Rolf

I have not been on here for a while. This discussion caught my eye. We all end up with a saw that hopefully meets our needs. When I joined our newly formed club in 2004 most of the "seasoned" scrollers had Hegners the rest of us had an assortment. My wife bought me a New Delta SS350 simple great clamps, A year later I bought myself a Hawk G4-26. Still have it. For me the clamps were easier to use than the Hegners, you could easily top feed the Hawk. I still have it but it is going to my nephew shortly. I now have a used EX-16 with Pegas clamps (travel saw) and a new Pegas 21". I like and prefer the tilting arm vs table for bevel cutting. I do maintain all of my own saws. The Hawk is and has been awesome. and so far the Ex and the new Pegas are behaving themselves.

Nice job Denny! I don't normally like Red Oak but it really pops on this piece! It is a fun one to cut. If I do another I will do some carving on it. When I did the testcut I couldn't get the backer color right and was running out time to send it to FC, so I found a piece of matt board with a color that worked for me. There will be a few more of recently found JGR fret designs in future issues that I am currently test cutting.

I would not use cardboard as a backer, it just wouldn't look right to me. That said I did use a piece of Matt board for the backer on the Heron in the spring issue of SSWWC . It had the exact color I was looking for. What I have used as backers is resawn logs that I cut to about 3/16" then run them through my drum sander to about 1/8". Free wood with some beautiful grain. I also get a lot of boxes between Amazon and Chewy. I cut many of them up and use the pieces for when I spray paint stuff. Also the Chewy can trays are perfect for keeping works in progress pieces together.

Love the frame! The bird house is really cool.

Great idea Frank. I have been using a couple of granite slabs for years for my assembly work. and for small stuff a porcelain tile. I like the thick glass. and will add that to my collection. In the machining world we always had a surface plate, huge precision ground slabs for measuring etc.

Actually they are not as delicate as they look. I do like a lot of details, but for years I have been using 1.5 mm (1/16) BB, Unfortunately my local supplier isn't carrying it anymore. So I will probably switch to 1/8 which seems clunky to me.

The first couple of years we would put a stack of each ornament out. We no longer do that, now it is one or two of each then replenish when sold. We also have to have something new every year, as we have several of our customers tell us they have a tree dedicated to our ornaments. Talk about humbling.!

With rare exception we don't box anything other than Ornaments. I hope to do a high end Artisan event this summer to sell Intarsia pieces and turnings. I will provide a box for the Intarsia pieces primarily to protect them for transport. I will get professional pricing help for this event.

Thanks for the nice comment @kmmcrafts Kevin. We have been selling Ornaments since 2005, not sure who's idea it was to box them. Probably my wife. They are clear topped boxes and we put sparkly felt under the ornament. It really makes them pop! It is a bit of additional work but my wife enjoys the process. The Jump in sales was dramatic! The boxes make it easy for someone to gift the ornament with just a bit of wrapping paper. I cut 6 at a time and charge 12-15 ea. I only do a couple of events a year. The image is from 2009.

DGman that is some selection.! A lot of beautiful work. What are your prices on the compound cut birdhouses?

That is why I have never sold any intarsia at the craft fairs that I do, I have a very good friend that runs a high end gallery in the village I will have a discussion with him about it. Plus input from my forum friends around the country that sell Intarsia. I have only donated some of my pieces to local charity auctions and they did very well.

I only do two shows a year and they are coming up in a few weeks. One is consignment, they get 20 % but I just drop my work off and they do all the rest. (i just mark my work up to compensate) The other is my Church, that I have been doing since 2005. I have a significant following and always do very well. Next 4th of July I plan on doing a local "Artists on the Lane" for the first time. That will be all Intarsia and turnings, I will be one of only two woodworkers. My friends in the community have been pushing for me to do this for several years. It is a rather affluent nautical community I may even sell my recently made Owl. I just have to price it, which for me is the difficult part.

I already had some Kreg clamps from the pocket hole Jig. I use those clamps on a lot of other stuff. But the inline clamps are super, When I first got them I was surprised that they were plastic. But they really work great especially when I sand stuff.

This video shows how it works and some things he didn't like which I have never had any problems with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbgVJng7gy4

I use a Led light ring with a 5 diopter, I wear progressive glasses so that works perfectly for me. The magnification is perfect for me. But have a look at the focal length and Magnification number and decide which is best for you.