Bryan
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Posts posted by Bryan
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That looks great! I love it.
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Thank you guys for the positive feedback. It means a lot.
Bryan
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WOW! That is awesome!
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Well here they are, my first production knives. I want to thank their new owners for sticking with me through this project. It was quite a learning experience. Things didn't quite go the way I planned but I am grateful that a few folks have given me the opportunity to prove myself & I hope they are as excited as I am about their knives. Unfortunately, I can't take any more orders for now. The lathe I am using is not mine & I can't count on being able to use it. I will definitely continue to build knives, but for now I think the custom orders will have to wait. Any one got a lathe they'd like to donate?
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Very very cool! Great job!
-Bryan
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First, thank you all so much for the kind words! I am really excited about this & your comments are encouraging.
To answer some questions:
mugwump, no plans to clear coat. The copper is sort of an experiment. I'm curious to see how it will look after some use & also wanted to try a knife with some extra weight to it.
sheridanman, I purchased the ball bearings from an industrial supply. The nicest knife I own is a Barry King & it has one single ball. Other than that I have absolutely no idea how other knives are built so this is just what I came up with & I think it is a solid design. Simple, clean & functional.
I would love to get a few of these out to some of you for testing. Any one interested please send a pm & I'll get a list going.
Here are two more knives I finished today. One in brass & one in magnesium. The magnesium barrel is incredibly light weight!
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Wow! Super nice work! Very classy.
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Well, I've done it. After a few months of trial & error, I've finished my first swivel knife!
Here's the skinny: It has a solid copper barrel (blasted finish), double ball bearing action, stainless yoke & stem & press fitted Henley blade. That's right, this knife does not have a set screw. It is nice & clean all the way around. I bought a quality blade so I will not be changing it. This thing is super smooth! I can't wait to use it. Hope you guys like it.
-Bryan
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Thank you Spider! Just spent some time checking out your site & I must say I love your style & your work. Very cool!
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abn, Thank you very much! It seems like I learn something new with each project. I love this stuff!
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Thanks Moe & Skippy! I found the font on line, printed it & made a pattern. That's just the best way I know to keep my lettering of uniform size & spacing.
The background tool is Craftool's pebble backgrounder. I didn't want deep impressions with it, so I did the backgrounding last with the leather almost completely dry.
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Thanks Draxus!
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Thanks Daniel! This one was fun to make.
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This was a birthday gift for myself & the first blank I've tooled from Springfield Leather. I am super happy with the way the blank tooled. With the better leather, my finished product turned out so much better than belts I've done in the past.
I really enjoy experimenting with finishes & colors & this was a fun one. I have been really unhappy with the water based dyes I'm stuck with here in Ca. but I've found that by finishing with traditional conditioners a lot of the dye (the black on my belt) is removed leaving a distressed look. First I colored the lettering with some old spirit dye I had, then did the rest of the belt in water based black. When dry I gave the whole thing a good coat of carnauba cream. That's where a lot of the black came off. Once that was dry I used Sno-Proof for the final finish. That's it. Hope you like it. Critiques welcome & thanks for looking.
Bryan
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Some amazing work. My respect for folks that can do leather carving / stamping is HUGE.
Thanks! I'd love to learn some braiding techniques too. Tedious work.
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Hi...Double butts are always good. We cut all of our blanks from hermann oak sides if that's of any interest to you. It's hard to find a better tooling belt in my opinion. But anymore, some of the double butts are very good too.
Kevin
Thanks Kevin. What will be the difference between cutting from a side or a double butt? Will they stretch differently due to the direction of grain or anything like that?
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That looks great! Just out of curiosity, what is the significance of the design in the forehead of the koi? I'm noticing a lot of koi art has this. What ever it is, wonderful job on the seat.
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Short of buying a double bend Zack White [find their link on banner at top] has the belt blanks of the several vendors I've tried.
Thanks Mike, I'll check him out.
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Forgive the rookie question, but I didn't find what I was looking for in my search. Who offers the best belt blanks? Or do the best belt makers cut their own from top grade hides? I have some blanks from Tandy that are o-k but inconsistent in quality. I just don't want to sell someone a mediocre belt. The best products start with the best materials right? Any help would be appreciated.
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I met Jerry at the Elko, Nv show last year. Super nice guy. My wife & I must have talked to him for 45 minutes. What a character. I'll definitely be doing business with him again.
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From one welder to another, that's AWESOME! Great job on the coasters too. The horse shoe holder was a great idea as well!
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Very interesting project. Nice work!
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Richard, I am by no means an expert, but one suggestion that I have is to fade out your backgrounding. That is, hitting your background tool harder when it is up near your carving, then lighter & lighter as you move further away from it. I sometimes also use a modeling spoon to help fade.
By the way, I do like the coloring & I really like the design on the second purse.
Cheers
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Yeah, better pics would be great, but I really like the lettering! Very cool.
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Thanks Bevan. I sure hope to be building again soon & I will definitely let you guys know when I am.