Question regarding scroll saw clubs

[Bill WIlson]

How many of you folks belong to a scroll saw club? 

If so, how active is your club?  What sort of activities do you do?  How do you recruit new members?  How do you keep existing members active and interested?  Does your club have a website or Facebook page?

If you don't belong to a club, would you join if there was one local?  What sorts of things would you want to get out of being a member of a scroll saw club?

 

I'm not really conducting a poll, just looking for ideas and to generate some conversation on the topic.  Thanks!

 

[Scrappile]

I've often thought about how it would be fun to belong to a club.  But first I would have to find some scrollers.  I know of none in my area.  Other than meeting a sharing, I think it would be fun to come up with ideas of projects to donate to activities like toys for kids in hospitals, or for needy children. 

[jerry1939]

When we lived in a different city, a Lady at a community college started a wood carving group.  My impression was that she was trying to show the school "how busy she was."  You do learn a few things from the other people, but I soon felt that I was driving 4 miles in the dark just to sit on a different chair to carve.  After a couple of months I lost interest and quit going.

At anything, people will reach a certain plateau and that's as good as you will ever get.  My carving was only "fair."  I would venture to say that nobody on this site could ever improve enough to be a major league baseball player, qualify for the NFL, the Masters, etc. etc.  Would guess that people would soon tire of sitting in a different location to scroll.

jerry

[Scrappile]

Somehow the wood turners seem to have successful clubs.  We have one in our area and it has been around for a long time.  It has quite a few members and they stay active.  They meet at different turners houses, they do not take their lathes so I'm not sure how they keep interest up.  They do have some guest turners once in a while and they have to pay to get them there.  I know the members pay to go to the meeting when they are at a meeting. 

[hawkeye10]

I am just not a club person. Well I guess you could say SSV is a club on steroids.

[crupiea]

I was a member of our local club and its very active, lots of members and good monthly meetings. I just cant make the meetings so didnt renew.  They have lessons on different things like marquetry and stuff most people dont do. very cool.  nice people as well. 

[dgman]

I used to be a member of a very large general woodworking club. But after fifteen years, I got burned out. It's been three year now, and I'm still not eager to go back.

[SCROLLSAW703]

I've never belonged to anything wood workin'....except my shop Out here in NW Kansas, our little town has a few wood butchers, a carpenter or two, a couple of us with lathes that use them, an expensive lumber store, & a critic about your work on every corner. There are about 3 of us in the county that I'm aware of that even admit to owning a scroll saw. I always thought it might be kinda fun to get together with other sawyers just to learn from, & meet new folks with our interests. Nobody says ya gotta qualify for the majors. wouldn't it be ok just to learn from each other?

[Jim McDonald]

We tried to start a scroll club in central Indiana, but the travel distance put an end to it pretty quickly.  For me it was an hour each way (others maybe farther) and while the folks at Rockler went out of their way to give us a good place to meet, the weather and time just got to be too much and it dissolved after a few months.

[lawson56]

I only know of 1 other close to me who Scrolls.and she just started about a year ago.Came to me for advice.I have thought about the Club thing,but that's all.

[JimErn]

I can't see the benefits of a scroll saw club, unless it was helping the school shop class is in some way.  Sounds more of a social, gabfest kind of thing.

I've met three scrollers living fairly close, each has his own "specialty" and seems unable or unwilling to even talk about another aspect.

And as you can tell by my post count, I am not a garrulous type, I prefer to sit back and watch and listen.  Partly because my sense of humor does not translate well to text, and takes some getting used to in person.

[Bpardue]

I belong to the Carolina Scrollers Association in Winston Salem. We are sponsored By Klingspor Woodworking shop. We meet once a month for a official meeting. We do a scrolling demo at the store every Wednesday to teach scrolling to people. We do a few club selling events through the coarse of the year. We Demo at senior citizen homes and give away crosses. Our 2 biggest events are - we have a huge presents at the Woodworking show that Klingspor puts on every year in Hickory NC & the one event everyone looks forward to is the fund raising event we do for the Second Harvest Food Bank. We cut Christmas ornaments for the show in Hickory & for the Winston Salem Klingspor shop and every dollar raised goes to the food bank. This event got us recognized In the Scrollsaw Woodworking & Crafts Magazine last year.  We have both & website that is updated and a Facebook page.We do a mentoring program for members. There are a few of us willing to open our shops up to members only to help teach new things, like a member only is doing fretwork and wants to learn Intarsia, they are welcome to come to my shop and learn.  Apparently there is a scroll saw interest here in NC. When I joined a few years ago there were about 20 members; now membership is close to 50. 

Meeting consist of special presentations from members on anything related to scrolling & finishes; show & tell on pieces completed by members; planning events. We just had our second annul picnic this past weekend. Members experience range from newbie's to very experienced. Members live here in the Winston Salem & Greensboro area

From what we understand we are the only Scroll Saw Organization in NC dedicated to scroll saw work only. 

Brian

 

 

 

[Bill WIlson]

Thanks to everyone for the interesting replies.  Our scroll saw club, The Blazin Blades of Western PA, has been in existence for over 12 years.  I've been president the past 4 years.  There's a link to our website below.   Only a few of the original members are still with us, as many have passed away.  Along with the roster, the interests of the members have also evolved quite a bit.  We have scrollers of all skill levels.  We're trying to think of some new ways to get and keep people engaged in the club.  We've tried a number of things over the years, with varying degrees of success, thus the motive behind my post.

Please keep the responses coming.  It's good to get different perspectives from other folks.  Thanks!

[barb.j.enders]

No club here in Winnipeg, MB.  Have met a couple of people who are no longer scrolling.  Don't know if I would want to be involved in a club, mostly because I end up getting too involved!!!  Would like to meet some other scrollers just to know that I am not alone (here in Winnipeg!!)

 

[Rolf]

I just posted this on the SSWWC forum. and will repeat it here. If you are new to scrolling joining a club can really accelerate your learning curve. It did mine! It also gave me the opportunity to try different saws before investing in a good one. We all have our favorite things that we like to cut a club can open your eyes to many other challenges. Another plus, whenever I think I am getting good , something that another member made is just a bit better, It keeps me humble and continuously trying to improve what I do.  Just like the work that is posted on sites like this. Just think how much fun it would be if we could meet once in a while.

Here is what I posted.

I belong to a local woodworking club Long Island Woodworkers http://liwoodworkers.org/ . Within that club we have what we call SIG's (special interest groups) Scrollers, Turners, Cabinet makers and Carvers. The main club The main club meets once a month as do the SIG's.
I was president of the scroll saw club for three years meet in an Old restored barn. We used to bring our saws to the meeting but they seem to be getting heavier every year? So now we have someone do a presentation each month. It is challenging to present something of interest to a group where we have members that have scrolled for over 65 years without scaring the crap out of newbies. But our main focus is the newbies.
Our current members number about 25. 

The turning SIG is the most active, probably because it is much more difficult to become a good turner without hurting yourself. Not to belittle scrolling, but once you understand the basic operation of your saw and can follow a line the rest is how much you want to challenge yourself.

I will say the both the scrolling and turning SIG's reduced my learning curve dramatically. So much easier to watch and learn from a master.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Rolf

[MTCowpoke22]

I face the same issue many of you do. Distance is a huge factor in starting any sort of woodworking club. I know of a older, retired guy about an hour away who scrolls, and then there's the gentleman here in the Village from Minot, ND, about 3 hours away. Those are the closest scrollers I'm aware of. I'd be interested in a club as far as being able to learn from others. For now, I just try to keep trying new things while still making something someone else would want.

[NC Scroller]

I would join one if there was one in the area. 

[zimmerstutzen]

the closest scrollers meeting is once a month at the local Woodcraft store,,, 30 miles away.  A bit too far for mee considering rush hour to get there and driving home late.  I belong to a local wood turner's club.  Seems they have new members coming every other month.  Each meeting has some one teaching a skill.  Sometimes a very new skill.  In addition, turning accessories seem to be changing/advancing every year.    I recently attended a class by an instructor who could turn out some really great stuff using off center turning.  Back last November, the Lancaster Wood turners hosted an open house at the trade college where they meet.  One instructor should how to inlay pewter rings around a bowl.  Another person demonstrated the CNC laser engraver.  Another showed how to turn finials.  Turning involves 3 dimensional work, that can be non-symetric with a little knowledge and skill. Scrolling normally involves 2 dimensional work and only rarely three dimensional work.   Scrolling seems to involve a much more complicated lay out and a bit more skill in the execution of the cutting.   I am a newbie at scrolling and got involved with scrolling with some limited special purposes in mind.  I have learned alot here. But somethings, you just have to watch to learn.  .  

[Woodmaster1]

In my area there is three different woodworking clubs. A turners and chiselers club, a woodworking club. They meet on the first Sunday for the turners and the first Tuesday for the woodworking club. They always have show and tell and presentations. The third is a woodworking club that has a shop to work in with several machines are available to use. The $50 a year dues is a great deal they supply everything but the wood for your projects which you can buy cheap from the club because we mill and kiln dry our own.

[Montserrat]

We don't have any such thing here.  But I have subscribed to this club's youtube-channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPEBAg3tUu1eFiyfRblfLIQ  They are fun to watch and learn from. 

Edited June 7, 2017 by Montserrat

[Scrappile]

This is no help to the original post, but for those of us that do not have access to a club, this is our club here a SSV and what a good one it is.

[amazingkevin]

Im with scrappile all the way!