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I was invited to put a table in local antique car club show and swap. They have approximately 15 craft tables..So it being a car thing,I am making these names and hope they will sell there.Going to try and get as many names as possible. These are not finished yet..They will go on a stand as is the picture of the corvette one. Also cut Steve Goods patterns of 57 chev and 51 Ford truck. May try to do car portraits from the gallery here also.Couldn't get a good picture.will do better when finished

Missed the vinyl so turned these out quick this afternoon

I'd normally use my CNC router for stuff like this, but it was tied up with another project. I wanted to try a new (for me) hinge, experiment with different wood combinations, and spray lacquer from a gun for the first time. Erik = Santos Mahogany with Figured Eucalyptus inlay. I learned from this one that it looks better when the figure is on the box and the letters are plainer. Sherry = Bubinga with Guatambu inlay. I like Bubinga, thought I had some yellowheart scraps for the letters but couldn't find it. Edward = Low figured Leopardwood with Wenge inlay. The blade went a bit wonky on the final d. Both nice woods, but next time I'd brush on a 2nd or 3rd coat of sealer before spraying because the pores are very open. All approx 5W x 9L x 2.25H.

Done this for a friend who works in a charity shop that gives me the odd box of vinyl gotta keep the vinyl supply chain happy

Had some time today to carrying on trying to learn these ere puzzles I keep seeing on here so gave these ones a go will need to order some more patterns soon off iggy at this rate lol

I was asked to make this for a memory by a friend, his dad passed away in March, he was a train enthusiast & was a member of the RRRR club locally, this is a HO train club where they get together every Sunday. Made from red oak, 4 coats of clear Deft. Comments as always. Thank You

Well my Wife and I are going to The Smokies in the A,M, (FINALLY) YEHI!!.so I thought I would post my latest cuttings. I have been wanting to cut the CSX for sometime.and finally got around to it.I plan on visiting the Train Museum while we are over there.and going to Cooter's. I will be back in 4 days.You All Take Care.

Those are nicely done Frank. If you are going to display them where folks at a show can pick them up I suggest that you shrink wrap them. You can still seee the puzzle inside but the customer is not suddenly juggling puzzle pieces.Thanks for sharing them with us. DW

I hate to read this type bashing. You started out saying you were not going to bash it and then here you are. If you do not like the saw sell it plain and simple. Whenever you buy any tool weather it is new or used you take for a test drive, just like a car. You are use to the Dewalt than why not buy another dewalt?? I have an older Hawk 220 and 226 and love them. They are not the barrel clamps but the next generation up from that. I also have a Hegner 18" and a Dewalt 788. I think the Dewalt is a pain in the neck to use with the use of the arm having to lift. The blade tightening system is not the same every time you do fret work. With the hegner and RBI it is one lever that sets the blade tension the same every time. Each of us can tell one another their love of the machine they use the most and try switching and things are different and not as smooth. Sell the saw and get back your money and buy another dewalt saw because you will need more than one. Oh yea oil and grease it to because if you do not it falls apart. China loves this part.

Just finished my new project! It was a challenge, I haven't made anything this big before. I'm kind of a newbie, and I'd definitely recommend this project to anyone. (even a newbie can tackle this.)

Delivered these custom plaques Saturday. The original pattern was by Steve Good. I changed it a bit and added the name.

Thank you guys for the help on the patterns.

I have a couple of wedding coming up - 1 next weekend & one in July for family members & close friends. I decided to cut a piece for the Weddings. Thank goodness for stack cutting or i would still be cutting the 1st one. 1st one complete and the 2nd one all i have is the frame itself. Pattern came from Cherry Tree and is a Wildwood Design called Home Rules. Woods are 1/4" Cherry & maple and 1/8" Baltic Birch

Came up with these skulls to go with the others I done the other day from Vinyl used spray can paint for the colours cut with a #3 & #5 spiral

These will go in my friends store.

DW, I'll play devils advocate here... actually I have found that people need to touch them, feel them and realize they're puzzles to truly appreciate them. I've had some in stores and of course had to shrink wrap them and they don't sell nearly as well. I keep all 120 of mine on display in their natural state when I'm at an event. When a purchase is made, I shrink wrap it for them on the spot for easier transporting. And of course the 200 duplicates I have with me behind the tables are all shrink wrapped in advance.

Well done. Add them to the Halloween decor section of your sales page!

Looks like I'll be out of a job soon... Nice work Frank. You picked some great ones.

Looks like you are getting the hang of it Frank !

Those are neat , Frank !...You are getting good with the paint !

No they are not like the Jets, the clamps that come with the saw look like this Clamp, the second picture is it snapped into place under the table. The last picture is the Old Delta clamps that were offered as a modification kit from http://www.pozsgaidesigns.com/ . The kit is no longer available as Delta stopped making the clamps. It is a simple cam action clamp that does not distort the blade.

Rolf are you saying that hawk clamps are like the ones on the new jet, I have gotten use to the jet clamps and like you have them loaded and ready to go, RJ

Had a similar problem. Found that the bolt holding the arm at the back had worked loose. One of the common problems is the adjustment at the front of the speed controller. There is a video by the Gwanette woodturners that goes through the disassembly of the 788 and various fixings. If you can not find it let me know and I'll dig it up. Bearings may be a problem but probably not. How old is the unit? The disassembly looked to be formidable but was not. Very straight forward and it took less than an hour to take it apart and put it back together. There is another site ( I think it starts with a person's name) that has all kinds of fixes for the 788 various problems and adjustments.Again if you can't find it let me know and I'll try to dig up the links.

I had asked my wife for one of the $99 special Festool sanders for my birthday, needless to say there were none to be had. On my birthday there is a big box on the table and she said," I am sorry I did not get you what you wanted" . A bit disappointed I opened the box and it it was the Festool ETS EC 125/3 sander. I am really happy with this and ordered the Festool Midi vacuum to go with it (It arrived the next morning). After playing a bit with the sander and vac I am totally impressed with how quiet and dust free a job it does.

Yes she is Kevin. Now my problem is what to get her for her up coming birthday.

Scrollsaw703 You are right on the spot. JT I agree with you also, especially with the foot switch. I tried the BM 20 at the last open house and at a couple of other shows. Absolutely loved it, There is only one thing I would change on the saw, and that is the clip material that keeps the clamps in to beryllium copper a lighter springier material, but that is just me tinkering. My 2005 Hawk G4 26 has the same removable clamps. The attached picture is the bottom clamp. I think it is the simplest clamp and if you strip one out from being heavy handed it is easy to replace with out removing parts of the machine like you would do on a Dewalt. I keep a bunch of pre-loaded clamps ready to go for very fast blade changes. I don't get the problem, I hold the clamp with my left hand and tighten the blade with my right. Why is that difficult? KMMCrafts, Interesting comment on the Delta clamps, I think they were the best clamps ever for a scroll saw, so much so that I put them on my upper arm of the Hawk. The trick with them was not to over tighten them. I adjust mine so that there is about 1/8 " before the cam tightens, perfect grip every time. I did not change this because I don't like the Hawk clamps but for speed. One day I will do a short video on my blade changes.

Great job. Yiu could definitely sell those.

Very nicely cut. They should really like that. Thanks for sharing this with us. DW

Those came out great Frank. Thanks for sharing them with us. DW

Nice work thanks for sharing

Nice work gordie thanks for sharing

Cool looking piece thanks for sharing

They are fantastic Frank.....love the paint job...you have some nice talent

Good work Gordie I also think you will have people asking for orders of their own cars to be done good luck with it hope your sales rev off

so you let the cat out of the bag for your vinyl suppler.good to know!

She will be more than happy with that Frank, it is sooooooooooooooooooo cute. Great work. Marg

Different. Cool. Great work Frank.. Marg

John Old Dust

Rob. wonderful little piece. I also love those little fret boxes Dick heppnerguy

Fine cutting Gordie. Wish you all the best at the show.

Nice work Kevin. The top left and middle one is my husband's favorite "saying" Thanks for sharing.

after only using it for a couple of hours i dont really know that i want to get used to it! other than the usa made motor and electronics and being heavy built i dont think it is all it is cracked up to be. the on/off switch is not in a real handy spot,the blade holders are crap, and the more i use it the less i want to use it. this is supposed to be a enjoyable hobby, not a headache with the saw every time you have to make an inside cut! i also got the manual with it when i bought the saw. i have done what the manual says and i still dont like the clamp system. i am glad i bought this used because i would be upset if i had paid anywhere near the $1200 price tag they want for it new. I read it different. sorry. He said he wasn't going to bash it and as he added more posts it got worse. Others will find the blade system works great. It is an opinion. $1200 saw is not a better design, Some disagree as I do. To me and I am entitled to my opinion too that sounds like bashing. As far as trying to buy a saw from reviews especially one of that much money you are kidding yourself. Would you buy a car sight unseen and no test drive?? Everyone is use to the saw they use the most and it is human nature to not like something they are not use to. If he used that saw before he used a Dewalt he may have had a different opinion. Everyone here has a opinion about the saw they use and how much they like it. As far as the switch thing goes, use a foot switch and take the switch out of the equation.

I'll be using it a lot more plus teak oil.Thanks Marge!

Here's my 1st attempt at stack cutting. Pattern by Steve Curtis

I do a couple things to dry to deal with warping: as already mentioned - try to get quarter sawn wood. only purchase as much as you can use at a time - or stack whatever you can't use - then weigh it down to encourage it to stay flat. if warping does begin then you can try introducing moisture to the cupped side (a damped dish cloth or towel rung out as dry as you can get it works well) - and as soon as it flattens out (the wood will respond quickly) remove the moisture source and then weight it for a couple days to allow the wood to stabilize . if I can I try to avoid 1/4 wood for larger projects - will usually opt for a minimum of 3/8 and most often 1/2 or 5/8. regardless of thickness I seal all sides of the wood during the cutting with both painters tape and clear packaging tape (many of my projects will be on the scrollsaw for up to a month or more). I will also weigh the wood down on a flat surface between cutting periods (my tool box is ideal for providing a hefty weight). once cut - I will apply a sealing finish to the back of the project as well as the front to try to minimize moisture exchange. I should add that I do not purchase thin wood - I always purchase stock that is 2 or 3 inches thick and rough cut - then plane and resaw as needed for each project. Once resawn and prepared I will immediately tape, apply the pattern, then weight the piece down till completed and finished. I have done this regularly for several years now - not to say I have never had cupping - but - with one exception - it has always been minimal and very manageable - the one exception was when I didn't follow my own rules ..... Hope this is of some help. Jay

The first Saturday for the Carolina Beach Farmers Market is in the books. Memorial Day weekend, beautiful weather and a good sized crowd. Sales were exactly average today. 27 puzzles sold in 5 hours. So, no complaints. However, 11 of the 27 were unpainted dinosaurs at my new low price point of $10 bucks. Still walked home with a little over $500 in my pocket and it's just 4 blocks from my house. Normally vendors are only allowed 7 Saturdays throughout the season but the guy that oversees it takes care of me and says I can come anytime I want, so any time the weather forecast looks good, I'll be there. Next Saturday looks good. So, not too many to restock this week which is good, gives me extra time to stock up for the mega event in August. I had heard about an event in downtown Wilmington 10 miles from home going on this weekend. We went and scoped it out this afternoon. It looked OK, but as my wife and I discussed it, it's 2 days (Saturday and Sunday) over Memorial Day weekend which pretty much ruins the holiday weekend for anything we want to do, so I likely won't be adding it to my schedule. I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. We're hitting the beach with friends who are visiting for the holiday. Iggy

Had a customer ask me for a couple of large Montana Wall Hangings out of barn wood. Her husband added their brand to them. After they were completed, she changed her mind and asked if we could add spaces for pictures. It was a challenge to keep the barnwood together while cutting out the frame holes. And I actually lost one completely and had to build a new one. But finally got it done. The great thing is I get free patterns at gas stations as the state tourism dept. sets out free paper maps for people! Using the maps, these wall hangings are about 33" wide by 19" tall. I know the one looks a little cluttered with the pictures and the brand, but that's what she wanted... All built out of 100 year old reclaimed barnwood.

Whilst waiting for some #3 blades thought i would carry on practising so done these 2 this afternoon

I'm in the SW too and I resaw a lot of my lumber to 1/4 or as thin as 1/16th. I found that many of the exotics are air dried and still a bit wet and will move a bit, especially this time of year. So if I need 1/4, i saw to 5/16 and let it sit for a few days before running it through the sander or planer. On the other hand, I have some air dried walnut that has been sitting in my lumber rack for at least 5 years and if I saw off a 1/8th slice it stays flat - I guess it finally reached a moisture level it was comfortable with. I bought some plywood from O'cooch a few months ago and they had instructions for dealing with warpage of thin woods: http://www.ocoochhardwoods.com/care_of_thin_wood.php