Iguanadon

You nailed it Kevin with your 70mph down to 35mph example and finding yourself forcing or pushing the material through the blade. I've adapted but I feel as though I can take a nap when cutting a straight line longer than 6 inches. LOL I just printed off another 150 patterns that I need to cut, in addition to the 350 I'd already printed. Looking at that stack really makes me want to move the DW back into my cutting area... Maybe I can teach my 3 dogs to cut... They're rather bright...

Oh JT there you go getting your feelings hurt again ;-)... This conversation is about the difference between two saws. There's been a lot of talk since the beginning of mankind about Hawks and Hegners being slower cutters due to their cutting arm motion. I think even Fred Flinstone mentioned it during an episode. I took the time to quantify it and report to our wonderful community what my findings were, which is Hawks cut 20% slower than DeWalts. Whether it's speed, efficiency or just wanting to know what to expect with these two brands of saws, now folks know so that when they shop for a new saw they'll have some additional facts. And now that I've quantified it, I have to decide, that's right, ME, I have to decide if an extra 53 hours cutting in the year ahead is acceptable or not. I have a full time job and a new business that I've started. By the way, the Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting ceremony is this Thursday evening for my map company. So, with my puzzle making on top of all that, I need to know things like this in order to be sure not to take away any family or sleeping time. I cherish my 7 1/2 hours of sleep every night and I never cut after 6pm in the evenings. 8ft tall banner of the current version of our island map that I had made for the ribbon cutting ceremony...

You bring up a point I forgot to mention. DeWalt, using Olson Mach Speed and Hawk I'm using the Pegas Modified Geometry which is much more aggressive and it does help speed things up.

Muscle memory doesn't speed up cutting on a "straightaway"... the DeWalt is simply more aggressive. I can feed blades on both saws in the same amount of time, that's not an issue at all. As far as the blade adjustment to make it more aggressive, it doesn't help much, I tried it and it causes issues with the puzzle pieces sliding in and out from both directions. And again, I'll say it, I knew the Hawk was less aggressive when I ordered it. It's simply a matter of whether I can live with it now. It's all on me.

LOL, I'm a numbers geek... I simply had to know.

So, now that I've spent a couple of weeks using the Hawk and gotten used to it and it's less aggressive, "slower" cutting speed I decided to perform an official time test. I had 2 DOLPHIN puzzles prepped on boards, they happened to each be on similar sized boards. I pre-drilled the interior cut holes (4 on each) and then starting with the Hawk I started a stopwatch and cut the outline, did the 4 inside cuts, then cut it into it's pieces and stopped the timer. Then I did the exact same thing on my DeWalt. Times: Hawk - 12 minutes 20 seconds - Using Pegas Modified Geometry #5 blade DeWalt - 10 minutes 18 seconds - Using Olson Mach Speed #3 blade I had estimated it took a couple minutes longer to cut each puzzle on the Hawk and I was right. 2 minutes isn't a lot of time difference, but if you look at it percentage wise, it's 20% longer and if you multiply it out by 1600 puzzles that I hope to cut and sell in 2018, that's 3200 minutes or 53 hours and 20 minutes of extra cutting time over the course of the year. On a daily basis it's only 10 minutes a day if I cut my usual 5 puzzles per day. Is it an issue? I don't know, I'll have to ponder it. P.S. I installed a lift arm assembly on my DeWalt today and I highly recommend it for all DeWalt users. It's nice not having to hold the arm up when feeding the blade in from the underside for inside cuts. P.P.S. One of the scrollers who buys patterns from me told me he's using Old English Lemon Oil instead of mineral oil. He says it dries faster and more completely than mineral oil. I bought some Old English today and I dipped a puzzle in it and have it drying beside one I dipped in mineral oil and will report back as to the results of this test once completed.

I came in from the garage today and told Mrs. Ig that I'm tired of either freezing out there or sweltering. I have a feeling I'm going to have some construction done soon to build a wall to separate my work space from the rest of the garage, have 2 windows installed and put in a window AC/Heater.

I'm trying very hard not to let the minor vibration on my Hawk bother me... but it's not going well so far, I'm easily annoyed. LOL

Duke inspired me to cut one after seeing the one he recently shared. This was a custom request by one of my pattern customers. Harvey drew it up for him and I really like it. And Mrs. Iggy just demanded that I make one for her. LOL I'll get Harvey to personalize for me with CAROLINA BEACH and KURE BEACH.

Last year I came up with the CAROLINA BEACH sea turtle and the KURE BEACH dolphin. They were very popular here on our island. So, I had Harvey flip flop them and also had him do mermaids for each town. This is the result. I also have mermaids for SOUTHPORT and WILMINGTON (nearby beach and city). I'll have an entire area on my display tables devoted to these tourist/specialty items I also had Harvey do the Pelicans for me for each town. I'll cut them tomorrow.

Yes, all on standard sheet of paper.

Three new ones I haven't cut before that I'll display in 2018. Just received some new custom ones from Harvey a few minutes ago that I'll cut over the weekend specifically for the local tourists. I'll share when they're done.

Over a week of snow and bitter cold (bitter cold for the beach...) I was finally able to get back to cutting. Making a few that I haven't made before and I have Harvey making 6 custom ones for me for the local beaches. I should receive those patterns tomorrow and I'll share them once they're cut and finished. These 4 will be cut tomorrow.

Very nice Duke. I need to be sure to make that one.

Puzzimals is a name used on Etsy for the person that sells the ones made by Harvey. That may not be the same one you're thinking of, but that's who I know by that name. And Harvey has only been drawing them for the past 20 years.

Actually, if you put a note on your order, WTB will email patterns to you. They charge 50 cents per pattern. So, if you order more than 8 you'll spend more than having them shipped to you.

Wooden Teddy Bear will get rich. LOL Harvey makes more per pattern sold from me than he does WTB and I charge $1 less per pattern.

WTB winter catalog received today and Harvey has a full 2 page spread! Wow.

LOL, you have no idea... the county schools closed yesterday based on just the forecast of winter weather and it wasn't going to start until after 4pm... We may be stranded here for days. ;-) It's all a matter of perspective... we're as prepared for snow as someone in Idaho being prepared for a hurricane.

This is very unusual... we've barely gotten over freezing the past week. Average high for right now is 57... this sucks.

It almost completely buried the grass. Photos taken from the warmth of indoors just now. LOL

Same here Steve. Out of the 100 or so boards of poplar I've bought in our area, never seen purple. I see some interesting black striping now and again and I grab them for doing penguins. :-)

While the world focuses on Trump, North Korea, Iran... I'm quietly taking over the world one puzzle and puzzle cutter at a time!!!! And I couldn't agree more, I find cutting them to be very relaxing and enjoyable and having a finished product in under an hour just feels good. And they're just so darned cute. LOL

Yes Sir, doing very well. I came down with a cold and wasn't able to cut the past 3 days but got back in the chair today and I'm really enjoying cutting with it. The real test will be if it lasts longer than 4 years to more than offset the cost of buying 3 DeWalt's. :-)

2018 begins with the stockpiling for the upcoming year. First event is March 30 & 31, need inventory... and I had one last custom one to cut. Meet Peyton the Unicorn.