Travis

I haven't used an airbrush in years. I should dig it out and see if I can get it working again. I think it would work great for painting, especially toys. Solid color of acrylics would look great, as well as using inks to dye the wood. You got my wheels turning.

Those look like a lot of fun. I ca see kids having lots of fun with painting, glitter, and gluing stuff on. I'd love it if you posted the pattern. My kid would really get a kick out of that for Thanksgiving. Nicely done!

Yup. You're post went through, and my response was immediately after. It was at the top of the second page(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7486&start=10#p39271) Thanks again!

Special thanks to Docupton for his contribution to the SSV upgrade. We really appreciate your help!

Right now we're at $100 of our almost $400 price tag. Thanks to everybody who's contributed so far. We really appreciate it. We still have $300 to go. Can you help out? Remember, for those members contributing $10 or more, you'll get a special "Supporter" badge for your profile. We'll also turn off advertising (except for the the banner ads of scroll saw related products) for those supporting members. This special rank/group will last for one year. Just think, a year without Google Ads! (Note: this special group/badge will take effect when the new system in in place) Can you help out too? If so, you can click here to donate. Donate Now

A special thanks to marmoh for pitching in and helping us to update SSV software. I, and the rest of SSV appreciate your support!

A special thanks to RichB for his contribution to SSV. I appreciate the help in making this upgrade possible!

A special thanks to the one and only, THE amazingkevin, for his contribution to the SSV upgrade fund. I appreciate the help!

Special thanks for captlucky for his contribution to the SSV upgrade. I, and the rest of SSV, really appreciate it!

Special thanks to kardar2 for your contribution to the upgrade fund. I greatly appreciate your support.

Special thanks to DonR for your contribution. I greatly appreciate your support!

Now that I've made my sales pitch and got you excited about what's to come, it's time to use the dirty 'M' word; money. The new software package for Scroll Saw Village isn't cheap. It's going to cost approximately $400 (which does not including server rental.) While I'm willing to cover the pricetag, I could use a little help offsetting the cost for the upgrade. If you can spare a few bucks to help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm thinking, for those members contributing $10 or more, you'll get a special "Supporter" badge for your profile. We'll also turn off advertising (except for the the banner ads of scroll saw related products) for those supporting members. This special rank/group will last for one year. Just think, a year without Google Ads! (Note: this special group will take effect when the new system in in place) If you'd like to contribute to the software upgrade, please click this link to our Donate Page. I really appreciate any help you can give. I hope you all are as excited as I am. Donate Now .

Here's a little teaser of what you can expect with the new software. There is no way I can list all the new cool stuff. But here are some of the highlights. Notifications • When someone interacts with something you posted, you can choose to be notified via our internal notification center, email, or via mobile (experimental). The Notification Center is really nice because it’s easy to see when something new has happened instead of having to scour your posts. Facebook & Twitter sign-in • You can link your account to Facebook and Twitter. If you regularly use these services, sometimes it’s easier to sign in with these accounts than trying to remember a password for 1 of 100 different sites you visit. This also makes it easy to share posts, articles, blogs, pictures, and patterns. (Note: You don’t need these services to use SSV. We’ll still have the old system of signing up as well. This is just a convenient option for those who use these services) Our Own Social Network • The new software makes it easy to keep up with friends, send quick messages, send mail, and see what they’ve posted. Forums • My Favorite: WYSIWIG post creation. WYSIWIG (What You See Is What You Get) is an editor similar to any word processor you work with. Instead of typing in BB Code to get your text bold, you simply highlight your word, click bold, and it’ll look bold. Now your composition screen won’t be cluttered by formatting code. You simply make it look the way you want, and click Submit and that’s the way it’ll look when published. Very cool. • Simple one-click following of threads. You’ll be notified when someone comments on the thread (see Notifications section). • We’ll have a new rating system so users can vote for really useful/informative threads. That way you can quickly find quality threads. • Sometimes someone says something that you agree with, but doesn’t really warrant a full response, you can click the Like button (similar to Facebook’s). This is a good way so see popular responses and encourage other members. • We’ll be able to tag posts with keywords. This will dynamically link similar topics so you can find other threads that might answer your question. • You’ll easily be able to share threads via your social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Digg, etc). • You’ll be able to email, print or download a thread. • Now when posting a video or audio, you just need to post the URL. The forum software will automatically embed the correct code so you can watch your video right here on SSV. • We’ll also include Polls. Gallery • All images and albums are integrated into member profile. So it’s easy to find a member’s photo album, or patterns they’ve designed. • No more broken User Albums (we have a bunch on our current system) • Uploading will be considerably easier. • It will also be easier to share links, insert into forum posts, or share pictures on your favorite social network. • Rate, bookmark and follow images or albums. • Saving an image will be much more intuitive. • Better search functionality. Blogs • Members can create their own blogs. You can have as many as you’d like, or team up with others and have a group blog. This is a great way to document your projects. • You’ll have the ability to customize the look and feel of your blog. Chat • We used to have a chat room. One of the problems with our previous system, you never knew if anybody was in there. So it basically never got used. The new system will show the number of people currently in chat in your navigation window, so you can pop in and say hi. • Chat usernames are now linked to your SSV account. So no need to log into a different system. Article System • We currently use a wiki (which I had to lock down because of spam) and a handful of independent articles. The new system will replace these and make a central location for articles and tutorials. This will make a great knowledge base of great scroll saw information. • Members will be able to write their own articles to add to the Knowledge Base. We’ll do away with the confusing wiki-code, and replace it with the WYSIWIG editor (see forums section above). That we can focus on good information, rather than confusing coding. • Sometimes a forum post is so good, you wish it was an article. The new system will make it easy to promote a forum post to a full-fledged article. • The articles also include a comment system, bookmarks, following, and sharing features. Mobile Access • SSV will be optimized for mobile viewing. We had mobile applications on the old system, but it was limited to just the forums. The new system will give you access to all of the website (forum, gallery, articles, blogs, etc). • We’ll have two options. A web-app (meaning you use your mobile phone’s web browser), which seems to work the best. • There will also be a downloadable app. I’m not sure how well the downloaded app works, so we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. And More • There are so many additional improvements that I couldn’t even begin to list them all. But it does some seriously cool things. There are additional features I’m thinking about adding to SSV. But for now, I’m going to keep a lid on that until we get the necessities put into place. I think this will be an amazing improvement to the functionality and ease of access to great scroll saw information.

When I put together Scroll Saw Village on January 1, 2009, I cobbled together several pieces of software to create the community it is now. I got some bits to talk to each other, like the forum and gallery. Other bits are independent, like the content management system, wiki, chat room, etc. It worked really well and I was pleased how the site worked. But as the software gets older, it gets trickier to update because I feared breaking the website. From a technical standpoint, it's quite the nightmare trying to figure out how to fix the bugs. So I tried my hardest not to update software. The problem is, security holes open up (which is why we had that spam problem for awhile and why I implemented the first-post-moderation rule for new members). The site also becomes static as we cannot offer new features or keep up with online community trends. So, I've been debating for the last few months on if I should move to a different software platform. It's a big task for a large community like ours. I've been researching different software packages, and I think I finally found one that will fit our needs quite nicely. The great thing about it is that it's an all-in-one package. Which means, all the sections work together. So when I need to update the software, or add new features, it's a matter of pressing a button. This new software is on the forefront of innovation for community based websites, and always adding new features and updating software functionality. Management will be made considerably easier, and member interaction and features will be greatly increased. Needless to say, I'm thrilled with this new software and excited to move SSV onto a better system and to better serve our scroll sawing community. One thing I've learned being a community manager and website builder, people don't like change. But I assure you, the end result will be vastly superior to what we have now. We will have a robust new community with lots of ways to connect with our scroller friends. There might be a few growing pains as I get things "back to normal," but we'll get there and be better for it. The change won't happen immediately. I have to line up a few ducks before I dive in. I'm guessing we'll make the switch in a month or so.

Welcome back! Sounds like you had a great time. I look forward to seeing what your cousin comes up with.

You can buy Lemon Oil in the cleaning section of most grocery stores, hardware stores, or a place like Target. It's with the furniture polish. I like Lemon Oil, mostly because it smells nice. I can finish in the house without "gassing" everybody out. It's cheap, easy to find, and isn't volatile. Plus, if your furniture needs a quick polish, you're set!

I haven't run into that problem either. It almost sounds like there's something running in the background that is eating up your resources and your computer is trying to keep up. The only thing I can think of is reboot your computer and go immediately into GIMP to start working. You can also reinstall GIMP to see if that helps. To make it easier to control, you can do the dot-to-dot technique I describe in the videos by holding down the shift key and clicking.

Stay safe. We'll keep you and your fam in our thoughts and prayers.

So I'm trying to build some new drawers for my bathroom cabinets. I thought it would be nice to use dovetails in the construction. So I bought a Porter Cable dovetail jig (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HG ... ayzcach-20) to cut the dovetails. I wanted to use plywood for the stability (and the cost...these aren't the greatest cabinets to begin with). I bought a sheet of 1/2" maple ply for the drawers. I spent all day trying to cut these dern things. Almost every time, the router will tear-out the plywood. It was terrible. I did everything I can think of to get a clean cut: blue tape, backer board, scrap wood on the front, slow speed, fast speed, ultra-slow feed rate, left to right, right to left. I even had a brand new router bit. Nothing really worked. Just out of curiosity, I tried using it on solid wood (pine, of all things). It worked like a charm. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that using dovetails on plywood is next to impossible. Is this a safe assumption? Or am I missing something?

From my hometown newspaper: http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/p ... 674c5.html Be sure to dispose of rags properly. I usually lay mine out flat until they dry, then dispose of them.

That turned out really nice. You did a great job on it. It's a great memorial. Nicely done!

Ooo....boy, that turned out nice. Really adds to the costume, too. Nicely done!

Hahahaha....that's really clever! Nicely done. I bet he was thrilled with it.

For an oil finish, I do like you describe: Lemon oil in tupperware, with an acrylic spray finish. For color: If it's solid color, I use spray paint. Otherwise, I use craft paints you can find at any craft store (Delta Ceramcoat, or Folk Art brand) and use a brush to paint it on. If I want the grain to show through, I water down the acrylic paint and 'stain' it. After everything has dried, I'll spray it with acrylic spray to protect it.

That's a clever idea for the plug. I always have a bugger of a time finding a cork big enough for banks. I really like how this plug locks in place. Nicely done!