Iguanadon

Looks like it's actually Loc-Line

Hey Dave, as I've chronicled throughout the process, it was a bit challenging. The key thing I kept in mind is that Bushton Manufacturing is a small business in the truest sense of the term. I think they are literally 5 or 6 people. But they aren't just slapping together a machine, Nilus also designed it. I happened to catch them at an interesting time in that they are a working wheat farm and they were in the middle of harvest when I placed my order and then one of their employees, Nikole (Nilus's daughter) had a baby and one of their key people, Scott, is her husband so they've both been focused on their family. All that being said... they absolutely wanted to be sure to get things right. I feel as though if I have any problems with the saw, I know I can contact them and they'll work hard to figure out and resolve it. I look forward to putting the saw to a more thorough test over the next couple of months to see how it handles my workload. Although, I'm looking forward to a bit of down time right now. :-) I tried to be fair, patient and not talk bad about them throughout the buying process. I certainly got frustrated a couple of times, but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt that they'd work it all out. And I truly believe that my situation was a very rare event with 2 saws having issues back to back. Iggy

The small sized ones, thin wood for sure. I've never tried a larger sized one in thin wood, not sure what you would do with it, but if you can come up with a use for it on a wall hanging or something, sure.

I actually had the same effect with the Olson blades I've always used in my DeWalt. Didn't notice any difference between the Olson and the Pegas when I made the switch.

Hey Kevin, you may have a valid point and I need to test the aggressive setting again. When I did toy with it before, it didn't really speed up the cutting that much anyway. But I will give it a try and will let you know the results.

I had seen another offering by Harvey on Wooden Teddy Bear but never remembered to ask him about them, but finally did... We're all familiar with his dog puzzles that spell out the breed with each letter being a puzzle piece. Well, he also offers them as non-puzzles in that the letters are still there, but they aren't each cut out. And as part of a "set", he includes a miniature version in that format as well as just an outline of the dog with no lettering that can be cut as ornaments. Attached is a sample along with his suggestion on how to cut the small ornaments. They sell for $4.50 plus shipping at WTB but I spoke with him about it and suggested me selling them for $3.50 with free email delivery. Let me know if you're interested in these. I've set up a new category on my website for ordering. www.WoodcraftByScott.com Iggy

Good news... Finally... As I reported recently, Nilus had narrowed down the issues I was having with this saw to the lower arm and sent me a replacement which I received last week. I installed it, ran a couple of quick tests and felt good about it. Today, I put it to the full test and I'm happy to report that all seems good. I even moved it into my cutting area and moved the DeWalt out. I've been cutting kids puzzles with it all day as I wanted to test it on "easy" stuff... 3/4" pine and no real tight turns/cuts. Every puzzle piece slides in an out both ways, the saw has only the slightest vibration which isn't an issue but I may try to tweak it another time. The few times I did have tight turns/angles to make, the Hawk cut them perfectly and tighter than I ever could on my DeWalt. The weirdest thing I'm having to get used to is the fact that the Hawk actually cuts truly STRAIGHT. The DeWalt's (all 3 of them that I have), you had to kind of adjust your angle when cutting a straight line, almost like a natural "drift". I kept getting off my lines with the Hawk at first cuz the thing cuts perfectly straight up a line. I hope that makes sense, it's hard to describe. Oh, while I'm thinking about it... whoever recommended the Pegas Modified Geometry blades to use with the Hawk because it tends to cut slower, those blades are FABULOUS, they definitely are more aggressive. Not sure I'd want to try them on my DeWalt though. LOL They cut FAST. On the Hawk it helps re-gain some of the speed lost as compared to the DeWalt. As a reminder, the Hawk does have an adjustment in which you can increase the aggressiveness of the cut by adjusting the forward pitch of the blade, but you can not do that if you cut puzzles, it screws them up big time. As to the Pegas blades, I bought a sample pack from Amazon if anyone else is interested in trying them. https://www.amazon.com/Pegas-Modified-Geometry-Pinless-Variety/dp/B01B8PQG76/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503347678&sr=8-1&keywords=pegas+geometry I'll be ordering a couple gross of the #3's and the #5's as soon as I'm done typing this update. This appears to be the best pricing I've found. http://www.dndsawbladesonline.com/page/79818204 Anyway, I am one happy Iggy right now. I have 30 more kid puzzles to cut tomorrow and then I'm DONE and won't cut again for over a week. I have the mega event this weekend and then I have to catch a 7am flight to Austin, TX Monday morning for business and will get home Wednesday night. I'm looking forward to taking a break from cutting... it's been one hell of a 3 months of cutting 550 puzzles in advance of this event... plus what I was selling on a weekly basis. I'll provide updates if anything changes, but right now all is good. I still need to cut some of my regular animal puzzles out of poplar to get a true feel for things. Iggy

I'll see if I can get Harvey to do it. LOL

I found the pattern online. It will look great when some kid buys it and paints it themself. ;-) All of my kid puzzles are sold raw, ready to paint.

With the Shamrock, as it was drawn, the interlocking puzzle pieces aren't flared out enough so they don't actually interlock or lock in as puzzle pieces. As I continued cutting, I started flaring them out a little as I went, so towards the end they were OK, but my first few (the stem and the lower right corner in the picture) they don't actually stay together. I'll work on the pattern at some point because I like the puzzle itself with the 3 shamrocks within the shamrock.

Hi Jason, Welcome. Ask all the questions you want and folks will chime in. Most of what you'll learn will be by trial and error... types of wood, thickness of wood, which blades, what to make... It's truly endless. My bit of advice is start simple, get familiar with the saw and how it cuts, then experiment with different types of projects. Intricate fretwork likely isn't the place to start as any tiny false move and you'll have a mess and it'll just frustrate you. Personally, I buy my wood from Lowe's and Home Depot but be sure to check out hardwood specialty stores in your area. Take a look at the website Wooden Teddy Bear for tons of options of things to make. http://www.woodenteddybearonline.com/x/ There are also plenty of free patterns available here and other sites. Enjoy the adventure. Iggy

I'm very happy with Santa and the giraffes, but the shamrock needs some tweaking. I won't mess with it now, but it'll be something to modify later. Santa and giraffes will debut at Lazy Daze in a week.

I have several events lined up thru early December, so worst case, I'm fully stocked for them. :-)

Hey Kevin, I have a vaccum hooked up under the table of the saw that runs out to a Dust Deputy and shopvac. It works well, probably capturing 75% of the mess. Here it is beside my portable AC unit that I have blowing into the cutting space.

I expect to have a couple dozen left over. LOL Nah, my goal is to sell 200-250, but I simply don't want to run out of anything so I went overboard. I don't want to have to say "Oh, sorry, I don't have any more XYZ breed of dog with me..." My experience so far is that puzzles are purely an impulse buy... if I don't have it, they won't order it.

LOL, or I'll need it to haul all of my unsold puzzles back to Mayberry Beach. Rumor is I have stiff competition at the event.

Excellent Larry, thank you for sharing those links.

I was shocked, my first year cutting dog puzzles I wondered what the most popular one would be... Black Lab? Beagle? Pit Bull? Nope... Dachshund was #1 in 2016 for me with Shepherd coming in 2nd place.

Nice work Duke. Well done.

Hey Brian, it's a popular one for me that's why I wanted to find similar ones. I have 12 kids puzzles that I currently display, I sold 7 today and 10 last week. I have 3 more design I'll be making this week for a total of 15 and I'm taking 10 of each for Lazy Daze. By the way, if the weather forecast holds true, it is going to be PERFECT weather... it's normally 90-95 degrees and right now it's expected to be 83 each day and sunny. I look forward to meeting you in a week.

As I'm wrapping up my cutting for the big event in a week, I'm down to only needing to cut the kids puzzles... and I'm soooo glad... I'm about burnt out and the kids puzzles are so easy and quick that I am very much enjoying the "break". Anyway, one of them that I do is a bunny with a baby bunny inside as one of the pieces. I got it from a pattern book that I have, but wondered if anyone else has or knows of other ones that are similar... an animal with a baby/mini one inside. I think they're very cute and the bunny is very popular. Thanks for any leads. Iggy

Happy to help Travis. I'll gladly answer a few questions compared to the work that you do to keep SSV up and running. Thanks for all you do. It's the least I could do. And don't let it ever be said that Iggy didn't do the least he could do.

Very nice work... Love me some hockey. Go HURRICANES!

Very nice Duke. That's one that I likely won't make since I use poplar, those thin antenna would snap right off.

Hey Roly, I've thought about selling them un-oiled, but they look soooo much better when they're oiled that I'd be concerned they'd be less attractive and wouldn't sell as well if they were dry. The majority of them are purchased by people for display purposes, not for kids to play with.