In article , Jim wrote:
(Doug Miller) wrote in
.com:

In article , Jim
wrote:
Completely new direction... just responding to the subject.

Did anyone else think this show was worthwhile? It was a fairly small
show with what appeared to be light attendance. However, every one of
the vendors and demonstrators were extremely informative and took the
time to offer advice.

[snip]

*Very* worthwhile. SWMBO and I took #2 son Allen (age 12) along. He
griped and moaned about it beforehand, but within fifteen minutes of
getting there, he had spotted Don Weber's booth, and was fascinated
watching Don turn firewood into chair spindles (frankly, so were we).
Don sat him down on the shaving horse, handed him a drawknife (I'm
sure it helped that Allen was wearing a shirt with the Boy Scouts
logo), and showed him how to smooth and square a walnut billet in
preparation for turning. Allen spent the next _four_hours_ playing
apprentice and assistant to Don, learning about working with green
wood and how to use a treadle lathe, and just generally seeing
first-hand, in a way that I could never have explained to him, that
fine results can be achieved with primitive tools.

[snip]
It must have been your son I saw with the big grin on his face using the
draw knife....

Probably so. Blond, 5'4", glasses, yellow tee-shirt, denim shorts?

The wood mag show should take notice and have a few more hands on things
for the kids. The vendors at that show would do well to involve them
too. As a result of the people giving the demonstrations talking with,
giving advice, and generally teaching my youngest daughter, I'll be
buying a scroll saw in the very near future. Something I wouldn't have
done if they hadn't got her interested it it.

Amen to that. The "Make-a-Memory" workshop was a step in the right direction,
I think, but we didn't do that. We had seen the references to it in the ads,
but when we got there and saw the signs hanging from the ceiling showing what
the kids would be making on the scroll saw (a duck, a dinosaur, I forget the
third one, all just block figures), the three of us looked at each other and
said "Naaah". Allen's *waaaaay* beyond that on the scroll saw: he just
recently completed a silhouette of the Eiffel Tower.

Scroll saws are great tools for kids. They can exercise all kinds of
creativity, and the chances of getting hurt are pretty slim. Glad to hear your
daughter has caught the bug too. I love spending time in the shop with my
kids. You'll get to enjoy that too now.

The Dremel scroll saw they sell at Lowe's is a pretty good starter saw. Not
very expensive, and quite workable. To control vibration, get a rubber pad (we
bought one at WoodsWork on E. Washington St) and bolt the saw down to a bench
or table with the pad in between. Make the bolts snug, but *not* tight.

Good places to buy blades are the woodworking shows, WoodsWork, and Winner
Woodworking on the SE side. Superior Distributing, downtown, probably has them
too, but I haven't checked. The library, and most of the woodworking stores,
have a good supply of books on scroll saw techniques, and WoodsWork has
_by_far_ the best selection of books of patterns, at all skill levels.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)