Scroll saw at Knott's Berry Farm

[Jim8Mad]

Every year Knott's Berry Farm has a deal for veterans to get in free and bring along some family and friends for a greatly discounted price. It has been a few years since we went so my wife was able to talk me into going yesterday. It was just like any other Saturday at an amusement park: crowded, long lines, high prices, and very tiring, but still fun. After dinner we decided to walk around a bit in the Ghost Town and look at some of the shopping and we came across a couple of stores with scroll sawed items for sale.

The first place had coins (state quarters, liberty nickels, silver dollars, half dollars, foreign coins, and so much more) that was cut out and made into necklace charms, money clips, and so much more. I've seen stuff like this once before (I think in a magazine), but to actually see the finished product was just amazing! When I saw it in the magazine I thought "I could do that." But when I saw it last night on display I changed my thoughts to "I am going to do that!" Now I need to figure out which blade to use since I've never cut anything besides wood and plexi. Here's a link to another place on the web that shows some coins so you can see what I'm talking about. (I am in no way affilliated with this company and my sole intention is to show some more of what can be done on our saws) http://www.coincutart.com/servlet/Detail?no=101

A few minutes later we were passing a booth that custom made keychains, name placards, small animal puzzles, and other such items. As I was about to walk away I heard a familiar sound from the far side of the booth behind the counter and had to turn back. The man running the booth was in the process of making a name placard for somebody and he was running a Hegnar saw (not sure which model). I don't get to many events to see demos of some of these nice machines so I just had to go back. We chatted a bit about the saw he was using and he mentioned that a member of SAW had stopped by earlier in the week and was really talking up the new Excalibur model. All I know of that one is what I read on the net and in magazines, and he hadn't heard about it ever before that day, so we chatted about that for a while also.

It was nice to talk to somebody about scrolling and actually see a high end saw being used. I was really impressed with how easy he was using that Hegnar saw and how smooth and quiet it was. I am so used to my Dremel saw and find it fairly simple and convenient, but he made mine look so much more cumbersome to use. He was cutting so smoothly one minute, then moving the blade to a new hole with such ease and efficiency the next. I was really impressed. I just wish I could have given one of his saws (he had two set up) a try, but with all the liability issues and it being a theme park he couldn't allow that. I really need to find my way to a scroll saw event now so I can get a hands on demo with some of these machines.

Well, enough time spent here. I have some ornaments to finish so they can get into the mail this week.

[SharonW0111]

Jim -- when I was in my boot-scootin days I had a friend that did leatherwork and he made beltbuckles out of half dollars( or was it silver dollars?)Any how he would cut out the "Lady Liberty" and the words and leave the background out-- if you understand what I am saying-- the blank spaces in the coin were cut-outs- And he used a jewlers blade to cut his. They were beautiful when he had the coin mounted into a buckle- but My Mom was in the coin business when I was a child and back then it was illegal to deface money- which includes cutting up coins. I am not sure if it is now but you may want to check before you sell any.
Sharon