World Scroll Saw Expo Venders

One of the nice things about going to a woodworking show is that it gives you a chance to meet some the companies behind the tools that we see advertised in all the magazines and in most case they have demos set up to try. Like when Popular Woodworking Magazine held their tool event and Lie Nielsen came to Cincinnati with all their great hand tools.

The World Scroll Saw Expo was the no different, and it brought with them companies like Hawk Woodworking Tools, PS Wood Machines, Sand-flee, and Seyco's who sells the Excalibur scroll saws and General tools. Every one of these venders had some of their tools set up so you could give them a test drive, and thats just what I did.

 My first stop was Hawk Woodworking Tools to talk to the new owners of Hawk Woodworking Tools Nilus Orth. Nilus and his brother took over Hawk about a year ago and have been making some changes to the company including designing a completely new saw the JuniorHawk which is a portable light weight direct drive saw that cuts like a dream. 

This was one of the first saws I tried and to tell you the truth it was my favorite out of all the saw there, and if you are like me and need a saw you have to carry around or put away and get out often then this is a great saw, the price is steep at $850, but it is a high end cutting machine.

They carry some larger saws that was already in Hawks line before they purchaced the company, but have been upgrading motors and other parts. Saws are not the only tools Hawk carries they have a rather neat panel clamping system that lets you use pipe clamps on a track and then they can hang out of the way while they dry. They seem like a company that have their customers needs in mind and are willing to stand behind what they sell.

The next I spoke with Barbara Peters who is the president of PS Wood Machines, now for those who don't know PS Wood Machines are the people who developed the Timber wolf band saw and scroll saw blades. Barbara and I talked for a long time and I told her about the trouble I have had finding Timber wolf blades in the configuration that I wanted, so she gave me a catalog and told me just to give her a call and she would take care of me. she also help find some carter parts for my band-saw which I could never seem to get help with anywhere else. Barbara was a great help and if you are looking for Timber Wold Blades and can't find what you want then go to her web site and order direct. thats how I will be buying mine from now on.

Next I stopped by Sand-Flee  and played with their sander. I wasn't sure about it at first, but the more I played with it the more I became impressed with it. I could start to see plenty of uses for it especially if you where in the craft business, and after talking to Stephen Raffo and having him show me all it can do, I can say it is a well build machine, with a sturdy Baldor motor. I am still not convinced it would do what a belt driven surface sander would do as far as dimensioning veneer, but I could be wrong. however you can joint a board with the fence on this sander, and if your a scroll sawer or you make crafts or other small small items that need sanding this is a heck of a machine. it was easy to use. and it lets you change the sand paper very easily. What sets this machine apart is the accessories that you can get for it to make sanding them difficult part not only easier but fun, and you can get one that will work with a Shop Smith which is a big plus for all us Shop Smith owners.

Seyco's was the next booth I stopped at and they carry the Excalibur scroll saw including the EX-30 which is the biggest scroll saw on the market and it's a great running machine, not only do the carry scroll saws, but Seyco's also carries General Tools plus many smaller accessory's for scroll saws and woodworkers including a interesting filter for a standard box fan that you can clean off with a garden hose then recharge it with a formula that attracts dust to it. I use a box fan sometimes on my bench when I sand just to catch dust so this product interested me. I might get one of these just to do a review on it one of theses days
but from the dust it was collecting at the show it looked like it was working fine.

There was many other smaller products there like saw blades, sanders, and a sanding wheel that you put on a 8" grinder called a wonder wheel that was like compressed 3m pad that did a good job carving grooves, you could dress it in any shape you wanted with a diamond dressing stone. There was lots of intarsia patterns from small ornaments to almost life-size animals, but there will be more on the intarsia artist in part 3, until then have a great day. 

Joey