Albury-Wodonga Scroll Saw Weekend

Here is a report from Australia about a great weekend of scrollers coming together to share information and enjoy each others company. Thanks to Jutta Vyner for sending me the pictures and writing about their good time. I wish I could have been there.

Our annual, Albury-Wodonga Scroll Saw Weekend started Friday afternoon with a good clean up of our club's shed.
Bob Caloun was the first out-of-towner to arrive, followed by Harris Traders.
The first talk fest followed as there was a year to catch up on.

After a busy afternoon getting the shed ready I was suprised to see everyone already back way before 7am on Saturday morning.

Scrollers coming together to share and have fun.

Breakfast was cooked and served by John Skilton, Bob Lithgow , the our Two Julies and help from Esther Dennis.

We were all happy to see Owen and Helen from Harris Traders again,
Ken Vyner from Woodcrafters Haven was also present.

Jim Doyle occupied the place closest to the big shed door.... easy escape route maybe? :)
The other corners were held by Nina Slade, Ed Kilo ( manager of our scroll saw group) and Bob Calhoun again close to the door and to his dog Shadow who like last year faithfully guarded our shed door. This year she had a big job as there were lots of horses to keep away.

Everyone but our couple of beginners, Bill and Louise Yost, brought their own projects, but just in case anyone had nothing to do we started out by offering easy name tags that could be hung on the saws... that was the theory anyway.... most were cut, none were hung.
We did hang "Kiss the cook" for John , but he's not telling if it was successful.....

Bill and Louise started on our new beginner pack ....both surprised us by how quick they picked up on scrolling...they did a really good job right off the bet. Louise scrolled a couple of cats , then both upped the ante by choosing a couple of small clock patterns.

Trevor Watson

Before we knew it it was already time for smoke (morning break) Afterwards Ed revealed the mystery project. We were going to try to cut a full set of chess pieces to be given to Westmond Age Care!
To encourage participation a price was up for grabs.. a musical movement and music box pattern of choice, courtesy of Woodcrafters Haven. Every time a scroller finished a chess piece his/her name was put into the draw.

Doug Hayman ( shed manager) supplied the light and dark cut to size pieces. To make things quick and easy I glued the patterns on and drilled the holes... that's when I knew we were in trouble... the dark pieces were really HARD.

Doug's Monday night furniture group is supposed to supply the board.
By Saturday evening we had 15 white pieces ( a little easier to cut) done and 11 red one ( very hard!) with Mike Butcher's help we'll have the missing redgum pieces tomorrow so we can try to finish the set.

Mike Butcher

Only our real tough guys kept going after cutting the first piece.
John Webster was our most prolific chess piece maker that first day.

Everyone took plenty of brakes walking around checking out Harris Trader's books, buying blades, looking at Woodcrafters Haven's clock inserts, checking out what everyone else was doing and talking, talking, and more talk.

Jim Doyle brought a drum sander and explained to everyone how he made it and offered to share the plans. He also brought a tool box for all his scroll saw tools he made from ply ... with handle and name tag.... but the name wasn't scrolled .... so yes... I griped :)

Bob Caloun brought pens he scrolled with names and filled with resin... unbelievable! He also surprised me with a load of timber that filled my little Mighty Boy to the brim... Thank you Bob!
Another of his gifts was a pyramid puzzle that had everyone going for a bit. He always brings surprises, always comes up with totally new ideas.

Louise Yost

Mal and Liz Counsell were in friendly competition.... who gets to cut what colour chess piece... Liz surprised me how well she did with the redgum piece.

David Pannowitz went straight from doing the beginner kit one minuted to starting an entarsia piece the next....

Trevor Watkins, Ron Betts and George Wright's saws kept humming, both owner and saws quietly working away.

Nina Slade was a bit more noisy :).... had a bit of trouble with the saw and Ron being a gentleman switched saws with her.

Mike Butcher was still impressing everyone with his tiny dragon medallions he turns into necklaces on the lathe.

Ed came through with extra patterns and ply wood for the new scrollers, Woodcrafters Haven provided the original beginners kits and more advanced patterns later.
Andres Martinez made several clamps for 3D cutting for the scroll saw group and the club added several sets of blades. Thank you every one to our scrollers chest of drawers.

Jim Doyle and Ken Vyner

There was a lot of talk about different scroll saws and the limitations we have here in Australia. Delta's out numbered all other saws, next were Hegners, one Dewalt, one Excalibur and a couple of Hegner look-alikes ( TruePro/WMS). Delta does not send saws or parts to Australia anymore , so once these wear out we're out of luck. There seems to be a supply problem with Hegner and parts too and since the look-alikes need Hegner clamps to be any good things don't look good. The Excalibur was fitted with Delta clamps!!!!
One saw mentioned was the Proxxon, but nobody had one and nobody had used one, so the jury is still out on it, but looks promising.

The afternoon was a little slower, by tea time I was ready for a nap... which I managed to squeeze in before coming back for tea.

John and his helpers did a fantastic job preparing, serving, washing up tea, Julie and I did a great one making a mess (dropping a bag of used plates all over the floor).

Just a couple of hours later the shed was dark - everyone must have been worn out.

Jim Doyle

Sunday
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Driving up to the show ground we were greeted by a couple of lost kangaroos hopping around - poor little things probably were scared away by the horses, still.. I always love it when I see some... makes me remember I really am living in Australia.

Got there around 8 and found some scrollers were already enjoying breakfast.... our cook and all his helpers really were on the ball.
I don't think many of us enjoy a full breakfast with bacon and eggs every day like this.

Work started a bit slow, but saws started buzzing soon enough.
True to his word Mike came through and brought the missing red pieces for the chess set and he, Ed and John were the only volunteers to tackle them. Ron lucked out , he "got " to do the last white one... he was very nice about being asked.

George Wright and Andres Martinez

After smoko, just in case anyone had nothing to do, or wanted a brake from the work they wanted to do I offered some CD sun catcher/ornaments to scroll. To my surprise there was a bit of interest and there were several takers..... that or we have some really polite scrollers :) It really was good to see people being open to new things. I think the CDs would be great to scroll with kids.

Seemed we were just through with smoko when lunch came around ( seems there was a lot of eating going on) ....
The weather was a good as the food, everyone enjoyed the sunshine.

After Lunch Harold Dennis drew the winner of the music box movement and pattern.
The winner was Mike Butcher..... wonder where he'll find the time to make a music box now.

Another hour or so of scrolling followed, and just to make sure everyone thought of our weekend a bit longer everyone received a pattern to scroll at home. A few die hard scrollers kept going a while longer.... with Liz being the last to give in.

I was amazed how quick everyone cleaned up and the workshop started looking like nothing ever happened.

Last purchases were quickly made, e-mails exchanged, promises for next year made.

Ed Kilo

Monday

First e-mail came in this morning. Jim told me he enjoyed himself and is looking forward to next year!

Maybe we better start planing right away?

Bob Calhoun

Bob Calhoun

Bill Yost

Andres Martinez

Bob Calhoun having a little breakfast