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Barbara Raymond-LaPrease is a member, secretary, newsletter editor, webmaster, and special events
coordinator for the Woodworkers of Central New York (WWCNY), the woodworking club based in
Baldwinsville, NY but encompassing a wide coverage area that includes 275-325 members per year. The club
won the AAW’s inaugural award for Communications Excellence in 2024.
Barbara started scrolling around 1997 around the time Dale Whistler visited the Syracuse club to
demonstrate scrolling. Her first scrollsaw needed to be clamped to a workbench to prevent it from bouncing
and used only pinned blades. Her husband, Charlie, bought her a Delta 16” VS saw for Christmas that year and
the rest is history! Several years later, she added a 26” RBI to her saw collection so she’d have the throat
depth for large puzzles. In 2008, her husband bought her an Excalibur after they tried it at a Canadian show.
She also owns two operating antique scroll saws, the 147-year-old Challenge model from Seneca Falls
Manufacturing and the 120-year-old No 387 Star model from Millers Falls.
Barbara doesn’t necessarily specialize in any one type of scrolled art. One day it could be jewelry like
earrings or necklaces whereas the next day she could be cutting detailed ornaments, pictures, boxes, or
puzzles. Sometimes she combines her various talents, adding beaded accents to scrolled pieces. Recently she
began to add scrolled elements to some of Charlie’s turned platters. Barbara creates whatever she feels like
with most items given as gifts, donated for raffles or special events, or donated for club charitable sales. Since
Barbara created WWCNY’s Crafts for Charity program in 2006, the club donated about $65,000 to local
children-based charities.