kmmcrafts

Is this what you are referring too as star wheel? https://www.woodworkingshop.com/product/dy93022/ This is what I was looking at and what I thought would work best for the type of sanding I'm looking to do.. I don't have a issue with fuzzies much either and when I do they are easily wipe clean with my orbital sander and or hand held map gas torch.. https://www.woodworkingshop.com/product/fs36999e/ I'm a cheapskate too, or at least try to be.. gotta splurge once in a while but.. LOL.. anyway that is why I have not bought a sanding mop yet, wanted one for about 10 years now.. but these HF sanding balls are cheap, last a long time.. but I wish it was a bit more aggressive.. 80grit is the most aggressive one they sell.. and in my orbital sander papers it would be more like 280 - 320 grit instead of 80 LOL.. The HF ball is on a mandrel.. I've thought about taking an old one apart and using sanding mop refills on the HF Ball mandrel.. Not sure if it'd work right for me.. not wanting to spend 2 hours fiddling with it to save $20 -$30, LOL kind of pointless then. LOL

Just wanted to say thank you all for your honest opinions on this idea I had brainstormed, I normally don't add a signature of any kind to ornaments.. they normally get put into small jewelry gift boxes with a business card inside the box. Sometimes I use the stickers to sort of seal the box lid onto the box. I ended up sanding off the clear and sticker and re-coating the clear on this project. Sometimes I brainstorm ideas thinking they might be easier or quicker and in the end I really need to just keep doing what I do. Thank you all for talking me out of doing any more of these like this, sometimes I need outside opinions to keep me on track with quality products.

Getting ready to place a order for sand paper from Kingspore and always wanted to try one of these sanders. I'm not sure what the bigger difference is between the two.. my plan is just to chuck it into my old drill press for help with "taking the edge off" of clock bases and whatnot since I don't really use a round over bit etc. in a router. Currently just hit them with hand sanding. I keep reading about how nice they are to use etc. My biggest question is what is the grit you most use? I've been buying these from HF. These are cheap but work well so long as you get the proper grit for the job. With these I buy the 80grit ( I think ) and was surprised at how little they are in the aggressive point.. You'd think 80grit would remove a lot of material and fast.. just not the case with these.. I don't know if these sanding mop things are like that as well? Hate to spend the $40 + on 80 and have it be too aggressive or whatever grit I get I'd like to have an idea of what grit to buy, LOL Thank you all for your input on these https://www.harborfreight.com/4-in-80-grit-abrasive-ball-61182.html

I've had luck doing that with items that are square or have long straight edges.. I've taken the cut oval ornaments out while leaving the wood in the machine flip the ornament over and stick it back in the hole where I just cut it out of.. but the ornament is slightly smaller and has wiggle room in the hole that it was just cut from.. probably not a difference if I was engraving another photo but text can run crooked etc. doing it this way.. I may play around more with it as when I tried this was when I was brand new to lasering.. I struggled to get it to engrave where I wanted it too, LOL I might be able to do it now that I've kind of learned the machine and software etc.

I do, I'm usually working on building my inventory up on my ornaments throughout the whole summer. Was cutting ornaments today in fact. I like those trees, really neat idea..

Yeah, when I first started doing laser work I thought the same thing.. I've tried to engrave both sides but many times end up ruining it because it don't take hardly any movement to get it off center then the back side looks worst because it's not engraved in the correct spot. I now have a method / template or jig that might make that process go better.. the issue is every photo crops differently and isn't always the same size.. so the jig would need to be made for each photo engrave.. I haven't found any super easy way to line everything up perfectly to do both sides yet, still working / thinking on that.. I might figure it out at some point.

Thank you, I sort of felt the same way but only after I clear coated it, LOL.. actually I did try to peel it back off once i put it on but it was trying to rip and not come off so I stuck it back down and cleared over it.

While this method won't really work with fretwork / scroll sawn ornaments I was wondering what your thoughts are on placing stickers or signing your work on the back side of ornaments. This is a custom personalized photo lasered ornament for a client and I placed the sticker ( custom made from Vistaprint from the return address template )on the back side which is blank. My wife says she don't like it that way, I've always wanted a way to mark my ornaments ( really difficult with scroll sawn ornaments so don't do it on those ) for the customers or gift recipients to know where it came from etc. I could very easily just flip the ornament over and engrave my website on the back etc. However doing that ties up the laser from doing more engraving. Stickers are quick.. but at the same time don't want to cheapen my product by being quick if that makes any sense. It's not like this is a hand wood burned engraving etc. so I feel like personalized with a hand burned signature really isn't warranted. Maybe I just need to sign it with a Sharpe pen like I do my clocks and other handmade / scroll sawn items.. The sticker was just a idea I thought I'd try. Wondering what your thoughts are for this. I'm guessing you'll say hand signed with Sharpe. Too late now on this one as I clear coated over the sticker,

I bought several sheets of BBply once I seen the price hikes and heard that it may be hard to get it.. I've got about a 2-3 year supply.. Meanwhile I have been searching alternatives.. and so far I really like the quality of the Columbia Forest Project Panels from Home Depot.. I use the thin 5/32" stuff but they have 1/4" also. Comes in a variety of species but so far I've only tried the Maple. I'm using it for Portraits and Ornaments so far but I also will be trying it with signs that'd have a backer on them. In the past I've also used this for cutting jigsaw puzzles and had good results. I'm not sure how the pricing is on this stuff compared to BBply, I know it was a bit more $$ than BBply back when I tried it.. but it is available. I'm not sure what you're trying to make but also have read about flooring underlayment? or something like that.. maybe someone else can chime in on that stuff.

Thanks, I'll check the video out later..

Thanks, I'll check the video out later..

Some sort of wine rack might be a neat idea.. or a wine bottle and glass holder?

So I finally finished these up last night. The cuttings have been done for a while now but I struggled with frame design / material / backer etc. Everything I tried I just didn't really care for. Last week @Old Joe posted in the "unframed projects" topic in the business section about how he doesn't use frames and showed his method, Thanks Joe for your contribution. I like this way better than being framed, at least for these two projects. I cut these from 5/32" Maple project panels from Home Depot, BTW Thanks @FrankEV for your topics mentioning these panels, I like them much better than the BBply that I normally would use. I bought a pack of these panels some time ago and these two projects are the first time I've tried them. Very stable quality ply without the bland grain of BBply. I think I'll buy some Walnut panels to cut and use a solid maple backer to see how that backwards from my normal looks. Used a Pegas MFG #3 blade to cut these. Cut at 11 x 14" so they could go into a standard sized frame in case I wasn't successful at frame making, LOL. The backer panel is a glue up of 5/8" Walnut lumber, was hoping for 3/4" but by the time I planed glue up down to rid of a blemish in the wood I was left with just shy of 5/8" The finish is semi gloss polyurethane from a spray can, can't remember the brand off hand but it had a good spray pattern but the can tilted much it would suck some air and spit.. so not too happy with how the finish came out.. not horrible but not great either. Probably should have used a satin finish but this is what I had on hand.. These aren't perfect but they are also just going to a friend for free because he loves his tractors and a thank you to him for his serving our country. Almost forgot to mention ( shame on me ), Thank you to @TDpainter for creating these patterns for me. Patterns are in the pattern request section if someone is wanting to give them a try.

Hmm, didn't know that. Has not been my experience with my old planer and that was why I went with a little extra cash for the extended infeed / outfeed tables so it'd help support the lumber better.. I'm more of a scroll sawer than a person that works with larger projects/tools like the table saws and planers etc.. so my experience with the larger tools is limited. So far I love my new table saw.. even though I have not went through the tuning process yet.. it's much better and powerful than the old one.. I know everyone likes the DeWalt planers so I'm sure I just need to dial it in and I need to take the time to tune both the planer and table saw.. I did adjust those extended tables on the planer and it's much less snipe.. but it's still more than that of my old planer.

Thanks Ray, I think it's more of an adjustment as I'm only running 4ft boards through it and I have the extended infeed and outfeed tables on the planer, My old Ryobi had no tables whatsoever and if it did snipe it wasn't bad and it usually only did it on 6ft + boards.. I normally cut down my longer boards because it's easier to do that than move my big heavy bandsaw that's in the way of the outfeed end for long boards. One of those temporary shop layouts that I did 10 years ago and still haven't rearranged things so they all can work well together and for me .

Thanks for posting this, I haven't watched it yet but I finally just yesterday run the first board through my new DeWalt planer and it snipes worst than the old cheapy one I had. Makes nice clean job other than the ends.. I knew there was ways to adjust but haven't got into researching yet..

These are for lasers but many will work as scroll saw patterns too... Run across this page when they offered free giraffe cell phone stand on a laser group on FB that I'm on. Thought some of these would work as scrolling patterns too. https://k40lasercutter.com/product-category/free-laser-cut-files/

I have done this for drilling the "clock" hole on fragile pieces like this too.. I have also shipped items in this way too for added protection. This golfing wall hanging clock I ship like this so the golf club doesn't get broken. I do trim it off if it's a larger block of wood as to help keep the weight / shipping cost down.

Not being familiar with many finishes made for wood as I don't do a lot of "top coating" on wood.. That being said your statement saying you need a "gloss" finish and to be able to add a few coats. My experience with auto finishes and what I think you're trying to achieve I suppose if it were me I'd go with a urethane automotive clearcoat, LOL.. I know several furniture makers in my area that use the auto paints for their clear.. Spraying auto paints is different because you don't let the paint completely dry between coats.. you let the paint get tacky / sticky and then apply the next coat. I personally use this method for wood finishing too.. may not be the correct way to add coats of paint but it has worked well for me. I think the biggest reason they say to sand between coats is for those that spray a light coat and then let it dry.. If a car gets too dry while painting it yes.. we then also have to sand it. The idea is to get as much paint thickness on the item without getting runs / sagging paint. waiting to get that perfect tacky / sticky time for the next coat allows the solvent to sort of "melt" into the previous coat and bond well. Now, that all said.. doing this on wood with water base paints doesn't work out so well because the water makes the grain lift.. however.. you can sprits water on your project to get the grain to lift and do a final sanding and this will take care of maybe 95% of your grain raising issue.. sometimes it's 100% but every piece of wood is different so if you absolutely cannot sand then I'd go with a oil based or automotive solvent type paint. Lacquer base paints are really about the easiest and most forgiving paints out there in both wood finishes and automotive finishes.. but the potent solvents in these paints are not forgiving if you ever try to top coat with another type of paint.. even after several years on a car and you spray a enamel over it.. It'll curdle / bubble/ lift the paint and cause all kinds of trouble, LOL..

Yeah that is why / how I started using the mineral oil beeswax mixture years ago.. I learned that Idea from a toy making website and is actually where I learned the recipe to make the stuff. It's the same thing used for cutting boards / butcher blocks etc.. I made my own mix and made some cutting boards for myself about 12 years ago.. I don't treat the boards like I should and wash in soap and water almost daily, I don't wipe dry like they say to do either.. I just wash and let air dry. They say to wipe with the mixture every couple weeks or once a month.. I'm pretty lucky if I do it 3-4 times a year.. boards still look pretty good.. I have sanded knife marks out about 5-6 times since i originally made them.. I figure if a cutting board that gets dunked in soapy water dang near every day and has had pretty crappy care given to it and it still looking pretty good after 12 years.. a puzzle should last longer than the original purchaser will probably keep it... and for what it's worth, all my puzzles come with a warning label that it's a choking hazard and not intended for children under 5 years old. If a child is slobbering all over the puzzle and using it as a teether to bite on it's going to probably dent and exposé into the untreated topcoat anyway. The bigger concern about kids toys in my mind if they are putting them in their mouths is the possibility of bacteria and turning rancid.. Beeswax I believe fights both of these.. When finishing I melt the mixture into the wood with a hair dryer and then also apply another small amount that I buff into the surface.. this melted method allows it to soak deeper into the wood rather than just getting onto the surface. I don't know if my way of doing this is better or the best or whatever.. but in my own personal research I feel like it's the best I can offer and be comfortable knowing I did the best I could with the knowledge I had at said time. That all said.. again I don't sell these as a play toy for kids and the puzzles come with a sticker on it stating that.. It's a tedious job doing the beeswax mix and I rarely do it any more.. I mostly just use Danish oil now..

A plus to the beeswax mineral oil is that it makes the wood feel silky smooth as the wax sort of fills in the pores / grain of the wood.. also the puzzle pieces are slick to slide together or fall apart .. There are tons of methods as you can already see from the comments.. The beeswax / mineral oil mix isn't the fastest method to apply to the puzzles though.

If pay attention to how you lay out your pattern it can help a lot with this.. and example if you're cutting text and the middle of the e or o has just a tiny bridge to hold it in place.. place the pattern so that tiny bridge goes against that grain.. I hope I made sense of that for you, LOL

While that Masterforce looks real similar it also looks to me like it has less and maybe cheaper padding in the cushion part of the stool. I bought a really nice looking and well padded stool about 3-4 years ago and since I couldn't find the same one that my other one was that I've had for a lot of years I bought a cheapy from HF.. I know you get what you pay for but it was real comfy and well padded.. tricky scammers though.. that padding packed down and became what felt like literally no padding at all after about 3-6 months, LOL while the stool is in good shape and the covering is holding up good.. but to be comfy it needs some better padding ... Like I said, sometimes you get what you pay for.. I've had some Masterforce power tools ( sander, Sawzall, and cordless drill to be exact ) and I got less than I paid for.. (ie I could have bought better quality for less money at HF)..

I mainly use Cherry, Poplar, Maple, Cherry, Red Oak, and Walnut. Have used many others too.. Red Oak is my least favorite.. it likes to break along the grain.. I know any wood can and will do this but Oak seems to be the worst in my experience.. however since it breaks along the grain it's usually pretty easy to glue and not be noticed.. Finishing oak is another issue for me.. the edge / end grain is like a straw that sucks up finish.. then if it's dipped in a oil finish that finish holds a puddle somewhere in the middle and then seeps through to the face grain later on when you least expect it. I've had wood of all types have spots in the face grain where is seems to be really dried or had started to get to a point of maybe decaying and thus finishing is like you mentioned.. a sponge so to speak, this is why I never ever use a top coat spray finish without dipping it in either 50/50 blo and mineral spirits or Danish oil first.. In most cases I solely use Danish oil and done.. some cases I'll top coat over it with water base poly. Cherry is probably my most used and favorite wood followed by Maple and Walnut. Not a huge fan of Poplar as far as looks.. but love to work with it.. mostly use it for my puzzles as it cuts nice and it's cheaper source of wood.

When I first started selling in person several years ago I made a bunch of knife shaped letter openers.. they was actually quite sharp.. never thought much of it until one young boy come to my table grabbed one of the letter openers and took off as fast as he could to go show his mom / dad.. I got so worked up about that that I've not done a in person show since then and also never once made another letter opener.. Totally understand how you feel about those ornaments.. I'd certainly not display them where kids could reach them if you do sell them. Kind of sad as Ray said... it's a really different world we live in these days.. sue happy folks out there and not many parents get after a child or even help teach them manors and common sense.. Heck, when I was 12 hanging out with my oldest brother that has the sawmill.. back in those days he had motors running machines without belt guards on, I was running nail guns making pallets and driving the loader to remove stacks up lumber or picking up logs and loading them on the saw deck etc..