Spinner

This should explain better than my long winded paragraph above...

That's pretty much the theory. Obviously, the illustrated cut lines are a little exaggerated (either that or you need to put down the machete and get a swivel knife of proper proportions! ) but that's the idea. The best way I can think of to illustrate the benefits of "to the line" is to show one of my earlier pieces and a more recent one. In the first photo of the holster, take note around the edges of the oak leaf particularly the top right quadrant. If you look at the tooled edge of the leaf you will see a light colored aura. This aura is the bottom of the cut where the tool was used 'in the line' and it pulled the cut line open in an outward direction. The second photo shows a clear close up of "to the line". Note how the edges drop off nicely and there is very little separation between the raised edge and the textured background. The cut line is blended in by the forcing the leather down and the very edge filling in the cut line to create a seamless transition. As for the specific drawing, the left is "to the line/up to the line" whereas the right side would be "behind the line". "In the line" is what I refer to when (would require a third drawing) where the tool is even further to the left than your left side drawing, essentially trying to flatten out everything from the left high side back. I'll see about doodling a few sketches to elaborate. This is how I do it, the experience of others may vary but either way, I hope it helps. Cheers, Chris

Thanks Toolingaround, appreciate the compliment. Yours are nice as well, the ceramastuff looks like it could have some fun applications. Not sure if this is an update to their formula or what but I have good news. Saddle Lac in the aerosol can doesn't affect acrylics that way anymore. I bought a new can from Springfield recently to test something else and while I had it I shot it over a test piece painted with acrylics. Everything went well. So after I finished the eagle painting last night I decided to bite the bullet and put my money where my mouth is...worked beautifully, no muss, no fuss. I'll post pictures last tonight after I get it all laced up. Cheers, Chris

All pieces are SOLD, thanks for looking. Chris

The most cost effective way is with water. However water can cause the paints to dry even faster than they do normally so I prefer to use an acrylic medium like Golden Airbrush Medium. In dry areas or during high temps I'll also add a drop or two of Retarder to the mix. The retarder doesn't thin the color it's simply an untinted medium with a longer drying time that extends the working time of the paints by 50-100%.

I don't like Cova color myself, but that's just a preference of mine. Here's one I'm working on currently with acrylics on to give you an idea: The better quality paints will have UV ratings & lightfastness & adhesion ratings on the back. My favorite is Golden Fluid Acrylics. Don't forget to thin them some and apply in lighter washes versus applying on medium to heavy coat. It may take more time but the results are much better. Cheers, Chris

I totally get what you're saying Reaper, and for your particular situation of relating to a used burnisher a finish wouldn't make a difference. But the OP is looking at brand new ones and that burnished polished film you have takes a bit to build up nicely, doesn't just happen on first use. A friction finish bridges the performance gap between brand new & broken in is what I'm trying to put across. "Spring wood" may be woodturning specific jargon, I'm not sure. It's a phrase used to describe sap wood whereas "fall wood" is the harder barrier lines that make up the grain patterns. Sorry for any confusion on the part. More power to you if you can make your own and are happy with them. I'll never begrudge someone saving money on something they can make themselves...hell, that's how I started making burnishers years ago to begin with.

From my first post, I explained where it makes a difference: and from Bobby's post: It's not to say unfinished won't work at all, they just don't work as efficiently out of the box. And while softwoods will work, they simply don't last as long as cocobolo.

Actually if you're not in a hurry you should be able to ask them to send them in a thick padded envelope via USPS First Class International Mail. It takes about 10-14 days to arrive but the cost is only about $4-$6 USD for the shipping. Otherwise, USPS Priority Mail is 4-7 days and costs $16.95. UPS and FedEx are significantly higher. Hope that helps. If all that fails, I may still know a German woodturner or two that could help. I definitely know a few Brits that could. Whether or not they have a suitable piece of wood is another question though as Cocobolo comes from So. America so it may be costly over there negating the shipping cost difference.

http://www.leatherburnishers.com Ed & Beary will get ya fixed right up.

Sounds like a plan...even if it's not "right on the money" drop me a line anyway, I hate seeing good tools not being put to good use. On the smooth versus checkered, each definitely have their place. Think of a metal engraving without the hatchmarks, scoring, etc and the reason for checkered bevelers really sinks in. Since I do a lot of blockstyle, straightline & inverted carvings, checkered are the most used on my bench.

Clarification on the finishes part - please note that I used a shellac based friction polish. An oil or wax based finish would work equally well but should the maker be using a hardening finish like lacquer then I would defer and say they don't have much experience with their product. The lacquer or other similar hardening finishes would simply get burned through or soften and gum up making the burnisher unusable but to say using ANY finish is wrong is simply incorrect.

The assumption of a burnisher maker using a finish doesn't know leatherworking is absolutely incorrect, sorry guys. I'm proof positive of that fact. I turned & sold more than 1000 burnishers for dremels and drill presses and I'd like to think I know a thing or two about both woodturning and leatherworking. Every burnisher I sold had a shellac based friction polish on it. I extensively tested both with and without various finishes and there are a few hundred folks on this forum alone that will attest to the success of my burnishers (now being made by Ed "The Bearman" using the same process). In regards to burnishing, it's not the natural oils in cocobolo that matter it's the density of the wood and the tightness of the wood grain that matter. Why cocobolo versus hard maple or walnut or cherry? While the domestics are all hard woods from a surface pressure standpoint, the distance between the fall and spring wood bands in the grain is significantly wider. Spring wood is much softer than the fall wood grain bands and breaks down easier and faster so having narrow spring wood bands like in cocobolo is preferrable. this is even more prevalent in woods like Ash and poplar where the spring wood is extremely soft and easily damaged. The main benefit of the natural oils in cocobolo is the heat resistance & anti-warping of the wood. On the other end of the spectrum would be wood like Ebony, which has a similar tight grain pattern and narrow spring wood bands but due to the lack of natural moisturizing oils it has a tendency to check and crack under any decent amount of friction heat making it unsuitable. Now, that doesn't mean that an unfinished cocobolo burnisher won't work as well. As long as it's sanded to at least 400 grit (I preferred 600) to eliminate any tearout or tool marks it should work fine. Fact of the matter is, as the burnisher ages and is used, the burnishing compound and leather residue ends up filling the pores and burnishing the wood surface so that the natural oils have no contact with the leather soon anyway. For those that don't know, wood burnishes just like leather does and burnishing a wood surface post sanding and pre-finishing is a common practice in woodturning. Using a natural product like wood shavings, leather, clean newsprint, etc. all burnish the wood surface to a fine finish in a matter of minutes on a lathe and completely seals the pores. By adding a friction based finish to the burnisher the maker is simply speeding up the process of "priming" the surface of the wood. Otherwise, the end user will notice it takes a few uses longer for the burnisher to perform optimally while your projects are loading & sealing the wood pores with compound & residue and then burnishing them smooth. Hope that clears things up for the OP. Cheers, Chris

Yep, all checkered. I prefer checkered for most of my tooling style but have smoothies for when I'm doing something with loads of interior detail but even then the checkered are still used for shadows, depth and outlines.

Keep in mind, that while considered an acrylic finish, Resolene has a slightly aggressive additive in it (I believe it's a hardener/dryer) that will mess with acrylic paints, especially if you wipe it on. For acrylics in high moisture applications, I recommend using a matte varnish medium available from most any hobby/art supply store as a sealer coat for the paints and then apply your actual finish over the whole piece. The varnish will keep the finish from affecting the acrylics in a negative way and will give an extra layer of environmental protection. As for abrasion, rub any two pieces together long enough/enough times and you'll burn through the dye/acrylics eventually, there's just no way around it. It may take years in some cases but it's inevitable. Cheers, Chris

Pm sent

What kind of volume are you looking for? I know someone but they don't do mass production (1000s).

The CraftJapan tools are still available so let's try $65 for all three, shipped in the US. That's 20% off retail, a good bargain for anyone interested in stepping up from Tandy tools!

The CraftJapan bevelers are still available, they are nice tools and need a good home! Drop me a reasonable offer if you're thinking about them and we'll see where it goes. Chris

Hey Bobby, that panel looks amazing and as has been said, I like the addition of the lizard. Gives the whole thing a breath of life. Congrats on the cover, a well deserved honor! Chris

I don't have an answer on how to make a jacket but I can tell you that it will take a heck of a lot of snakes to make a cloak/trench/etc. snakeskins are typically bought about 3'-6' in length and 2"-4" wide. figuring that a standard jacket back is about 16-20" wide and 28-40" long, you'd be looking at 5-7 snakeskins just to make the back panel not considering for take-offs, seams, etc. so more like 8-10 just for the back. At $10-100 per skin depending on the quality, vendor and species that would be one expensive jacket!

If you have a drill press or dremel tool check out http://www.leatherburnishers.com the bits have more functions and you don't need to dedicate bench space to a single purpose machine. Not to mention hundreds of dollars cheaper! Edit: the website above is the website for Bearman and Beary that Bruce mentioned seconds before me. You can also see their leatherworking mauls there now too.

Not a problem, I don't enjoy making them enough to guard the secrets! Bibs are a different story, love doing those. I do use Barge Contact cement on both surfaces for the gluing. Rough up isn't really necessary but it helps. I found that just cleaning the plastics with denatured alcohol takes enough of the gloss out of the clear coat to get good adhesion. The original set of these is still one the road and looking good 3 years and rolling. (They were the only tan set I've done as well, coincidence?) Here's another tip...when you go to 'contact' the two glued pieces together, lightly wet the leather first. This will help as you're lining everything up, sometimes you need to stretch it just 1/8" more and it will give you a few extra seconds of smoothing time if a wrinkle appears...also, rig a vice or something to hold the cover so you have both hands to align the pieces. Last tip: to make the top pieces, glue the face on and then lay a piece of tracing film over the top. Then yuo simply trace the outline of the remaining uncovered top area and transfer that to leather. have fun!

Hey Boyd, I just happened to start working on a set of side covers for a 2007 VTX1800F last night so I took a few pics during the process that you might find some inspiration from. The first is post wet forming the face shells. I take them off to punch the lacing holes and then glue them when I put them back on. the second pic shows one cover with just the face glued on and one cover with the face glued on, the top made & glued on and dyed with Black Pro Oil dye. You can see the two sets of lacing holes waiting for the basket weave. I'll see about snapping a few more pics as I go along. Chris

Don't know if it matters for your schedule or not but double check their hours when you call, if I recall correctly they aren't open weekend and the shop hours are 8-4 M-F.