Another busy week

[Chippygeoff]

I had another whisper about some some more wood, teak planks. The guy did not live far and I arranged to go and have a look. Got there and the teak was in his huge workshop resting across the rafters of the open roof. The guy explained that it had been up there many years and decided he was never going to get round to using it and when he got a few planks down to show me I was not surprised. It was twisted like hell and most of it banana shaped, needless to say I came away empty handed. Not to worry I am still using the red oak coffin lids.

Had a lady come up to see me yesterday at the craft fair. She wants 65 name signs on plinths for her wedding in September. As with every order I get I take the cash up front and at £11-95 per name that's a lot of money. Had another lady come to see me, she makes outstanding jewellery and displays it in nice presentation flat boxes. She wants 100 wedges with the idea that she will put a wedge under each box so its tilted to enable customers to see the contents better.

I had sevral orders that were to be collected yesterday, mainly name signs. during the course of the day everyone came in to collect their names. Had a chap come up to my stall and he asked for his order. I had clean forgotten to make it, first time this has happened, must be going senile. I promised to make it straight away and waver the £3 postage. It will be on it's way tomorrow morning.

I am waiting for an order to come from Mikes workshop and if they continue to break as they have been I will have to switch to Niqua blades from Hegner or Hobbies, at least with those they wear out rather than break. So frustrating when the FD blades keep breaking, 9 times out of 10 its immediately above the bottom clamp so I can re-use it up to 4 times, after that I struggle to tighten the quick release knob.

 

[M P Hales]

Nice to hear you're keeping busy Geoff.

Unfortunately I have to agree about the FD blades , my last batch of #5 blades are doing the same but the #3 seem ok.

Keep up the good work.

Martin

 

[ChrisR]

Geoff.

Great to see you are so busy with good size orders, that wedding one sounds particularly good.

I know what you mean about timber, before I retired one of the contractors that used to carry out work were I was employed, knew I used wood/timber, so offered be a large quantity of quality seasoned timber (his interpretation), he said he had been offered £200.00 for the lot, but had turned it down. As he knew me I could have it at this price, so I went and had a look, large quantity no, quality no, I would have considered £20.00 too much let alone £200.00 :shock: , like you I came away empty handed.

We all know timber is now expensive, but there are those who, I think live on another planet. :roll:

Take care.

Chris R.

 

[ardenwoodcraft]

Just cut a load of key fob shapes in burr elm. Used a FD-UR #3 as only 12mm thick but seemed to cut ok, no breakages.

This is my first time using FD blades to cut in quantity but no complaints so far.

 

[Chippygeoff]

Chris. Glad you did not get fobbed off with that timber. There are a lot of people who know I am always in the market for good hardwood and over the years I have made many fruitless journeys. These guys seem to think we came down with yesterdays rain. One guy I went to see some time back had some really nice purple heart, it was about 6 inches wide but when he said it was £45 per metre I just got in the car and drove off. Some builders merchants sell oak for door liners. We have one locally and on my first visit it was £7 a metre, altough I thought it was expensive but I knew I could more than double my money and bought quite a bit but on my next visit the price had almost doubled.

Ardenwoodcraft. The key fobs sound really interesting, especially made from burr elm. I never had much luck with key rings at the craft fairs.

Martin. Strange that. my number 3s seem to stay intact until they wear out. Its the 5s and 7s that continue to break on a regular basis. When I am cutting out plaque blanks I am using an FD-UR 9, it's a huge blade but still leaves a silky smooth finish and cuts quicker to. Theres no way I could use that for internal cut. The reason I use a 9 now is that I have never had one break, not surprising really when see how big they are.

 

[gilljc]

Hi Geoff
think I sent you PM, let me know either way if you got it or not

Gill

 

[Chippygeoff]

Many thanks Gill. I just sent you a PM. Sorry for the delay, went out and snatched up a bundle of wood at a bargain priice before anyone else got there

 

[redmoorphil]

Hi Geoff,
I'm so jealous that you get to spend so much time on your saw! That is one hell of a good order.
I have managed to knock up a few projects since xmas but it has been a struggle to find time. Can't wait until I retire.
Things are getting back to normal here so I am gearing up to get back in the workshop and have started to buy the bits I need for my xmas stock so finger crossed I should start contributing again soon.
I'm just glad that I still have loads of FD blades that I ordered last year as things don't seem to be too good with them recently.
Still havent managed to spend any time on my new Wivimac either so I think this may be sold to fund my sons trip to Australia next year - I prefer scrolling anyway ;o)
Phil

 

[Chippygeoff]

Nice to hear from you Phil. You have been missed on the forum. It will ne nice when you can get into the workshop more. Scrolling is a very good way of relieving stress. I am envious of your Wivimac. Sadly there is no room in the workshop for a lathe. Glad to hear your getting your bits and pieces together, before you know it you will be on your saw and enjoying yourself. Take care Phil and please keep us updated.

All the best.

 

[toesy]

Geoff have to tried Olson PGT 5 & 7 - its what I use and ive never had one of these snap?

I can send you a few FOC, but you've more than likely used them...

Just a thought

 

[Chippygeoff]

Hi Toesy. Many thanks for your very kind offer. Another member is already sending me some Olsen blades to try. It's nice to hear they they don't break. I would just love to have a decent blade that would wear out rather than break. I get so frustrated, especially with the FD-UR 5s, on one plaque I had 7 breaks in 2 blades and that is just ridiculous. Thanks again Toesy. I will let everyone know how the Olsen blades work out.

 

[toesy]

I've been using them since I started, and cut pine 20mm thick all the time, even cut some 30mm thick pine with a PGT #7 this week. And cut lots of hardwood from these, although I only use them to get a straight line, and use the FD thinner ones for fine work.

Never had one break, had loads of the thinner Flying Dutchman Ultras at #2/#3/ but I guess we expect these to break.

 

[Jim o1]

Hey Geoff
On the timber purchasing
Now im verry inexperienced in buying quality wood and found it hard to find anything locally exept b&q s crappy cuppe d softwood
So i hit a locall large timber merchants website quite an impressive selection of wood only round the corner
I managed to get the guy to let me look in there offcuts/ mistakes rack round the back i pulled a 4m length of 18x150x4m ash had some large harrises missing
X2 lengths of oak skirting 16x170x4m had some snipes down the moulding still arround 100mm width usable
And a short board of oak 2m 20x150
He charged me £ 30
I've no idea if this is expensive for what I got
I didnt haggle at all seemed a fair deal to me just thought IDE share

 

[Chippygeoff]

Jim. What you ended up with was a real bargain. You need to keep in their good books and I tell you what I do in these situations. If I have done really well with a first visit like you did I make a note of the companies name and make them a nice sign on a plinth they can keep in their reception, something like J Bloggs and son. Timber merchants. It really does seal a relationship with a firm and they are chuffed to bits to get something so personalised. It's a one off and something they could not get made by anyone else.

Toesy. Thanks for the info. I hope the olsen blades cope with 20mm thick kiln dried oak, which is quite hard.

 

[Jim o1]

Great idea Geoff
I haven't done any lettering yet
Great idea to make a sign for them
More research hehe ty for the tip

 

[toesy]

Toesy. Thanks for the info. I hope the olsen blades cope with 20mm thick kiln dried oak, which is quite hard.

I've cut 20mm Cherry and Oak, and engineered Oak with the Olson blades and they have been brilliant, just done use them on tight curvy cuts/corners.