Olson Mach Speed blades

[rash_powder]

I've been cutting a bunch of the Christmas ornaments for friends from 1/4" poplar.  They are the ones Travis sells that you can customize.  

I started cutting them with Olson Mach Speed 5R blades, and actually bought more just in case I run out.  Yesterday, just for giggles, I tried a Mach Speed 3R.  WOW!  These blades just rip through the wood like mad!  I've had to completely re-learn what I'm doing to keep them in control.  They cut so fast I had to slow my blade speed down to avoid making mistakes.  

According to Olson, they have the exact same tooth counts; which I find odd.  The only thing I can figure is that the narrower blade width lets it go faster.  

On a side note, it takes me about 1.5 hours to cut one ornament.  How long do you guys take?  I kinda feel like I'm going too slow.  

Laters!

[dgman]

To help with cutting control, stack cut! Layer two board together. This helps with control of the cut, plus you get two ornaments in one. I usually cut three layer of 3/16” for my ornaments.
To stack cut, I use a hot glue gun on the edges of the boards to mount them together, but you can use blue painters tape.
As far as time, it all depends on the complexity of the pattern.

[kmmcrafts]

Dan gave some good sound advice..

It's not about going fast.. it's about quality saw time and a quality product at the finish line.. LOL Way too many things go into the speed factor to make it a apples to apples comparison, for instance blade types, quality user friendly saw, experience and complexity of the design being cut.. and the list goes on.. As Dan said.. stack cutting you make more pieces at one time cutting.. I stack cut 4 - 6 pieces of 1/8" and typically cut 3-4 stacks per hour..

[rash_powder]

I’d like to stack these but they all have a diff name and lining things up - especially stickers - is not my strong point.  
 

my wife is going to paint them so little detail mistakes are no worry as the business of all the decorations will mask them.  Also, I’ve found I see the mistakes until I pull the pattern and then they are much harder to see.

 

 

[barb.j.enders]

I have been making the Steve Good personalized snowman ornaments.  Finding them quite tedious to cut.  Using 1/8" bbply and a Pegas # 1 mg blade.  It is taking about 3/4 of an hour to cut one.  Been only able to cut two each session.  (Could also be because I have been sick the last week).  I was going to try to figure a way to stack cut them.  My thought was to cut all the blanks, those being the standard ornament and then match up the name plate areas.  I never did get around to doing that with these ornaments.  Maybe next year!  Regarding how to stack cut, I saw an interesting video on a facebook page that I will have to try.  The person taped both sides of the blanks.  Sprayed adhesive on the tape an the stuck them together.  When the cut was complete, just had to remove the tape and "voila" ! Multiple pieces.

[rash_powder]

I've put some thought into stack cutting, but the two troubles I keep hitting are aligning the stickers on already cut pieces, and everyone's name is a different length so I wouldn't know if I'm cutting a Karen or a Nicholas.  So its one at a time for me.  

45 minutes per ornament and I would think I was flying!  

[OCtoolguy]

2 hours ago, rash_powder said:

I've put some thought into stack cutting, but the two troubles I keep hitting are aligning the stickers on already cut pieces, and everyone's name is a different length so I wouldn't know if I'm cutting a Karen or a Nicholas.  So its one at a time for me.  

45 minutes per ornament and I would think I was flying!  

How about stack cutting everything but the names and do them individually.

[Wichman]

1 hour ago, OCtoolguy said:

How about stack cutting everything but the names and do them individually.

So Rash could cut multiples of specific sizes (lengths) for various word length, but how would you align the lettering after the cutting the first part ?

 

[OCtoolguy]

14 minutes ago, Wichman said:

So Rash could cut multiples of specific sizes (lengths) for various word length, but how would you align the lettering after the cutting the first part ?

 

You'd have to put a pattern on each layer prior to stacking. Just make sure you have them all aligned. Or, do the names first and then stack and cut the rest of the pattern. I'm thinking it wouldn't be really tough to do.