lake9guy

I really did enjoy reading the above experiences re selling cost of handmade items and customer responses. Here's a story. Many years ago I experienced a somewhat similar situation. At the time I was a "one-man-band" selling and installing auto air conditioning upgrades. A friend asked me to come look at and fix his home refrigerator that had stopped working. I did visit his home- could not repair because it was not a simple problem (I thought he was maybe low on freon or maybe a broken wire or something). I suggested he pay me for my time and effort-- and lost a friend!! It is true that there are people who feel (for some reason) they are entitled to receive goods or services without much money changing hands. For my woodwork stuff, I usually give as a gift or donate to a charity. Again-- thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences. lake9guy

Thanks to all of you for your interest, information and response. You have definitely helped me with my understanding of why plain end blades are the predominant blade of choice. Guess I'll buy me some plain end blades and try them out. Particularly taken with AmazingKevin's comment: "In over 4000 projects i've done i can't remember using a pinned blade." Edward AKA lake9guy

To Bpardue, Scrappile, Fredfret and LarryEA: thanks for your quick response-- I read all of these comments with good interest! This is what I was hoping for to help me learn. Edward AKA lake9guy

Travis-- thanks for making the effort to create and post these-- I have made copies glued on plywood and have started practicing-- Edward AKA lake9guy

Thanks for sharing your work-in-progress. Truly awesome results-- also appreciate you including the time invested and comments about 90 degree cuts (and lack of them). Edward AKA lake9guy

1. Pinned blades vs plain end blades- On my inexpensive scroll saw (Task Force from the orange store long ago) it is so easy to change pinned blades and difficult to change plain end blades. Looking over Olsen blade catalog, I see just a few pinned blades and many plain end. What am I missing here? Does (almost) every experience scroller use plain ends? (I tried one plain end and gave up). 2. I recently reviewed several new scroll saws on the market. Many reviews talk about how difficult it is to frequently change plain end blades. Some of the mid-price saws like the Porter Cable say they make it easy. What has been your experience? 3. Yesterday I tried making long scroll cuts with an Olsen FR42401 .070 x .010 and could not control it nearly as good as the wider .100 x .018 blade. Turned a perfectly good piece of 3/4 birch plywood into almost trash can stock. Thinking about using only the .100 size. Any comments from you experienced scrollers? Thanks for you help-- as an engineer I tend to focus on detailed stuff and it kinda bugs me that the mechanical design of even low price saws don't make plain end saw change easy. Edward AKA lake9guy

As a new SSV member thought I would add a brief introduction. -- Retired engineer, in my seventies, have been working with wood for a couple of years; avid DIY -- Trying to figure out what woodworking I want to do, I have tried making wood fishing lures, wood signs, wood bookcases and so forth. Don't want to do many large wood projects; want to stay small -- I've been using hand and power tools 30-years plus so can be said I am handy with tools -- Workshop is limited to 2/3 of a single-car garage space, but have the necessary wood power tools -- Scroll sawing has come (again) into my wood life, after making a couple of dozen hand routed signs I have come to think what I want is more detail and a better finished product. Scroll sawing seems to fit this-- we will see!! SSV website offers much of what I want to access lake9guy@gmail.com