Iguanadon

Thanks. Yes, I use poplar. I like the color variations that come with each board. I absolutely enjoy making each and every one of them. It's very relaxing to me. I have a full time job, so this is a great way to de-stress throughout the day. Here ya go... a freebie pattern so you can give it a try. I sell the patterns for Harvey Byler, the artist behind them. Let me know if any questions. Iggy Rescue1Harvey.pdf

I wanted to try making a video of my overall puzzle making process, so I shot a series of 3 videos this morning and found software that allowed me to merge them together into a single clip (not free software, had to buy a license for it). Here is my first attempt. My phone kept unfocusing and focusing which I know is annoying, my apologies. I'll try again some time to make a better version but this should give you an idea of my overall process which I've shared out here in words before. After making it I realized I had about 55 puzzles in various stages of my process... Kind of nuts, huh? Let me know what you think and if you have any questions.

Nicely done! You have snatched the pebble from my hand, you are ready to take on the world now.

Yes, very popular. We signed our 3 year old grand-daughter up for her first batch of lessons last year. It was adorable to see a class full of tiny ones learning how to strum.

It's a good nervous though... have fun with it and share pictures of your setup and let us know how it goes. Good luck!

Crap, didn't mean for this to be in Bragging Rights... my apologies.

I just heard from Nilus at BM and had a nice 20 minute chat with him. Long story short, the problem with my current saw is most likely the lower arm. After describing what he thought it was he mentioned that he'd bet that I could wiggle a certain thing and if it moved, then it was confirmation of what he thought, so I went out into the garage and sure enough that's what it was. So, the good news is we may have pinpointed the issue. He's making a fresh batch of lower arms and will ship one out next week. I'll update once it's in hand and installed on the machine. I'm still willing to continue trying to get this resolved rather than throwing in the towel. I really want this saw to work out for me. Iggy

Nice. I made a set of the musical instruments but I've never put them out on display for sale. I'll never display the saxophone... that one is a real bear to cut and I don't want to make any more of them. LOL

So, I got the new banner to go along the top of my tent last week, and I'm very happy with it, but I had used the DACHSHUND because I wanted long, narrow animals for that banner...which then duplicated the Dachshund I had on my front banner... and the front banner was all white, while the other two banners had yellow backgrounds... So, thanks to Vistaprint being so inexpensive ($18.67 after using THANKS20 discount code)... I just ordered a new front banner... I had to go buy some yellow posterboard to snap the picture and I kept the wording simple since my name and handcut are already on the other two banners. It will arrive next week.

Hey bb, Not sure what you mean by expensive. $5.64 a roll that covers 36' of board, it comes to less than a nickel per puzzle. It peels right off saving me a lot of time after cutting as there is no residue or anything. What am I misunderstanding? I don't worry about blade lubrication or lifespan. I get 4 to 6 puzzles per blade.

Correct, he is Amish... he uses his mind, a pencil and a piece of paper. The guy is very talented. He does ask for a general idea of what you want. When I asked for a mermaid I sent him an outline of one I found online. The swimming one was mine, another of his customers asked for the sitting one.

Sitting Mermaid finished today... along with the Swimming Mermaid I showed a few days ago. Both new designs by Harvey Byler. Patterns available as all are of his patterns.

I order it online from Walmart and I order enough to get free shipping.

I do enjoy making the silly things. My goal is 10 puzzles a day as I'm still stocking up for my big show. After that I'll go back to my daily goal of 5 a day. Even at 10 a day I'm cutting only about 3 hours a day scattered throughout the day as I can pop into the garage and cut 2 in between conference calls.

Hi Jeff, yes I cut one to see how I like it. The pattern is available. There are the two mermaid options, Swimming or Sitting. Feel free to order them.

Welcome! Glad to see a new face now and again. Everyone gets tired of reading stuff from Iggy. Depending on how much you scroll and the size of your patterns, clear shelf liner paper is just as good as blue painters tape and is a lot cheaper. I use massive amounts of it. I used to order it from Amazon but they stopped carrying the 12" wide so I started ordering from Walmart. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Clear-Laminate-Peel-and-Stick-Shelf-Liner/16224481

Oh wow, I wasn't aware of the shipping being so expensive. I've only ordered from there once and I didn't remember that being the case. That's a shame.

I forgot to answer your question... mineral oil does not make them darker, but it does bring out the grain and natural color in the poplar. Here are ones I just cut and have drying... Every time I go to Lowes/Home Depot for wood I look for varying light and dark pieces. Some animals look better in a darker tone.

Hi Ray, Welcome to Animal Puzzle Anonymous... we feel for you... Yes, food grade mineral oil is what I use. I buy it from Amazon by the gallon and I get 350-400 puzzles out of a gallon. I dip the entire finished puzzle in, shake off the excess and then place them on a home made drying rack for up to 4 days to air dry. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VNI1JI0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions. Iggy

LOL, I already have 3 and I've worn 2 of them out... That's what started this whole endeavor to find a more durable saw that requires minimal maintenance/repair. P.S. One of those 2 worn out DeWalt's is still under warranty and I'm taking it to the service center in Raleigh when I head to my big event in a couple of weeks.

They QC'd the heck out of the 2nd one and it was perfect when it left the shop. I'm 99% sure it's a UPS/shipping problem. Which sucks as that's out of their control in a way, but they'll need to come up with a solution to avoid issues by others.

What do you call a dozen mermaids? A herd? My work from yesterday and today now drying... along with the corresponding bases for those that have bases.

I'm trying to be very patient with BM... Nikole just had a baby and Scott Smith is her husband, and grandpa is Nilus, so I know they're short handed as Scott is helping Nikole at home with the kids, etc, etc... But even sweet, lovable Iggy has his limits. They've had my $1700 for 2 months as of this coming Friday and I have no working saw. Keep in mind while watching the videos, the frames per second the camera is filming changes how things look in person a little bit. The overall vibration of the saw is worse and the side to side movement of the blade is even more pronounced in person... Can you imagine trying to start a cut on a line with that blade vibrating side to side like that? I was getting a headache after an hour of cutting because the vibration was also making the piece I was cutting move so much it was "blurry" and my eyes were straining to focus on the lines I was trying to cut along. I swear to all of you the tension is perfect. Perfect ping, no blade breakage, no flexing while cutting. If it weren't for the forward/aggressiveness pitch of the blade adjusting all by itself due to vibration, my puzzle pieces slide in and out both ways as they should. I truly appreciate the comments, ideas and input by all of you.

Honest to goodness, not a tension issue, I am 100% certain of that.

I hadn't planned on sharing these until I heard back from BM, but since I'm not getting any updates, take a look at these two videos in their entirety with your sound on and if you click on FULL SCREEN you'll see it clearer, and yes the blade is fully tensioned with the proper "ping".