new2woodwrk

Nicely done - Looks almost like a sword. Questions about your technique: Are those done as inlays? Did you paint the pieces separately or once it was all together? Thanks for sharing

If it helps, I always sand first then glue. Pictures worth a thousand words

TLTR I have over 200 copyrighted items in my repertoire having been a musician for over 40 years! I also own a Trademark. IMO First thing one needs to identify is are they dealing with a copyright or a trademark! They are 2 different things and protected and monitored differently. Those that believe the original artwork is the copyright are correct. You can NOT take a photo from a photographer, make it a pattern and then enforce copyright on it (notice I say "enforce"). You will be able to "claim" copyright, but the photographer of the image will be the actual copyright owner if it were to go to court. We see this time and again with music, how changing or sampling a small piece is often a attempted copyright but is in fact an infringement on a copyright. Patterns, unless they are hand drawn from the artists imagination and do NOT resemble an image from which they were "copied" are copyrighted if they choose to do so. Simply posting on the internet does not guarantee one a copyright. Tangible medium can NOT be changed such as the ability to change the date on a file that is posted to the internet. IMO - It is not a question of "doing the honest" thing - that IMO is a bunch of hog wash. I'm going to assume "doing the honest thing" means one has never sped, ran a yellow light, jay walked, withheld funds from Taxes and any number of other "illegal" tasks etc. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". I'm guilty, I admit it. I am NOT perfect. Often times you will see "artists" SAY something is copyrighted, when in actuality it is not because they have not gone through the actual process of copyrighting an item. They may believe as many, that by simply "posting" an item it is automatically copyrighted. Similar to how musicians will mail themselves a recording of their works and say "It's copyrighted" because it has a postmark. That has yet to hold up in court! It is a great way to protect yourself in the short run, but not if you intend to make money from your works. Copyrights are seldom enforced, and often with a good lawyer (if you can afford it) do not end in any penalty - take a well known photo company that purports to own EVERY photo on the internet! I've gotten cease and desists from them for years - they are full of hot air! Once my attorney sends them a request for proof of copyright and a cease and desist, they're done bothering me! Does any of this mean selling a product created from another product which is supposedly copyrighted guarantee a lawsuit? Nope, if you choose to ignore a copyright, you roll the dice - if you have the means to fight it, more power to you! Now Trademark, WOW that is quite another thing and is heavily monitored. HOWEVER, where it is monitored and by whom is interesting to note: Often times you will hear of cease and desists being forwarded when a trademarked item is used for commercial purposes in PUBLIC! By public I mean: the internet, on a website 3rd party or other (google can search photo's which is how many are found today), at a highly visible event (any sports game or sporting event etc.) or in many cases at small farmers markets/flea markets. Often the markets are not monitored directly, but rely on "whistle blowers". Once that occurs "release the Kraken" happens and often times will result in confiscation. Does any of this mean selling a product created from another product which is Trademarked guarantee a lawsuit? Nope, if you choose to ignore a Trademark, you roll the dice!

@Eric67 Try a heat gun or blow dryer When I have adhesive that won't come off easily, I simply use the heat on an area and the paper comes right up very easily! If the area gets hot, wear a glove and peel with the other hand Hope that helps

I have a formula I use for all my pricing but it basically amounts to Material cost + Hourly rate * hours worked = Baseline Baseline *1.15 = Baseline + Overhead (coverage for utilities, wear on tools, incidentals that you may not track well in materials (like glue and such)) Baseline * 1.25 = Baseline + Overhead + Profit (Profit is just if you think you will want to expand if you dont really care about that then dont include it) Hope that helps. Oh and just an FYI be careful of trademarked sports items. They are very prudent in regards to shutting down businesses operating without approvals. I've seen 2 small vendors here get swept up in trade mark infringement - and we are very small area.

Thanks all, some really good ideas ! Once again I knew you would all come through! @kmmcrafts This will be our first ever themed event. We continue to do our Saturday events and have pretty much stopped our Sunday events - too much work. We do also get invited to quite a few events now since our products are very unique to the area. Some are themed, some are more of the annual type which we have accepted now quite a few times including donating to various charities when they request items for an auction. We really like the auctions and get a tremendous amount of free marketing and a lot of word of mouth business. The annual events are your typical end of year, pre Christmas, etc. and we do incredible at these. This Pirate/Ren fair type themed event is an annual event that supposedly brings in over 15k visitors over 3 days which includes a big children's parade at the beginning. We have been hedging on doing it but they are going so far out of their way to accommodate us it is hard to say no LOL. They have generously removed setup and breakdown rules, refund rules as well as allowed us to have our trailer where we need. Another interesting aspect of this particular event is that there are only going to be 15 craft and food vendors. We do very well when there are limited vendors at events! Also, the company that puts this on, does several other large events during the year and we would like them to ask us to these as well. Some of their events have seen well over 50k visitors over a weekend!

When I run my dust, I run 2 main units: an overhead for air born particles and my main dust collector (the HF 2 HP). I do NOT start and stop either when I am cutting. I start them, do my cutting which usually lasts a few hours then shut them down and move on to one of the next phases or other projects. I do similar with my shop vacs that are connected to my table saw and sanding stations - I start them when I start the cutting or sanding projects and they stay on until I'm done cutting. I was told on another woodworking as well as an electricians forum (and believe to be true based on my experience with other motors) that starting and stopping them constantly decreases the life of the motor. The reason being the sudden start of a motor produces a significant impact to the motor when it starts similar to what happens when you start a car engine I know from experience computers suffer the same way and so I haven't turned off any of my computers for years (I restart them periodically but never shut them down unless on vacation). Works for me so that's how I run them

We've been invited to setup our booth at a Pirate and Renaissance fair style event. I'm looking for suggestions, ideas, links etc. for items (I can make most things into puzzles now) /puzzles along these themed lines. I have an abundance of water and fantasy items: Mermaids, sharks, dragons, unicorns, wizards etc. I'm looking for other ideas I may not have thought of or do not have patterns for. I have the Fantasy and Legends pattern book with the dragons, but if you know of another of those types of books please feel free to enlighten me. I will be doing my own research of course, but I know there are great minds here who always come up with things I never would have thought of... You guys/gals all ROCK! Thanks as always in advance.

Thanks all - knew I could count on you guys/gals! @daveww1 - Appreciate the response! I'm concerned that would hinder the puzzle too much. In fact we have a sample of ours that used that process to demonstrate what not to use on our puzzles when coloring them. @barb.j.enders - that is a very nice color. I can't really get a good idea of the red hue, but it does look very red! Question - how is it working with the Unicorn Spit product - is it thin enough to not interfere with the puzzle - looks like it works well for you? Thanks as always

Normally and for the most part aside from a few items, I avoid "coloring" our products. When I do, it is usually with a Minwax stain, Rit Dye or food coloring. However, I received an order/request to make a "Big Red Dog" puzzle. Obviously, it is a "Clifford" copy with out it being "Clifford" LOL and my current colors/formulas are not bright red enough. The wood I will use is Poplar, and the entire puzzle will be colored to look like a "Big Red Dog". I'm looking for suggestions/recommendations on a wood dye/stain to use. It has to be a nice deep, bright red and soak into the wood, and not be topical so as to interfere with the puzzle nibs (tabs). I really want the red to pop! I've been looking at Keda dyes and I really like their Red concentrate or Red powder dye - has anyone used these? Thanks as always in advance

Kidding aside, @Brianr24 where did you get the patterns? Are they fill size Intarsia you shrunk to size?

I think they all belong in the box of shame/scrap pile so feel free to unload that box to my address ASAP! Really nice looking projects! Thanks for sharing

I've been using/buying HP laser printers for the past 35 years - they are built to last. In fact the ones I am currently using are 14 years old and my first HP last me just under 25 years! Laser toner is very inexpensive as well. I do have a Brother multi-printer but since it uses ink cartridges I only use it for scanning. I'm not a fan of ink printers - they clog up and run out of ink very quickly.

The problem is more often than not your browser - download a different browser and try again

FYI - To the thread According to the Mill works shop I get my wood from, rainbow and other colored poplar, in fact any wood that has grain: The grain is often caused by the fungus and/or minerals in the ground the tree absorbs over time. The less fungus/minerals, the more blond the wood when it is cut. The closer cuts you get to the center (Heart, hence the name Heartwood) the darker it becomes.

This is often called "Heart wood". In fact, many of my customers request the darker and rainbow colored poplar. I have to disagree with the puzzles looking better with the blond. The interesting thing about the rainbow poplars is the contrast and warmth the colors give the puzzles. Some of the heartwoods we have, we actually charge a premium for products made from that.

Poplar can come from many different parts of the world and consequently can take on extremely different characteristics. Some such as rainbow poplar is very grainy, with lots of colors. Others take on a more blond look.

My deepest heartfelt condolences to you and your family. Your piece is a wonderful lilkeness and she looks like a wonderful woman. Best wishes

@barb.j.enders is very correct! Just an FYI and CYA for consideration - for anyone reading this thread... If your insurance co. decides what you do makes your home a commercial entity, they can/will cancel you. We are seeing that quite a bit here in our real estate market with Solar Panels - Jennifer and I are both real estate agents. The "supposed" sell back of electricity to the power co. creates a commercial entity and residential insurance company's are dropping home owners left and right. Many home owners are now unable to obtain residential insurance because of this. It happens when the insurance co. renews a policy and requests a 4 point inspection of the property. That's how they find out and how they "get" the owners on record. I have a separate insurance policy for the shop in the garage and write that off as an actual business expense. The policy is completely separate from my home owners policy so any claim can not be used against my residential policy. In fact my residential policy no longer covers the lower portion of my garage, only the upper portion which is a small "nursery" room.

I'm 100% that is steeve goods patterns - I have all of them if needed Army, Navy, USMC, USAF ets... I have then in a pdf called Ornaments.pdf. FOUND Check Steves site and look at Category: Holidays, and scroll or search to find Ornaments-27 - they are in there

Take a look at Steve Goods Switch Plates - there are some there I use for sports ornaments and he has one specific for bowling

Here are some pics @OCtoolguy / Ray I have the Neje Master 3500... Overview - Laser, board, mat and tape LOL One mounting block Both Mounting blocks 2 1/2" clearance from mat Hope that helps

I don't have "tall" items. All my engravings are for flat surfaces approx 3/4". If I did have larger items, I would purchased a different laser system

NP @OCtoolguy This is the one I use: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J45VHDV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 My laser never goes through the wood, I only engrave with it so no, it never damages the mat I have my laser suspended on 2 blocks. The Neje comes with 2 90 degree angle brackets. I mounted them to 2 1"x1"x 4" blocks on the edge of my mounting board It is not too unstable at all. I never adjust the height - if you have to adjust the height, then you will more than likely also have to adjust the laser it self. My set up, I set the laser once and have not had to reset anything. Hope that helps

I use these, smallest I've found: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TY190C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1