Hi from Queanbeyan NSW

[CuddlyKoala]

Hi everyone :) just found this forum and I am looking forward to browsing all of it. I am a 50 yo female who is receiving her first scroll saw for Christmas and can't wait to start learning all about scrollwork, intarsia and fretwork :) I eventually want to learn Pyrography and anything else that I need along the way to :)

feel free to say Gday if you like 😎 Im looking forward to meeting you all :)

cheers!

[crowie]

G'Day & Welcome to a top forum "Koala".
There are quite a few members on the Southern Highlands with a stack of members in Sydney area plus the rest of the country.....
You'll find a heap of helpful & knowledgeable blokes & ladies on the forum and for most very willing to assist.
Make sure you show off your handiwork as everyone loves a photo, especially WIP [Work In Progress] photos with build notes.
Enjoy the forum.
Enjoy your woodwork and scrollsaw......
Cheers crowie

PS - Keep an eye out for a get together at Camden & Katoomba for the Sydney area forum members....great way to met & make friends..
Also "google" Steve Good Scrollsaw for some free plans to start your journey....

[CuddlyKoala]

G'Day & Welcome to a top forum "Koala".
There are quite a few members on the Southern Highlands with a stack of members in Sydney area plus the rest of the country.....
You'll find a heap of helpful & knowledgeable blokes & ladies on the forum and for most very willing to assist.
Make sure you show off your handiwork as everyone loves a photo, especially WIP [Work In Progress] photos with build notes.
Enjoy the forum.
Enjoy your woodwork and scrollsaw......
Cheers crowie

PS - Keep an eye out for a get together at Camden & Katoomba for the Sydney area forum members....great way to met & make friends..
Also "google" Steve Good Scrollsaw for some free plans to start your journey....

Hi Crowie :)

thanks for the welcome :) i discovered steve good two days ago and am currently working my way through his videos. I have a serious problem though.... No scroll saw yet and way too many great projects and tutorials in my list of things to do lol! Steves videos are so fantastic I want to grovel to my partner Peter to get my chrissy present early 😎 The great thing is that I have a good idea of what I need to have on hand on boxing day to start practicing 👍

The other site I fell in love with was sheilalandrydesigns.com - I have purchased lots of her fretwork christmas decorations which I cant wait to start (obviously after lots of practice) - its a shame they wont be ready for this christmas but next christmas watch out! :)

i have slowly been reading through these forums too and am impressed by the quality of work and the imaginative ways people are designing projects :)

when purchasing my scroll saw I had a choice between the Jet 16" and the hafco woodmaster 18" so I went with the hafco for the larger arm space and accessories - ive been reading the forum and think maybe I should have gone for the Jet? Oh well will see what it is like :) has anyone else used this scroll saw? Any hints and tips? :)

cheers!

[JJF]

Welcome to a forum

[Keith_1]

Hi CuddlyKoala,

Welcome to a great Forum. I am not into scroll saw work but there is some fantastic work being carried out and demonstrated in that Sub Forum. Can't wait to see some of your work.
Hope you meet and make many great friends both here in Oz and also overseas.
There are many very skilled people only too willing to assist if you have any queries.
Hope you enjoy your Woodworking journey.

Best Regards

Keith

[cava]

Welcome

[Ilya]

Hi CuddlyKoala, Welcome to the forum! There are a few forum members in Canberra as well.

[old1955]

Welcome to the forum.

[CuddlyKoala]

Thanks everyone :) I am really looking forward to getting to know you all :) im pretty sure the questions will come thick and fast once I get my hands on the scrollsaw! I havent used one since woodwork class in high school a couple...few...several.... Milennia ago lol i have enjoyed spending every spare moment I have going back through the posts and "meeting" you all by your posts :)

[Christos]

Welcome to the forum.

[P.W.H.]

I thought the name Queanbeyan sounded familiar: I stayed there a couple of years ago on my Aussie holiday while I was tromping through the museums in Canberra!
(some of which I enjoyed a great deal more than others).

Hope you have fun with your new toy on un-boxing day! If the wood seems to have a mind of its own, initially, do not despair - eventually you'll get the hang of teasing
it along. I'm sure there are some folk on here who have been through that with what you're planning to do and ready to help with supportive advice :)

best, -Peter

[CuddlyKoala]

hey Peter :) Being a local I normally avoid tromping through most of those galleries lol luckily they do rotate whats on show though so some are worth attending :) where are you from? And what did you think of our little town and the capital? :) I work in Canberra and have been here since 5 so think its boring lol

As for the scrollsaw i dont think i will have too much trouble gaining a straight line/following a pattern after a short while - I have a sewing machine that pulls to the side too lmao My issue is going to be trying to use pinless blades because apparently the one I bought sucks at holding the pinless blades... But.... That really only cuts me out of the smaller fretwork I wanted to do until I can afford the General (i think that was the recommended one for aussies) :) i have a handy partner (also named Peter) so he may surprise me with a fix along the way :)

What type of woodwork are you into? 😎

[P.W.H.]

I'm from across the Tasman (Northland, NZ). That was my first holiday in 30years over your way - I gave up farming 3 years back because my knees gave out. At the time we were looking after 2 senile seniors so we could only get away one at a time - I went to Aussie for 3 weeks, then my wife went to Europe for 6. Ha!

I do mostly furniture - tables, benchtops, more tables, free standing shelves, beds, small tables. I also built a computer desk that a woodworking friend once described as "closely resembles the bridge of the Enterprise". :U
Well it is 3mx3m, L-shaped ....
At the moment my woodworking is all about improving my workshop, I'm making a new assembly table (7x4 foot) with a versatile cabinet on castors below, and a router table top to clip on the side. After that's done I already have a commission for some shelves and a couple of beds from a friend. And plans for a small side table with a drawer for next to our entrance door, made from Tassie blackwood. Gorgeous material, that. :)

[CuddlyKoala]

A Kiwi? nice! Your last name doesnt happen to be Johnston? Lol my dad was born in Whakatane and I have lots of cousins Ive never met over there :) My uncle Peter, Aunty Ann and Aunty Jean are still going strong last I heard (but its been a while.) unfortunately my dad passed about 20 years ago now. Its one place I really want to visit one day - perhaps I'll drop in to see the Enterprise lmao Im pretty sure Im going to get the itch to get into cabinetry myself along the way - I have lots of things I would love to build and decorate myself (pyrography is next on my list) :)

I talked Peter into letting me having a look at the blading on my scroll saw tonight and though its going to be annoying for the pinless stuff - its not going to be anywhere near as bad as I read - so Im pretty happy now :)

Being aussie I just have to ask...... Sheep farmer? Lmao

oh and ps - your wife got it right! Lol

[P.W.H.]

Ha! No, my last name is something Teutonic; Huebner. And - not sheep, but bulls and, for a few years, angora goats until the bottom fell out of the goat
fibre market around 1990.

That scroll saw of yours - is it electric? Purely manual? I understand there are pedal operated ones about, too, but I've never seen one of those myself.

[CuddlyKoala]

Lmao yeah its electric :) solid little cast iron setup with really easy pin blade change setup - its just a bit of a pain with the pinless blades. I have decided to do a full run through of it on this forum so if anyone else is thinking about getting one they will know what its like. Its fantastic if your not going to do fretwork type work :) but of course have to wait until i am officially allowed to have it lol

[P.W.H.]

I used to have a pinless one (manual) when I was a high school kid - later, much later, I got a jeweller's saw for dovetails, which had pins. I never had trouble with the pinless setup, and I can imagine that the pins would be awkward to thread through a small hole when you want to do cutouts ... but seriously, that's not my area of expertise. These days I have neither any more. I'm sure the guys and gals over in the scrollsaw forum will have many things to say one way or the other.