Entry holes ?

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

For me every project is different. I try to drill all the holes at once but I do not do projects with hundreds of holes. There are times I will drill all the holes that I can with a larger drill bit and save all the tiny holes for the next round of drilling. I have made mistakes that were unfixable so I put that piece on the side and use it for scrap to make a jig for another project or use it to hold something down and put weight on it. I rarely just throw the wood out. Not much more to that that needs explaining. Learn from your mistake and you will maybe not do it again  but maybe you will. Not the end of the world. Have been there too when you get an entire project done that took some time and droped it beyond repair . Life goes on. Happy scrolling.

[Foxfold]

On ‎10‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 10:10 PM, lawson56 said:

At the beginning. Like you I have made that mistake, .there have been time times I have missed drilling a hole or 2.  I just calmly slam it in the scrap bin and start over.

I know that's what I should do '' stay calm and slam it in the scrap bin' but I'm a bit of a 'drama' Queen, so when it goes  wrong,  everyone knows about it, in fact you'd think the world was ending      LOL,  thankfully my family know me well and just 'wait' it out and then offer me a coffee. !!!

[kmmcrafts]

I use to study the pattern like Brad mentioned.. great advice he gave.. Now I have made so many projects that I just most times naturally know where to start the holes.. I guess mentally I still study the design.. just don't have to sit and do it..

Also would like to add a little about the blade as one thing wasn't mentioned.. Most people like to use a reverse tooth blade to keep the fuzzies on the back down... but if you're working on a very delicate piece.. sometimes you don't want that reverse tooth blade as the reverse teeth tend to pull up on the wood so to speak.. as you re cutting somewhat in both up and down direction.. which creates a bit more bouncing of the wood.. not bad and most times doesn't bother the work piece.. but with very fragile cuts.. sometimes best to go with a standard blade..

As for whether I drill my holes all at once really depends on the project at hand.. I typically do for most cuts.. BUT.. for those very detailed projects with a lot of holes... I like to do those in either 10 or 20 holes at a time.. WHY? because when a customer ask me how many holes are in the piece I can tell them.. you see... I put a tally mark for each set up holes I drill and when the project is finished I know just how many holes I drilled and cut.. I don't really need to do this.. but.. it's kinda fun to know exactly how many holes you drilled and cut... As someone else mentioned.. going back and forth helps you get up and move around a bit too.. When you do a portrait with 800 or so holes.. it sure is nice to drill and cut those last 10-20 holes and see a project coming to a finished piece.. I don't do many of these type projects anymore simply because they are harder to sell for the price points I need to get a decent profit from... they do sell... just not very quickly.. and stack cutting 3-5 at a time leaves you with quite a lot of inventory to move at a slow rate.. I like to make products that aren't going to be here with me for more than a year or two.. I have a few portraits in my storage that I made way back in 2007-8 that haven't really sold.. The photo below is one I did for a fund raiser for my daughters 4th grade class trip...  and she is now in her second year of college actually going into her third year... stack cut 4 of these and I have this one left.. The silent auction raised $80 for this piece way back then..    Clocks and ornaments seem to move quite well for me... Ornaments being the most profitable and quickest easiest to make.. Portraits are quite profitable too as long as you stack cut them and don't mind sitting on them a few years..   

 

Edit to add:

This piece really isn't all that detailed now that I look at it.. But I remember back when i cut this... it was my first most detailed piece I had cut at that time.. One of the 4 had a big piece break out of it.. ( might be this one ) and as someone mentioned... no body really knows because they don't see the original design.. so just because a piece breaks. doesn't always make it scrap.. in some cases it does though..  I stack cut two of these 4 from solid 1/8" red oak and two was cut from BB ply.. I like to get some made from Oak as they seem to be better sellers.. but standard oak ply in 1/8" isn't very strong.. so I sandwich two oak in the center and have the top and bottom piece be the BB ply for a stronger cut.    

Edited November 1, 2018 by kmmcrafts

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Nice cutting Kevin. I never did have much luck cutting and selling portraits either and never really got big into it. I try to make things that are usable such as napkin holders, shelves. mirrors. and of course clocks. The Navy plaque that someone showed here by Steve Good is probably the latest pattern that had many holes that I did but turned out not too bad after all. You do get in a rhythm.  

[Old Joe]

Great, and varied advice, folks! Personally, I usually pre-drill all of the holes, start cutting in the center and work my way out. Ithink it’s kind of fun to look at them from the back as I go along.

[ScollSaw Slasher]

I'll have to agree with most of what you say Kevin, especially about not using reverse tooth blades on delicate cutting. Was doing Steve Goods latest fire truck and word art pattern on a quality piece of lumber. Well that little occasional bounce broke the delicate piece sections twice in the word art where it wasn't salvageable. Luckily, that's where I started and by only drilling 10-20 holes at a time, still have a good size hunk of lumber for a future intarsia product or whatever. Actually, haven't done much word art or delicate fretwork projects in the past few years concentrating more on intarsia, so I'm relearning the whole process again.

[NC Scroller]

With my ADHD my head would explode if I drilled all the holes first.