Iguanadon

If you go with puzzle version you can always convert to non-puzzle relatively easy. I do it all the time especially now for my key/leash holders.

A fellow puzzle zombie stepped up his display! Roger (Scrolling By Design) has actually been cutting Harvey's puzzles longer than I have and his new displays are fabulous. He has 2 puzzles unwrapped so that shoppers can touch and feel them.

Hey Gang, my apologies for not checking in. It was a long week of anticipation waiting for Dorian to reach us and Thursday night was a bit of a ride with 62mph sustained winds for a few hours, but we came out just fine and amazingly didn't even lose power. Most of the rest of the town did lose power and minimal issues anywhere in town. We got lucky, it stayed just enough offshore (18 miles). Any closer and it would have been really rough.

I just mailed off 2 pictures of our newest rescue dog to have Harvey draw it up. We knew he was half Pit Bull but the other half was a mystery... I thought Schnauzer, but we just had his DNA done and it turns out the other part is Shih-Tzu. So I'm having Harvey draw it up as a BULLSHIHT. Yes. Really. LOL I've told the story of our dog to a few shoppers at my booth the past 2 events and they crack-up so I want to have a puzzle of him laying there among the other 70 breeds I display. See who spots it. LOL Check out his mohawk on his head and down his back as well as his fuzzy chest and hind legs. He's hilarious looking.

They use propane for lighting and general power and they use Excalibar saws. He also is allowed to use the phone in town to conduct business. It's 7 miles from his home/shop. The town offers a car service for the Amish and will pick-up and drop-off. Every once in a while they will go into town via horse and buggy.

Actually he and his son cut a lot of puzzles, it's a big part of their business. Harvey has someone who manages sales of the puzzles on ETSY for him just as one source.

Good thought Tom and I'll see how receptive he is when I send him what I collect from September pattern sales. He is strict Amish and so it's not a matter of just his stubborness but about their entire way of life and I wouldn't want to put him in an awkward situation. I have a deep respect for him and his way of life and he's great when I have "stupid" questions about the Amish lifestyle which I'm very curious about.

Thanks Kevin, I do have several of the transportation ones and they're on my site. Any that you see on WTB that I don't have, let me know and I can get them from Harvey. And he's done about 700 patterns, 200 of them are dog breeds.

You're very kind. Just pick some patterns out and then they'd be available to you for downloading if you ever felt like trying any of them out. My site does free downloading so there is no shipping cost or anything like that.

Thanks for the idea and I'll think about that. Problem is that Harvey is a stubborn old Amish guy and would not like the idea of outright contributions or "hand-outs" so I'd want to be careful how I approach it. That's why I wanted to go this route so that it would be money from sales of his patterns.

Hello Everyone, For those of you that purchase puzzle patterns from my site, a big thank you and now a special request. The artist, Harvey Byler, has been having health issues the past 2 years requiring 3 heart surgeries and doctor/hospital visits. As you can imagine, the hospital bills are quite astounding (half a million dollars) and being Amish, he does not have insurance and the bills are paid by their community and church. I want to help Harvey out without providing an outright "handout" which he would refuse. So, during the entire month of September, I will donate my portion of every pattern sale so that the full $3 goes to Harvey. (Normally Harvey gets $2 and I get $1 to cover the cost of the website, processing fees, credit card fees, PayPal fees, etc). If you have a need for any of his patterns, we will both appreciate you ordering in September. If you have any custom names/patterns or new designs in mind, he could certainly use the $20 or $25 fees associated with those items as well. No pressure at all folks, every pattern sold will help. www.WoodcraftByScott.com (scroll down to the PATTERNS area $3 each) Thank you in advance, Scott

Hey Melanie, Sales overall are down this year by about 20%. My weekly local market has been quite slow. Not only for me but all vendors, we're not really sure why. But that's ok, this is still just my "hobby business". My day job is kicking my tail. I got a promotion and now they expect me to actually do work stuff. I hope all is well out your way.

My 2nd best event of the year was this past weekend. (Best event is coming up in October). Lazy Dazy in Cary, NC. 350 vendors with 60,000 attendees. This was my 3rd year and if it hadn't been for rain the first day cutting things short by a few hours, I'd have beaten last year. As it is I sold just 12 less puzzles than last year so I'm very happy. 103 puzzles are in new homes. My new offering of key/leash holders didn't do as well as I'd hoped, I took orders for 5. Maybe they'll be of more interest as the holiday's approach. Still about 9 events remaining this year with 4 of them being "holiday" events in late November into mid-December. Oh, and the one snapshot below of the 4 bins are my new method for hauling my duplicates... So much easier than in boxes and then having to organize/alphabetize. I have them in alphabetical order in the bins, just have to remove the covers. One bin is "oddball" items such as rare breeds of dogs or animals that don't get asked for very often and aren't worth displaying on the tables. I sold about 11 items out of that bin this weekend, so I was glad I had it with me.

Thanks Jim... to be sure I'm understanding, are you saying you adjusted the set screw so that it's barely showing into the opening?

Thanks Don, I'm actually working with Bob and he's been very helpful. It was just today that we narrowed it down to the upper clamp after various tests and his engineering group asking me questions.

Thanks everyone, and anyone else that chimes in. I'm having an issue where the MG#3 slips out of the upper clamp, on a pretty regular basis which then of course breaks the blade. No matter how tight I try to tighten. I've tried roughing up the end of the tightening screw, I rough up the ends of the blade, etc. Very odd. At first I thought it was something with my Pegas saw but in working with the manufacturer and at their suggestion moving the upper clamp to my DeWalt, it was doing the same thing there. I just wondered if anyone else has had this same issue but it seems like I'm the oddball in the group. Nothing unusual for me. (Yes, the set screw is set properly, I know that's the first thing everyone will ask. LOL)

I have an odd, and very specific question... Who here uses Pegas clamps as shown (with the top tension lever for saws like Excaliber, Pegas saw...) AND use Pegas Modified Geometry #3 blades. Must be PMG#3 and must be Pegas clamp with the tensioner. I know, odd question, but I'm having an odd issue and am trying to pinpoint the problem and see if others have run into it as well. Thanks

Hey Kevin, in order of your questions: 1) I print the non-puzzle pattern at about 105-107% enlarged slightly and I have the bone "pattern" printed and I simply tape the dog to the bone, mount it to the board and cut it. 2) My original thought was wooden dowels for the hooks, but couldn't find them at Lowe's while I was wandering around and ended up grabbing the coffee cup hooks just to do a mock-up then found the "J" hooks on Amazon at a very good price. 3) Yes, you see two countersunk holes for mounting and I'm going to supply the wall anchors and screws. I love these wall anchors, they screw into the wall and rarely "strip out".

Cut 4 leash holders this morning from orders I took at my event this week. I'll be charging extra for the bull dog puppies version in the future. LOL These are drying and then I'll attach the hooks and drill the holes for wall mounting (I'm providing wall anchors). 4 hook options/colors (shown on the dachshund)

Leave it to you to come up with that conspiracy theory. LOL

My next door vendor neighbor the past 3 days was a former police officer and he's the one that told me it was Homeland Security that handles this type of thing and I confirmed it with some google searches this morning. He said he sees it at State Fairs and larger venues and was surprised they hit our "little" venue with 150 vendors. As you said though, they're apparently really cracking down on it. It was funny, I saw a truck being backed up into the park where no vehicles are typically allowed and wondered what was going on, then I saw guys loading up bin after bin of items and I thought "Oh wow, maybe a vendor became ill or has an emergency and is having to leave." Then word got around as to what happened.

Day 3 of my mega event was exciting in that at least 2 vendor booths were "raided" by the authorities, Homeland Security oversees trademark infringement and they confiscated all materials from the vendors selling NFL and college team merchandise. Now I wonder how hefty the fines will be. I know one of the vendors as we see each other at a lot of events, not sure if he'll share with me what happens, but I'm certainly curious as I hear rumors of $10,000 fines and some have said it can be $10,000 per item (which would be extreme, but hey, the NFL, etc don't mess around). Bottom line, DON'T RISK IT... it's not worth it. This one vendor was displaying NFL team logos, very nicely done, woodwork. They didn't confiscate his automotive company logos... It was funny, when I was roaming the venue the first day and saw his stuff I almost asked if he was licensed for that and now I'm so glad I didn't because he'd think I ratted him out. LOL!!!

Hey Gang, Exhausting 3 days. Day 1 was "OK" as reported, day 2 was extreme heat followed by storms causing me to shut down at 2pm. Counting it as a total wash-out. Day 3 yesterday was solid. Finished the 3 days selling 86 puzzles, down from 132 last year, but right at the 43 or 44 per day not counting the wash-out day. Next year will be better with July 4th being on Saturday, the event will be Thursday, Friday, Saturday whereas this year it was Tue, Wed, Thu. The new leash holders were well received and I took orders for 6 of them to make. I'm able to offer 4 different color hooks... Brass colored cup hook or can go with "J" hook in silver, antique brass or black.

Big 3 day event every year in a nearby beach town. Always held July 2, 3, 4. This year landing right in the middle of a week. But then again, so was last year and I did very well my first year at this event. But this year it has been well below. Looking forward to the next couple of years when July 4th falls on Saturday, then Sunday, then Monday making for long weekends. Day 1, sold 35 versus 43 last year Day 2, sold 10, very slow sales then pop-up storms showed up, which was great as the heat was unbearable and it gave me an excuse to pack up and come home. Day 3 coming up. Big parade, then big crowd. We'll see if anyone is spending money today. All vendors are wondering what's going on. Not just this event but many others. Plenty of people, but very little spending. Good news is the new leash holders are getting a lot of attention and I took orders for 4 of them Tuesday. We'll see how the final day goes...

Hey Kevin, I'll drill two holes, one on each end of the "bone" and countersink a little for the screws that match the wall anchors I'll be supplying. As far as the puzzles, yep, I do well. I am able to cut 3 per hour, and my cost per puzzle is under $2 each. So, for a "hobby", I make some nice extra spending money when selling 1,100 to 1,400 per year. I hope the new key/leash holders do well since they'll only take 30 minutes each to make and the profit margin will be higher. Maybe next year only do the key/leash holders and see how it goes. LOL Nah, doubt I'll do that.