Wooden Lace

All of my work is pretty delicate fretwork, with holes quite close together. Using the DeWalt, which doesn't stay up by itself is no problem. I always top feed, and start with the blade in the upper clamp. When I'm done with a cut, simply release the lower clamp, lift the arm with the left hand...just enough to clear the wood, then with the right hand, use the bottom of the blade to slide the piece to the next hole and drop it in. I've had a Jim Dandy gizmo to hold up the arm, but with my method, it just isn't needed, so I gave it to another scroller. Now that I'm using the new King 16" saw, I simply loosened the upper arm so it doesn't stay up by itself, and continue using my method. Everyone seems to like doing things in different ways, and it's interesting to see what other methods work. Nancy

Looks painful! Actually my Dad managed to chop off half of his index finger with a miter saw. Not one of his better moves.

My son used to help me with wine glass caddy orders when he was in his 20's. Sure was nice to have help. i've given up on those now...25 years later....since the new house doesn't have a shop that I can do finishing in. Too bad, since we brought STACKS of nice planed hardwood with us. Good thing ornaments in baltic birch just need lightly sanded, so I can keep cutting something to justify the new King 16" saw I added last week. Great size for small projects.

Welcome back! I have 2 DeWalts that are over 20 years old now. They are so old that they were made in Canada by Sommerville! I use them up to 6 hours a day. Price at Home Depot and Amazon is $399, which is hundreds less than it was a while back. I used to have a 16" Excalibur that I foolishly sold. Now the company that makes those calls it King, and the one actually labeled Excalibur is a different company altogether. I tried a Hegner, but didn't like the blade change or the tiny table.

I just made an adjustment to my DeWalt yesterday to correct this problem. It has the Pegas blade clamps, but the same thing can happen with any clamps. After tightening the thumb screw about a million times, the set screw can get pushed back so it's not even sticking out past the edge into the space, much less in the middle of it. So the blade is no longer even touching it when you tighten down the thumb screw. Just loosen the nut and use an allen wrench to move the set screw back to where it's in the middle of the space. Don't forget to relighten the nut! Also, to help with blade slippage right from the start, EVERY time I change blades, I use a paper towel with some alcohol on it to wipe any oil from the ends of the blade. Some blade brands are worse than others. I just keep a plastic pump dispenser by the saw....like the one in the Dr. office. Ebay has lots of them, and some are really cute, since nail salons also use them. Also make sure you keep your oily fingers off the ends of the blade so they don't contribute to the problem.

Another advantage of only using a card is that all your monthly expenses are on one statement. Makes it much easier to track where the money went, instead of a bunch of cash receipts. When I did large shows, I took cards, but smaller ones people seemed to know to bring cash or find an ATM.

I used to do large 5 day craft shows and sold almost nothing but ornaments. I had several table with stacks of each ornaments, as well as a large table at the front with either 2 or 3 brass ornament carousels. These each held 60 ornaments and revolved slowly. This way people could see them hanging. I never used any boxes, just small bags and no one seemed to care, so I didn't add the expense of the box. Sorry I don't have a picture of the carousels, but we've moved twice in 4 years and I'm lucky I even know where I am, let alone anything else!

I'm a 7. Can't believe I turned 75 last month, and now I'm awaiting cataract surgery, just like lots of you have had. I had always heard that time marches on, but I didn't realize it was going to march right over me!

SO CUTE! Those guys will never forget that day. I've watched it a zillion times, and even love the music . Hubby recognized her as Enya, a New Age artist from a while back. My CD of her best hits is due to arrive today. You just never know what you'll find on this site!

Prayers going up for her. I have always admired her talent, even though I don't do any intarsia.

I've dealt with Ocooch several times and always had great service. I shipped through UPS for 11 years and wouldn't use anyone else. I even sold my house to a UPS driver, and rented my condo to another one of their drivers. Great people!

SO CUTE! I went to your site and ordered my set. They'll look great on the window sells in the sunny breakfast room.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the beaded ornaments, as everything is packed away from our recent move. I only kept 1 client, since the business is pretty much closed down, and the website taken down.

I've sold over 10,000 ornaments made of 1/16th inch Finnish Birch from Aircraft Spruce. I still use ones I made almost 20 years ago and they look perfect. I used to stack cut 10 at a time, but didn't like having to use a blade large enough for that. Now I usually do stack of 4 or 5, and use a Pegas modified geometry #1 blade. No fuzzies on the back to worry about. Some people don't think plywood looks nice enough, but I sell almost all of mine at high end wood galleries and their clients love them. I use no finish at all. Most are inset with 2mm gold beads to give extra sparkle. The wood is thin enough that they show from both sides. Simply drill a hole and press the bead in with a shaker peg. Very high tech! I've made some of hardwood, but they don't sell nearly as well. Plus, it has to be light wood such as maple for the pattern to show on a dark green tree.

The Gwinnett video in very good. I contacted them and for a $20 donation to the group, they sent it to me on a DVD. Not sure if they still do that, as it's been years.