Sign and Scrollsaw CMS

[Rob-GB]

I was asked to knock up a sign for a friends new home which is a bit remote, hence the arrow [big grin]
To make this I picked up my Dad's old Hegner scrollsaw which has been sitting in his garage for about 15 years unused.
Dad passed away nine years ago but a couple of strokes left him unable to use many of his tools and this was the last one he could use making dolls house furniture for his granddaughters.(having made dolls houses for them earlier).
Time had taken a bit of a toll on the bellows, they had hardened and cracked and the table angle locking handle had been cross threaded, possibly due to Dad's trouble with dexterity after the strokes, but for the rest of the machine all it needed was a clean, some oil and new blade.
New bellows arrived in 48 hrs from Hegner, while running a 6mm tap through the aluminum casting from the rear of the machine removed the cross threading issue so the lock handle works easily again.
Next issue was vibration which is inherent in scroll saws so I came up with this fix, mount the saw onto a board with a rubber tile between and then fit the board into my CMS with a couple of fasteners. Vibration is now negligible and the working height works well for me too.
The sign is all white oak but the letters are stained  then PU glued onto the oak board before finishing with Osmo oil.

Pretty sure my Dad would have approved and it felt good getting one of his tools in use again. [smile]

Rob.

 

[RDMuller]

I have one of these.  Thank you for the idea on the rubber mat.  Hangers shake way too much, mine too is  15 years old

 

[Picktool]

Wow Rob,

I just got the goosies and chills reading this. My father too passed 9 years ago
and like you I too have the same Hegner saw. Still working like the day he bought it.
Freaky as you mention about the bellows. I need new ones also.

Keep his spirit going! Cheers

I was asked to knock up a sign for a friends new home which is a bit remote, hence the arrow [big grin]
To make this I picked up my Dad's old Hegner scrollsaw which has been sitting in his garage for about 15 years unused.
Dad passed away nine years ago but a couple of strokes left him unable to use many of his tools and this was the last one he could use making dolls house furniture for his granddaughters.(having made dolls houses for them earlier).
Time had taken a bit of a toll on the bellows, they had hardened and cracked and the table angle locking handle had been cross threaded, possibly due to Dad's trouble with dexterity after the strokes, but for the rest of the machine all it needed was a clean, some oil and new blade.
New bellows arrived in 48 hrs from Hegner, while running a 6mm tap through the aluminum casting from the rear of the machine removed the cross threading issue so the lock handle works easily again.
Next issue was vibration which is inherent in scroll saws so I came up with this fix, mount the saw onto a board with a rubber tile between and then fit the board into my CMS with a couple of fasteners. Vibration is now negligible and the working height works well for me too.
The sign is all white oak but the letters are stained  then PU glued onto the oak board before finishing with Osmo oil.

Pretty sure my Dad would have approved and it felt good getting one of his tools in use again. [smile]

Rob.

 

[Rob-GB]

I have one of these.  Thank you for the idea on the rubber mat.  Hangers shake way too much, mine too is  15 years old

The buffers on the plate insert groove and the rubber feet on the CMS help enormously too. Thank you for your comment.

Wow Rob,

I just got the goosies and chills reading this. My father too passed 9 years ago
and like you I too have the same Hegner saw. Still working like the day he bought it.
Freaky as you mention about the bellows. I need new ones also.

Keep his spirit going! Cheers

The new bellows look to be of a better material than the old one so that gives one hope for even greater service life.
Happy to hear you are getting use of a tool you father used too, I always get a kick out of that feeling and it is probably my way of keeping his or my grandfather's or my father-in-laws spirit alive when I use any tool that they owned.
Cheers, Rob.

 

[GarryMartin]

What a lovely story and awesome sign. I'm sure you're Dad would have been so happy to see the Hegner brought back in to use and so proud of his son's skills in using it. It must mean even more to your friends that the story accompanies the sign.

 

[Stone Message]

As Garry said, a lovely story and I am so glad that I spotted this thread. I inherited a few of Dad's old hand tools and I keep them on the bench even though I do not use them.

A brilliant sign and a really clever trick with the old scroll saw.

Peter

 

[Rob-GB]

What a lovely story and awesome sign. I'm sure you're Dad would have been so happy to see the Hegner brought back in to use and so proud of his son's skills in using it. It must mean even more to your friends that the story accompanies the sign.

Thanks Gary, it is one of those tools that I thought would be useful but had always managed to do without...now I am thinking how I can use it in the next project [big grin]

As Garry said, a lovely story and I am so glad that I spotted this thread. I inherited a few of Dad's old hand tools and I keep them on the bench even though I do not use them.

A brilliant sign and a really clever trick with the old scroll saw.

Peter

Thanks Peter, I have said it before in posts that I enjoy using tools that were left to me by my Grandfather or my father-in-law or my Dad, it is a link with them that is in the here and now. Always brings a smile to the job in hand.

Rob.

 

[Stone Message]

When I was a youngster my father would always involve me in his woodwork. He was a strict teacher but that was the way of things back then.

He would put a pencil mark, just a short tick, on a piece of wood and make me cut it by hand using an old panel saw. I was not allowed to use a square and a pencil to extend the mark to give me a clear guide for these hand cuts.

After I did the cut he would check it with his square. If it was out then I had to do it again and so it went on.

When Dad died I inherited his try squares. By now I was retired (from my day job) and doing a lot of woodwork again. I was obsessed with squareness, thanks to Dad, and started work on my ideas that would eventually lead to the Parf Guide System. It was with the most bitter sadness that I discovered that the squares that had been used to judge my early woodworking efforts were a mile out of square. Shortly after the discovery I was making a video and related the story and nearly broke down in front of the camera.

Dad did not know that they were out of square and the amount that they were out would have been fine for the things that he did, roofing, staircases and some joinery. I was aiming at perfection (which is what Dad had drummed into me) and I owe the accuracy of the PGS to that mind set and certainly not to the accuracy of his old tools.

Peter

 

[Rob-GB]

Peter, thank you for sharing that story, he sounds a lot like my Dad, old school for sure.  [smile]
Mine started as an apprentice carpenter but had to go work for a builder when the carpenter got drafted. Then Dad got called up and was a Royal Engineer seeing duty in Egypt and then Singapore. On de-mob they sent him to Yorkshire to complete his training at their trade school.....as a Bricklayer  [big grin]
He was more than just that though growing up we never had anything done in the house by anyone other than Dad, gas,electric painting,carpentry and of course he wrangled in some brickwork too  [big grin]
No one forgets the christmas we came down to breakfast to find the car engine on the dining table  [jawdrop] and Mum said that before that she came home once to find his BSA Bantam in bits in the living room!
Old school men who'd snort man glitter for snuff and wear oil and petrol as Eau de Cologne.

atb Rob.