Iguanadon

Good questions and I'm happy to answer... let me know if I miss anything you asked: 1) Unicorn is absolutely the favorite. Females of all ages go nuts over it, along with the Mermaid. 2) Overall, dogs are my top seller. I keep stats on sales by "category". Dogs account for almost 40% of overall sales and the rest are spread out between SEA/BEACH, ZOO/FARM, MYTHICAL/DINOSAURS and CATS/HORSES. I take 66 different breeds of dog with me just so that when someone walks up and says "I bet you don't have a Shar-Pei." I can say "I bet I do." and show it to them and more times than not, they'll buy it. If I don't have a specific breed with me, I rarely am able to get them to place an order for it after letting them know I can make it. My silly little puzzles are purely an impulse buy. 3) I don't ask Harvey to do anything that would be trademarked or copyrighted like Batman, Disney, sports teams, etc. 4) I'd say that at least half, if not more of my sales are for adults. I state that they're mostly for display purposes, put on a bookshelf and admire versus being played with by kids due to them being somewhat fragile. Dog lovers in particular simply adore their breed of dog and simply must have it. I sell a number of "manly" ones as well such as the Dragon and the Yeti that grown men get a chuckle out of and buy to put on their desk at work. 5) Least sellable... so, of the 172 different animals I sold last year, 61 of them I only sold one of. 19 of them I only sold two of. If I make something and it doesn't sell for a few months, when it finally does sell I simply don't make it again. No reason to waste space on my tables. I like displaying 125 different dog breeds and animals in order to give folks lots of options and it makes them linger at the booth longer and I'm able to convince them they must have one to take home. 6) The one I dislike making... Havanese dog is #1 in that category... hairiest damn dog I've seen. LOL The GOLDENDOODLE was another one I disliked making until I had Harvey change it to just say DOODLE. I have a couple of others that I'll groan when I see it's next to be cut, but nothing horribly annoying. And a couple of things you didn't ask, but I'd like to share that I feel good about... 1) I truly fell in love with Harvey's work in 2015 when I came across his patterns and am glad I was able to track him down, get to know him and then start selling his patterns for him. I make almost nothing selling them, but I wanted his work to have a 2nd life and be seen more widely and I think I've accomplished that. By sharing my work and my success making and selling them I have customers (puzzle zombies as I like to call them) literally across the globe buying his patterns now and I outsell Wooden Teddy Bear every single month as Harvey likes to let me know. And I give Harvey more per pattern sale than WTB does. Not knocking WTB, they have a full blown business to run. I'm doing it purely as a friendship thing for Harvey. 2) Last week I got a message from one of my new puzzle zombies letting me know how much he appreciates me sharing my work as well as suggestions, ideas and learning lessons I've learned over the past 3 years. He is a disabled veteran with PTSD and he said that cutting the puzzles is one of the most relaxing things he has come across. His wife loves the puzzles and is showing them to everyone they know and he's cutting them for friends and family and looking to start selling them at craft events soon. I always knew that I found it relaxing to make them and I'm glad to hear others do as well. A lot of folks find me on YouTube as I've done several videos showing me cutting them as well as my booth setup at events. If you're bored sometime check 'em out, just search on my name Scott Seifer And lastly, I'm as surprised as anyone how "successful" this whole thing has been... I started making basic puzzle items for my grand-daughter, next thing I know, I'm selling 1,100 puzzles at 25-30 events a year... all while maintaining a full time job AND starting up another business for tourist maps and guides for my home town. I love every minute of it. Everyone in town knows me as either "Scott the puzzle guy" or "Scott the map guy". I keep getting asked to run for mayor... that will wait for a little while. Iggy

HI JT, you're speaking with a numbers geek and an Excel spreadsheet crazy person I know precisely how many I sell of each item and rank them at the end of each year. On the photo above of my inventory, the items in green are my top 25 sellers. Here is the list of my top 10 and how many I sold of each one last year. The top 10 items sold made up 25% of total sales. I sold 171 different unique puzzles last year. Unicorn 40 Dachshund 38 Mermaid 36 Shark 35 Dragon 31 Rescue 28 Elephant 26 Golden 22 Giraffe 21 T-Rex 21

Yep, the new saw is doing well. It definitely cuts just a little bit slower than the DW, but I'm adapting.

I totally forgot, a local store owner messaged me saying she has 3 more of the storage bins I use that she said I can have... I need to pick those up... then I'll have to fill them up. LOL

... for 2 weeks... Taking a 2 week break after cutting the 21 currently on my drying rack. I have 125 unique puzzles for display and 575 duplicates ready for a total of 700 puzzles to start the season off in two weeks. I have 3 big events back to back and I feel good about my stockpile. Goal is to not have to cut much in between events. If the weather cooperates this year my goal is to sell 1,400. Last year was crazy with double our normal annual rainfall and hurricane Florence hitting us head on. Time to relax before hitting approximately 30 events thru the end of the year. Iggy

Beautiful work. You're a better man than me... My impatience would kick in about 40 minutes into it. Seriously, I tip my hat to all of you true wood working artists.

Hey RJ, I posted a review of the saw on the general page. I like it. It's not quite as fast/aggressive as the DW, but a lot better than the Hawk I had. LOL Now it's just a matter of if it'll survive my abuse and last 3 years to make it worthwhile over the DW.

Yep, I'm in better shape than I was a month ago. I went 2 months without cutting a single puzzle due to other time consuming commitments. I feel good though, I have over 600 puzzles on hand. My season kicks off Easter weekend with 3 back-to-back events in which I'll sell 200-250 total. Then my weekly farmers market starts up and I average 25 per week which I can comfortably cut each week. Just found out about a major event in June that I'm thinking of signing up for...

I hope so. We'll see how long it can stand up to my abuse. I have 2 DW's now sitting aside waiting...

New saw broken in with a nice variety of puzzles cut today...

So, I quickly got spoiled by the dust collection I had set up on my Dewalt (using the Scrollnado) and was really missing it with the Pegas with dust being nicely sucked up from the bottom, but blowing around on top... so I just make a quick modification and BAM, now I have 100% dust collection again... Simply ran some clear tubing I had laying around after drilling a hole in the vacuum hose connector to the Pegas saw. Very happy Iggy now.

I found this hilarious and brilliant when I read it a couple of years ago. Now the scroll saw manufacturers just need to figure out what to put on their shipping boxes to get the same treatment... Maybe mark it as a nuclear bomb. https://www.bicycling.com/news/a20027122/vanmoof-tv-on-box-damaged-bikes/

Keep us posted Kevin. It's Christmas in March for several of us.

Good to know, thanks. I know when I tried setting the Hawk more aggressively it screwed up my puzzle pieces and they wouldn't slide in and out, so I'll debate whether to try it or not on the Pegas.

Ah, and one thing I forgot to mention... The Pegas is not as aggressive in cutting as the DeWalt, which I expected, but it's much better than the Hawk I tried and gave up on. I'll definitely be able to live with this. (I'm going to include this in the original content above for future readers)

I figured I'd create a new thread for the actual review for folks that may try to search on it later. Pegas Saw Review - Initial Thoughts: As I begin using the new Pegas saw, I’ll report things that I notice. Not necessarily saying they are “good” or “bad”, but things I notice compared to heavy use of the DeWalt 788 the past 4 years (For those that don't know me, I wear out a DW every 12-15 months). I’ve only cut 6 puzzles today since setting it up. So I’m sure I’ll have more to report over time. The big test for me will be if I’m still using this saw in 3 years as that's the major test... longevity… I’ll report back in March of 2022. - Pegas saw runs very smooth, no vibration - There is a micro-second hesitation from when I press my foot pedal and the motor actually starts. Certainly not a big deal but I didn’t realize how often I’d just “bump” the saw sometimes to move the blade just a hair and can’t quite do it the same way now, just have to get used to that. - I bottom feed and the upper arm on the Pegas rises way out of the way and stays, very nice. If you feed from the top I think it could be less desirable due to having to feed the blade through the plastic membrane that is underneath the table which catches saw dust for sucking out with the vacuum system. - The Pegas blade chucks are excellent, as many folks already know and use on other saws. The hold tension nicely. - The vacuum system works very well. No dust falls from underneath. Now if only they could have it suck up the dust from the top. - Definitely need an optional light that attaches to the saw. I was able to rig up my DW light to use, but one specifically for the Pegas would be ideal. - There is not much table space at the front, between me and the blade. Not a big deal, just a noticeable difference. - Because I never use the tilt feature on saws I can’t really report on that, but from what I’ve heard and read, it’s a nice feature. -Last but not least... the Pegas does not cut quite as aggressively (fast) as the DW, but it's close enough. Much better than the Hawk that I purchased and couldn't adapt to. I'll definitely be able to live with this.

I donated it to a local organization that teaches wood working to kids. "Kids Making It" They had some old piece of crap scroll saw.

Report #1 - Cut a test puzzle, all is well. Just a minor adjustment to the tilt of the table to get it aligned and a minor shift of the table top so the blade was centered in the hole in the table. Moved the saw into my cutting area and realized... Hmmm, no light... I loved the attached light on my DW. I took a look at the Pegas and tried something... and it worked just fine... Using my DW light, just screwed on with one screw and the bolt shown props it in place. Quick and easy fix. Next is to do another puzzle with the vacuum system hooked up... It's all so exciting. LOL

I haven't thought about doing that at this point. I've always just used the raw tables, but it's something I'll keep in mind. I do wish they hadn't used a sticker on the table top that left residue after removing it... Again, no big deal, some Goof Off took care of it.

Step 2 complete... base built, mounted and power tested. The stand is quite a bit lower than the one I'm used to with the DW. Certainly not a problem, my chair is height adjustable. Step 3 will be performing some cutting tests (specifically related to puzzle pieces sliding in and out from both sides). Reminder, I have a day job (work from home) so I have to sneak into the garage in between conference calls.

I look forward to putting it to the test. Yep, I'm a happy DW user and I know how long each one will last. The Pegas will need to last at least 2 1/2 years to be considered "better" than the DW as far as durability. Maybe the Pegas will be so smooth and sweet I'll never go back.

Wednesday night is trivia night with friends at a local pub and when we got home my Pegas was waiting for me. This is as far as I'll get tonight. I'll assemble the stand and mount it tomorrow. Full review to follow.

I promise to post pictures when I receive mine tomorrow late afternoon.

Best of luck Kevin. My Pegas saw arrives tomorrow. We'll compare new toys on Friday.

Saw arriving tomorrow (Wednesday). UPS has it in hand.