Questions about SAW

Hi everyone. I have a few questions concerning SAW (scrollsaw association of the world). This is directed to both current members and scrollers who are not members. I was elected to the Board Of Directors in Jan. 2006. I am currently trying to find out what the scrolling community knows or thinks about SAW. I have read a few comments on here and realize two things. There are many things about SAW that are evidently not known and there are a few misconceptions about the organization. I know I am opening myself up to a lot of comments , both pro and con, which is ok. I want to see SAW become a more viable part of the scrollsawing community Your impput and questions are important to me as a member. WE have started a few programs that I feel are very worthwhile. To really get them running at full throttle we need to recieve imput from the scrollers. So ask away. I will attempt to answer all questions or will find out the answers. Bob suggested we conduct a poll which might be something I will look at. Toby

[Gill]

For those of you who don't know, SAW is here.

I've never really seen the need to join SAW. It doesn't seem relevant to scrolling in my part of the world and I can get information I need about scrolling from forums such as this.

Above all, I don't wish to pay $35 for membership of an organisation when I don't see how I'm going to get $35-worth of benefit.

Sorry to be so negative, Toby, but you did ask.

Yours

Gill

Gil, thanks for your imput. One of the things we advertise ourself as is OF THE WORLD. I guess one of the prblems I see is we cannot seem to get any imput from our members OR the scrolling community from around the world. That is one of the reasons, I think, we are looked at as a Midwest USA club. I ,for one ,would love to see articles from all around the world. I think SSW site is a wonderful site for scrollers. Now how do we make ourselves, meaning SAW, become important to the rest of you? What is it you would like to see SAW do? I am not trying in any way to replace SSW but to add to it. Any suggestions? Toby

[CanadianScroller]

I am not a member of SAW but I have referred the site to many people.
I think the ACES program is wonderful and I intend to get a copy for a demonstration I do at a fair each year.
There are lots of great resources on the site.
I think it is a good way to start a local scrolling club.

I too, like Gill have to think twice before sending money away to join.
I think maybe if there were different levels of membership at different rates that may help.

Or perhaps discounts for people who contribute.

[Woodbutcher68]

I am on my third year as a member. The price is a little high, my woodworking club is $25.00/year with monthly meetings and a picnic and Christmas Party every year. I have gotten some good information from the website and magazines.

[Gill]

I've been giving this some more thought. On browsing the SAW site I notice that clubs are listed in 4 countries: USA, Canada, Australia and Sweden. I clicked on the Swedish link and found an MSN forum which had 28 messages posted. For an organisation that purports to be world-wide, this isn't terribly impressive. The dearth of contacts in other countries is very noticeable.

Is it possible to identify where the directors of SAW live? I'd have thought that those directors who live outside North America would have an interesting insight into the strengths and shortcomings of the organisation. I hope they don't all live in North America; that would be quite telling for a supposedly international body.

What is it that SAW's trying to offer scrollers? I've listed the benefits detailed on the website and annotated my own comments in green:

Collective Representation: Your vote carries more influence as a collective representative vote than it does as an single voice, you can make a difference! Why do we need collective representation? Are we downtrodden and oppressed?

SAW-DUST, Quarterly Newsletter: Providing you with articles on scrollsaw events, contests, patterns, on-line and web information, and many skill improvement articles. I can get this from SSW for only $28.00. What makes SAW's better?

SAW Annual Directory: Current list of National By-Laws, elected officers and contact information, membership directory by state and alphabetically, resource list for scrolling supplies, patterns, wood. This isn't of much use to me in England. In fact, it implies there isn't any scrolling activity outside the USA worth mentioning. It is quite an offensive indictment of the international community.

Referral Award: This program provides you a 1 month membership extension for each new member you recruit into SAW.. I'm not a member of SAW and I don't know anyone who'd be interested in joining, so this is irrelevant.

SAW Member ID Card: This membership card, provided with your paid membership, entitles you to discounts at SAW events and with selected vendors. I like this. When and where is the next SAW event in England?

SAW Activities: SAW and Major Scrollsaw Magazine sponsorship of scrolling contests at SAW events and Scrollsaw Picnics. I'm not a competitive scroller, but others may be. I'm sure they'll be delighted to participate at the next SAW event in England.

SAW-online.com : A professional web site full of up to date events, galleries, Chapter information, a members only area which will include a teaching syllabus outline for those that would like a guide to develop a scrolling course in your area. This sounds like a glorified forum.

Without active world-wide chapters, it strikes me as presumptuous that SAW should present itself as an international umbrella for scrollers. It needs to generate a truly international community. Yet this might not be so difficult as it seems. Many people, especially in English-speaking countries, are introduced to scrolling through the books of Patrick Spielman and Judy Gale Roberts. These books, however, are limited because the projects they contain rely on woods that are not available overseas. If SAW could make wood packages available through its chapters for people overseas who wish to tackle these projects, it might be able to expand. It could also raise money which could subsidise membership.

To my mind, the challenge for SAW is to become a body which is truly representative of all nations. In doing so, it will have to find a way to overcome language problems ( I see the web-site can be translated into different languages - that's good, and I hope it works ), material availability problems and measurement problems (I'm thinking imperial/metric).

Gill

[arbarnhart]

The price seems high when free forums like this abound and there isn't a local chapter (even being in the US doesn't automatically make it relevant). However, while I am a scroller, I am not scrollsaw centric - I do enjoy the occasional purely scrolled project but mostly I cut parts for instruments and whatnot. This has a side effect of making scrolling resources last longer; I have a list of projects to do that I already have the plans for and techniques I want to practice that I have already seen or have books on, etc. So I amy not be representative of the members you are looking for.

I got the impression that SAW is a for profit enterprise, BTW. Is that correct?

[Old Mooner]

I was a member of SAW for a couple years, but dropped out because I could not see any real benefits. The "newsletter" contains very little information that is not readily available on this forum (and in better format) and, to be honest, the layout and the editing is something less than professional. The ACEs program is admirable, but the "sponsored" events all seem to be in the same general area. As Gill stated, I don't mean to be negative because I'm sure there are those who have benefitted greatly. Not me.
Moon

[William Young (SE BC)]

Maybe I am missing the point here but one does not have to be a paid member of SAW in order to be a member of their scrollsawing forums. They can choose to be (or not to be) a member of the organization at any time whether they want to or not but it is not a requirement .
I check out several sites on a regular basis and I quickly scan through them and respond to the topics of most interest. I simply don't have time to respond to all of the topics on all of the sites.
I like to learn what I can from all the sites I visit as well as share information from my own experiences when time allows . Different topics come up on all the different sites and what is missed in this one or some other ones will surely appear in SAW or any other site if they are participated in. Just like everything can not be learned by reading just one book.
I think the SAW forums are not participated in very much because many are under the false belief that they have to become a paid member of an organization in order to participate in the forums there and that surely is a pity. Every site including this one has it's dozen or so *regulars* and that is why I like to check more sites than one in order to see what the groups of *regulars* in several sites are exchanging ideas about at any given time. The number of members in any particular site does not seem to reflect on how many will become regulars. I go to some sites with 4 or 5 hundred members that have more participating regulars (yes from many countries)than ones with thousands of members. But each group of regulars on those sites are of different names and locations except for a percentage of overlap.
I think if more scrollers were to to participate in the SAW forums and see yet another group of *regulars* it would widen everyones chances of catching up with all the latest developments in the wonderfull world of scrolling
W.Y.

[lucky788scroller]

I have been a member of SAW for probably 4 years or so now. I value the directory very much. Often I grab this directory to look up someone I have met at an event, or for a supplier of a certain thing,(there are 11 pages of wood suppliers, including suppliers in germany, south america,australia). Its a valueable resource for me as far as thats concerned.Also, the listing of books is great as well.The listing of members DOES show what gill is saying, it is mainly usa members,onlyone listed in england. 22 from outside the usa in the 2005 directory. I enjoy getting SAWDust as well, but partly because I have met so many that put that together, and its a nice way to see the familiar faces again. I will say this.. if it wasnt for SAW, I would NOT have won one of my Dewalt scrollsaws, it was because of SAW that I had the oppertunity to win that, and it has really opened up a whole new world to me.I think SAws participation in the events, like the upcoming tradeshow in WI is not really a necessity, but it sure makes the event a lot more fun (and for those that havent been to a scrollsaw picnic/trade show, ANYONE can enter in the contests, not just members, but members do get a discount on entering, which i think is fair and just.)
My thoughts on the local clubs becoming affiliates, or 'chapters' is that I see no reason for a club to have to follow the guidelines SAW expects of them in order to call theirselves a chapter. A local scrolling club is just that, a bunch of folks wanting to relax, share ideas, and have a good time learning new ideas, not a group of folks that want to get neck deep in rules and guidelines to be a chapter. Theres enough politics in everything else, nobody wants that in their leisure scrolling club.
I was asked by a former board member to contribute an artical to SAWDust regarding my working with 4H kids here . I told him yes, I would gladly contribute an artical, after all it was the least I could do for a club that helped me to get a nice saw, and helped so much to make the events so enjoyable.Anyways, shortly arter saying I would write the artical, something happened within the BOD, and a few board members resigned, one of them was the guy that inquired about the artical.I am friends with both past board members, as well as present ones. I wish to remain that way, and the one thing I can say is that the past board members do not discuss exactly why they are no longer members, and I think thats honorable of them.
As for benefits like the scholarship fund, I think its great, I hope it gets used . The website...I do frequent it for bits of info, but most of what I'm looking for I can locate here in SSW site, or a few others i frequent. I never make it to the chat in SAW much, as I generally hang out in the wooders.com chatroom , which, by the way, is actually where I first learned about SAW.
I think Pat does an outstanding job keeping track of everything for SAW , but I do think its a bit to political.As for international membership, it is sad. Maybe Gill raises some good ideas . I know there has got to be more then two scrollers in england. What is in it for them? The events in the usa are scattered pretty well over the country now, and I know that SAW isnt represented at all of them, which is understandable with the costs of fuel, and the time needed to to attend them all.
My questions to you Toby is this....What was your main driving factor to become a board member,and how will it benefit you, and what ideas do you bring to the table???
Dale
luckyscroller788@yahoo.com

PS : I dont think the SAW forum will ever find the diversity and friendly bonding as you find within this SSW forum. Thanks to everyone here (even you Bob) for making this a great forum!

(wow, did i type THAT much??????????)