kmmcrafts

Funny you mentioned the trivets.. I don't see a lot of mention or anyone making them very often. I asked for a book on my Christmas list this year and received it.. just today I scanned a couple of the pages and printed the patterns.. Not sure how popular they are to sell but I thought I'd give a few of them a try.. If nothing else the designs in the book could be shrunk in size and possibly can make some real delicate Christmas ornaments.. Anyway, yes as Ray said.. if you have a link to the ones you purchased post it if you would.. EDIT: This is the book I got for Christmas.. some really neat designs in it for trivets and coasters.. https://www.amazon.com/Circular-Scroll-Designs-Step-Step/dp/1497101506

I now have a 1984 Nissan 300ZX and also ( not really a classic but still a toy ) a 2007 Chevy Cobalt SS Supercharged with a built 2.0 4cyl. tuned to run on alcohol ( E85 ), dynoed at 385HP at the wheels.. That thing would run circles around my last toy that I sold a few years back which was a 1971 Chevelle SS.. also beats the MPG too so I can actually afford to take it out a little more, LOL. I built it to do time attack racing but I still need to do the suspension work for that and actually having fun just driving it around the streets may not even race it now. I bought the car last spring with a blown motor ( timing chain guide bolt broke and took out the valves and pistons ) and built it over the summer. The 300ZX needs a lot of work but was a 1 owner low mile car from Florida, it was my oldest sons project then my youngest bought it. I found a real nice one on marketplace so my youngest bought it and sold me the "project" LOL. Probably end up selling them, I'm not much of a collector... more of a builder / restorer and then move them on and start another build, LOL.. I've really been looking at the Festool RO sanders.. how do you like yours? I might splurge one day soon and buy the vac and a sander.. Been on my mind for a few years almost bought the vac last weekend when I was browsing through the local dealer..

Some of them are the exact same look as another brand I've seen but can't think of what brand it was now, lol... I've bought my share of their tools and for light use most of them worked for what I needed.. other than one sawzall I bought about 12 years ago to cut some PCV pipe for some drain work I was doing for my septic / drainfield system.. the (unknown brand name) tool from there cut through the first piece of 4" pipe just fine but half way through the second cut the plastic gears inside the tool stripped and then something come apart and smoke rolled out of the motor.. I'd of been happy with the tool if it would have lasted through about 6-8 more cuts so I could finish the job.. BUT.. the $6.99 I paid for it I guess I got what I paid for. I think they've been stepping up in quality over the last 5-6 years though.. I have a cordless impact that has taken a beating and still going strong.. Bought the Bauer brand leaf blower to blow the leaves out of the driveway so I can mulch them up with the mower without throwing rocks everywhere.. works great for blowing sawdust that has settles on my shop lights and blow the dust out the garage door instead of sweeping it up, LOL

I have a big Shopvac brand shopvac and I use the paper cartridge filters.. Also NOTE there are better filters too... For mine there is a standard paper filter and then there is a better one for smaller particles.. in my case it's a blue colored filter.. and the paper is more like a cloth? I'm not sure what it's made of but it is a different material. Plus as you already learned of about the bags.. I use the better bags made for fine dust.. I also bought a muffler for the exhaust air coming out of the back of the vac.. I really don't think it made it much quieter but the muffler is a foam thing that just clips into the exhaust port.. I imagine that might help with filtering a little too. I also have the grizzly ceiling mount dust filtration system which is just like the WEN you have. While that thing does get a lot of dust in the filter it is helping some.. The biggest one is just the cheap box fan with furnace filter.. it moves way more air than the ceiling mount thing, and works very well. Unfortunately the hand sanders is my biggest issue even though it doesn't spew out dust terrible as the dust filter / canister catches most of it.. it does spew some out of the side of the sander. I used to have a box fan / filter set up on the side where the dust spews out of that RO sander and it'd fill the filter up with dust at a sanding sesion.. I'd take it outside and tap the filter on the trash can and it'd look like a smoke cloud, LOL.. I have the Seyco scroll saw dust collection on the saw as well and that helps a lot too.. I just need to get a collection source for the top side of the saw table and I think 99% of it would be collected right at the source. I just think that, no matter how much collection and filtration you do.. there is probably going to be some fine dust settle every day because that is just the nature of making sawdust. LOL About 3-4 times a year I take my shop vac and a brush vac attachment and vac the whole shop.. all the tools and stands, walls, shop lights etc. etc. Pretty much takes a whole day to do a full cleaning.. While it's clean I use the Johnson's past wax and wax the saws, stands etc.. having the wax on the equipment helps keep the dust from sticking to them and makes for easier cleaning.. plus keeps rust of the table tops etc.

The best source for dust collection is catching it at the source before going airborne with a "Good" Hepa type filtration system.. Not just a ordinary shop vacuum unless you have one that has Hepa type filtration. Not just your scroll saw is spewing dust.. I find that my biggest fine dust producer is the sanders.. I even have the ones with a canister that collects the dust but it still escapes and goes into the air.. Just yesterday I was looking at my local wood / tool suppliers and I was looking over the Festool Vac and sanders.. Hard to swallow that $500 for the cheaper of their vacs and then another near $500 for a sander, LOL I keep saying one day I'm going to do that.. I've heard they have some really good quality tools etc.. they better have for that kind of money.. My question would be.. for those tools.. I imagine there is still going to be "some" airborne dust no matter how much I spend on tools that are supposed to minimize that dust.. As Ray said, Maybe time to find a less dirty hobby if it's bothering you that much.. I loved it when I had a wood lathe and did some turning.. However those make a huge mess and really fast.. I sold it shortly after getting it mainly because of that mess... IF you like working with wood but don't like that messy dust.. maybe look into getting yourself a laser cutter.. one that extracts the smoke.. I find if I don't do any sanding of the thin plywoods and I only run my laser.. I rarely have any dust.. I'm kinda leaning towards doing more laser work and less scrolling.. My shop is really in my garage and I'm also getting kinda fet up with the dust on my classic cars if I park them inside during the winter months, when I get them out in the spring they look like they've been locked up in a barn for 40 years. LOL

That is really cool! The brain that makes these designs like this is way smarter than my pea sized one for sure, LOL

I also use templates quite a lot.. Though I've really only made a couple permanent ones which are clock bases because I make so many of them.. However if I'm working on a project that requires more than one shape I typically will cut the first one then just trace around the others for instance this piece I'm currently working on. I cut just one of each of these pieces that'll be glued together eventually. I'll never make this piece again so no need to make an actual template.. EDIT: For the lighter colored circle was the paper pattern but I needed a larger circle so I took a flat washer and put the pencil in the hole of the washer and trace around the outer circle to create a larger one. I have a stack of different sized washers for various larger sizes.. Typically use that method for signs and plaques that I want a backer slightly larger.. but it worked real well for this project too.

The plans / patterns are on the blog website now that Dan first posted.. They are downloadable and printable.. However to do over which I'm hoping not to have to do again I would enlarge the sizes maybe 10 - 15%.. My original plan was to put a pendulum clock in it.. However the size of the torso and where the clock would be I don't see the pendulum being able to swing.. shortest pendulum I've found was 5" and it's just about right on the dot 5" from the center of the clock to the bottom of the torso.. so I think it would need to be at least a inch or so taller... Thinking I'll just put a 3" clock insert in it and make a wood pendulum to decorate the torso rather than having the functional one, LOL. Probably paint gold. Thinking for the shoulder of using 1" dowel and then scroll out the arms and glue it all together since I seen some left over Maple Dowel rod I had tonight while looking for something else. Since the one on the blog was made from foam.. they have the arms just as rolled up foam.. I could do it that way as well but rather make it all entirely out of wood. Think I have some 1/4" walnut dowel too so that might work for the hair / hat or whatever is on the head, LOL.

Making a little progress. Just a bunch of pieces cut and stacked up, nothing is sanded or glued together yet. Think it should look decent once it’s finished up. Still have to drill holes for the clock and make the arms hair and other decorative pieces.

This is where I would buy any needed parts... and you can call them for any service advice or any questions about repairs you might have.. Ray and Mike are a awesome resources with their many years of experience with sales and service of the Excalibur.. https://www.seyco.com/partspage/

Sorry to hear about your wife having had health problems, thankful to hear she is back at 100%.. In times like that sometimes you learn who your real friends and family are.. Been there myself with my wife too, and people see the guys doing fine but inside many times we are almost just as much of a mess just having to watch your loved ones suffering in one way or another. Hoping you get right back into the swing of sawing and selling at the events in your new location soon. Good to see you posting here in the village. Keep us updated on your ventures.

Thank you Ray, That was the same idea I had about the swirls and maybe trying to use the Forestner bits.. but I thought I'd ask to see if maybe there was a better method. Yeah the one in the photos above is entirely made from 3mm and 6mm foam sheets and glued together and painted. I'm trying to replicate it out of wood. I decided to use Walnut for the darker areas and went with Maple on the lighter areas. Have the feet and lower portion all cut out. Thinking about Mahogany for the arms but not sure yet. Since it's made up of a lot of pieces and glued together I'd rather not paint it or stain it and I have a whole truckload of Walnut to use up, which makes up most of the project with just a few pieces of maple for accents, and maybe Mahogany for the arms.. or maybe even Cherry.

Well I’m sort of getting started on this. Cut out the lower feet this morning. I’m making this from walnut for the main darker parts. The lighter portions I’m torn on what to use, I have poplar, maple, red oak, ash, and mahogany on hand. What one would you use? I’m torn between red oak and maple. Poplar is nice to work with though since I may end up with some sanding and shaping to make things all fit together well. Might do the arms out of mahogany? Any suggestions on making the swirl marks on those? Most of this looks pretty straightforward once I decide on materials to use other than the swirl marks in the upper arms sections. open to any ideas or suggestions.

I almost always stack cut portraits.. many of mine are 11 x 14 inch and I never used 1/4" for portraits.. since I don't make my own frames I find it hard to get anything in them more than 1/4" and I always use a backer so 1/8 + a backer is usually very close to 1/4.. and even then sometimes hard to find a frame unless I take the glass out, LOL. I typically stack 4 at a time but sometimes will do 5-6.. or sometimes only 3.. never wasted time on anything less than three..

Straight outta google: The following wood burning appliances are allowed: Pellet-fueled wood burning heaters. Masonry heaters. Appliance or fireplace determined to meet the U.S. EPA particulate matter emission standard and approved in writing by the Air Pollution Control Officer. EDIT: Well reading further down the list of topic on google maybe not.. just depends on where you are as not all areas can but there are some exemptions that some folks can too so there is that too. LOL

Breathing in California is probably illegal too, .. Actually a lot of insurance companies won't allow wood stoves in garages etc. This is a wood pellet stove which is allowed as they are considered a lot safer than a actual wood stove as it has sensors that shut it down if it gets too hot etc. has blowers to blow the heat around and the only part that really gets too hot to touch is the actual door and the glass in the door.. and even those don't get so hot that you can touch it but you won't want to leave you hand on it very long, LOL.. unlike the woodburner I grew up around.. if you even slightly touch that it'd give you serious burns. My laser cutter is more dangerous than this stove, LOL..

When I bought my Hawk I almost went with a 20” saw instead of the 26”. I have only had a couple projects in the 17 years of scroll sawing that a 20” saw was too small. This project won’t fit on my 21” Excalibur but thankfully there is plenty of room left on the Hawk. This project is just shy if 2’ long.

That's probably a pretty rare find. Hawk used to sell a water cooling system for cutting ceramic and glass etc.. seems like it's make a big mess but maybe the tank sat under the blade to catch the water and cycle it back through.. Edit: Actually they still sell it. https://stores.bushtonhawkstore.com/drip-tank/

Happy New Year everyone!

I like to see all the various opinions of the meaning of handmade and where the products made from these machines fit in from other woodworkers/crafters opinions etc.. and for the most part I respect their opinions until one says that it's just like printing a photo or basically saying no skill needed.. With the CNC/Laser world there is so much behind the scenes processes left out of the videos.. it seems as many folks really believe it's just printing a picture easy. The sad part is they show that intelligence by displaying these silly signs at their shows saying just that, LOL And the sad thing is many believe those statements and go out and spend big money for a machine only to find they don't have the skill set to actually run it.. a lot of them for sale on the CNC/Laser groups lightly used saying they are harder to run than expected and they are not interested in learning the process.. Guess it's more skill than they thought. IF one wants to emphasize their products as "handmade" why do they feel the need to degrade upon another form of woodwork ( CNC/Laser) to accomplish that? Why not just have the sign state handmade? Why not have a laptop showing a video loop of you doing the work showing handmade?

True meaning of handmade

Thoughts on this cutting board with many types of wood for a neat graphic.. Mass produced product? Not hands on at all? Just push a button and go watch TV while the machine does the work?

That's actually not a bad idea if they make a sellable design.. and if there was room to engrave / personalize it.. I personally like to make my product myself.. but there is a large market for just making bulk stuff.. especially in the cutting board, utensil type things.. a lot of laser guys do not even make the product they sell but rather just add graphics to a mass produced item. I would say a large amount of cutting boards are not made by the seller the seller just personalizes them with a monogram or ?.. and that would be a market I couldn't get into and compete in.. because I would want to make the board myself.. and many of these folks sell them cheaper than I could / would make a plain board for let alone personalize it.. That said you have to find a niche that these type of folks aren't / can't do.. which would be CNC'ing them as "inlayed" cutting boards and that would get a edge on the competition because you can market it better too.. after all the thin laser engraving will eventually be cut away from using the board for the intended use over time. A inlaid board you can make the inlay as thick as the board itself and even go all the way through to the bottom side so that graphic is always going to be there no matter how much you use the board. You see, CNC doesn't mean it has to be mass produced.. I think there is a fair amount of hands on with this type of project.. and this is making a "quality board" from start to finish.. as opposed to a person buying bulk boards and just adding laser engraving on them. Same goes for the laser.. I'm not mass producing items and selling them as handmade.. my ornaments are in a completely different category as my scroll sawn ornaments.. they are listed as laser cut/engraved and hand painted. Can I go the mass production route and just sit and make the same item all day long with a CNC/Laser? Sure can and that opportunity is there if I needed / wanted it.. I get more satisfaction making that personalized 1 - 20 off type items and get paid extra for doing it because there is a large market for it and not many offering personalized because they want to do that mass production. Check this inlay cutting board making video.. consider it enough hands on to be handmade or no? Just curious what others think.. More hands on than the folks buying bulk boards and just engraving them?

The laser is just a cheap 40watt Co2 laser with only a 8 x 11 work table. It's called a K-40.. cost me about $300 back in 2017.. I think they may be around $450 now days.. Lot of fun to mess with.

I've heard that works good but does it affect the glue strength for layered ornaments? I haven't tried that yet however I haven't had much trouble with bleeding either since I was using the laser to burn the lines.