kmmcrafts

That's me Ray... I have 5 saws two Hawks, DeWalt, Excalibur and a old Delta.. I'd like to get a new Jet and a Hegner to try.. Really been considering selling the Hawks.. I've had lots of fun with them.. and love them for the thin wood cutting... I just don't do much work with thin wood.. LOL... Probably keep the newer one for a while longer.. Imagine the Hegner cuts much like the Hawk does since they have similar arm design etc.. Love to try the new Jet with that new designed upper clamp.. that just seems like it would be the best saw for fretwork and a bottom feeder like me, LOL

That's interesting to hear the history of these old mills.. My uncle has a hobby mill ( right next door to me ) that was from the late 1800's.. He has a ford 300 straight 6 powering it.. big ol circle blade.. ( which is what my brothers mill was up until about 2008 when he switched over to a bandsaw.. Those bandsaw blades he has are about 5-6 inch wide.. when I was there the other day a log truck showed up and the driver thought it was funny that he was picking up logs from one mill to deliver to another mill ( my brothers ).. I guess the one mill hired my brother to saw the Hard Maple logs for them because they couldn't cut it with their mill with the 3 inch wide blades because the blades kept drifting in that hard maple.. I'll grab some pictures of my uncles set up the next nice day that I have a minute to take a 1/4 mile walk..

Does anyone know if the Excalibur's come with the thumb crews with the swivel ends ( whatever they call them ).. I was always under the impression they do.. but my new still boxed used saw doesn't have those little inserts in the end of the thumb screws.. ( well at least the top clamp didn't have them. ) I've been having some issues with the blade staying in the top clamp and so i took it out and was going to clean it up and found that it doesn't have those inserts.. Maybe the bottom clamp does.. as I haven't looked yet.. I did go over to steal the one out of my DeWalt and now no issues a all.. ( I do have a few NEW sets but stole it from the DeWalt because I didn't want to open a new package up if it wasn't the same ).. Anyway I just was always under the impression that is what the saws came with? My Dewalt didn't have the screws with the ends either when I first bought it new.. but the replacements did I think.. maybe it was just the Seyco ones I bought that did.. Not sure but at any rate.. i think all saws should have the inserts in the end of the thumb screws... I flip / flop back and forth.. on the Hawk and Ex.. but I think once I get more use on the EX it'll be my go to saw.. I still have trouble getting the blade clamped into the upper clamp ( bottom feeder ). I wish the set screws was designed in a way that you insert the blade all the way to the back of the clamp.. rather than trying to guess if I have the blade in the right spot as I turn the set screw... but putting in the thumb screws with the inserts in the end made it much easier.. as before that if the blade was to the back or front too far the screw spinning would make the blade move away from the screw and I kept tightening it only to find that the blade didn't even clamp.. with lots of use.. I was getting a feel for knowing that the clamp was pushing the blade away.. but it sure was annoying and taking a lot of time fiddling with the darn thing... something that if the blade was supposed to go all the way to the back wouldn't be an issue..

Thanks for the comments.. There is quite a lot of history with my brothers mill.. Those mills that you all seen at the shows is very similar to what my brother started out with.. being the youngest of 7 and my brother with the mill is the oldest.. I was just a very young kid playing in the dirt and in the sawdust pile when my father would take me over to the mill.. They use to do their own logging and the whole works.. But I do remember my brother first running the saw with a old ( not sure the model ) John Deere tractor with the big belt to the PTO pulley of the tractor.. Then he upgraded to a diesel semi motor..

They don’t happen to be rebranded FD blades do they? I asked because many of the names and styles remind me of the FD brand. I see that a lot with the Olsen brand blades. Years ago when I first started I purchased several different brands and styles of blades. Was upset when over half of them was just Olsen blades lol

Very Nice!!

He commented on one of my post last night..

Last fall I mentioned about taking several video clips of my brothers sawmill operation.. Well got busy with orders and whatnot and never did do anything with the videos.. actually forgot until I was going through images etc on my phone.. For some reason I was having trouble getting this uploaded to my youtube channel ( will keep working at it ) so in the meantime you can find the video clip on my instagram or facebook page.. Probably more of you on FB than instagram so i'll post a link to my FB page.. if you're on instagram just search it for KevsKrafts.. should bring up my IG page.. I'll post more clips of other areas of the sawmill business later but anyway... enjoy this small clip... https://www.facebook.com/KevsKrafts/ Oh, a lot of the clips didn't turn out real great ( poor lighting and cheap phone camera ).. was hoping to go today to take some more clips but supposed to be cloudy and maybe rainy today.. so maybe another day I'll try to get some "good" footage.. Edit: Maybe i can link it into this post from FB.. Not sure if you can view it without being on FB or not?

Not at all... The glue joint if done properly is stronger than the actual wood.. which is why many use plywood for thin and fragile items.. Many things we buy for our homes have been glued.. tables, desk, cutting boards etc etc etc... so a small piece breaks.. glue it.. Now... with that said.. I won't sell a piece that the glue joint is obvious... most everything I've had break.. once glued. I could never find where it was... Ie if one piece out of a stacked cut broke and I glue it up and once they are all sanded / finished etc.. even though I know where the piece was broken. many times I cannot tell which one was the broken one.. and if i cannot find it among the others. then I guess I have no reason to worry about it ..

Glad to hear you've been able to make some saw dust.. hoping you get a complete recovery soon..

Thank you, Yeah I had sold quite a lot over the holidays last year.. Then I took as much of a break as I could with old man winter hanging around.. pretty much been just cutting what is ordered.. but with that warm up we had.. got me back out in the shop.. supposed to cool back down again.. for a few days.. so probably not going to be doing a whole lot again until nice weather comes back...

Thanks, They do sell fairly quick.. The facebook page I rarely mess with.. I need to be better about posting on there.. I like to mess around on instagram better than FB..

Yeah maybe.. lately I make 5 clocks and sell 6-7 LOL.. ( I'm more than okay with that though... ).. Like to get caught up soon so I can cut some of the puzzle patterns I've purchased.. The weather we've been having is messing with me though.. 1-2 real nice days.. then 5 + cold days. Like old man winter keeps coming back because he forgot his coat when he headed out the door so he has to step back in for a few days to find his coat, lol

Thank you!

Years ago I tried renting a storage unit to have shelter for storage and working on a old classic car I was restoring.. Needless to say they declined me once they knew I wanted to work in the unit.. for insurance purposes etc they said they couldn't allow me to work in the unit.. as it's a storage unit not a shop.. plus they also said if I was working and something caught fire it'd not only burn up my car and the storage unit.. but it was putting every one else that had neighboring units at risk for damage.. This was 30 - 35 years ago... most of these places I would think would be much more strict on working in one now than they was way back then.

Had two nice days to work out in the shop. Amazing how much more work I can do with some decent temps to work in. Just building a little inventory of sold out items is all. Now if only this weather was sticking around . But nope not quite yet. Mid April I should be going full force.

That is awesome news!

Thanks for all the nice comments and likes from everyone.

Hmmm, might be a setting for your computer? I know I've had done a dumb thing a few times where I've had multi pal tabs open and went to shut one by hitting the wrong X and close my browser.. I come back here to re-type my message and it's already there as it saved it... I thought it was the a setting within the village web site because I don't think that happens anywhere else.. But anyway to answer your question.. Somehow I have auto save.. but I don't know if it's a setting on my PC or if it's the village web site..

Hahaha love it!! . Great work on both the cutting and pattern

Was a fun little project I made for a friend that has a collection of beetles. Cut with #3 Pegas MG blade cut from maple.

Most blade manufactures offer sample packs where they will have 6 blades of each size in that particular style.. As for what blade works best is very dependent on what type of scroll sawing and material you'll be using.. My go to blades are.. Pegas MG #3 and #5 or I also like flying Dutchman blades.. and that would be Ultra reverse #3 and #5. but I also like the Scroll reverse and the spiral blades.. with spirals I've never used anything more than a #1 usually use a 0/1

Very nice work Jay!! In my photos you can clearly tell where the spiral was used.. I usually do like someone else mentioned and cut the veining with a straight blade and then go back to cut with the spiral.. I didn't do that with these clocks... While I feel I can cut a project out with a spiral and have acceptable results.. They do not cut with the fine detail that the straight blade does... I use the spirals for certain types of cutting.. but the straight blades give a more detailed project.. Not saying that one that uses them do any less quality of work.. just a spiral cannot cut sharp crisp points on corners etc.. and for the most part.. the average person ( non scroll sawer ) would never know the difference.. but when one pays very close attention to a piece.. you can tell a difference.. if a piece was entered into a show to be judged even a non scrollsawer judge may not catch that.. so that is how close to the average persons eye these pieces are.. Working in the autobody repair for years has trained me in looking closely at the details.... when we are out and about many times I use to say.. that cars fender/door or whatever panel has been painted.. everyone in the family will look and say..how do you tell that? lol.. the paint itself can match perfectly but I can still see it was painted because the way the texture of the paint is different than the rest of the car.. There are some awesome painters that can spray that same texture as the rest of the car.. but.. again.. mostly only us painters would see that difference.. most people look for color match.. and that is all they see..

First photo looks to be the one done with flat blades and the other was done with spiral.. What kind of prize does the winner get?

If I get some decent weather and some shop time I may give this a try.. I use either blade.. but for the most part I like the straight blades best.. and like someone posted above.. it really depends on the project at hand.. I've used both style blades on the same project.. for instance.. these two clocks was cut out with both.. straight and spirals... most all the inside cuts was with the spiral.. normally only do the veining with the spiral, but I was experimenting since I've never actually cut thick wood with a spiral.. usually just thin ( stack of 3 bb ply at 1/8" is the most I've done with spiral blades ) First time was the truck.. cut from pine since it was soft and easy cutting.. then I tried the cherry with the Camaro.. The text and outline of the Camaro was done with a straight blade.. Both cases was 5/8" thick wood.. both times was with a FDNS #1 One thing about spirals is.. they like to take the path of least resistance (in my opinion ) so you have to really be watching what the blade is doing or trying to do..