Iguanadon

Hey Gang, long time no post. I hope everyone is doing well. 4 or 5 weeks into my season and I've decided I'm going to bring back the kids puzzles into my inventory for events. I'm getting more potential customers that mention they're interested in one of my puzzles for younger children and being the honest, good hearted person that I am, I talk them out of it since my signature puzzles are somewhat delicate in nature and aren't meant for "tiny hands" as I put it. In the past I pointed them over to a series of dinosaur and other simplistic puzzles made of pine that I used to make and display. But I chose to do away with them last year and it was working out OK, but this year seems to be costing me more than I anticipated. Plus I'm hearing more often "Oh I love your work, I have 2 at home already!" Not that I'm completely saturated here considering the tens of thousands of tourists each summer, but I definitely have a number of local households that already have a puzzle or two on the shelves. Also, I'm going to make one of these non-puzzle dogs as a wall mounted key/leash holder and take it to my next major event and get some feedback on it to see if it's something I should broaden myself into. Iggy

Agreed, the Hegner is a great saw, but like the Hawk, it's not aggressive at all and that's fine, they have their purpose. I already use the Pegas Modified Geometry blades which I have found to be the most aggressive (and best cutting).

Yes, there is a way to do that, however when I tried the full range it didn't make a whole lot of difference. Again, it's pretty minor, but something that's a big deal to me.

Hey Bill, Overall it's a fine saw... It's smooth, it hasn't given me any issues, although I'm having blade slippage issues in the top clamp that I can't quite figure out, but that's nothing serious. My only minor issue is that it isn't quite as aggressive as the DW and for 99% of folks that's not a problem. Folks who know me know that I love the DW due to the fact that it cuts very aggressively and I have simply gotten accustomed to that and when I cut on a slower saw it's like coming up on a small town and having to drive 35mph after crusing along at 75mph for hours.

My local weekly market usually begins Memorial Weekend but this year the town decided to start it up 2 weeks early, which we all thought was a good idea. Tourists aren't heavy yet, but we figured the locals would enjoy getting out. Week 1 (May 11) was good, not great, but this past Saturday (May 18) was my worst outing at this event in the 3 years I've been doing it. There were several other events happening on the island drawing crowds (nothing arts & crafts related, just beach type stuff) and I knew it would be slow, just not THAT slow. LOL No complaints at all with Memorial weekend coming up, things will get back to normal. The manager of the event is a friend of mine and we chatted mid-way through the day Saturday and he said that nobody was doing well so he'll recommend that they go back to the old schedule next year. Iggy

Thanks for sharing Bob. I'll chime in also if folks don't mind. I've been happy with the Pegas saw. I "like it", but I don't necessarily "love it". The big factor will be how long it lasts before I wear it out, so time will tell. I won't be heartbroken if I have to go back to using DW's again. Attached are photos showing my very basic dust collection but it works great, capturing at least 90-95% of all dust from bottom and top and it connects to my Dust Deputy then to a small shop-vac. I had some clear tubing laying around, standard waterline for a fridge icemaker. The light is from one of my DW's. I had to make a small support clip for it in order to get it to extend far enough beyond the front of the blade so as not to cast shadows. Iggy

I'm envious of you for sure Kevin. Unfortunately we've grown accustomed to the income from the day job and of course the benefits (health care primarily)... Even with the puzzles and the tourist map/guide business I can't walk away. The map/guide business has allowed Mrs. Iggy the luxury of quitting her job, so at least one member of the family is enjoying the carefree life.

Market season kicked off Easter weekend. As previously reported, the first day was a rainout for me and did well the 2nd day. Two more events since then Event 1 - 56 puzzles sold (about the same as last year for day 2) Event 2 - 69 puzzles sold (11 short compared to last year) Event 3 (yesterday) - 39 puzzles sold (8 short compared to last year) My weekly market starts up next week and I'll do it every Saturday that it isn't raining. It's only 5 hours (8am to 1pm) and I average 22 puzzles each week. Next big event is week of July 4th, three days long, sold 132 last year. Now for my possible issue... My day job decided to give me a promotion last week and I'm afraid it'll affect some of my puzzle cutting time. We'll see. If I have to give up some of my weekly markets in order to ensure adequate inventory for the big events, that's what I'll do. Iggy

After much Google searching and site visiting... found the easiest and cheapest solution at Walmart. Went and picked two up to test out and I think these will work great. 36Lx16Wx8H It looks a bit cluttered but it's not. Couldn't quite do just two rows length wise so I have multiple "rows" all in alphabetical order. No more tubs full that have to be emptied at the event and sorted and then repacked at the end of the day. These are going to be great. Yes, they have lids. The picture of the puzzles on the blue tarp is what I had to do at my mega-events which was a huge pain in the neck. Now I can just have multiple new flat bins and not have to touch them until I need one.

Nope, I was thinking something similar. As long as I don't make them too big, weight shouldn't be an issue, but I do want/need to keep them as light as possible for carrying and transporting. Hopefully the link JT provided will have something just the right size in plastic.

Excellent, thank you JT, that will definitely get me looking in the right direction now.

That could be interesting. The mathematical algorythm would be quite interesting taking into account expected rainfall for the next 8 months in the Mayberry Beach area. Rain (and Hurricane Florence) ruined a great year that was in motion.

LOL, good idea, I guess I'll buy new beach chairs on a regular basis. Of course I'd like to find a similar shape and size in plastic, but so far no luck after an initial search but I'll keep hunting.

Just a random tidbit that may help someone... Keep your eyes and braincells open to new possible ways to transport items to events. For 3 years I've simply packed my duplicate puzzles in bin(s). Depending on the size of event, one bin up to three bins. The bins of course are great for hauling but then at the events I had to unpack them and organize them in a way to be able to find what I need quickly as I'm selling. Just a nuisance having to unpack, then re-pack at the end of the day. Now comes the random tidbit... One of the great things about ordering stuff from Amazon constantly is a wide variety of sized boxes. LOL I recently ordered a couple of items that came in these long boxes and as I was packing for my event yesterday I realized they are perfectly sized and shaped for my puzzles. I'm now able to pack the duplicates in the box(es) in order alphabetically and can find what I want very quickly without having to unpack and lay them out. This is going to be great (yes I'm easily pleased LOL). I reinforced the under side of the boxes with duct tape. I hope they will survive at least this year. 2 photos of new and 1 photo of old transport in bins and boxes. Iggy

They are shrink wrap bags and only requires a heat gun or high heat hair dryer. I did a quick video showing the simple process. I buy the bags from Amazon when I can find them 9x12 or slightly larger.

You're correct, the ones on the tables are for display, but I sell those also if I don't have duplicates on-hand. In addition to the 130 unique dogs/animals that I display, I take anywhere from 80-200 duplicates depending on the event. The dupicates are shrink wrapped and ready to hand out.

Had my first event, was supposed to be 2 days (Friday and Saturday) but a threat of storms and wind Friday caused me to err on the side of caution and I didn't attend day 1. I arrived bright and early this morning for day 2 and set up. Beautiful weather, huge crowd but mostly just lookers. Had a good day selling 56 puzzles in just 6 hours. I had a goal of 100 for the 2 days, so I'm happy with 56 for 1 day. My biggest 1 day event is next Saturday. Sold 95 each of the last 2 years so of course that's the goal for this year. EDIT - The last 2 years at my best 1 day event I was still selling the raw kids puzzles at half the price of my signature puzzles. Now that I don't sell them, I need to sell 80 signature puzzles this year to hit the same amount of $$$ as the past 2 years at the upcoming event. And the fun begins! Iggy

Hey Marg, I show a Unicorn on the front banner on my table, and up above I show a Dachshund and a Sea Turtle. I chose not to go with one of my local designs since I do shows all over the area and depending on which beach town I'm in dictates what I display. But, you have a good idea and I will think about having multiple banners in place of the Unicorn to put up based on the beach town I'm in... That could definitely grab people's attention.

Good thinking John, and yep, I have used blades with me to show folks and you're right the reaction is great.

Interesting idea, however most events you're limited to a 10'x10' space (unless you pay for a double sized booth) and many venues have limited access to electricity and I have found that the spaces with access to power are usually in bad locations in the overall layout of the event. I learned that the hard way and no longer ask for access to power in order to get better spots. All of my major events I don't have power. I have electricity at my weekly farmers market, but it's only 5 hours long and I'm only going to sell 20-25 puzzles a week even if I had a clown juggler on a unicycle.

Only after I had acquired about 100 of Harvey's patterns... til I scanned them all I was flipping through a giant stack every time I needed a specific breed of of dog. LOL

I thought about snapping a new photo with the new saw... but this one works well and amazingly when I hold an actual blade up to the banner to show folks where it goes, it's probably darn near 100% life size. I didn't want to screw with it. LOL

I thought I'd get a new banner for 2019. 2.5' x 8' for the back of my tent. I wanted to emphasize the fact that no computers, lasers, etc are used. Even though I have INDIVIDUALLY HAND CUT on my banners, it didn't really click. What do you think? Old banner with Elephant on it, new banner with Dragon on it.

Oh, and even bigger, Steve Good stumbled across me at some point and he did a couple of write-ups on me. (scroll down a little to find it) http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2017_08_24_archive.html

I had actually forgotten about it, but you reminded me... I did receive a bit of notoriety just before Chistmas 2017 when a local newspaper had come across me at an event and asked if I'd mind if they included me in a story they were doing. https://portcitydaily.com/local-news/2017/12/12/unique-places-to-get-holiday-gifts-in-the-wilmington-area-biz/ I guess I'll need to start working on my memoires.