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BadBob

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Everything posted by BadBob

  1. BadBob
    I agree with @barb.j.enders . If you really want to use a sticker please make it removable. So the buyer can easily remove it if they don't like it. I don't care for the blank back on the ornament. I would have engraved both sides with the same or another photo. The back of the car comes to mind.
  2. BadBob
    I have long thought that a laser could be used for engraving a pattern on wood for cutting with a scroll saw. You just gave me yet another reason to want a laser.
  3. BadBob
    I did a lot of reading posts on cutting flooring. Some flooring will eat blades, but the experiences were mixed. I decided that I would have to try it and see how it worked. If it cost me a few blades to figure this out, so be it.
  4. BadBob
    One of my neighbors threw out a large pile of 2x2 foot flooring samples. I took some home to try. The vinyl samples were horrible to cut. The problem was with the glued-on padding. The glue was soft and gooey and mixed in with sawdust, and smeared all over the edges. However, some laminated (plywood) hardwood samples were lightly glued onto a 1/4-inch hardboard backing. I cut this cross from one of the panels. The backing came off while I was cutting, and I used tape to keep it together. I wound up with two crosses: one plywood and one hardboard. You can see the seams where I glued the tongue and groove panels together. After gluing, I put the cross on a nonstick surface and put two five-pound weights on top to hold it together and flat. I used two Pegas #3 MGT blades to cut this. It cuts much as I would expect from baltic birch plywood. The photo is not very good. I had never photographed a cross before.
  5. BadBob
    I've had a few sales, but not enough to call it a comeback. My conversion rate dropped to zero for about a week. That hasn't happened since I made my first sale.
  6. BadBob
    Try this. Free USPS and UPS shipping software | Pirate Ship
  7. BadBob
    What there is to learn in these books is about the finishes themselves. Finishing wood is finishing wood. The techniques may differ between a tabletop, a carved leg, and a fretwork shelf; however, you are still finishing wood. I just finished two fretwork shelves with satin polyurethane. I used a brush and brushed it on straight from the can. We do lots of different things here.
  8. BadBob
    If you want to learn about finishing, look for books by Bob Flexner and Michael Dresdner.
  9. BadBob
    The first few words in my title are generic descriptions followed by details and a bit of something at the end that helps find the listing. I used to do detailed descriptions until I learned that Etsy search didn't search the description. After I read the Etsy announcement, I discovered that I had refined my tags to the point where there wasn't much I could add to the description that I did not already have somewhere in the listing. I will keep it in mind, but I am not going out of my way to create something new for this. I do not believe it will affect my shop or how I do things.
  10. BadBob
    Poplar, Red Oak, White Oak, and Pine are the primary woods I use. I also use smaller amounts of Ipe, Walnut, Cherry, and mystery wood. I even cut some MDF. What cuts the best can change from one board to the next. Any wood can have checks that you can't see that will break or fall off.
  11. BadBob
    The sellers pay the fees. Many people complain about them, but I add them into my pricing. I did not include the fees when I first started, but the fees were much lower then. Typically there is a slow time after Christmas, but it depends on your business. I usually sell items in the dead zone, and I have had sales the week after Christmas. My biggest month so far has been August.
  12. BadBob
    My Etsy money goes into a bank account; I still have every bit of it. I was saving it for a big purchase. One of those scrolling handsaw or maybe a new scroll saw if I ever get to the point where I need one. I have other income, so it isn't going to hurt me too badly. But I really would sell enough for it to pay for itself. My revenue was steadily going up until January, and at first, I thought it was the usual after Christmas slow down, but now I am convinced it is not. My Etsy views are way up and still climbing reasonably steadily. My Etsy views are up 517%, and My Direct Views are up 218% over last year. Even the SEO Views are up 153%. So it isn't for lack of people looking.
  13. BadBob
    I have some low cost items and working on more. So far they are paying their way, but that is about all. I posted on this topic in an Etsy group mostly because I could not find any mention of it and wanted to see if anyone else was seeing what I was. They were. Lots of them. A few have closed shop because they haven't had a sale in weeks and many were struggling. I'm happy this is not my meal ticket or I would be in big trouble.
  14. BadBob
    Since the first of January, my sales have been dropping steadily. It is now at the point where my expense is greater than my revenue. I have lots of lookers but no buyers. I started the year with sales up 40% over last year. Since then, sales have been in a slow death spiral. This isn't the typical slowdown most shops experience during this time. I always have sales in the dead zone, as I like to call it. Not this time. I did the math today, and I'm in the red for the last 30 days. I have had my shop since 2017 and have always made a small profit. I sold enough to pay for the expenses. With my conversion rate approaching zero, Etsy will likely be billing me unless something happens soon. Are you experiencing this?
  15. BadBob
    I use both Gimp and Inkscape. When I first started, the most challenging thing was the language. If you don't know what something is called, you can find how to do it with Google. There are many tutorials available online for both.
  16. BadBob
    https://www.google.com/search?q=alphicons There is the book and some in one of the magazines.
  17. BadBob
    There is a newer book. Publisher ‏ : ‎ No Starch Press; 2nd edition (December 7, 2021) Language ‏ : ‎ English Paperback ‏ : ‎ 576 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1718501757 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1718501751
  18. BadBob
    There are a lot of these style patterns judging from the number of photo I have been able to find. I spent a lot of time looking for them. I'm good at searching the internet, but I could not find the source. They may be on a non-English website, or the files have some decipherable name. (14egw^!ZyGx2PQArmPg.jpg, for example) Another possibility is that they are in a book out of print and did not sell a lot.
  19. BadBob
    Have you made anything with Alphicon patterns?
  20. BadBob
    Very nice!
  21. BadBob
    Custom signs I understand.
  22. BadBob
    One thing I do not get is signs/plaques. Steve Good makes a lot of patterns for these. Most of them look like a waste of time and wood.
  23. BadBob
    That would be me. Although, I occasionally see one I like.
  24. BadBob
    I own an older Excalibur EX21 and an old RBI Hawk. If I were buying new today, I would buy the Pegas scroll saw.
  25. BadBob
    Update: It has been more than 1 month and I can still smell the danish oil.
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