Curiosity killed the cat....

[JoelM]

I'm just a little curious here...
There are so many people here, from so many different parts of the globe, that all share the same interest in scrollsawing or wood working in general, that it just got me to wondering....
What got you interested in the scroll saw? How did you decide that this was the way that you wanted to express your artistic side? What is it about this type of hobby, or work, that gives you the motivation to create the piles of sawdust that build up every day?
I don't want to seem nosey, I'm just a little curious as to how we all came to be here at this particular place.

[TerryInMich]

My Dad is the only person I know who made money on his hobby (scroll sawing is certainly cheaper than golf!!), he had a lot of fun and got tons of satisfaction from it, so once I retired I tried it out. And I liked it.
Terry

[Mick Walker]

I saw some pictures in a catalog of scroll work and thought that would be neat to make some. That was back in 1992 when I retired, wife bought me a scroll saw for Christmas and I have been scrolling ever since.

[Sawduster]

My artistic side has had many facets, I am a musician, written music and poetry, built models, dioramas, yard art .....i've just always been " crafty " in one way or another. Not always good, but I've always enjoyed it .When I met my wife a few years ago, in her possesion was a Dremel scroll saw , still in the box, that had belonged to her late husband. It stayed in the box under my workbench for another year or two and finally I broke it out and started playing with it. Nothing fancy, had no patterns, didn't even know there were such things . I was just playing . Bought an issue of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts and loved it ! Ordered the back issue special and suddenly had patterns to work with. upgraded to a Dewalt 788. Hit a brick wall after awhile when I ran out of interesting patterns. I live out in the country and resources are sparse. While reading one of the issues I stumbled across the mention of this forum. I checked it out and spent almost all nite reading posts ...it was awesome ! I signed up the next day and started posting the typical rookie questions ....all were answered quickly and in language i could understand. There were no egos, no bickering ( well not much ), just a fantastic group of kindred spirits who welcomed me warmly and offered honest critique and encouragenent. I immediately made new friends and the spark was renewed. Had it not been for this group, I would have fizzled out. This is like my second family now and I would do practically anything I could to help any one of them. i owe almost all of my progress to the help and encouragment of this awesome group !

[Janette]

I'd never dreamed that I'd be using scrolling as my artistic outlet. I'd always been "artsy" - drawing, painting, then photography. I went to an art show once and saw someone who made intarsia. It fascinated me. We bought a lot of pieces from them and the more I saw, the more I was intrigued. My husband had started doing a little woodworking as a hobby- mainly straight cutting type stuff like little tables and such. I wanted to be out in the shop with him so we got a little scroll saw. I bought JGR's book, made a few pieces and got totally addicted to intarsia. I lost my "real" job in 2003 due to cutbacks and it was the best thing that ever happened to me!

[Bill Wilson]

Not sure how much of an artistic side I have, but I've always enjoyed some form or other of woodworking. Several years ago, I started making Christmas ornaments for family & friends. The first few were just simple cutouts. I didn't even own a scrollsaw. Once it became apparent that making ornaments would be an annual thing, I bought a Craftsman scrollsaw so I could try more challenging patterns. Then as I got to looking around for patterns, I stumbled onto a few catalogs that really opened my eyes to what kind of projects were available for the scrollsaw. A couple years ago, I joined a local scrollsaw club and have been inspired by the talent of it's members. Then I found this website after subscribing to Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine.

[ozarkhillbilly]

I bought my first scroll saw in 2005 to assist me in my model wood boat building, about the same time I picked up a copy of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine and have never looked back or built another boat! I found a new hobby and made wonderful new friends and was welcomed into the best woodworking family a man could hope for!

Below are a couple of pics of my last boat project........

[Minnesota scroller]

OK Curious George, here's my condensed story.

Considering the amount of free time I have, I'm always looking for something new to try. Many things I've tried, I've failed miserably at. Woodworking is one of them. I couldn't build a square box to save my soul. This has always frustrated me. My 82 year old uncle just got into woodworking a few years ago. He makes some pretty neat things. He asked me to order a CD for him with hundreds of woodworking plans. The CD also included a few scrolling plans. A couple of them looked kinda neat. I proceeded to go online, which I spend half my time doing anyway, and started to find some really awesome stuff made with a scrollsaw. I thought, "if I had a saw and some guidance, I could probably do some of that stuff too." Then I found this forum. I asked a lot of questions before I even bought my first saw. I always got good answers. I then started checking online for scroll saws. I hadn't asked anything about saws yet, so I took the plunge on my own. I found a used Skil for $40. I put it in my basement, attached a blade that came with it, and cut out a hummingbird and then a loon. My wife thought I was nuts when I bought it. But, she actually liked my first 2 projects, simple and crude as they were. This saw was single speed and vibrated like crazy. But, I needed to make sure this was something I could and want to do before I spent much money. After much encouragement from the forum members, I upgraded to a Dremel and started the more fretwork type of portraits. For the first time, my wife likes my new venture. She is actually proud of me (also for the first time). Now I keep the Dremel as a spare and use a Dewalt.

Basically, if it wasn't for the encouragement and support from many of this forum's members, I still wouldn't be scrolling. YOU CAN TAKE THAT TO THE BANK!

[lucky788scroller]

Great question. My wife (before she was my wife) was christmas shopping for me. She knew I did a lot of woodworking, and had no clue what to buy me. she didnt see a scrollsaw anywhere in my arsenal, so she bought me a Ryobi 16 inch vs scrollsaw. I liked it, but couldnt cut anything intricate to save my a$$. Then heard of a super dael Lowes was having on the yella saw, and ordered one, and have been hooked ever since!I still do all types of woodworking, but theres nothing like the soft buzz of a sharp scrollsaw blade slicing through wood to make you forget all the stressful things that take over your mind. Dale

[Buzz]

Years ago a friend of mine started a wood working shop at Elmwood Plaza in Racine. Talked to him one day about scroll saws and he said he wanted to stock a couple of Hawk saws, but they would only sell him a minimum of 6 saws and he didn't have the room or money to do that. I thought that was unfair and wrote a letter to rbindustries and told them that if they would sell him less than their minimum I would buy one of their saws. They did and I did. Randy has since closed the shop when his doctor told him he was a bleeder and recommended that he stay away from wood working machines. I'm still going and am on my third Hawk and loving every stroke of the blades!