kmmcrafts

Yes, I freehand the lettering.. Quite nerve racking to turn myself loose on a nicely finished scrolled piece with the woodburner, LOL.. But then... I do like some challenges once in a while...

Nice, Not sure the shop you're building will be big enough ... Seems like it should be but my findings are.. You always find more stuff to put into a bigger shop, LOL Like that old Chevy pick-up in the one photo.. always wanted one of those old Chevy trucks..

That is interesting.. I do know that is the day they say retailers finally show a profit.. guess I never correlated the meaning of the name.. black Friday in terms of meaning black as a profit.....sounds a lot better than green Friday LOL.. Last few years.. I was not in the black until around October.. this year is going pretty well though and so far I'm in the black or was that green

Just thought I'd show one of the custom / personalized orders I got this week.. I actually do this pyrography to a lot of my work.. Typically give the customer the option to have it cut out for X amount of $$ or woodburned for X amount of $$.. Woodburned being much lower priced because they don't have to pay for artwork for custom pattern design, typically less time involved and many times less amount of wood used.. Many times I can woodburn an item that is already in stock too.. so turn around time is better... Not to mention that I can woodburn name or year etc on small areas of Christmas ornaments.. so I do quite a lot of personalizing of ornaments.. Don't think I've ever showed that I do this so... Here it is, LOL... Burning on hardwood is harder to do than on the plywood that I typically do for the ornaments.. Sort of like sawing.. you find the soft spots in the wood grain.. LOL.. I do tell the customer that I do the burning free hand so it's not going to look like a machine did it.. I'm better at scroll sawing free hand, LOL

I can't operate in the black... wouldn't be able to see what i was doing I actually had to look that up.. I've always used the term Red or Green.. ( red being no money made and green being made money ) but you have to consider I am just an ol country boy who failed at school...

Sure glad I don't have to build or worry much about inventory... I Wish anyway.. Insurance company wanted a dollar value of my inventory so we could figure out how much I needed to be insured for.. While my inventory is quite low most of the time as much of my stuff is made as it's ordered.. I still was shocked that that much $ value was stored in a just a handful of totes.. nor did I realize just how many Christmas ornaments could be stored in one of the plastic totes.. I cut most of it as it's ordered.. Though that is a job in itself...simply because much of my orders come as a custom or personalized spin off of something I already stock... but I do typically try to build up some inventory of the hotter selling stuff over the summer for the Holiday sales.. Some days I say I'd like to quit doing custom / personalized stuff and just build inventory... but at least 35% of business is custom / personalized.. I like getting request for things as many times those requested things become the next hot seller for me.. Enjoy the shows, sell out at each one if you can, ..

Yeah I sort of figured that.. Always kind of wondered why do we even do all the extra work and wear on our saws to even make it a puzzle.. LOL..

Do any of you seal the colored pieces? I ask because... I've seen kids running around with blue mouths before .... On a more serious note.. I just wondered if perhaps the wood would bleed out the color if it was to accidentally get wet / damp.. would be a bad day for someone if they spilled a water or something and the puzzle turns someones nice white or light colored carpet blue .. I've been considering doing some of the bases similar to like what Iggy showed with the blue puzzle base..

Very nice work..

Design isn't mine, It's Harvey's pattern available from www.woodcraftbyscott.com or.. hunt down Iggy..

If i remember correctly, I think Hawk made saws for other companies to re-brand.. I know I've seen a dark blue re-brand Hawk before.. Wish i could remember what the brand was.. may have been the same company.. but anyway.. pretty sure there are a few Hawks out there with different colors and name plates..

Found this on eBay today.. Says Scroll Master.. looks to be a re-badged Hawk to me.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/ScrollMaster-14-precision-scroll-saw/152988825281?hash=item239ed836c1:g:aBoAAOSw~u5a19h1

I started off signing with a wood burning tool to write my name.. then of coarse I'm always in a hurry so I started using a fine point Sharpe pen before I apply any finish. I think it looks much better. Then most recently I found you can order custom return address stickers.. I made it up somewhat like my business card and place it on the bottom of my clocks.. then finish over them... That said.. I still like the Sharpe better.. I do use the stickers for certain things yet but for the most part.. I went back to the Sharpe... Mostly because I like to finish my work with beeswax and mineral oil.. The stickers don't like sticking to that.. and I haven't found a spray clear that I like on clocks yet.. I've done Danish oil, 50/50 BLO and Mineral spirits etc etc.. and then top coat.. don't like the look.. If the look was awesome I could deal with the extra time it takes for drying and the strong smells to go away.. But the look is certainly not worth the wait times for me.. Like I said.. I'm always in a hurry,

Thanks to all those that commented and liked

Just made this puzzle the other day.. and it's already heading to it's new owner.. Those of you selling puzzles online... I've had a few customers mention they really like how i show the image of it in pieces... Maybe a cheat sheet for them .. Years ago when I sold some puzzles.. I had a few customers mention how they liked how I showed the puzzle in several different angles and especially in pieces like the photo here.. If you're selling puzzles online.. showing it with many different angles could make the sale over just one photo of the item.. Online customers cannot pick it up and look it over so you rely on images to make your sale..

Yes.. but you can order the blades from either site.. I just placed an order last week from Mikes site..Still great service and quick shipping..

Yeah, I'm on 2 acres is all.. wish I had 10.. but this just so happens to be the home I grew up in.. when my father and step mother decided to downsize right at a time I got married and was looking for a home to buy. Had the place appraised and took out a mortgage for the price it was appraised at.. Day I signed the papers.. all heck broke loose.. well pump went out and a few other things.. found out how much my father rigged stuff up over the years, LOL That well pump plumbing was something else.. No kind of disconnects anywhere.. had to cut all the pipes and re-plumb the whole thing, LOL.. I'll be 50 this year.. lived in this house all those years other than three months after I first got married while I was looking for a place.LOL

Nice work!! I need to cut that one of these days.. remember when Steve first made that and I was wanting to cut it.. That's been a few years. LOL I met the best nurse 28 years ago.. well she wasn't quite a nurse yet then.. But married her 25 years ago after I helped fund her way through college..

Had a custom order yesterday for a 55 Bel Air.. customer seen my 57 and asked if I'd make a 55.. So a little shop time this morning.. Glad it's a little warmer today.. Not great yet.. 50 right now.. but was only about 38 in the shop while cutting this out..

I don't know hen they changed these over to the linc lock lines.. I have a saw from 1993 that had just the hose so I did that upgrade from Bushton.. My saw from 1998 has the linc line..

Yeah, it could be twice as big.. I remember just a couple years ago before I put this shop up.. having all kinds of room when it was brand new and nothing in it yet .. I tried for the longest time to do all my automotive work in my other shop.. ( 24 x 24 ) which is where all the tools were.. But then when the power line got cut and the amount of money to repair it ( correctly ).. it got quite hard to work on cars with no lights and since i mainly did restorations in it.. the air compressor was kind of useless without the power, LOL.. This other shop is 200 foot from any where to tie into the power.. and the electric panel and wiring in it is older than dirt.. so I just use it for storage now.. lawn tractors etc.. Someday I may push the electric back to it.. but for now.. I just want to finish insulating and setting up the new shop.. Upstairs is all insulated etc..

That's strange.. I didn't need to drill anything.. mine came with a new plastic hose which was larger.. so i lied.. I had to drill the hole where the hose comes through the base of the saw.. but in the kit they ave me a new rubber grommet to put in the bigger hole.. but had to drill nothing else.. everything mounted with the existing mount holes etc..

They may have changed out the tube on purpose.. I was about to do the same thing with a extra long tube... the way Hawk had it designed the sawdust blow right in your lap and face and all over toward you... Anyway, that is how I came across the line-loc upgrade kit that Bushton offers.. Didn't take me long at all to get that changed.. that was the very first thing I did when I got that first Hawk.. Now i aim the dust toward the side... which is where I also ( normally ) keep a box fan with a furnace filter on the back.. Hope to just build a vac system to catch all that dust one of these days..

No laughing from me.. as it's way better than the one I don't have

My shop is not set up at all. I’ve actually got two cars in there and pushed all my woodwork tools etc back to one corner. Nothing hooked up or plugged in other than the scroll saws. I have my daughters old car 2000 Chevy Blazer ( before I got her the Jeep ) in here doing a wheel bearing and some other minor work. Will probably be my youngest sons car once he gets his license so sort of a father son fixer upper this summer. The other car is a race car my oldest son is building ( a 1984 Nissan 300zx ). He picked it up over the winter and I let him put it inside to work out of the weather on getting it to run. He did get it running but that was it. Been sitting ever since and I’m going to kick it out of my shop real soon. because with the warmer weather coming I will be setting my shop back up some. This whole shop was built as a wood shop. But when the ground prep was going on they chopped the power line to my other ( car shop ) and the old line wasn’t to code so we haven’t yet run a new power line to the other shop. Thankfully I don’t have a huge amount of woodshop tools yet and so we can work on our cars etc in here for now. One think nice about not yet perminently having the shop set up is. I’ve learned a little more about what I want to put where and what wiring / outlets etc I need. So this is all a work in progress. I normally use up one whole side where the blazer sits. But I needed to do some work on it and of coarse right after my son put that other car in, so I just moved everything back into the corner. I’m still working to build some shelves and cabinets etc. We just put up this shop not long ago so basically work in progress. Shop is 24 x 32 with a 14 x 32 loft upstairs where I store my finished pieces and also where I finish my pieces etc.