Iguanadon

As my mother used to tell me "There are no stupid questions, only stupid people asking questions." And people wonder why I'm a sarcastic ass... I came by it naturally. :-) As a follow up and as an example, I've found that I love the Olson Precision Ground Tooth, but the smallest size they offer is a #5 so I went with the Mach Speed for the #3 that I prefer to use. I love Crown Tooth because they leave a very smooth and clean edge, but they cut slower, so I stopped using those... You'll find your favorite brand and type.

Hot off the internet presses... a new video I filmed today at my farmers market showing my setup in more detail. I'll send it to Steve Good as well and see if he thinks it's worthy of showing on his site.

Nicely cut Duke. I actually sold 2 horses today. A rare event selling just 1.

Hey Ray, Yep, it's pretty much, try 'em and see how you like 'em. There are some little charts like this one http://www2.woodcraft.com/PDF/Olson-scrollblade-chart.pdf but I use a #3 blade for all of my puzzles cut from 3/4" poplar and you won't see that as a recommended blade anywhere. Use whatever feels right for you allowing you to cut the detail the way you want, that doesn't burn the wood and that doesn't snap or break often. I have several different blades, all sizes, different makers that I've tried over the past 2 years. You'll find the ones you like best, that cut the cleanest, the smoothest, etc and you'll stick with them. Olson -vs- Flying Dutchman is like Ford -vs- Chevy, folks have their favorite but they're all good. I'm happy to chime in and give you no help at all. :-)

Bwahahahahahaaaa!!!! PUZZLEMANIA WILL RULE THE WORLD!!!!!!

Hello Villagers, As I was cutting today I thought I'd provide a review of the Hawk BM26 after having used it for a couple of weeks and having cut a couple dozen puzzles. To recap: The first saw I received had major issues. Bushton Manufacturing (BM) arranged to ship me a replacement and had the first one picked up. Unfortunately the 2nd one wasn't a whole lot better and after providing videos and information and speaking with Nilus, the designer of the saw he narrowed the issue down to the lower arm. He manufactured a new batch and shipped one to me and I replaced it. The saw runs a lot better now. There is still some sideways blade vibration/movement at certain speeds, but I can usually find a sweetspot speed that minimizes that. But... there is still some vibration. I'm trying to make minor adjustments to get rid of it and it's improved, but it's still there and I'm trying to look past it and just get used to it. But it isn't easy as it makes my work "dance" around a little bit and makes my eyes go blurry after a while. I really want to get this resolved because otherwise, I LOVE THE SAW. As I knew would be the case, it does cut slower than what I was used to with my DeWalts and quite frankly I like it. I find I'm enjoying the actual cutting process a little more and the responsiveness of the saw and the amazing ability to cut tight angles and corners really shows in the final product. I can make detail cuts so much more precisely with this saw, it's fantastic. Replacing blades and bottom feeding are already second nature for me, I have no issue at all with either tasks. If I can get the vibration issue tweaked just a little bit more I'll rave about the Hawk. Keeping in mind that the primary reason I shopped around for a new saw and narrowed down to the Hegner or the Hawk is durability. I wore out 2 brand new DeWalt's in under 2 years. Maybe I'm a little too aggressive or rough with them, I don't know, but I wanted something that would last me 5, 10 or more years with minimal maintenance/repair. It's obviously too soon to tell and if I decide to keep using the saw, I'll report back in 5 years. ;-) For Hawk owners and lovers out there, I'd love to hear from you with any ideas or suggestions about the vibration. I've done everything I can think of including loosening the main bolts holding the arm assembly, allowing it to settle to a natural location and re-tightening. I've checked and double checked every bolt, nut, allen screw on the saw in case it was something silly that wasn't tight. Let me know of other things to check and/or try. I'm very well stocked for the rest of the year and will only need to cut my most popular items over the next 3 months as they sell so I'm going to enjoy taking my time and not feeling like I have to cut 50 puzzles a week as I was doing the past 3 months. Catch ya later, Iggy

Yes, I wouldn't dare cut anybody else's patterns. ;-)

Bat and Dragon I thought the Bat was cute. The Dragon should sell quite well. Will display both this Saturday at Farmers Market

Ha! Yep, that's been our evacuation plan the past week as I've been tracking this annoying storm.

Just start calling me Lucky Iggy... If Irma tracks as predicted, 24 hours of wind and rain here... 50-60mph wind which will be a bit exciting...

Based on the latest track and predictions, what I'll experience Monday and Monday night are tropical storm force winds of 50-60mph and 2-3 inches of rain. Nothing major and hopefully won't lose power. So far, just tracking and planning (filling gas cans, buying bottled water, etc) has eaten a bit into my time, but I'm still plugging away at the day job and cutting a puzzle or two. Just finished 2 new animals I'll share pictures of soon.

And we're even, I fail to understand why anyone would want to live in a deep freeze for several months a year, every year. :-D Hurricanes come and go, just like tornado's. They hit one particular spot once every 50 years. Or never. You just don't know. We love the beach enough to say "If a storm comes, so be it, we'll play the odds."

I order 10 rolls at a time from Walmart online. Free shipping.

"Holy cow, 48 stores are out of clear shelf liner??? What's going on???"

Ha! Thanks for letting me know RJ, I wasn't aware of the new video. Steve mentioned to me in an email that he had tried it and really liked it.

Things are looking better for us here. Latest tracks have her coming inland at the SC/GA border. Still several days of potential track changes to come so I'm filling the gas cans tomorrow for the generator if needed.

How many folks are watching Irma closely because they live somewhere in the projected path? She's driving me crazy as the computer models keep shifting her west, then east, then west, then east... We're going to have to decide whether to evacuate and head due west or stay and stick it out.

Hi, Good question. I imagine setting up as I did the 2nd day, in the center of the 2 booths space (20' across). I don't want to have to transport and set up 2 tents and I wouldn't think setting up the tables outside the one tent space would be very attractive, but it's something for me to think about and test.

In all of my puzzle cutting, I've never had a tab break. I've had thin areas around some letters and tails and legs snap, but never puzzle tabs.

SAVED!!!! By who else, but Harvey Byler himself! I left him a voicemail last night asking him if he kept track of when I called in custom orders. Hoping that he maybe kept a log or record and could tell me what day I placed the order for the mysterious Iguana named Buddy. Well, today he called me and left me a voicemail as I didn't hear my phone ring while out on the beach and he told me he didn't know the exact date but that I had mentioned in my message to him that I was at a friends house... and DING DING DING I remembered... the friends I was staying with during my big event in Cary... it was her! She asked for it and that's why I didn't have an order sheet. I had simply called Harvey as soon as she asked for it and then over the course of the 2 day mega event and then my business trip, I completely forgot about it. Good ol' Harvey... saved me! Too funny.

Ha! I didn't know that was you who bought those patterns. Nicely done!

Nice cutting and you got me curious about the non-puzzles so I'll cut a couple myself and maybe offer them at the farmers market to see if folks like them.

If anyone know someone with an Iguana named BUDDY, let me know, I'll sell it at a discount.

I take orders for custom names in animals at events and I have a form that I have the customer fill out with all of their contact info, the animal, the name, etc, etc. I generally try to take a snapshot of it with my phone "just in case"... well, apparently at Lazy Daze I failed to do that and now I can't find the order form. Harvey sent me the pattern and I received it today. I generally will call and leave him a voicemail as soon as I receive an order so that I don't forget to do it... and it appears that's what I did and then misplaced the order form without taking a picture... now I'll have a custom animal but have no idea where to ship it. Hopefully the customer contacts me since they already paid for it. Wow, I feel horrible... I'm a stickler for details and being on top of stuff and I really blew it this time. Lesson learned, snap a picture as soon as they fill it out. I even suggest they do the same thing as sort of a "receipt" showing payment has been made.

Thanks everyone, And as a reminder, I average selling 27 puzzles at my weekly Farmers Market and 40-50 at arts and crafts full day events... This mega event was definitely not typical, but I hope viewers of the video are able to use various tidbits of information and apply them as needed to your specific needs and events. It ended up being a great test of my theories as to table setup and now I know what path I need to go down in the future.