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 Beginning

An Association for Scroll Sawers. Whose idea was that? The idea was born in Stevens, PA., while Pat Spielman and John Nelson talked to a variety of scrollers.  Dale Whisler held the very first Scroll Saw Picnic in 1993 in Stevens, PA. This picnic was such a success that Dale repeated it the following year, and it continues to this time.

Discussions about forming an association had been held previously at these picnics, but it was not until 1997 that a steering committee was formed to see if this could be accomplished.

By then, Joe Diveley had decided to hold another picnic in Pontiac, IL. This allowed the group trying to form this organization another opportunity to get together and form a core group of volunteers to become our first Board of Directors. It was sitting around a picnic table in Illinois, that SAW was named "Scrollsaw Association of the World" and the first officers were appointed. Then the discussion continued about whether Scroll Saw was one word or two. Well, as you see, it was agreed to be written as one word. In December of 1997, we received our not-for-profit status from the state government. By February of 1998 we had written a set of by-laws that would govern this organization.

The first issue of our Newsletter, SAW Dust, was produced in April, 1998. With the newsletter, we took our first major step into the "Real" World. Our first memberships were accepted in April of 1998. Sioux Scrollers, founded by Mike Moorlach, became the first official Local Chapter of SAW in May of 1998.

By the beginning of April, 1999 we had a total of 500 charter members of the Scrollsaw Association of the World. This was done with little or no advertising. Thanks to the generosity of individuals like Pat Spielman and Dirk Boelman for mentioning us in their newsletters, and to the work of companies such as RBI and Hegner for putting forth our membership information to their customers, our membership grew.

Our first Directory was published in February, 1999. This informative booklet has been an immediate success with our members. The information contained in the Directory allows members to contact each other, find scrollsawing resources, and have an individual copy of the By-Laws of the Organization. With members from around the world, we are truly an "International" Scrollsawing Association.