LOCAL LIFE
MY OTHER LIFE: Jay Dailey
by Greg Martin
As mild-mannered newspaper reporter, Clark Kent, emerged from a telephone booth, his other life saw him morph into Superman!
Jay Dailey’ s other persona also differs greatly from her regular life, that as mother to sevenyear-old Evelyn, and a career spent in marketing and sales for medical supply and pest control companies.
Early in her working career, the 40-year-old Jay’ s initial interest in crafts was bolstered by taking a course part-time in graphic design at TAFE.
Which years later led to Jay’ s other life which now revolves around working with wood.
I twigged very early in the interview that as Jay’ s skills branched out, her real passion in woodworking was in sitting at a scroll saw and working her magic.
Down the years, I have had the pleasure of knocking out stories about the talented members of Wilberforce Woodcraft Cooperative. I, and our readers, have been gob-smacked about what these artisans can do with wood.
Members are talented across numerous woodcrafts including woodturning, carving, pyrography, marquetry and restoration.
I’ ve been amazed at what members can produce across all those skills, but in particular, scroll sawing.
Scroll sawing is the craft of using a scroll saw to cut intricate shapes and designs.
A scroll saw is a small electric or pedal operated saw used to cut intricate curves in wood, metal, plastic or other materials.
The fineness of the blade allows it to cut more delicately than other saws such as jig, coping or fret.
“ I enjoy all aspects of working with timber but once I was introduced to scroll sawing, I just fell in love with it,” Jay said.
“ Ever since I completed my very first piece of work on a scroll saw – a fat, little snowman – I knew scroll sawing would be my passion in woodworking.
“ There’ s just so much to enjoy using a scroll saw – creating works of course, and, truly, don’ t laugh, I just love the smell of the various timbers I use.”
Those timbers are sourced from the Hawkesbury’ s“ Timber Garden of Eden”, Trend Timbers at Mulgrave.
Where, on one of her increasingly regular visits to Trend Timbers, Jay purchased a hunk of Spanish cedar which she used to create her entry in the 2025 Hawkesbury Show scroll sawing competition.
Where her superb work, The Tree Woman, depicting a woman“ hidden” in a tree, took out a top award!
Also celebrating the win were Jay’ s fellow Wilberforce Woodcraft Cooperative members whose friendship and guidance Jay says, contributed greatly to her success.
Jay’ s interest in woodworking kicked off last year at the annual Trend Timbers Open Day where she chatted with Co-op members.
Which in turn led to her participating in Hawkesbury Remakery’ s four-week
Jay Dailey at her scroll-saw station proudly displaying her prize-winning work, The Tree Woman. She’ s there alright! Can you see her? No, not Jay, but The Tree Woman! Photo: Kathryn Johnston
woodworking course held on Saturday mornings at the Co-op last September.
“ I just loved it from the very
first lesson and after the Remakery course ended, I had no hesitation whatsoever in becoming a Co-op member,” Jay said.
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8 ISSUE 184 // SEPTEMBER 2025 theindependentmagazine. com. au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT