AEBL

@dikman, you might try Loctite SF 768 to remove the thread locker - or perhaps acetone.

Thanks, I had seen a couple like that. This one was like that because of a cutting disaster that I was able to sorta recover from. My intent was to have something like that.

In case anyone was interested, I attached some photos. I punched the holes through the back piece before gluing. Once I cut the holes and trimmed the uneven parts, it looked ... bad ... I also messed up a few other things. Gave it to the guy to try out. If he liked it, I told him I'd make him another one that wasn't messed up.

@mbnaegle, those sprayers look a lot like external mix airbrush (like a Badger 350) ... @AlZilla, see if a "bar mister" would work for you. You ordinarily fill it with vermouth to spritz a martini. I'm sure you could use it to spritz dye (wear gloves, obviously, unless you want to match your work). Some of them look like old-fashioned perfume bottle sprayers.

Someone recommended here once that you backstitch with double needle (saddle stitch) if you want it to look great and don't have to do too many of them. I have been doing that with my very low volume hobby (translates as "business that I lose money doing").

@fredk, *some* sorts of stainless steel are magnetic. Types like 304 are nonmagnetic (Austenitic), other kinds are more or less magnetic (Ferritic, Martensitic combinations thereof called "duplex"). Stainless steel is sort of a trick question these days because there are so many boutique varieties of it specializes for various things.

@Dwight - I was also in the Navy, and there's some accidents I saw there that I'd rather forget. Some that I was glad I didn't see was a fella being grabbed by a 5" 54 caliber loading pawl and stuffed into the loading breach. In college, there were all sorts of warnings around the lathe. You had to take a safety class before you were allowed in the building. So, despite all of that, there was a gal who was running the lathe wearing a long pony tail. It was a closed casket funeral. Rotating machinery is terrifying.

Thanks Bruce

@bruce johnson, what's the contact info for the VA guy who might want tools? That's something I could probably help out a tiny bit with.

I'm not sure if you were asking about the original pins or the ones I used. The pins originally looked like they were fat near the outside and skinnier near the inside. The handle I replaced was a plastic casting. If you get a file or a dremel tool, you can easily remove them. Another trick is to use a box cutter blade. Wriggle the tip in between the steel and the scale and give it several good whacks with a hammer (wear safety glasses) the box blade will shear the pin, and isn't hard enough to do (much) damage to the tang. For the replacement - if you have a band saw, cut the scales a little bit thicker than you will want them to end up being (like 1/16 to 1/8 thicker, depending on how you will be finishing it).I cut the scales a bit oversize, then glue one of them on. I drill through the tang and through the scale. Then I glue the other scale on and drill all the way through. For the pins, I got a stainless welding rod and ground it to fit the holes carefully. If you don't have a 2x72 ... that takes forever. I would really recommend German silver instead, SS welding rods are *tough*! Anyhow, handle is shaped up to 220 grit, then the pins are cut so that they go all the way through and stick out slightly on each side (I file them down so that they are cylindrical). Then I peen the pins. I don't beat them mercilessly, but I wind up tapping them pretty solidly about 200 times apiece. This mushrooms out the metal and makes sure that I don't bend the pin over, just carefully tap straight down on your anvil / block of steel / whatever. Once the pins are good and flat to the surface, I get the file out again and flatten the pins flush with the scales and do the fine sanding with a hand sanding block. I don't use my fingers and paper, because that causes the pins to stand out since they're harder than the wood. Even though I glue the scales on, the peened pins are really what holds the scale on. Also, if you use purpleheart - if you spritz the wood with acetone (nail polish remover) and leave it in the sun for a few hours ... it turns a really rich shade of purple. An old guy near me was teaching me how to re-handle things. I can share what little I know if you had more questions. However, the largest source of information on re-handling knives might be a forum like "blade forums" ... scroll down to the "Bladesmith's Q&A" section. Some of the best knife artisans in the world will answer your question, surely much better than I ever could. However, nothing teaches like hands on experience. I'm looking to refinish pocket knives and supply nice leather sheaths for them to local folks. I get to carve leather and file steel, it's the best of both worlds.

If you have a hand plane, sharpen up the blade and try to skim it off. I've planed HDPE slides for tablesaw sleds before ... planes cut it like butter. Oh (edit): If you havent had experience flattening things with a plane, work from left to right or something, you can dish your project pretty easily if you aren't careful. I use a big straightedge to make sure that I'm not dishing things.

Agree with AlZilla, this is off-topic. I googled the rules for "arcane focus" in an official-looking website, and this might help: (Looking for the right strip of leather to cast a spell seems like it could be like looking for the keys to your house in the dark when a dog is chasing you.) https://blackcitadelrpg.com/arcane-focus-5e/

Adult area - some things can't be unseen!

I looked all over for a copy of Bob Park's book in an electronic format. I don't think there are any copies other than physical. You might also look around for a copy of "Sheridan Style Carving" by Bill Gardener. It is also excellent. Good luck!

I have friends that make holsters, and I don't want to turn people off of making them, but it is a lot more work than someone might think. Watching the pros on YouTube gives the uninitiated the impression that it is "cut some stuff, glue it together, stitch it, sell it" ... but there is a steep learning curve, and customers don't want to pay for your mistakes. I think a lot of us here got into the business because we wanted to save money on buying stuff, or nobody made what we wanted. I think I've heard stories like this here all over the forum: "Some guy was charging $$ for this thing I wanted. I thought I could make it cheaper/easier/better, so now, years into it, and $$$$ into it, I have a deeper respect for what that original person was doing and charging." Yet, I'm still happy I took the plunge and got into it, nice people here - and they're always glad to help!

Great armguard! How did you fix the hooks to the leather?

Nobody said this already, so here goes: Want to make a small fortune selling holsters? ... Start out with a large fortune first. I've just made a terrible one for a friend, so, now I am going to re-make it ...

@fredk, history fascinates me. I am always stunned at how clever the ancient people were. Heck, who figures out that you can use oak leaves to tan hides? There's loads we haven't figured out that they knew! Or soap for that matter, they knew about that a long time ago.

I also run PopOS ... I'm very happy with it! Do you have a System76 computer also? Thanks for the script, I might like the new version. You can also use the "snap" pacakge. I was against the idea of "snap"s in the past, but I am warming up to them. https://inkscape.org/release/inkscape-1.2/gnulinux/snap/

I have a few strap punches and oblong punches that I'd be willing to let go of for "beginner prices" ... PM me if you are interested.

Hahn's Atelier has a video:

Inkscape 1.2 apparently has a "multipage" feature that I have not tried. I'm using Inkscape 1.1 now (it's what Debian has in the repo I guess) but I could see if I could download Inkscape 1.2 at some point (or do the lazy thing and wait for it). https://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/Multipage

I also have an old, broken tractor ... that stares at me whenever I walk out into the shed.

You could probably have put it into a syringe-like-thing and pushed it from above. You could also centrifuge it and hope the gunk sank to the bottom quickly. I can't think of any way to do it that isn't an expensive, stinky mess.

I just redid the scales on a knife like that in purpleheart for a friend ... nice knife, great sheath.