"New" Scroll Saw Acquired!

[B'ville Scroller]

On Sunday I convinced my husband to take a short drive to pickup the saw in the photo. It's a Millers Falls Number 387 "Star" saw. I don't know the exact date as yet. My priorities in the past few days has been finalizing our demonstration booth at the New York State Fair. Cleaning up the saw and getting it fully functional will have to wait until after that. This is the second antique saw that I own. My first is a Seneca Falls Manufacturing "Challenge" saw which is dated 1877. That saw is in the 300 square foot demonstration area at the Fair along with a spring pole and treadle lathe, both replicas built by the club (see other photos). We demo in the Agricultural Museum which is 95 years old this year so during the Fair, all of our demonstrations are non-electrified! It makes for an interesting 13 days, especially when someone comes in and says "look Mom, they are sewing" when they see the scroll saw. We added new "cushy" flooring to the demonstration area this year and the space looks even better than in the past and the folks who helped setup the booth were very excited when they stood on it on Sunday. It was well-worth the money to purchase and we expect it to last several years because we bought quality material (wesellmatts.com). If you are in NYS and are planning to visit the NYS Fair, stop into the Ag Museum (we are #16 on the map and located opposite the Coliseum)! Our building is open 10am to 7pm with a soft opening at 9:30am. Hope to see you there!

[Quartz43]

That is really nice...I am jealous.

[ddockstader]

I am SO jealous!

[millwab]

Barbara, your Star saw looks very similar to the New Rogers saw I picked up a few years ago, except that mine predates the blower that yours has. I participate in a venue at our county fair that features crafts from the mid to late 1800s. It’s interesting to see (especially) the kids walk up totally fascinated by the saw and what it can do. I prep some things to take with me to finish cutting while I’m there to give to the kids that bother to show an interest.
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[NC Scroller]

Love your demo booth. So jealous. ENJOY!!!

[Rolf]

Nice booth, love the saw. Are you just going to clean it up ? or a full restoration.

[will8989]

An inviting set up to draw people in. Have fun.

[cwmagee]

Today 8/29/2023 during our tour of duty at the state fair, I got to do some demo cutting on Barbara's Seneca Falls Manufacturing "Challenge" scrollsaw. At first It was a bit of a challange to concentrate on keeping the feet rocking, blowing the dust away from the line as well as cutting out an object. It makes one happy to have a modern electric version.

I might add it was also challanging to keep the Treddle Lath rotating in the correct direction.

It is amazing how we become spoiled by some modern improvements (electricty).