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Had a couple more shows last week. Now to build/replenish stock along with a few special orders. A name sign, a Bacon Pig for a guy’s farm, and an octopus! Throw a few dogs, T-Rex, and a frog...it’s been a busy week.

Two projects finished Monday, January 20th. Both are Steve Good patterns. I cut these on the demo Pegas Scroll Saw. I used Pegas MGT #1, #3, and #7 blades. Picture are deceiving and the "Be Mine" Heart Box is only 1/3/4" x 4" x 4". A tiny box. A little story about the "I Love My Valentine". I made one several years ago and glued the front pierce to the backside of the second piece, so the words are backwards. Dianne still has it on her wall. Good Memories.

I made some puzzles from my Saburo Oguro Book. Maple, from donated wood. Not oiled yet.

Just finished this sign this weekend. I want to thank Brenda for doing the pattern for me. At the last minute they ask if I could put a heart in place of the & sign so I printed one out and glued it over the & sign and even painted red behind it. Gave it to them this morning and they loved it.

A few things I finished this weekend. Both Steve Good patterns. The Candle holder is 11 inches high and 7 wide, made out of B/B. I haven't put a finish on it yet. Still undecided. The Tic Tac Toes game is made out of walnut and Birch. It's 5 1/2 x 5 1/2.One of the candle holders I'll give to my granddaughter. She has about 30 yankee candles. LOL. One of the Tic Tac Toe games is for one of my teacher friends at school for the kids to play with when they can't go outside.

It was mentioned that a Celtic knot that I'd given to my Mom (an early project, still learning my way around my first saw) was too small to be used as a trivet. Makes a good coffee coaster, though. The same conversation, I was asked about crosses as trivets. Easy enough to do, just make em big enough! So, since last weekend was taken up with funeral arrangements/events and no sawing was done, and this coming week is a business trip (no after-work sawdust), I decided to cram as much as possible into one weekend. LOL 1x12 whiteboard from Lowes for most of them, the "round" one is a 1.75" thick piece of battleship armor I believe. That thing was DENSE. Probably a pressure-treated beam, I nabbed several pieces from skids in front of local housing construction a while back. Went through three FDUR #7 blades on that one piece.

You pay top price for a saw, you should be able to expect top service........

This is a Steve Good Pattern.... At first sight I just knew I wanted to build this. And I did and am very Happy with its looks. Bet many built this also......................Danny :+}

Now that the holidays are over I can start going on to other things to cut. I thought I would push myself to do something with a challenge (don't forget... I'm a newb ) Here's how things are going so far... /Oscar

One of the most popular signs in my Etsy store has been the table top Area 51 Sign I designed several years ago. I thought I'd update the sign a bit with a variation on the theme and also use a raised inlay to make the sign a bit more interesting. I cut the sign from maple, but I stained the raised inlays with a chestnut stain to make them stand out. Also cut a bazaar jagged base to accent the piece -- even left the blade burn marks as an accent. I have the pattern here for you if you would like to try it, but I have to make two notes here. First on the pattern I had a problem with the number 5, since the head of the alien is out in the open. The five becomes rather weak. You might want to include a little band of wood where the five opens, when cutting. Also I used 3 degrees on the saw tilt, might want to use 5 degrees instead. Experiment. Pattern can be downloaded from my Free Pattern Page: http://baggetta.com/pebooks/puzzle_patterns.htm Video: Also did a video as I constructed this sign. If you'd like to view it it is available on my YouTube Channel.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdAq26AGCLE

Found this pattern on Steve Good's site and wanted to make it for my niece's grandson who is just about 18 months old or so. Used some extra red oak plywood for the puzzle itself and then routed/carved out the backer from the inside of a board I was already using for routing practice. I placed the first finger hole too low to properly push the middle piece out so threw a second one a little higher. My 21 year old daughter painted the pieces for me and then I sprayed some lacquer over everything yesterday. It's funny how the finishing part of the project can take longer than the actual work sometimes Adler Puzzle by Scott Baker, on Flickr Puzzle Back by Scott Baker, on Flickr Adler Puzzle Pieces by Scott Baker, on Flickr

Got $100 for it and donated that plus a bit more.

The HeartKnob Here's a little project for Valentine's Day. You might want to make some of these little HeartKnobs for your scroll sawing Heartthrobs. This is for people who might be finding it a little less easy to tighten that little black knob on their Excalibur, Pegas, or Dewalt (the list goes on). Just insert this over the black knob and snug up your blade before cutting. Some people might find this a bit "heart wrenching" but others might use it and take your concern for them "to heart." Your heart might "sink" when a blade breaks, but.... ENOUGH WITH THE HEART JOKES!. Ok. I hope you like this project. I cut mine from 3/4" cherry and rounded the edges on my router -- you might want to do this if you are going to give it as a gift, but it can be cut from just about any wood. Also might have to adjust the size of the insert hole, depending on how close you cut it. You can download the pattern from my Free Pattern Page: http://baggetta.com/pebooks/puzzle_patterns.htm

Found this pattern in Scroll Saw Magazine Fall issue 2006. Always fun to make a new design.

I said I was not going to make comments on this issue because it will get locked as the other one did if pressed too much. I did not call Doug, he called me. I resolved to let it play out as long as it would. I did a fix around to make them work to get me through the fall season. I too have other saws that I could easily fell back if needed but I am mechanically inclined so I can work around many things that come up on various tools. But the point is what if someone was not and depended on the parts whatever they may be. It is just not fair to customers to run a business on shoestrings especially one with that rep. As I said they keep it up and there are other saws hitting the market that are making inroads and climbing the want to have ladder. I could tell from his voice he did not care if I cancelled or continued. He said he would like to continue to have my business and I told him I will see what happens in the future. Again these are not $500 saws (brand new) At least I expect a little more emphasis on service. Maybe the new way of thinking and I am old school. Maybe they stocked a few parts and put them on the shelf when mine was made. It is not like parts take up alot of real estate on a shelf. Kevin said it before there has not been much changing on these saws over the years except mainly the motors and now the blade positioning thing so why not keep standard parts available and if it is a money thing then get the heck out of the business. I am sure others have voiced their disapproval to them and just maybe something will become of it. I hope so. But right now I warn anyone buying an RBI saw weather new or old parts and service maybe a thing to deal with. Good luck.

I suggested to our compatriot Brad (Scrollsaw703) that since he is fairly close to them and has a Hawk saw that he manages to do miraculous work with, he should contact them and put forth the idea that he could be their customer service rep right from home. I don't know if he gave any thought to it but to me, it would be a win-win for both sides. He's knowledgeable and available. They need someone who isn't part of their farming business to be a go-between for the customers and the company. I hope he follows up on it.

I agree with JT, They are awesome saws.. Every dealing I've ever done with them has been less than stellar service though.. even way back before I bought my new saw a year ago from last December.. I never gave them any grief about it because I posted on here or somewhere 4-5 years ago about their service ( probably here ) and someone mentioned to me that I was ordering parts for a 35 year old saw.. and gave me the talk about how you can't even get parts for most saws that old... So I chalked it up to that.. Then I read all the stuff about small business and the Farming etc etc.. The saws ( I personally feel ) are so good that waiting 6-8 weeks for a part was worth it to me.. I have multipal saws.. so not a huge deal. When I ordered my new Hawk December 2018 and didn't take delivery until almost April 2019.. I jokingly said something about a discounted price for the frustration.. I wasn't expecting anything but the words from the one girl was like yeah we have to pay our employees and blah blah.. That showed me they care less about the customer.. or at least that lady did.. I thought having the other girl on the phone I would have gotten somewhere with that... Now I'm not so sure.. I also hate to see anything happen to the company and that was one reason I waited so patiently in the past for my saw parts and my new saw.. The issue is... not many people will be as understanding as I was... They really need some business 101 schooling and customer service schooling... I'm sad to say but... I'm doubtful they will change things around unless they hire out someone else to run the place.. Good machinist and engineers... not good business operators.. RBI had a real good business going and made a BIG name for their quality machinery ( not just scroll saws ) but I feel Bushton has only been running on that name.. and solely that name.. Many people including myself had been and still does respect and defend the Hawk saws.. but ... how long will they be able to hold onto a name like that while running the place as they do.. word gets around quite fast this day and age..

Yes RBI saws are some of the best on the market so do not get me wrong when I went on the rage of poor service. But alot has happened in the scrollsaw world over the years and there are good quality saws on the market. For the price we pay for RBI saw you would hope parts and service would be better. Not getting into the small family business thing because to me that is BS and service should be better. But have no complaints for all the years I had these saws and all the time spent cutting on them that the only things I needed to replace is the blade holders and the front tension lever. Things that normally wear out. Knock on wood I never replaced or oiled or did anything with bearings on those saws and they are still cutting like the day I bought them and I have quite abit of time and wear on these saws. I do hope things improve also.

It would be a shame if anything happened to RBI ( Bushton Manufacturing ) I feel they make a great saw - one of the finest in the world ( IMO )

Nilus Orth did not leave Bushton. He is the President of the company. He is the one who just sent me another email telling me of my tracking numbers. Maybe he stepped aside for awhile I have no idea but he is still there. I have had no reason to deal with this group of people before this. Any dealings I had were with the original owners when I bought my new saws. Back then I bought them at a woodworking show and they had reps going around to all the shows representing and showing their saws. Hegner did the same and that is how I bought that one too. Got show price when getting show prices actually meant something, and one of my RBIs I got the show saw for even less. heck all I had to do was come back when show was over and they did not have to cart to next show. Got a good deal on it. I see Rolf did the same thing as I mentioned I did with that plastic clip. I made a spring steel one and it is better than what they had and I have no problem with it. Very easy to do. From what you are saying they did finally change that. I told the original people of that problem years ago and I believe others did too. Those were the days when you pick the phone up and there was someone to help you right there. I have no idea if things will improve there but still only 3 guys in shop and they work when not out farming. Doug went into the small family business thing but I reminded him that I too am a small family business so as I said I did not want to hear excuses. He did not even offer to send a couple dozen blades as a sorry gift or anything so still not my favorite company to do business with. Here is hoping things improve and all you RBI owners good luck when dealing with them.

Niles was working in the shop on one of the machines a few weeks ago.

Snowed in.....plenty of time to cut this weekend

I love cats! Yours are very nicely done.

Dynamic work as all your work is. Absolutely gorgeous!

Very beautifully done Dave and awesome inlay.

Really did not intend this to be a progress thread, but thought I would post that I did make some progress today. This is eating the blades, but I expected that. I have used 6 blades so far. I want to keep going, but the back hurt and eyes are tired. If I don't quit, I will be sorry.

Great job Paul. I would like to come over and see it before you give it away maybe.

I almost didn't look at this because I am more of a dog lover. But I really like the puzzles. Very clean and cute. I looked for Saburo Oguro's book, but it is out of stock.

Geez that's a gorgeous box! Thanks for sharing One day, maybe ...

Not getting into any comments here about RBI because last time I got my hand slapped here. Just wanted to let those know who may have an interest I got off the phone with Doug who I am guessing has taken over as a fireman(customer service) to put out some fires over there. Not sure if Raven Nondorf is still there or not . But got a load of excuses about my order and was asked if i still want it. As I told him he has me over the barrel nowhere else to get parts. So yes send it. So after 5 months almost to the day I should get my order. What this all means about parts or new saws orders I have no idea because he said there is still 3 guys in the shop and that is all. All I can say to those who are buying a new RBI saw or are buying a used one good luck and hope all works out well for you. Maybe some expediting will happen with a change in voice.

My main reason would be more stability for the tight cuts and fret work.

They did go to a metal instead of the plastic on the new saws... Not sure when they did this but my new saw is metal... It'll be that way with your new "Upgraded" upper blade holder you get with that kit you ordered JT.. Both upper and lower blade holders have that metal tab on them as both holders are removable.. You will see once you get your order..Hopefully very soon.. As for anything else being plastic.. The front angle mount is plastic... BUT not anything Bushton did... it's the design that RBI did when they went to the G4 saw.. as I've said.. the new saw is basically a G4 with a upgraded bearing plate and motor.. as there was some motor / bearing issues with the G4.. I do not know of any other plastic.. As for China made... Everything with the saw mechanism is made right in Bushton KS... Some of the parts are China made.. which are bearings.. maybe other "outsourced" parts I don't know... This is also not something Bushton did... My old ultra saw had bearings in it that said made in China... as well as my old 1993 220vs.. BUT.. these days it's getting hard to find anything that is 100% USA made.... JT best of luck with getting the parts.. Hoping the new guy will get things turned around.. I won't go into detail but the one girl that was answering the phone before shouldn't have been working there... One other time when I got the girl that does know whats going on.. I couldn't hear a word she said and she couldn't here me because a kid was screaming in the background and throwing a fit about something.. Probably why she posted she was taking a break from the business to raise the kids..I won't go into any more than that.. They have a "dealer" named Mike from Florida.. I lost his contact info but he could get you parts and saws at a better deal... and you could avoid the phone lines in Bushton.. Mike knew his parts etc too..

Never stop buying toys!!!

I've been experimenting with doing compound cuts and designing my own figures. You are severely limited on the size of the objects you can produce, but it is fun to experiment. I saw a heart figure which morphs into two lovers kissing, on line, so I thought I'd try making one of those. I didn't have a pattern so I designed my own. It was easy to make the side view, but when I had to do the back/front view I had to experiment. Didn't come out too bad, but might try again with some tweaks. Tried making my dragon (used as part of the pen holder), and same problem occurred. Had to experiment with the back/front view. Well, anyway, I thought I'd pass my findings along. You might find it fun to cut these. If you are not sure how to do these cuts check out my video on cutting vases. I cut my figures from 2 x 4" material cut to 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" about 6" long. Can download patterns from my Free Page: http://baggetta.com/pebooks/puzzle_patterns.htm

Doug mentioned a women as part of the problem but did not go into details and I did not care. That could be the same as Kevin talks about. Those 2 people are the ones I have dealt with since this started. Doug says parts are on the way and I got a email confirming this but no tracking number so who knows. I have no idea about plastic parts being used on any of the Hawk saws and find it hard to believe they would use China. These are USA saws. Kevin can probably address it better. The only plastic part that I know of is the bottom blade clamp holder. They have used them for many years and yes they stretch out and at times crack and need replacing. I changed to a spring steel of metal many years ago after the first plastic clip stretched out. Very easy fix and surprise they did not address this yet.

Beautiful work Ralph. like the tic tac toe games.

Fantastic job on the box, really like it a lot!

I think the fexable hose you're looking for is lock line.. Here is a google search page of it.. I'll let you choose where you buy from, LOL There has been many topics about dust collection at the saw on here... and though I haven't done it yet.. there are some here that probably could help ore than I can with the questions.. either way... check this link out.. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS778US778&sxsrf=ACYBGNS6fZj1GObORt5VTzNgJzBzWSZAJw%3A1579570155839&ei=61MmXrbgMtG3tQa9qJyABQ&q=line+lock+hose&oq=line+lock+hose&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0j0i22i10i30j0i22i30.4820.7345..7676...0.2..0.82.371.5......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j0i20i263j0i67.HBIthIAUeuI&ved=0ahUKEwj2gaWwxZPnAhXRW80KHT0UB1AQ4dUDCAs&uact=5 edit to add... You may want to buy the special tool for this stuff.. I've read it make the job of putting it together easier.. but can be done without it as well..

They suggested making it out of 1/4" wood. I never use 1/4" unless it is plywood. I didn't understand the instructions very well so I did it my own way. I will try to take a couple of pictures to explain how I did the corners. Writing is not one of my strengths.

I like the owl a lot. I looked close at both of your projects and they do not look like a newbie to me.

I always look forward to looking at your project when I see your post, another beautiful piece, I was thinking of making that box when I saw it in the book, but I can never compare to your excellent workmanship, RJ

Very nice piece of art, excellent workmanship.

As always, just knock my socks off.

Fantastic Dave. Without question you are the best box here. Love your work. What angle do you cut these at and does it change with thickness or standard angle?? What blade are you using??

Nice!

Challenge accepted, and asses kicked!!!! Those look AWESOME! I wouldn't've thought "newb", except that you said it. Keep on pushing the limits!!!

My oh MY! You NEVER cease to amaze me, Dave. That is beautiful. I have no idea how you made those joints. Do you have jigs from Incra?? Super job. I really get excited when I see a knew post by you, I know we are in for a real treat!!

I got set of Pegas blades with my new scrollsaw (Pegas 16CE), I have never used Pegas blades before, so this is my first try. For this project I used birch plywood 1/4 inch, pattern has smooth lines without sharp corners, so I choose Super Skip #3 blades. It was fast and accurate cutting, back side had some bears, but it is easy to remove by sandpaper. I thik it is quite good blade for such material and such project. I will use it for bowls in future. Scroll saw bowl pattern

A real artist!!!!

Excellent job and subject!!!