Saying HI

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

It's so great to hear from you J.T. even on this sad note. Please consider rejoining us here on SSV. We need your sage advice more now than ever. Lots of new scrollers. ComeONBACK!

I did not want to comment in the thread about Rick Hutcheson because that is not about me. So just a quick note to say HI to the villagers who remember me and to answer Ray's post. Just an update as to my doings. Since the great shut down of the pandemic, the shows I was attending never made a comeback so my scrolling days came to an end. I sold off my Dewalt788 and Hegner18" saws for a fairly cheap price and it sounded like the new owners were enthused to have them. I did keep my 2 RBI's 220 and 226. But they have been idle and I have shifted my focus to turning and mostly the making of pens. I found these are far easier to sell and to also give away. I have included a couple photos of my last show I did and my set up. I really do have alot of stuff to get rid of. as I have gotten older the desire to do shows like that is not there any more. Last year I did sell some things through FB market place and may at some time do a yard sale thing and sell things from the garage to lighten the load for my family when I pass. The eyes and hands are definitely not the same. 

It is good that there are new members joining the site and choosing scrolling as their hobby of choice. It still has its merits but not what it once was. I basically can not add any new sage advice that has not been given by the senior members here, I am sure. But did want to say a BIG HELLO to all and maybe I will poke my head in from time to time again. Hope all are doing well. 

 

[NC Scroller]

Welcome home John T.

[dgman]

It’s good to hear from you JT, hope you visit often!

[meflick]

Welcome John.  I'm glad to see you and hope you will poke your head back in from time to time.  Beautiful work you have shown from your shows.

[kmmcrafts]

Good to hear from you JT, You have a wealth of knowledge that many could benefit from here on the Village site since there is way more here than just scroll saw work such as a lot of just general woodworking talk happens here too. Not sure you're aware but Travis made some specific groups only available to a certain level of support / subscriptions. There is a turners group, laser and CNC etc.. and just general crafts groups. You can access the groups section from the top toolbar that says "groups" Not sure how much talk is going on in the turners or other groups but anyway just thought I'd mention it in case you might want to check it out. Love to see you visit more often.   

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

4 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Good to hear from you JT, You have a wealth of knowledge that many could benefit from here on the Village site since there is way more here than just scroll saw work such as a lot of just general woodworking talk happens here too. Not sure you're aware but Travis made some specific groups only available to a certain level of support / subscriptions. There is a turners group, laser and CNC etc.. and just general crafts groups. You can access the groups section from the top toolbar that says "groups" Not sure how much talk is going on in the turners or other groups but anyway just thought I'd mention it in case you might want to check it out. Love to see you visit more often.   

I guess I lost my admission key.  The door is locked. That  is OK. 

[OCtoolguy]

Thanks for your reply J.T. I for one would appreciate you spending some time here as I learned a lot from you and it was always nice to know that you were close by to answer my inane questions. I'm happy to know that you are still active even if it's not scrolling. Do stop by as often as you can. Nice to hear from you and I'm amazed at the amount of creations that you showed us. Stay well, and see ya around.

 

[red river]

That is one heck of a collection.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

7 hours ago, red river said:

That is one heck of a collection.

Yea that is alot of stuff and still not all. I use to make over 900 different items. I tried to have something for everyone and it usually was a good plan. I did well over the years and glad I followed my heart with scrollsawing. It was a rewarding and fun hobby in many ways. I have a creative mind and sometimes it gets out of control and I want to do too much. My pen turning adventures has taken me in another direction and it too is rewarding and fun. I like making one of a kind pens and again try to touch various fields and interests. But one difference is I can make a $500 pen and sell it faster than I can make $500 worth of scrollsawn stuff. I need to take a look around the site some being I have not been here for awhile and see what others are into these days. 

[kmmcrafts]

JT, I noticed in your picture the pen display, The wood one is awesome looking and I assume you made it. My question is how do they stand like that? or is there something at the top that they lean / rest on or just holes deep enough that they stand like that. 

I imagine pens are easy on the storage space when you have a lot of pens in inventory. I'm learning that now that I have around 600 different items inventoried.. Ornaments don't take up all that space that clocks and other larger items do. 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

4 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

JT, I noticed in your picture the pen display, The wood one is awesome looking and I assume you made it. My question is how do they stand like that? or is there something at the top that they lean / rest on or just holes deep enough that they stand like that. 

I imagine pens are easy on the storage space when you have a lot of pens in inventory. I'm learning that now that I have around 600 different items inventoried.. Ornaments don't take up all that space that clocks and other larger items do. 

Yes Kevin , the 2 wood ones shown there are made from rosewood and yellowheart strip for accents. It also has a blue acrylic mirror for accent behind pens. I will include a photo here. As you can see there is a back rest that the pens lean against and a small corresponding hole  for the nib to rest in so it does not slide off. the round one is also a spinner in that I placed a lazy susan rack under it so all pens can be viewed. Just last week I decided to buy some display boxes to make it easier for me to display and carry my pens. I have over 200 pens. These boxes have a couple shelves that are easily taken out and people can pick from them. When I find a few shows I want to do it will be just pen sales so will be able to display using the boxes as well. I started a display cabinet for my home for those real special pens that I probably do not want to sell but never finished it. Over the years I have made some interesting single pen display boxes that I have yet to make the pens to compliment the boxes but which I will get to soon. Those will forever be one of a kind and rather valuable. Now that I got my house just about 75% done I am getting closer to finishing that cabinet. Will hang in my Den. Believe me carrying 200 pens is a whole lot easier than carting my scrollsawn stuff as you can see from the photos of the display I shown here. I do not know why sometimes double photos show up. I tried this twice and same thing happened. Oh well. 

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by JTTHECLOCKMAN

[Dave Monk]

I have found that in my area there are a lot of turners and not as many scrollers at the shows I do.  Your work is awesome.

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

3 hours ago, Dave Monk said:

I have found that in my area there are a lot of turners and not as many scrollers at the shows I do.  Your work is awesome.

 

It is the same in my area. Scrolling was alot more popular years ago but the lathe work has taken over by far. People doing bowls and segmented work as well as pen turning. I found we went through phases with my scrolling. When I first started   I have mentioned here many times I was a huge fan of the Berry Basket and Rick and Karen's designs. They had a lot of projects that were geared to home decor and that is what I did mostly. The shelves, mirrors, tissue boxes, planters, table lamps and what they became famous for the collapsible basket/trivets. and so on. Then I added magazine racks and plenty of wall hanging items. They did sell and then they started to peter out and that is when I got huge into clock making because we all need clocks and the Victorian style of wood items faded. Unfortunately the I phone camera thing was not around back then so whatever photos I took were film style. I tried a few times to transfer some to digital and get them on my computer but not really good at that. I did put up a few photos of past work I did. here not sure how well they show up.  As you can see, who uses magazine racks any more? Who collects spoons any more? I use to make those shelves 2 and 3 times as long depending on an order. And I made many other varieties of these items. This is just an example. Man back in the day I went thru alot of oak. I use to do many of these same items with a darker stain on them These are all natural finish. All finish with Watco Danish oil. Man went thru alot of gallons of that stuff too. Trip down memory lane. The wheel barrel and the tricycle are made from Mahagony and I just sold those last year thru FB. I had 5 of each left and just wanted to get them out of the basement so sold cheap and was surprised they went as quick as they did. Sold a couple of those shelves too. I have a few more large items such as wishing wells that I need to sell and get them out of the basement. I need to complete them first. Have all the pieces cut but need to assemble. they have to be at least 20 years old.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by JTTHECLOCKMAN

[kmmcrafts]

8 hours ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Yes Kevin , the 2 wood ones shown there are made from rosewood and yellowheart strip for accents. It also has a blue acrylic mirror for accent behind pens. I will include a photo here. As you can see there is a back rest that the pens lean against and a small corresponding hole  for the nib to rest in so it does not slide off. the round one is also a spinner in that I placed a lazy susan rack under it so all pens can be viewed. Just last week I decided to buy some display boxes to make it easier for me to display and carry my pens. I have over 200 pens. These boxes have a couple shelves that are easily taken out and people can pick from them. When I find a few shows I want to do it will be just pen sales so will be able to display using the boxes as well. I started a display cabinet for my home for those real special pens that I probably do not want to sell but never finished it. Over the years I have made some interesting single pen display boxes that I have yet to make the pens to compliment the boxes but which I will get to soon. Those will forever be one of a kind and rather valuable. Now that I got my house just about 75% done I am getting closer to finishing that cabinet. Will hang in my Den. Believe me carrying 200 pens is a whole lot easier than carting my scrollsawn stuff as you can see from the photos of the display I shown here. I do not know why sometimes double photos show up. I tried this twice and same thing happened. Oh well. 

 

 

 

Wow those are very nice racks and of coarse pens as well. Thanks for showing the additional photos. 

I had a lathe given to me some 7-8 years ago and I messed with it some but I guess it just wasn't my thing so I ended up getting rid of it. It was a old Craftsman that you changed speeds with swapping the belt to different pulleys. I can't remember how many speeds it was.. I just know that it made a big mess in short time and that was my biggest complaint about it. Now if I'd of had the dust collector system I now have I might have hung onto it... Maybe again some day I'll give it another try.  

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

yes a lathe can be just as relaxing and enjoyable. Today with the VS models out there it is easy to change speeds when you need to. And that only really needs to happen if you are sanding, finishing, or drilling on the lathe. Any other turning is usually done at high speeds so no need to switch belts. Yes they can throw lots of chips and a dust collector is something that is handy. Being I turn alot of acrylic pen blanks I have to be careful about clogging the duct because the stringy material does stick to the sides. But I have done some birdhouse ornaments as well as tops and small items. Never did get the desire of getting into bowl turning but if a ever do it would be segmented bowls. Those are really cool. I know this is not a turning forum but here are some examples of what I turn along with some recent pens. If there is objections to this then Travis can just delete them. The spinning top is an example where I combine scrolling and turning. I make many different styles of this type of tops. Kids love them. 

 

[wombatie]

It is good to see you JT.  You are a true artist in whatever you do.  Please call in often we would love to see more of you.

Marg

[Peter N White]

All great looking work.

[OCtoolguy]

Beautiful work J.T. Thanks for showing your artistry and imagination. I am in awe.