Iguanadon

Now that I have you under my spell... Very nice work.

Oh crap, I better hop on Amazon and find a quick-ship windmill!!! It likely won't come until late in the day tomorrow, so I may not get a chance to set it up until Saturday after the farmers market...

Summer Santa is coming tomorrow! He arrives in a big brown truck wearing brown shorts and shirt and he's making a special delivery to Iggy because he's been a good boy... well, he hasn't been mean for a few hours... A brand new Hawk saw will be on his brown sleigh... Counting down the hours... Can't come soon enough, I'm down to my emergency back-up DW788... it sure is cutting smooth compared to the one I recently wore out.

Thanks Ralph. It's all trial and error with the coloring, and my latest learning experience... don't wipe the excess off after dipping in the coloring... I thought it would cause "bleeding" on the edges, but it turns out that it doesn't and it makes the coloring darker. Give it a try. Just dip, shake off any excess and set the pieces aside.

No offense. I gave her that price when she gave a very bland, generic description of what she wanted when we were on the phone. When she provided examples, they were more complex than she led me to believe. No worries, I'll let her know the timeframe is too tight anyway. Thanks everyone

Guys and Gals, I received a phone call out of the blue yesterday from a woman looking to have a sign made for her husbands tree house (man cave). I asked her to send me an email with some details and below is what she had to say along with pictures of random examples of maybe something that could be done. Here's the thing, she needs it quick, their anniversary is coming up on the 18th. When I spoke with her I told her something like that would likely run about $30-$35. Take a look at what she has to say and the samples and if anyone is interested in a little project the next couple of days, please let me know tonight so I can let her know one way or the other tomorrow. She lives in South Carolina just as an FYI. Thanks! ============ Thank you for speaking with me this afternoon about a sign I would like as a gift to my husband for his treehouse. His treehouse has a northwestern national park lodge type look to it. I have attached a few pictures of signs with that type look to them, for some sample typestyles. I know these signs have bears or deer, but don’t need a picture of an animal or anything like that. It needs to say Kirk’s TREE HOUSE The sign will be on the treehouse outdoors so it needs some kind of sealer on it to protect it from the weather. I’m thinking like 18’ wide, but it does not have to be exact. Here are the examples she included:

Funny, I was thinking about this a few days ago and was going to ask. I go clockwise and wondered if that was "normal" for right handed people. I'm very left hand oriented in many things and I tend to think clockwise cutting is a more left handed tendency, but wasn't sure.

I HAVE A TRACKING NUMBER!!!! UPS delivery scheduled for Friday... Yippee! Yahoo!! I probably won't get it early enough to play with it Friday so I'll have to wait til after the farmers market on Saturday to set it up and have some fun. P.S. the part that was causing the problem was the table... not a moving part, so I'm not concerned. They had a new company start making the tables and there was a slight problem which has been resolved.

Hi Tony, After making and selling them for a year, it still doesn't feel like a "job" to me. I find it very relaxing to go into the shop and make a couple at a time throughout the day, ending up with 7-10 completed puzzles each day. I don't restrict what I make, I make whatever folks like and/or ask for. I work full time, from home, and this is a nice distraction and break during the work day in between conference calls and emails. Since each one takes me under 30 minutes, I have the personal satisfaction of a completed item every half hour which is what I like. I hope that helps explain my personal mindset. Iggy

Sorry the day wasn't better for you Tony. It's a total mystery sometimes why a show doesn't do as well as you'd think it would. Keep at it.

Harvey Byler's SEA TURTLE is one of my top sellers being that they nest here on our beach every year and folks really get into the critters. A couple of months ago I came up with an idea/design and had Harvey draw up one that says CAROLINA BEACH... In the 7 weeks I've been selling it, it's now my top seller. A week ago Saturday I had a customer come up and really liked it and asked if I could do one for the place where they have a summer home... CAPTIVA ISLAND... so I placed the order with Harvey and I cut it today. The customer said they know the guy that runs a gift shop there and they'd show it to him and maybe he'll want to try some in his shop. I hear that a lot, so I never hold my breath. I had the guy that runs the gift shop at a zoo go crazy over my zoo animals. We emailed a couple of times, then he disappeared. Another time I had the head of the Chihuahua rescue group get excited about the Chihuahua puzzle and I offered suggestions such as spelling out RESCUE in the body and then they could sell them (I'd give them a discount) and they could stimulate donations, etc... Never heard from her again... Anyway, here are the original Sea Turtle, the Carolina Beach version and the custom request Captiva Island Iggy

Hi Newfie, I use poplar because I like the color variations in the wood, it adds an added "dimension". I sell them all for $25 each. I thought about charging a little more for some of the more complex ones, but then there are also some that are simpler, so in the end it all evens out.

I hope to never hear those words coming from my bosses mouth. :-)

As more and more of you decide to give the puzzles a try, I figure I'll let you know how my sales are going... Just got home from this weeks farmers market and sold 29 puzzles today, slightly above average. A very broad range of animals purchased today by all of the wonderful folks roaming around the market. Make them, and they will come... And seriously, thanks to those of you who have purchased patterns. It makes me happy that Harvey's patterns are getting a sort of revival right now and are of interest to many of you. Harvey says thanks as well. Iggy

Mwahahahaaaaa, another one... I will rule the WORLD soon!!! Nice work! I love seeing everyone enjoying them as much as I do.

Nice work Pete. I really like those giraffes.

Follow this link and scroll down, it gives details about the motor. http://www.hawkwoodworkingtools.com/WebsitePages/The-Hawk-Scroll-Saw.html But I haven't had any issues with the motor on my Dewalt's, it's the bearings, sleeves, pivot points, etc that start making a lot of noise after 6 months of intense cutting. The Hawk requires virtually no maintenance, in theory.

So, I decided to call again yesterday to get a status update on my Hawk saw. Ordered it online June 11 and when I called them a couple of days later to see how long it would be showing as AWAITING FULFILLMENT on the website, they told me it would be a month... ugh... ok, well not great, but whatever... I called again 2 weeks later to see if things were still on track and that's when I was told that now that they're done harvesting the wheat crops, they're back to making saws (see previous thread) and looking at about 2 weeks. I wanted an update, so I called yesterday and she said "about 2 weeks" at which point I told her I needed a more definitive date since that's what I had been told a week ago otherwise I'd need to cancel my order and get my money back. She said she'd check and let me know... 24 hours later, I still hadn't heard anything so I called again... she put me on hold, comes back on and says it's shipping out Monday. They were having a problem with a part but got it worked out (that doesn't excite me very much LOL)... She'll call me Monday with the tracking number. I'll wait to receive the tracking number before I get my hopes up of seeing the saw next week. I realize they're a small operation, I'm not dealing with Dewalt or GE, etc, but... their website really should state an approximate shipping timeline, or simply say "Please call before placing order to check our lead time." especially since the minute you place an order online your credit card is charged. They have been incredibly nice and friendly, but that only goes so far when they're holding $1700 of my money and I want my merchandise. I truly hope the saw lives up to my expectations after wearing out 2 brand new Dewalts in just 14 months of cutting animal puzzles I need something that is going to stand up to some serious cutting. Fingers crossed. Iggy

I use a shop-vac with a Dust Deputy and have it hooked up under the hole for the blade so it catches probably 80% of the dust. But as mentioned, the shop-vac noise will likely be more annoying than the dust if indoors. In my garage it isn't so bad.

No reason to start another thread for these... 2 new breeds cut this week... Chin (Japanese) and Vizsla. I get requests for unusual breeds now and again and what I do is tell them I don't have one with me but I do offer them. I give them my card and ask them to email me and I'll make one, send them a picture and if they like it they can buy it, but no obligation. They never bother emailing, but if I get someone else at another time asking for the same breed I'll order the pattern from Harvey and cut one for display. Chin and Vizsla are prime examples... I've had 3 people ask for each of those in the past month, so I'll put 'em out on display and see if anyone else comes asking.

Good question... it's very random... I'll go 3 weeks without selling a single RESCUE for instance and then BOOM, I'll sell 3 in one Saturday. That goes for all of them. I never know what the "puzzle of the day" will be. And I always have the oddball one or two that sell unexpectedly but that's why I take 120 different breeds/animals with me each week... ya just never know what someone will pop up and ask for. I enjoy when someone comes up and says "I bet you don't have a Boykin!"... "I bet I do... here it is..." "Oh my gosh, nobody ever has that breed! I'll take it!" See... Sold 5 RESCUE's the first week of the Farmers Market, and then only sold 1 the entire month of June... go figure... Rescue 05/27/17 Rescue 05/27/17 Rescue 05/27/17 Rescue 05/27/17 Rescue 05/27/17 Rescue 06/24/17 Rescue 07/01/17 Rescue 07/01/17

Saturday was week 6 of the farmers market here in my town and sales have been about as consistent as they can be... Puzzles sold = 27, 29, 33, 24, 24, 26 No complaints, it's just the right number for restocking each week while continuing to cut and stockpile for the big event in August. Nearby town, Southport puts on a tremendous 3 day event for the July 4th holiday including arts and crafts vendors. Over 130 vendors within a park in town. I found out about it too late to sign up this year and will look to do it next year... although... July 4th is on Wednesday next year, so not sure which 3 days they'll do the big shindig... Just wondering if having it in the middle of the week will impact visitors and attendance... Something to ponder for a few months... I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday. Iggy

Heck of a deal. I see at least one person ahead of me in line. :-)

Beautiful work. Within 30 seconds of watching the video I knew there is no way I could do that.

Wonderful work. Thanks for sharing.