Travis

The wax is to stabilize the moisture in the block. Quick changes in humidity will crack the wood, especially if it's being transported from other countries. Its pretty common practice with turning blanks. 4x4x2 sounds like a bowl blank size. With woodturning, that would get cut away during shaping. Not sure about with scroll sawing. I'd try scraping it with a putty knife then sanding. See if that helps. Maybe heat gun and paper towels. But I'd be afraid the wax would seep into the pours.

Both good and bad are welcome.

Huh. Strange. I got mine in 2 or 3 days.

We have a new sponsor on SSV. Bear Woods sells Pegas brand blades. I've been playing around with them and really like them. Fast delivery, too. Tell them SSV sent you. On a side note, I'm putting together a section on suppliers. It'll be similar to the Pattern Shops section, but for parts, supplies, and tool suppliers. I'm hoping I can get that finished up by next week.

Heh...this isn't going well. I'll be your Valentine. Or is that weird?

There's good advice on how to improve your results. But don't ever feel embarrassed by your work. Making something from nothing is what it's all about. Is there room for improvement? Of course. I never met an expert or beginner who didn't have room for improvement. But, I think if you made it, there's always something to be proud of. Don't be too hard on yourself. It's better than you think.

Just a friendly public service announcement; don't forget your sweetheart on Valentine's Day! It's coming up quick! So, in order to light a fire under you, I challenge you to get in the shop and make a scroll saw project for your sweetheart. Post a picture of a Valentine's Day project for that special someone in your life. Sappy sentimentalism is encouraged.

Possibly. That is certainly something to keep in mind when working with someone new. I don't know if it's legit or not. But I have come across these in the past and they usually use words in a strange way and generic way. This one actually used "Scrolled sawed sign" which sounds like they have something specific in mind. They also had a proper company email address. I'd certainly take precautions if anybody is interested. Get the money up front. You can also work through Etsy, which has a lot of nice safeguards in place. Don't do one of those "I have $200 cashiers check, take what you need and send me the change" scams.

New patterns can only be uploaded to the New Patterns category. The other pattern categories can't be uploaded to directly. Every so often, I move the patterns from the New Patterns category to the most appropriate category so people can find them easier. To post a link, just copy the URL from your web browser and paste it into a forum thread. It will auto-embed. Did that answer your question?

You can post a link to the Pattern Library pattern. It will auto generate and embed the image in the post. Or you can post it in both places. The important thing is to have it in the Pattern Library, too. So many great patterns are getting lost in the old forum posts. If it's in the Pattern Library, it's all in one place and easier to find. I posted an example below.

Hi All. I got this email from someone looking to commission some scroll work. The email is below. If you'd be interested in doing this, PM me your email address and I"ll forward it to the requester. You'll be working directly with them to work out the details and compensation. Thanks Y'all.

I have it set up where certain acronyms will have a dotted line under them. If you hover your mouse over it, it will expand the acronym so you know what folks are talking about. Right now, this is what I have: BB BLO SSG SSV SWWC TPI FD If there are other acronyms you want me to add, just list them here.

I have several of Sue's patterns. She has a great collection of patterns with a ton of variety. I love her work.

Sheila is an amazing and talented designer. I have a few of her designs and they're top notch. She has a huge library of great designs. Plus, she's very responsive if you have any questions. Very generous in sharing her knowledge.

Howdy All. I'm working on the Gallery and Pattern Library section. I just want to put out a reminder on a few things. I know a lot of folks post in the New Patterns Announcements and share patterns there. If it is a pattern that has a broad appeal, please upload it to the Pattern Library and link to it instead. That way we can organize our patterns easier and other people can discover it without digging through old forum posts. Please only post patterns to the Pattern Library. Don't post finished projects there. Finished projects should be uploaded to your personal Gallery. It takes a long time to move those pictures into your User Gallery. To upload to your personal gallery, click Gallery>Upload To Your User Gallery. From there you can create a new album, or choose one of your existing albums. User Gallery is for photos of your final projects or other photos. Please do not upload patterns to personal user albums. We're trying hard to keep things organized so patterns are easy to find. When I see them in personal user albums, it looks to me as if they're mis-categorized. Then I have to cross reference against the pattern library, etc etc. So, patterns in personal user albums will be removed. If you want to keep a record of your patterns, a better place would be in the Blogs feature if you want to keep your stuff in one place. If you do this, please upload the patterns to the Pattern Library too. That's where everybody goes to look for patterns. Lastly, copyrighted and licensed material isn't allowed on SSV. For more information about copyrights, you can check out this post. Copyrighted material will be removed without notification. It just takes too much time to exchange emails with the uploader explaining why we're removing the pattern. So I'm just going to remove them without warning. Photos of final projects is fine. But the sharing copyrighted patterns is the sticking point. Trying to keep everything organized takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. While these guidelines have been in place since the beginning of SSV, I just wanted to put out the reminder. Thanks Y'all!

New threads can't be created for saws. I do that for organization purposes. I did create an entry for the Jet JWSS-22B and copied your review over to that thread. On a side note, I'll be revamping the scroll saw reviews soon. It'll contain the same information, but users will be able to update information (similar to how Clubs and Pattern Shops is set up). So keep an eye out for that in the future.

Boy! We got a great collection of Pattern Shops started. Thanks guys! Let's keep it going. Add a review to a shop you have purchased from. That will be super helpful too. I think this will be an awesome resource.

Changed Pattern Types to Fretwork, Portraits, Toys, Boxes/Bowls/Baskets, Clocks, Home Items, Other Changed More Information to Large selection of woodworking, woodcrafting and scroll saw patterns. They offer both PDF and paper plans. They also have supplies.

Heh...I can't leave well enough alone. I also added a reviews function. Now you can leave a review for a pattern shop. So if you bought a pattern or used patterns from one of these sites, please add a review. Other users will find that super helpful. Comments and discussions can be added to the Comments tab.

Huge selection of projects! Lots of toys, home type projects, and signs. I can always find something worth cutting here. Everybody should know Steve.

Changed Pattern Designer to Steve Good

Mostly Paid - Almost all of the patterns on the site are paid. There might be one or two freebies so you can see the quality of their patterns. But it's clearly a paid pattern site. Mostly Paid, Some Free - This is where many of the patterns are paid, but they have a good collection of free ones too. Maybe 2/3 of them paid, maybe, 1/3 are free. I wouldn't include any promos as freebies. If a user can't go onto a site and just download a free pattern, it really isn't a free pattern. A promo of buy 2 get 1 free is still a paid pattern. Besides, those promos change all of the time. Most of it is a judgement call. If you think a pattern shop is mis-classified, please change it. I'm relying on customers who have experience with the shop to keep the information current. Thanks for the help!

Changed Pattern Types to Fretwork, Portraits