About Us

Committee Members

         President: Neil Schulz

Vice President: Graham Jones

Secretary/Treasurer: John McTier

Committee member: Peter Arbon

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South Oz Scrollers meet in a networking environment where knowledge, experience and resources are shared, and members are always on hand to offer guidance and support to those wanting to solve problems and develop their skills. As well as providing skills training it is an ideal opportunity for people to find out more about the craft and what equipment is needed before purchasing their first scroll saw. Among us you will find people who specialise in one aspect of the craft or another.  From cutting the simplest to the most complex projects, intricate artistic designs to artwork in wood, puzzles, miniatures, models, toys and jewellery to list a few. Because we have members at different skill levels beginners should not feel anxious or threatened about being yourself in a friendly atmosphere. We welcome everybody (male, female, young & old) to visit the Club to see for yourselves what the craft is about and how we operate. We look forward to your stay.

Our Story

In the mid 1990’s Neil Schulz, who had been using the scroll saw for a few years had a
vision to form a scroll saw group in South Australia. As he had found it addictive and was
impressed by the versatility and diversity of the saw he was convinced that the craft itself
could be a popular one and that many people would be interested.
Having searched unsuccessfully, over a lengthy period, through different avenues to find other people
interested in the craft he realized that if it was to happen then he needed to lay the foundations to build a nucleus of people around which a group could grow.
In the late 1990s he started by organizing and running training workshops for Woodgroup SA members.
This found a couple of interested people. He then began promoting the scroll saw and its associated crafts through public demonstrations within Woodgroup promotions and with MIK International with whom he demonstrated the Hegner range of scroll saws. Gradually the interest gathered momentum, two or three interested people, up to six and then to nine or ten, until at the Timber & Working With Wood Show in 2000 he felt the timing was right to make an all out attack on forming the club. At this event he gathered more names and from a list of interested people a meeting was held at Thebarton Senior College and the first workshop of the newly formed South Oz Scrollers was held on 30thSeptember 2000.
Many of those joining were new to the scroll saw. Monthly workshops provided the means for many to
learn a range of techniques including preparation, cutting, finishing then onto more specialized techniques like 3 dimensional cutting and inlaying. Where at first there were only one or two who could be classified as having advanced skills during the first twelve months of operation others skills quickly improved and by the Timber & Working With Wood Show (TWWWS) 2001, where the Woodgroup stages its own Exhibition, more than 80% of scrollers exhibited their work in the Gallery. This was quite an achievement such was the enthusiasm amongst the members.
Demonstrating in public was high on the agenda. South Oz Scrollers developed a promotional flyer that
was used during the five public demonstrations the group did each year. More and more interest grew in these public demonstrations and more and more people became aware of the decorative woodwork that could come off the scroll saw. Soon there were many requests from people wanting to join but were hampered by the fact that the group was meeting on a Tuesday. In 2002 following the TWWWS a Saturday group was formed and this expanded the group to more than 30 participants. In its first six years it had acquired three Hegner scroll saws and various other pieces of equipment including a range of powered sanding tools and machinery all of which helps to introduce new participants to the craft or existing members to a new or different technique. It operates in an environment of fostering others to join the craft and provides them with a network of support to help them quickly develop their skills. Les Miller, a past Associate Editor of the Australian Woodworker and notary in woodworking circles once described Adelaide as the “Scroll Saw Capital of Australia”. The group mainly produces fretwork and intarsia of high quality and has women as well as men amongst it membership. It can boast of some very talented scrollers and is strongly represented at National Scroll Saw Exhibitions where its members have won numerous awards. The group launched into a new project, “Caring Gifts”, that aimed to produce gifts for the aged particularly those who lived at home alone or in aged cared without family support. It received financial assistance from Community Benefits SA and The Office for the Ageing to purchase the scroll saws, equipment and consumables to get the project off the ground. It made in excess of 100 gifts in its first year and Meals on Wheels in the North Eastern Region and The Pines Aged Care facility at Plympton distributed the gifts. After this the group formed a partnership with the Community Visitors Scheme that had a network of volunteers across the state visiting our target group in aged care facilities.
From 2005 to 2007 the group contributed almost 500 gifts to this Australian Government funded program that were subsequently distributed to the elderly. We received many, many expressions of thank you from volunteers in this program who expressed the delight of their elderly friends when they receive a gift. It was our way of supporting the ageing community after all, as one of the members said in initially supporting the project; we reckon “we’re all heading there pretty quickly”. The growth of the craft has been significant over the past three years and is becoming more and more popular as the public becomes more aware of the diversity of the scroll saw, the decorative woodwork and art that can be produced on it. The Club’s commitment to its aims and objectives, its enthusiasm to promote the scroll saw
and the craft and the professionalism with which it conducts its activities will keep it in good stead in future years. South Oz Scrollers is doing their bit toward maintaining traditional skills amongst woodworkers of today, skills most of us can see under threat given the focus of our education and training systems.