Creative Woodworks & crafts 1999-10, страница 34
WES ' WORKSHOP Subject: Notes from our trip south by Wes Demarest Eclipse Scroll Saw During our spring trip south, I had Ihe good fortune of meeling several people who deserve mentioning. For those who have attended Dale Whisler's Scroll Saw Picnic, you are undoubtedly familiar with Ernesto Mellon and his Eclipse Scroll Saw. Ernie has been awarded a patent for a scroll saw design that is different from all others. The Eclipse is large (around 100 lbs), about as vibration free as any manmade machine can get, and full of features that are bound lo set new standards for scroll saw manufacturers. Dirk Boelman will have the pleasure of profiling the saw in an upcoming issue, but you can see by the photograph that it is quite a machine. Ernie has been beset with production problems that would have caused those wilh less faith in their dreams to just continue working for others. But noi Ernie! He and his wife, Betty, have lost countless hours of sleep, spent a smal! fortune in telephone calls alone, and have held onto their sanity in spite of what seems to me to be a conspiracy against them. (Only joking, I don't want a SWAT Team surrounding my shop.) If you ever need proof' of I Murphy's Law, Ernie could show | you heartbreaking examples. Heartbreaking because each mistake made by others costs him money and pushes back his delivery date. The bright light that motivates him is the knowledge that he has made a great saw which will surely be in demand. The Eclipse is not for those on a tight budget or unwilling to invest in superior quality equipment, but if your scroll saw makes you money, this is one that you will definitely want. Ernesto Mellon can be reached at PO Box 295, Quinton, VA 23141. imported ornamental trees, Jerry has plenty of work. One of the trees, Melaleuca quinquinervia, or as it is called in Florida, Punk Tree or Cajeput Tree, yields a beautiful light brown wood with an interlocked grain that has the appearance of animal fur and a nice glow when finished. It works easily but has a tendency to warp unless dried properly. I have not used any in case work so I can't report on how stable it is, but it scroll saws nicely, jerry also gets Indian Rosewood which is very beautiful as well as many other treasures that can't all be mentioned in this limited space. The point 1 am trying to make here is to check your own locale for someone with a portable sawmill. Undoubtedly, you will find hidden treasures in your own backyard. Jerry Forbes am be reached at 5902 Taneytown St., North Port, FL 34286. | Cocobolo Inc. Also while in Florida, we came across a classified ad for Cocobolo which lead us to Cocobolo Inc. The company is a family operation in Panama that works with indigenous people in Central and South America, harvesting timber and importing it themselves. I have had the pleasure of visiting a number of lumber yards, and I can say with experience that these guys have some beautiful stuff! Guthrie Crouch is holding down the fort for the family here in America and developing a domestic wholesale market, with a little retail thrown in. He took great pleasure in torturing us by purposely displaying all of his stock. I had to restrain myself in making my selections, and even my wife, Alice, squeezed the household budget to get several pieces for herself. For more ini'ormation, contact Cocobolo Inc. at (727) 521-0616, or visit their web site <sales@cocoholoinc.com>. Hidden treasures For a number of years 1 supplemented my income by logging and selling firewood. Every job left "waste" wood made up of limbs, tops, and broken saplings that would normally just rot back into the ground if not harvested. Occasionally, we would encounter quality logs that didn't make grade for the large mills but were included in the harvest by the forester to improve the timber stand. These were usually cut for firewood too. I often dreamed of the day I would own a portable sawmill and begin making good use of such "waste" wood. Thankfully, I am not the only person with that mindset. There are a whole bunch of us and I met one in North Port, Florida. Jerry Forbes owns a Woodmizer LT 40 HD mill. His mill is located in a mulching plant and since Horida has started an eradication program targeting four species of 34 Returned to sender I would like to take a moment this month to offer an apoio gy to all of the readers who E-mailed me and have not received a reply. For some reason, I have been getting reply mail returned as undeliverable. The problem seems to be with EROLS and AOL addresses. If you have been waiting for a reply, contact me again and I will attempt another response. Until next time Don't forget, if I can be of assistance to you, please drop me a line. Contact me through our Web Page: <www.wood-worksandcraftsxom> or <cwwmag@aol.com>,- or write to me at Uncle Wes' Woodshop, PO Box 7138, Sussex, NJ 07461. jnj « Creative Woodworks & Crafts |
