When I was younger I had an urge to work with wood, but it was not something anyone in my family did so I did not have access to the tools or the instruction. I did a few furniture refinishings with limited success and made some carvings with a dremel over summer break but I was not able to make it into a real hobby until I was out of college and had the time and resources to start collecting tool
s and skills. Over ten years of dabbling I started producing woodwork that I would be proud to share with others. I was first aiming to be a wood carver and bought my first scroll saw as a tool to remove waste material from relief carvings. After I got it home and looked into what others were doing with scroll saws I just had to try some of it. It has many aspects of carving, making an image out of wood, shaping and intense focus but it's a lot less strain on the wrists and far less chance of cutting yourself. At first it looked like it would be cheaper as well but once you start using the good blades it's hard to go back to the cheap ones and I have to say I love using excotic woods much more than Birch Plywood which is a more standard way to make scroll portraits. Once I had mastered the basics I started to get creative and I have been making more and more things of my own design and with techniques I have developed myself. I recently had a broken saw and no way to purchase a new one. Since winter was coming on and I don't scroll much in the winter due to the cold I did not fret about it too much. I gave it thought as to how to fix it, the parts were discontinued and had specific dimensions that could not be found off the shelf. So, although I have limited experience working with metal, I decided to remake the nut from scratch and rethread the bolt to a smaller size in the hopes that it would once again be a usable saw. If not, it would have gone to the scrap heap and I would have had to wait for a time I could buy a new saw. I was successful and my fabricated nut and re-threaded bolt have held up so far and my saw is working again. I hope to have new items to post here soon.
