amuckart

It's like a #6 Pearson, only not as good

The website, and the knives, look great! One thing that would be handy in the descriptions of the leather knives would be the stock thickness.

Having had firsthand experience of both armour and corsets, I'd put fastenings on both sides. That way you can join the front and back by the shoulder straps and pull it on over your head. If the dagger harness is held onto the front of the armour with snaps, that could well be a good part of what holds it closed. Given the lack of obvious side fastenings on the costume one way you could approach it would be to treat it like a bulletproof vest and just have velcro on the inside. I agree on the side straps being for the daggers. You can see them go round in the back view. That makes me wonder if what I originally took to be rivets in the side view are actually snaps. I can't see any obvious closure to the sides at all. I'd bet they're also attached at the top by a single flexible strap onto the shoulder straps of the body armour otherwise they'd slide down. If you look in the hood shot you can see that the straps are loose around her upper arm, they're just there to make sure the spaders move with her arms. Those huge lacing holes do tell us that it never rains in the DragonAge universe though If I were going to do this in parts I'd suspend the layers off of internal straps. That's the normal technique for layered armour you want to be able to collapse slightly. Have a look at this picture to see what I mean Having said that the side views make this look a lot less like three pieces. Something I came across while searching google for that picture is this ebay auction which I have to share because maybe if I inflict the horror on someone else it'll get out of my head Those pictures are actually worth looking at because as near as I can tell the red parts of the breastplate are all one piece and so are a good example of what you can mould if you've got the right leather.

Lots of instructions - mine included I think - recommend using a double boiler. I often end up going to direct heat because boiling water isn't quite hot enough. You could try re-melting the whole lot in a double boiler then heating it further over direct heat, just be careful not to let it get smoky. Pour, smoosh around and taffy-pull from there and you might get a better result.

Is the dress form curvy enough that you can saran-wrap it and mould directly onto there? That'd make life much easier. If it isn't, can you construct buildups for it? Failing that, I'd make a papier-mâché body mould and cast it in plaster of paris which will dry harder and faster than clay will. Consider how you will line it and what with (trust me you will want to line it) and either adjust the cast from there with body filler or very thick plaster or form the leather over the lining. From the second picture you linked to the parts are quite thick, I think TwinOaks is right, what they're using is probably moulded foam rubber. Not to say you can't do it with leather, you absolutely can but it will look slightly different because of the thickness. If you want to pursue the route of doing it in rubber rather than leather you're probably better to approach the shoulders and body armour as something more in line with a sculpted foam prosthetic than actual armour. Have a look at http://costumes.glit.../witchblade.htm for an idea. If you're going to mould it, don't stress too much about the pattern, get it roughly to shape and fix the details once it's formed over the mould. You'll be distorting the leather quite dramatically to form the cups so curve then texture. It's made to look like three parts, but it probably isn't. If you want it to move at all when you make it in leather, you'll want to make it as three parts though. The look won't be quite the same however. Do you have any pictures of the back, or ideas on how you'll do that? (Given that , it's probably a slingback ) 10oz would be great for armour if you were wanting something for SCA where someone was actually going to hit you. I wouldn't go over 6-7oz for this. much more than that and you'll have a heck of a time forming it. I'd get russet and dye it yourself, but something to note is that the colour of that is quite varied rather than a flat green all over so it won't be a simple single-application dye job, you'll want to airbrush it to get the colours right.

The chunks of rosin will come out in the taffy pulling unless they're really big. When you say you couldn't do the taffy thing with yours, can you walk us through the steps you went through to get there? The mix does still have to be quite hot when you start to pull it - just cool enough that you don't burn yourself. You need to start the process by smooching it around underwater until the very hot liquid has cooled enough then lift it out and taffy pull.

Hi all, Another member of this forum was kind enough to send me an electronic copy of the manual for the Pearson No.6 Harness Machine. I have OCRed the manual to plain text and typeset it using LaTeX to a form relatively close to the original. The pagination isn't identical, but I've updated all the page references so they're correct. I have also corrected the various typographical errors in the original, but not the archaic spelling of some words. I will continue to work on the typesetting to see if I can produce output that paginates identically to the original. I would like to be able to make this available on my website for free download to make the information more widely available to owners of these machines, and to make available a higher-quality version than the photocopied ones I've seen so far. I have attached the current state to this post (typeset for standard A5 paper). No.6 Manual.pdf The text is done, but where I need help is with the diagrams. I am working on re-drawing the simple ones as clean vector graphics, and will include them as they're done, but the major plates at the end of the book are beyond my abilities, and the autotracing software I have access to can't get a good result. The instructions in the manual rely very heavily on the numbered parts in the plates so good quality versions of those with proper text labels are important. I can do all the labelling, but I'm hoping there's someone out there with the computer graphics skills (or access to high-end professional autotracing software) who can help with the conversion of these diagrams to SVG? Failing that does anyone have a good condition original copy of the manual they can scan in high-resolution (min 600dpi) and send me? If anyone has a soft copy of the parts manual for this beast they want to share I'll give that the same treatment. Thanks.

Have a look at this thread particularly Henry Veenhoven's comments at the bottom. Searching the site for "Landis #1" (which I do via google - "landis #1" site:leatherworker.net) will show up a bit more too.

Hi Norman, Simple: practice If you're used to shaping things on a grinder, but you don't do a lot of this kind of leatherwork, you could do worse than to rubber cement the leather to a rigid backing and grind the taper on then clean the glue off with rubber cement cleaner. The traditional way, as the previous reply says, is to make a skiving cut with a long, thin, very very sharp knife. Either way you go, get a strap and practice to find out what works best for you.

I'm curious as to what needles in current production will sew up to or greater than 1". The only two I'm aware of that will are 331 and Singer's system 97 needles, neither of which are in current production (331 is, but only in round point). Surely there are currently-produced needle systems for super-heavy duty machines. Can anyone tell me what they are, and whether any come in leather points? Cheers.

A T-7 sure will sharpen just about anything, so long as you're willing to fork out for all the fancy jigs and attachments to go with the $600 machine A 1x30 belt grinder and a good tool rest will also sharpen darn near anything and to total cost of a belt grinder, tool rest, jig, five 3M Trizact belts in grits from 240 to 2000, and a leather belt for stropping is US$212 - less than half of the cost of the Tormek alone, even if you allow US$80 for a motor and the shipping Tormeks are probably great for professional sharpeners, or someone working in a huge woodworking shop sharpening a lot of tools on a regular basis, but I know a few people who own them for general sharpening work and none of them think the machine was worth the cost.

Get some logwood extract and wash the leather down with that beforehand, or add it to your vinegroon before you apply it. I've had iron-dyed things self-destruct this way too, and according to the early 20th century book I have on the topic this can be caused by the iron oxides in the vinegroon stripping tannins out of the leather and leaving it brittle.

Four? Hah! Tell her my lot peaked at 36, ranging from a Pearson #6 at the large end through shoe machines and domestics down to featherweights at the small end.

Ray, there's all kinds of things better than the Lansky system. It's good for small jobs and touchups where you don't need an outstandingly sharp edge, but it's not something I'd use for tools. The same things I linked to in my reply to your scissor sharpening post will do knives, tools, and all sorts. There's a lot to be said for powered sharpening systems, and contrary to what Tormek's marketing will tell you you don't need to spend thousands to get something really really good.

Two questions: What size/style of scissors, and what do you use to sharpen your existing edged tools? You can sharpen most types of scissors quite effectively by removing the pivot bolt and putting the blade in a vice (with non-marking jaws) then just follow the existing bevel angle with your preferred sharpening device. I use a variety of things from files for really blunt ones right through to ceramic sticks. You need to lap the back between grits too to remove the wire edge. If you lack an appropriate sharpening device, then a solid flat thing with wet-n-dry sandpaper either wrapped around it tightly or lightly contact-glued on works extremely well. You can do this with scissors that lack a removable pivot bolt, it's just less convenient. I've found that if a pair of scissors can't be taken apart then they often aren't worth sharpening. I usually look to the woodworking community for sharpening ideas since good edged tools are so critical to fine woodwork, and they have some of the weirdest shapes to deal with which means there's a lot of really good info and ideas to be found there. For some reason there seems to be a lot more scientific an approach to sharpening in the woodworking community than in the leatherworking community. Brent's Sharpening Pages is one of the best places on the 'net to look at for basic principles and info on abrasives. It's very focussed on plane blades, but his jig and techniques are adaptable to various edged tools other than plane blades. At risk of coming across as a Lee Valley fanboy, here's some links to things I think are useful. You can probably find them elsewhere too, but Lee Valley is a convenient one-stop-shop whose service and shipping I've always been very happy with. It's run by woodworkers, for woodworkers, so their kit is well designed for the job. You can use a 1" belt grinder to sharpen scissors and darn near anything else you might have too. It doesn't come with a motor, but the big advantage it has over cheap 'n' nasty belt grinders you'll find at big-box hardware stores is that it can run in reverse which means you can use it to strop/hone tools with the edge up, which in turn means you can use a tool rest and jigs to ensure a more accurate edge angle. One of these with a variable-speed reversible motor is awfully close to the perfect device for tool sharpening. They also make a nifty tool rest that'll fit that grinder, or bench grinders, and let you sharpen from 90" to extremely acute angles. Get yourself a decent selection of grinding belts while you're there and you'll be se up to sharpen almost anything for a good long time. I think the belt grinder is a better solution than a bench grinder because you can get access to a wider array of abrasives, and you can do slack-belt sharpening of appleseed edges, which you can't do on a bench grinder. If you buy one thing to help you with sharpening, make it Leonard Lee's The Complete Guide to Sharpening. It doesn't cover scissors explicitly but as he says, "sharpening is mostly common sense augmented by a few basic principles, some standard abrasives and a few cunning jigs", and it will certainly give you the background you need and ideas for how to sharpen all kinds of things. The Perfect Edge by Ron Hock appears to cover scissors explicitly, but I don't have a copy.

Hi Kevin, What do you mean by "all heads"? Cheers.

Yep, that's one of the things that is driving me to learn how to make my own. It's also why I wear NZ$500 dress shoes to work. People's eyes bug out of their heads when they hear that, but in 10 years I'll still be wearing those shoes and they'll have spent more than that on cheap Chinese crap, and y'know, when my English-made brogues are 10 years old they'll still look better than a brand new pair of $90, or even $200 Chinese-made shoes.

Thanks Wiz, I'll drop them a line. Do you know if the Campbell uses Whitworth or SAE machine screws?

Hi all, Along with my Pearson I've got a few machines with square-head screws all over, but I'm having a bear of a time finding T-wrenches to go with them. Can anyone point me to a source that doesn't involve selling a kidney to fund the purchase? Where I am I haven't even had any luck finding sockets for square head screws. The local auto parts store has 'universal' jobs, but they go in the same drawer as adjustable wrenches and only get used for things I don't care about afterwards. I'd rather have proper t-wrenches than sockets anyway, sockets are a PITA for quick minor adjustments. If anyone knows where I can get replacement square head machine screws I'd be real interested. I suspect the most likely place to find 'em these days is near the back end of the proverbial rocking horse. I've got access to BSW tap/die sets so it's conceivable I could get some made up and thread them myself. If I did that would getting the 'blanks' cast work, or do they need to be machined up? Thanks.

Thanks Art, I appreciate that. I have been down the Stockholm tar path, I just haven't written it up yet. I'm still looking for a workable black wax recipe that's doable with commonly available materials. It's difficult now that good genuine pine pitch is so rare, but I'm fairly close now.

Step by step with pictures: my shoemaking wax instructions

That speaks to pretty sub-standard construction. Good footwear should be repairable forever unless the actual uppers leather disintegrates. Cardboard is for notebooks, not footwear. If you want to get some decent motorcycle boots, have a look at wesco engineer boots from boot.com

That's nice work, but I can't pass this without checking: You do know that ring belts like that are basically a late 20th century invention, right?

Actually, now that you mention it that might have something to do with it. I have found Australian customs charges usurious in other situations.