What did you do with your first piece/s?

[Little flower]

Last Sunday i was at our guild's open day and we were encouraging members of the public to have a go on the scrollsaw. While some felt a bit too embarrased to, others jumped at the chance. As I watched them wandering through the lines, chuckling away at their efforts, I took note that not one of them left their cut pieces behind. it made me wonder what would happen to those pieces.

My very first 9 cuts were part and parcel of a nine piece traditional cut jigsaw pattern on MDF. I was really chuffed about this puzzle as I couldn't even see where I had wavered once the paper was removed - thank goodness!! Anyway I looked at them for ages then thought, hey why not paint them - so that's what I did and later shoved them in a drawer. After some time passed we realised that in spite of the many clocks Trev has made we didn't have one in the shed. At that, a lightbulb lit up in my head and I headed off to get my first pieces, promptly glued them to a backer, drilled a hole in the centre, set a clock mechanism into it and wrote the word, PUZZLED? on it (no numbers). Whoolah! We now had a shed clock! As I thought a bit more about what I had done another light bulb started flashing in my head and i headed off to the computer to write this poem which got glued to the back of the clock.

Puzzled?
A clock created from the 9 very first cuts I made.
Teresa Gillbanks.

To the creator,
regardless of quality,
every first piece
should be considered…
a masterpiece!
A masterpiece?
Yes, a masterpiece!
For in that very first piece
is absorbed,
and well stored,
energy, enthusiasm and drive!
Energy, enthusiasm and drive
builds memories for the future,
memories to reflect on.
Memories, that one day,
we may need to draw on.
Memories to keep our spirits alive!


Now I'd love to hear some stories from others about what your first few cuts were, what you done with them, and whether you still have them.

[lucky788scroller]

My first cuts were the names of the kids. I drew their names on a piece of pine, and scrolled them little pieces of crappy looking pine names. I do know one of them still has it, must be for sentimental value, because it isnt worth anything because of quality. Then I did my own freehand pig 3d style. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty good. I have no clue where that is now. One project I kept was my first attempt at real fretwork. A wheelbarrow pattern from a Spielman book of 1/8th inch baltic birch plywood. This was on my ryobi saw, and I cut it out with spiral blades because I didnt know any better! Now, I look at that piece, and can really appreciate how far I've come. When I started scrolling, I knew nothing of scrolling, and there wasnt the resources there are today. There was no ssw, and no ssw forum family to turn to for advice and encouragement. I didnt write no poem about my first pieces, but for you Teresa, I will try:

A simple project is what I made,
not knowing better, with a spiral blade.
All the joints lined up really great,
but not one of my cuts were very straight.
With Baltic birch ply, I knew what to do,
and yes indeed,broke many blades to.
I applied no finish, but a lot I did learn,
my first fretwork project,and the wheel wont turn.

Dale

[Trout]

It was December of 2004, the wife and I were tring to come up with some idea's for Christmas presents for the kids.
she had taken some picture and wanted me to make some type of frames for them..

I told her if I had a scroll saw I could probibily come up with something..
the next words out of her mouth was...go get a saw and get busy!

this is what I came up....


the kids loved them..
I told them if things didn't work out between them that I could always cut the a name off...

Chris and Michelle are now married and are expecting a baby in September...
Dani and Jason are living together waiting for the right time to get married...
Renee and Jacbo are also living together and possible marrage in the future..

Trout

[Little flower]

Good bit of poetry Dale! The wheel will certainly be a reminder of how far you have come. Iwonder how many other poets will show their skills on this thread??

Trout, you sure done well for some firsts. I'm sure they STILL love them.

[Rolf]

I have attached a picture of my first project done on a Craftsman saw I inherited from my father. I learned very quickly how important tooless blade changes are. That was a very frustrating saw.
This is the Gingerbread that I cut for the Shed I designed and built in my back yard.
No I did not cut the top of the door on my scroll saw.

[lonepine]

Rolf; I love that gingerbread on your shed...you have given me an ideaaa for mine. Bob.

[CanadianScroller]

Great job Rolf

As a child in Ontario I had the good fortune in living in a brick gingerbread style house with fretted decorations on the eaves.
They were cut from oak at least 2 to 3 inches thick.
I would have loved to see the saw used for that operation.

The had not been maintained for decades, My father tried staining them but the wood was so dry and pourus a quart only covered about 1 square foot!

[Rolf]

Thanks for the nice comments.
There is a much smaller version of the same thing on the back. After I finished it I realized it was too small for the overall scale of the shed. Cutting the second one on a 16 inch saw was a real challenge. It would have been a breeze on the 26 inch RBI.

[Little flower]

I really like the WHOLE shed!

[Gill]

It's not fair - that shed's bigger (and prettier) than my house.

Gill