Iguanadon

Hello SSV Friends, Those of you that are familiar with and do your own repairs and maintenance on DW788's, I was hoping that I could get a complete list of all of the bearings and/or sleeves, etc that could possibly be needed when tearing down a saw to either lubricate or replace parts as needed. As well as where to order them from. Exact part numbers would be appreciated. I've read a few posts about various places to get them from, matching up numbers, sizes, etc and I hope that some of my friends here will share your experience and knowledge in order to not only save me a little bit of time, but to save me from ordering the wrong things or buying inferior parts. I don't mind paying a little extra for higher quality, so please let me know the best place and best brands to buy. I'd rather have too many extra parts on hand than to get 80% through the process only to find out there was one bearing or sleeve that I don't have on hand. So, don't hold back on the list. If you've experienced having to replace something, add it to the list so I'll have it on hand. I now have two DW's and I plan on watching the You Tube videos to learn how to tear down and maintain/repair them. I need to do one right now so that I have a backup saw ready when needed. And if anyone in the North Carolina area is willing to take on a student, I'd be willing to come to you and spend a part of a day learning from you via hands-on experience. Thank you very much in advance! Iggy

Well let's hope the first event of the season isn't the trend setter... A rather lackluster day selling only 16 pieces. The traffic flow of people wasn't too bad, just not a lot of buyers. The silver lining is I don't have to make too many in order to be restocked. ;-) Next event is a 2 day'er April 1 & 2. Hopefully it treats me better, although I'm not anticipating any new records. It's an herb and plant festival (the 25th annual which is why I decided to sign up for it as it's a strong, long running event so I know there will be a lot of humans there). I did hear from one of the women browsing my dogs that the local Kennel Club puts on a dog show every year in October... If they allow vendors, I'll definitely sign up for that. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone and GO DUKE!! ACC title game tonight.

LOL, I looked around my house and garage to see if I could come up with anything else to use, but no luck.

Setup for tomorrow is complete. Only a dozen or so vendors are there setting up so far, a total of 51 vendors will be in attendance. Booth space is only 8ft wide and kind of screwed up my planned table layout so I'm not thrilled with it, but it'll do. I have 106 unique puzzles on display, not including the colored kids dinosaurs. When I first saw my space I didn't think I'd be able to hang my new banner that arrived yesterday since I wasn't along a perimter wall, but then I noticed the post in one corner and I went home and grabbed my ladder and made-do with my rigged banner hanging system. Now we'll wait and see how sales go tomorrow.

Hi Rolf, Yes, I only do animal puzzles. I just started cutting them last June and fell in love with them. I found my niche and my passion. Until I get bored with them I guess. ;-) But, as long as they sell, I'll keep making them.

Ha! Don't I know it, no rest for the weary... Yesterday I took an inventory and I have 106 unique animal puzzles for display (and sale) and I have 95 duplicates wrapped and ready. I'm OK for this event, but I need to have a LOT more on hand for 3 big events coming up on April 1 & 2 (assuming I get accepted), April 29 and May 20. I average selling 26 pieces at the Farmers Market each week during the summer which is only 5 hours long and my best event was 45. Now it's just a matter of seeing what's in store for me Saturday which is 8 hours long and how many I'll have to re-make/re-stock. Hoping for a solid day. I get to set up my space on Friday so I'll share pictures later in the day.

I've been a busy beaver cutting 5 a day every day for the past 3 weeks in anticipation of what I thought was going to be my first event on April 29. And coincidentally enough, I built a new display stand this morning. Perfect timing. Oh, and a new banner I ordered from Vistaprint will be here Thursday. All the puzzle pieces are falling into place. ;-)

Quick story... My wife and I heard about and attended a local arts and crafts event back in October here in our town. 40-50 vendors in a large open indoor area. Nothing fancy, but very well setup and very crowded. I got there and said "Holy cow, how did I not know about this and sign up for it as a vendor?!?!?!" They do it twice a year I found out. Well, fast forward to yesterday and my wife tells me that she saw that the event is coming up again this Saturday. DANGIT! I missed it again, it's already full! Well, I figure what the heck and I send a message thru Facebook to the organizer and tell them that if they have any last minute cancellations I live just down the street and could fill in. Well, my phone rang a half hour ago and it was them letting me know they had a cancellation. Then she whispers to me "We have a waiting list, but we didn't want any more jewelry vendors and your stuff is so unique and interesting, we're skipping over everyone else to invite you." Quite flattering and always nice to hear. So, my season is starting earlier than expected, which is great and I'm excited to get things rolling again in a few days. Lesson of the day... just because an event is full doesn't mean you shouldn't reach out anyway. Ya just never know... I'll report back after the event to let everyone know how it went.

Very nice. If I ever get bored with what I do, I could definitely see myself making those.

After taking about 6 weeks off from cutting, I'm back at it with sawdust flying. As a reminder, I have a day job, fortunately I work from home so I'm able to sneak into the workshop during the day when things are quiet. I had originally planned in my mind that I'd stock up over the winter by making 200 puzzles, 10 each of my top 20 sellers last year. My first event is April 29 and it's potentially a big one so I want to have extras on hand, plus another big event coming up May 20... So... I set myself a goal and in my usual neurotic way, I had to establish a rule for myself. Rule being that I have to make 5 puzzles a day for the next 10 weeks giving me about 300 by my April event (assuming I miss a few days due to business travel) Week 1 and 2 complete and goal achieved easily. On Saturday I lay out the patterns on 5ft pieces of poplar and cut their outline out and stack them up next to my saw. I then cut 5 of them into their pieces every day which takes me less than an hour and a half. I oil them in batches of 20, letting them sit and dry for the full 4 days til the next batch of 20 are ready. Now I just need to sell them all. :-) Spring will be here before ya know it! Be sure you're ready. Iggy

Hey Scott, Small world, I lived in Cary for 20 years as well. Yeah, I know it's a mixed bag event and I really don't need the stress of thinking I'll sell hundreds of puzzles. LOL I just received the invitation/application for Lazy Daze in Cary in August... THAT is the craft event of a lifetime and they've expanded it to 2 days recently... I'll apply for it and try it once to see how I like it. It will be a wild one. That event, as you know, draws 50,000 folks and they're all there to shop.

After taking a break in January, saw dust is flying again. I received an email yesterday letting me know that me and my work were accepted to take part in the Cary Spring Daze event coming up on April 29th in Cary, NC (a suburb of Raleigh). My old stomping grounds. It'll be wonderful to go back for a visit and be one of the 150 or so vendors showcasing their crafts. A beautiful day of arts, crafts, music and food. Here's a snapshot of my cutting area I just took... I have 40 animals ready to be cut into puzzle pieces and another 200 scheduled to be cut. I need to be fully stocked for Spring Daze as there are typically 15,000 attendees. If each person buys 2 puzzles... ;-)

I've always been happy with WTB. Remember also, that if all you're ordering are a couple of patterns. Add a note to your order and they'll email them to you for 50 cents each instead of their standard shipping rate.

Those are great Steve. I'll buy a handful from you for my grand-daughter.

Hey Hawkeye, yep, just been taking it easy after cutting over 500 puzzles in less than 6 months. I'll get back on the horse and cutting again soon. Although, I may be taking a new job within my company that MIGHT take a bite out of some of my leisure time... I'm hoping not, but if so I'll simply cut back on the number of events I attend this season.

Hi Randy, So... Harvey is the original artist of all the animal puzzles that I cut. He's an Amish gentleman that lives in Ohio and I was able to track him down and start communicating with him a few months ago. Nice fella and obviously he does great work. When I get a request for a custom name in an animal, like a dogs name, he charges me $20 to draw it and I pass that on to the client. Normal price is $25 for one of my puzzles, $45 for a custom name. Iggy

Hi, thanks You're rather new here, so welcome. It's 3/4" poplar actually. Check out my website when you're bored and you'll see all the fun I've been having the past 7 months. If you're interested in trying some, I sell the patterns for the original artist (Harvey Byler) for just $2.50 each and I email them right away. Iggy www.woodcraftbyscott.com

Nice work Steve. I hope all is well inland. ;-)

Hellllooooooo SSV Friends, I took about a 6 week break from cutting... I felt like a newbie again when I cranked the saw up two days ago but I found my rhythm again pretty quick. I received two custom orders for dogs with their names in the bodies and had to stir up some sawdust. I thought I'd share why I have "an artist" (Harvey Byler) do my custom patterns... One of the custom orders I received was needed pretty quickly for a birthday gift. I called Harvey right away and asked him to draw it and get it in the mail to me. Well, sometimes it takes 4 days by snail mail to reach me and I was coming down to the last day. I knew it was on the way and there was nothing I could do about it but I wanted to be prepared if it wasn't in my mailbox the next afternoon so I attempted to draw it myself. Three letters... big deal right, the dogs name is MYA... I can do this... so I start with the outline of the Husky pattern and this is what I come up with... (see drawing) Fortunately Harvey's pattern did arrive that day and I'm so glad it did, because it sure made mine look like my 4 year old grand-daughter drew it. HAHAHAAA!!!! Well, I have a lot of cutting to do in order to stockpile for the upcoming summer season. My first event is at the end of April.

Hi Jim, This one may be of interest. I'd be happy to send you my copy as I won't be using it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565231384/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Iggy

Hey Jim, Nice looking card. My free advice is that you have the "race tracks" and "jigsaw puzzles" wording on the card twice. Pick one place only. No need to duplicate within such a small space. It's fun to showcase what we do, isn't it? Keep up the great work. Iggy

Lookin' sharp Dan. Great work.

I have gone through 3 different designs so far and am very happy with my current one. 1) It shows what I make as a reminder to folks that look at it a week later. 2) It's slightly unique in that it's vertical instead of horizontal 3) It's rather concise without a lot of clutter Use code THANKS20 for a 20% off discount from Vistaprint. Good luck and show us what you come up with! Iggy

And another useless adage is ... "What is something worth? Whatever someone will pay for it." The best gauge will be yourself and a few family and/or friends by simply asking "What would you pay for this if you saw it and liked it?" It's difficult and you may come up with a price and then adjust accordingly. I found the Goldilocks Price for my items so that I sell enough each week that I can restock during the week without being overwhelmed. Good luck with your new endeavor.

Hi Ray, I shrink wrap them using these bags and a heat gun (or hair dryer). I enclose one of my business cards on the backside. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YWNL7IU/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1085XS0GN0V3T See attached picture of how they look when packaged. You may want to display one open, the simplest one that you offer. For me, I set up a PUG so that folks can "play" with it, touch it, feel it.