an edger 24-7.. That place turns out a lot of lumber.. every year.. place runs pretty much 24-7 365 days.. holidays and all.. LOL.. They have a store in South Bend IN.. have you been to it? Use to have several other stores but now they just have the two..

There should be a hole on the accessory arm that runs along the side of the upper arm where the stem of the magnifier lights fit into.. At least that is how I have mine set up.. I didn't need the clamp bracket that came with my light.. I just stuck the stem down into that hole..