Iguanadon

I don't have the mechanical skills or the time to take my saw apart, put it back together again, have several leftover parts after 40 hours of cursing and screaming. ;-) My full time job and my spare time being spent cutting, just doesn't allow me the time to learn how to dismantle the saw and learn how to maintain it. I know I won't be happy with the Craftsman, but I must have a saw for the next 3 days and that's my best option available for pick up tomorrow morning. Such is life, it's my own fault.

For a couple of months I've been thinking "Iggy, you should buy a 2nd saw so that you have a spare." I've been checking Craigslist but a decent one hasn't popped up. I should have bought another DW788 and been done with it. Now I'm paying the price. Mine is making noises that it shouldn't... some rattling, some squeaking, etc. There is a Dewalt service center here, so getting it repaired is no issue, but I can't afford to go 2 weeks without a saw... Especially right now. I have an event coming up and I'm cutting like crazy getting ready for it because I'll be out of town on business all next week. I be screwed. I'm thinking of picking up a cheap Craftsman from Sears tomorrow just so I can keep working thru Sunday. I just wanted to rant. I feel better now. :-)

Thanks Hawkeye... other than one of her fingers being fatter than the others. ;-) Bugged me, and I was going to fix it but someone bought it yesterday.

My event yesterday went very well. It was of course my first year doing this particular one. The pottery vendor next to me had told me this was always her best event each year. but at the end of the day she said it wasn't nearly as busy as usual. For me however, it was one of my top 5 days with solid sales of 35 pieces. The highlight of the day was the administrator of the zoo in South Carolina was here on vacation and was very intrigued by the zoo animal collection (Lion, Gorilla, Elephant, Giraffe, etc) and we swapped cards. He said he'd be interested in having them in the gift shop. I emailed him last night thanking him for speaking with me and maybe we'll come to some sort of an arrangement. Fingers crossed. I've been trying to get in touch with the NC Aquarium that is just 5 miles down the road from me but haven't been able to get my foot in the door yet, but this inspired me to try again and I'm asking friends in town if they know anyone within management that they can connect me up with.

Hi Roly, Harvey Byler is the artist behind all of the animal puzzles that I make. His patterns are available on Wooden Teddy Bear site, about six hundred of them including cars, trucks, etc. http://www.woodenteddybearonline.com/x/home.php?cat=100 I was fortunate enough to track him down and he was kind enough to offer his services to do custom names within animal bodies when I get requests. He's an Amish gentleman in Ohio. We communicate by phone and he snail mail sends me the patterns when he draws them. He does amazing work. He's also a scroller. A shame he can't join us here on the forum.

Amazing work. You have much more patience than I do! Approximately how many hours of cutting is involved with one of those?

Fabulous work.

Thank you Melanie, you're too kind.

Jim, that's definitely a problem with cutting puzzles out of thick stock. And the harder the wood, the more likely you'll have that issue. I've tried using black walnut and red oak and more times than not I have to toss them out as I end up putting too much pressure and flexing the blade while cutting and they won't slide apart both ways. I have found poplar to be the Goldilocks wood so far, it's just the right hardness and I personally like the color variations which add character to the finished product. BUT... it's rather brittle with a tight grain that will snap easily in any skinny areas.

I started making a dinosaur puzzle too... now look at me... LOL Nicely done. Puzzles are definitely addictive.

Thanks Steve, I very much enjoy cutting all of these puzzles and Mr. Byler has hundreds of patterns so I'll be certain never to get bored. Swing by tomorrow. It's at the Carolina Beach Lake from 10am-4pm. 40+ vendors to do a little Christmas shopping.

The suns were setting. :-) It's nothing you're doing wrong. It has happened to me as well at times. Nice work!

Having focused on dogs, then sea creatures, then zoo animals, I'm now starting to make a horse series for those enthusiasts. Here are the first 3 that I've done. I have another 8-10 of Harvey Bylers patterns on the way. I have an event tomorrow, local handmade holiday festival. Perfect weather, should be a great day.

I use shelf liner. Very inexpensive and sticks well. Spray adhesive on that and stick pattern. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AS9NC6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Took me a split second... but Noel to you too. :-) Nice work.

Looks nice Casey, what size and type blade did you use?

Breathing is highly overrated. ;-) Alright, alright, I'll start looking into setting up the Dust Deputy.

Oh, there's definitely dust, but it isn't escaping the plastic bubble and that's all I care about. I can sweep it up when it gets ankle deep in there. ;-) The issue with dust collection is noise. I enjoy the peacefulness of sitting and cutting and only hearing the hum of the saw. I have thought about setting something up in the attic space above my work area and I may pursue that eventually.

I haven't had any issues the past 2 months, but it has been summer time and I run the portable AC to keep cool in there. Now that fall is here, I hope to be able to work in there without it, but may have to turn the fan on to circulate the air a little. I do have a gap over the grey wall cabinet. I didn't totally enclose it as I didn't want Mrs. Ig to come out and find me dead on my stool. :-)

Being a joker and prankster, I refer to it as my Dexter Kill Room... for those familiar with the TV show Dexter that used to be on Showtime.

I bought a Dust Deputy and a ShopVac (seen in pics) but I haven't done anything with them. I've had no issues and haven't felt the need to try to set anything up. Sure, I have dust all over the floor and on the saw and the little shelving unit, but personally I don't care. I sweep it up every few weeks.

Thanks. 90% of the house is fully setup and functional. The only thing left is our bedroom. Mrs. Ig is in charge of all of that and I simply hang things where and when I'm told. :-)

When we moved into this new home almost 2 months ago, I set up a temporary cutting area by hanging plastic in order to control the dust and it has worked very well (see attached pic named FIRST VERSION). So I decided to make a slightly less temporary version. I saw this system (ZipWall) and really liked the spring loaded poles and the simplicity of it. I actually found them to be cheaper from Home Depot and ordered them online and they arrived at my house in only a few days. I ordered 2 sets of 2 poles, I didn't need the 4 pole kit which included a carry bag and other items I didn't want. http://www.zipwall.com/xcart/ With the new layout I was able to re-gain the use of the entry door into the garage that I had originally enclosed within my first version. For entry into and out of the plastic room I simply taped on an extra flap over the "door way" as a way to reduce dust from leaking out the opening. The nice things are that I have more space in there, I'll be able to vent my portable AC thru the small doorway rather than having to raise the garage door slightly and best of all, if I change my idea or want to do something different, it's very simple to move things around.

Thanks and yes, already planning on ordering new cards with the website on it. For now, my Facebook page has a big SHOP NOW button on it that takes them directly to the new site. Honestly, I'm not expecting much but I wanted to at least have the ability for folks to make purchases.

Well, that was simple. Drop down boxes within the various categories of puzzles is now done. If anyone else is looking into an ecommerce website, I'm using Shopify and I'm very pleased with them so far. Easy setup and very helpful support.