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Gill
New Member
United Kingdom
60 Posts |
 Posted - 23 March 2006 : 14:58:15
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My partner drove me over to a wonderful little workshop just outside Rugby today so that we could collect the Diamond AF-24VS that I had won on Ebay from Matthew, a designer and manufacturer of doll's houses and other children's toys. Matthew was a delightful gentleman; it's the nearest I've come to meeting a real-life Santa Claus. His wife had just reached retirement age so he'd decided to follow her example and also retire. As a result, his workshop was rather depleted but he still showed me some toy castles and doll's houses that were awaiting collection.
We spent quite a while discussing his production processes and how he marketed his wares. On the face of it, making children's toys is quite an idyllic occupation, but it isn't without its pressures. Matthew told me that he spent a lot of time travelling because most of his customers were in the London area – and there's only so much of the M1 and M25 motorways that a sane man can take! Also, he had to cope with personalised orders which had to be completed in time for a child's birthday. That wasn't normally a problem unless something such as contamination of a paint finish happened, but things could get quite out of hand as Christmas approached. Once, he'd even found himself delivering a doll's house which still had wet paint to a customer at 3 am on Christmas morning! Still, he always enjoyed his Christmas dinner all the more for thinking about the delighted children who'd be playing with his toys. Now that's job satisfaction!
Matthew's Diamond saw was approximately 5 years old and had been purchased to cut some figurines for a special order. He said he'd only used it a handful of times, and I could well believe him because it was in an excellent state of repair. He had a couple of spare drive belts, a variety of blades, and a fence, all of which he gave me because he would have no further use for them. I told him he was giving me probably the best value for £100 I'd ever had, but he was happy just to see the saw go and tick another box on his retirement checklist. All being well, I shall take a photograph of the saw tomorrow and post it here.
From Rugby, we drove to Hinckley and Doug had a look at my other Diamond AF-24VS which needed a new variable speed controller. He repaired it on the spot and only charged for the parts, not his labour; now is that good service or what?! Then he turned his attention to a slight knocking sound he'd detected when testing the machine and found that the lower arm was lighly tapping against the motor. I hadn't even noticed this fault, but Doug detected it immediately and set to work adjusting the saw so that the tapping was eliminated. Again, there was no charge for his work! This is the sort of customer service that just doesn't seem to happen anywhere else.
Afterwards, we discussed a subject that's been raised on this forum (and others) – incorporating a tension release mechanism on the Diamond. I had my Hegner 2 in the car so I showed Doug how Hegner had tackled the problem. Interestingly, he had already produced a similar prototype mechanism on a Diamond upper arm. However, he wasn't happy with the design because it would mean replacing the whole arm and that would be expensive for current Diamond owners. He's trying to develop a mechanism that can be simply bolted in place and which will still allow users to rotate the saw blade when required. The only problem is that this R&D is a distraction from his production of new saws, so it may be quite a while before we see a tension release mechanism become available.
Moving slightly off topic, Doug showed me a Hobbies hand-held fretsaw his uncle had bought in 1917 and which had a cam operated tension release. This sort of device has been around for years! But what a marvelous experience it was to hold that saw. It had a pistol grip handle which was set just slightly forward of the blade and the weight of the cam release countered the weight of the saw frame. It was perfectly balanced and made from a steel that had retained its condition over the years. I could imagine myself turning to such a saw every now and again simply for the sake of nostalgia, even though I've got a selection of electric saws which are much more efficient.
I'd like to thank Doug for welcoming us once again to his workshop and taking such extraordinarily good care of us and the saw.
Gill
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Edited by - Gill on 23 March 2006 19:09:39 |
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The Woodman
New Member
United Kingdom
98 Posts |
Posted - 23 March 2006 : 19:13:30
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| Who said Gill is a busybody ? |
Edited by - The Woodman on 28 July 2008 21:09:15 |
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Gill
New Member
United Kingdom
60 Posts |
Posted - 24 March 2006 : 13:05:08
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I've now got so many saws that there's no room in the workshop for me too  !
This is the latest Diamond:
And here it is again with its older brother which is in the foreground:
I haven't had a chance to use them today because I had to go shopping for kitchen floor tiles. Hopefully, I'll be a bit more productive tomorrow - after I've tidied out the workshop. It's need is embarrassingly great  .
My other half has just floated the idea of trying out one of the saws too. Help!
 
Gill |
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herbert1
Forum Admin
55 Posts |
Posted - 24 March 2006 : 13:51:47
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| Now that's just showing off! I dare you to let our cousins in America know about your purchase! They appear to view the Diamond as expensive, which possibly it can be with carriage! But you could just tease them a bit eh? Have you named them yet? Or will they be just his and hers!!!! |
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Gill
New Member
United Kingdom
60 Posts |
Posted - 25 March 2006 : 11:36:54
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The Americans over on the Scroll Saw Workshop forum are fully aware of my new purchase   . I didn't hang about before I let them know.
I spent a couple of hours using the saws today, and they both performed beautifully. I've nothing to show for my labours yet, but in a little while I hope to have something. If all goes according to plan it should be a segmented picture frame... however, we all know about the best laid plans  .
Paul - they're not 'his and hers'; they're 'hers and hers'  . And that's what I'm telling His Lordship, despite him spending half the afternoon creating a big space in his workshop! Actually, he seems pretty keen to have a bash himself. Is that a good thing?
Gill |
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The Woodman
New Member
United Kingdom
98 Posts |
Posted - 25 March 2006 : 13:05:22
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| Who said Gill is a busybody ? |
Edited by - The Woodman on 28 July 2008 21:02:21 |
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herbert1
Forum Admin
55 Posts |
Posted - 27 March 2006 : 11:23:43
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| Oh Dear, why else would he want all that space? I will check the accessories section to see if there is a lock available or a key type start up switch? |
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herbert1
Forum Admin
55 Posts |
Posted - 29 May 2006 : 04:13:03
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| Gill how is HE getting on with HIS saw? do we get to see any pictures? Or did you fit the key switch? |
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Gill
New Member
United Kingdom
60 Posts |
Posted - 29 May 2006 : 06:55:02
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As I mentioned away from this forum, circumstances have conspired against him doing much at all in his workshop recently. We're about to have a new kitchen installed and his workshop's being used as a general dump until the building works are finished, hopefully early next month.
Gill |
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A Double Diamond Works Wonders
