Chef niloc

I would love it if cobra would do a video on changing out and using these plates and accessories. I got mine about a year and a half ago and have never used any of the plate attachments mainly because I couldn't figure out how they fit or work. Example I didn't know that the fee dog needed to be removed in order to use the holster plate.

I tried the HF one a few years ago and while I'll bet that it would do a fine job if done right I would recommend having a machine shop or at least someone proficient with the right tools drill the hole. My idea was to drill the hole that would accept a drillpress chuck so I could easily switch out Tools punches etc. but I never could get the hole drilled straight so it never works right. From further reading I believe fabricating a "ram" I believe they're called that just attach to the amber shaft is the correct way to go about this, because the pressure exerted on the tools could cause them to get stuck in a hole that was directly drilled into the arbors shaft. As far as drill presses go I have some insight as well. First they're not meant for punching meaning you shouldn't just put a tool in the chuck and push down on the drill presses. drill presses are meant to be running/drilling to do the job, the gears and hardware in most drill presses won't handle the force of simply punching let alone repeated stamping for long periods of time, the machine simply wasn't meant to do so. 2nd I know a lot of guys that do drill holes in order to sew through. However I have read posts and articles stating that this is not the ideal way of making holes. The hole a awe makes is self closing so it has a gripping action that holds the thread in place. They also make a diamond shaped hole as opposed to a round one giving what many would consider a more attractive stitch. I'm not making a argument here for which method is better I'm just telling both sides of it. That sad Cambell Bosworth has a "twist press" that is pre setup for many leather working jobs. I don't have one but I have been wanting one for some time. Without getting into the physics of this (because I'm no expert on that subject either) from a what I have read and experienced myself using a fly press (for mettle work) the twisting motion allows for better control of force as well as a greater range of pressure.

Bruce is great! While I have bought things from him from time the majority of my interaction with him has been me asking him various questions usually regarding antique tools. Bruce is more then generous with his time by all standards.

I decided to dress up my class 4 a bit. Sculpted the cobra in clay then cast in pewter then 24kt gold leaf. Gold leafed the balance wheel too. Silver name badge. Rosewood draw. With bobbin holder

As a Chef, a Artist, and a craftsmen I think I have cut on just about every thing ou there there is? While not cheap I find that richlite cutting boards work the best for leather craft. With other cutting surfaces I find that the tips of knives (round, head, clicker) are more prone to breaking off because they can (and do) get stuck in the board material. richlite is also very resistant to most solvents, strong bases (straight Ammonia or lye) l will discolor them but I haven't found anything that eats threw them.

This would depend on what you are stropping. General stropping for every day knives I'd go with anything from a 3-7 micron. 7 micron is bout 2800 grit, this would remove burs and "fix up" a edge pretty quickly. I might get flamed for suggesting such a course compound but if you think about it not many people take their knives 2 a 3000 grit stone. If the knifes you strop are the use a finer grit/ micron. I use kitchen knives the most (Hence Chef in the title of my name) And I keep them scary sharp, taking them to at least a 8000 stone if not 50,000+, After trying many (all?) different mesh/ micron sizes I found that I like the 3 micron (8000 grit) the most. However I do know from experience that most users like there diamond compound in the 0-.05 range (60,000-100,000 grit). While I can see this fine a compound being useful to finish a freshly sharpened blade if you don't have stones that go over 10k in grit size. I don't see it of much use for edge maintenance, Let's face it by the time you refresh your edge with your strop your 50,000+ micro bevel is long gone. So unless where talking about strops for straight razors I'd say somewhere between 3 to 7 micron would be best.

What did you use to wet form it, I.E Hydraulic press, clicker, other?

Could you explain this a little more, I'm not quite picturing it in my head? Right or left side, attached or separate from the holster, Angled up or down, and how much? Thanks

90% of the work I do is in horse and I was having the same trouble years ago. Then I found One place that had great buts, but then he closed up shop ); Now I just buy them from Horween direct and being that I do that I can tell you why the buts you get from everyone are so inconsistent. They charge (Horween) more pr Lb if you want a particular size I.E. not a mix lot, in order to stay competitive in price ill bet most retailers are not paying that extra but just separate the hides them selves. Trouble here is that Horween's regular mixed lot is composed of all the hides left over after they separate out there sizes. Next thing is that 7-8 is the largest "close" grading they offer. they sell a 9+ and none of those 9+'s would ever be mixed into a mixed lot. Now we can go one step further, Horween offers a "hand selecting" for a extra $1.00 a pound (Steven told me about this when he went out of business). what horween does is they separate all the best hides out ahead of time, so if you just buy there "regular" 9+ (that already cots more then a mix lot ) there's next to no chance a "best" one will be mixed in. What I order from Horween is there hand selected 9+ hides and ask them to pick me the heaviest and largest ones they have, they charge me a extra $0.50 on top of the extra $1.00 to do that LOL, but that's the only way to get he leather I like/need. I'm not a big enough buyer to take advantage if there 10000 Lb discount So at there regular wholesale price with a order of $2500.00 or mor i pay $12.00 a Lb for that leather (would be 10.50 if i bought the 10000Lb), And that's still wholesale price. I am not in the retail business so I don't know what a normal markup price would be, but I'd guess 30-40% ( Total guess I have no idea). So the way I see it is that a hide like this would sell for 45+?

If you work a lot with black I would just buy some nice Wickett & Craig drum dyed skirting. They will split it for free, so I'd have them split it to the thickness you like to work with (8 oz?). For extra $0.75 they will finish the back side by re- dyeing the Hyde and polishing it to the degree you like ( soft nap-polished glass like). That would give you IMHO a much better finish then you could do your self. But if you want to stick with dyeing your self you have to make sure you clean the leather all the way. Alcohol is ok, but a much better way to go would be to use osalic acid (wood bleach) as this would clean the leather deeper then alcohol without drying it out like alcohol can. oil dye would be better to use, aniline would be the best there is no deeper black known to man the aniline. By the way great looking mag case

I consider myself a very proficient sharpener both by hand and mechanically (belt grinders ext.). Haveing sad that certain knives still intimidate me or give trouble. Very expensive knives (For obvious reasons), Knives that have been miss-sharpened repeatedly therefore have uneven grinde to them that must be corrected, and the subject on hand round knives. I have gotten comfortable sharpening my own round knives, but I still send off my expensive or damaged ones. The man I send them to is Dave at japanease knife sharpaning ( don't let the name fool you he's the best at any thing that has a edge) http://www.japaneseknifesharpening.com/ If you decide to use him you can tell him Colin referred you so that he knowers the type of edge and preformance you'd be looking for. IMHO hand sharpaning is a skill that takes years (and Desire) to become proficient at, I have seen many of the videos and online tutorials and most of them make me cringe. The best advice I can give you if you choose to hand sharpen your own is to use a permanent black marker. Mark the whole cutting edge of the of the knife with the marker. When your sharpening you should notice the middle of the black marker line abrading away first. As sharpen that "scratch abrasion" marks should widen evenly in both directions. Most important is that you continue to do this until you feel a bur form on the edge, most common mistake people make is not establishing that bur from the start. Another note is that this type of "bench sharpening" on flat stones produces just that, a flat edge. I find that a convex edge is best suited for a round knife. This edge is created using a slack belt (belt sander), Once established this edge is easier to maintain using a strop then one created using a flat bench stone. Hey strop can "roll the edge" on a flat or (God for bid) hollowed ground edge, While the "give" of the strop surface naturally conforms to the convex edge. convex edge stayes sharp a lot longer to.

Strap works sells them. I don't know what size you are looking for, they have others but here's a link to one of them http://www.strapworks.com/Solid_Brass_Slides_p/241sbs.htm

I love it, it's one of the nicest holsters I've seen. Could you post a picture of the backside? It on a belt being worn would be nice to see too.

I believe that, the way it seems to me is that the "dye" color reflects the oxidized color of metal. So aluminum or tin might lighten the color of leather since they oxide is white? That could come in handy if that's the case. Be it would be an expensive "dye" to make silver should produce a very deep black. The thing I like most about using the roon that that the color Is very deep and consistent, it's easy to work with, and doesn't rub off or wash out.

O I didn't answer your question, I use ph test strips, the kind you would get in a chemistry lab.

I'm using a stronger acid but I get one if the big bags if woll (think its a lb?) into a gal. of vinegar. I do it slow to cut down on the time it takes filtering it, about a week. I could just dump the whole bag in but it would take a long time as the will would not have as much surface area (that's why we use the 0000 stuff). What I have been meaning to try is to see if any other mettles make difrent "dye's". Using bronze wool comes to mind, I would think it would give a green, brown, blue type color compared to the blackish red iron makes.

A few drops of ammonia In water, 1 teaspoon per gallon of water. Just to give you a ratio. Would neutralize any acid far better than baking soda ever could, And I doubt that small of an amount of ammonia would have much smell to it. Also note that vegetable tanned leather is on acidic side and not neutral. It's acidic state helps to preserve it. One of the things that the various leather conditioners do is to restore this acidic pH that might have been lost do to time or exposure to various alkalines. Look at it this way, we worry about leather drying out, right? It's oils that keep it from doing so. Thangs that are negative in pH or basic break down oils and make them a water soluble. Think about how soaps are made, add sodium hydroxide (strong base) to acetic oils.I personally don't feel the need to neutralize a week acid like vinegar but to each his own. It's actually the dissolved iron that's causing the reaction With the acids in the tannings of the leather. The vinegar is just used to dissolve the iron, If you're worried about the vinegar being too ascitic just cut it with distilled water to begin with. If you're worried about that cutting down the strength of the roon, then just make a stronger, more concentrated roon, then cut it, that's what I do. I actually use a stronger vinegar 7% compared to the normal 3%. I add ultra fine steel wool one pad at a time. When it's Dissolved I add another, I keep doing this till the woll pads won't dissolve any more. I then strain the liquid through a coffee filter, then add 2 cups of distilled water per cup of vinegar Iron solution. This roon produces a almost jet black look and has almost no smell to it at all, and its only 1.75 in PH. If you want a lighter color roon just add more distilled water. I have found this way too be more controlled and have less odor, However it does take longer to make in the beginning.

I did a search and didn't find anything on the subject. I was thinking about doing a feather in inlay on a sheath and just wanted some advice, pointers or possible problems I could run into from anyone that may have done/ or tryed this before. Note: I'm not talking about attaching or handinf them to the outside, but a actual inlay, kind of like what we do with snakeskin.

I like the design a lot. I was looking some time back on what type of sheathes people used on round knives and I didn't have much luck. so here is the design i came up with, It's a clam shell design done in horsehide and rattlesnake. [

Gotcha,, I'm kind of just like you guys. Leatherworking is my hobby that I do in my spare time. All the work that I have sold has been due to people seeing something I have made, liking it and asking me to make them something. But I always have a hard time pricing my work out. Materials is the easy part but calculator labor into it It Is just about impossible, at least for me. Now you guys that are selling hundreds of holsters or sheathes a year, where is that business coming from? Are you doing knife and gun shows, consignment with gun shops, have your own store front, or do you just get that many special requests? For all you guys that do this full time as a liveing do you calculate labor into, if so how?

I was going to ask about how much a custom holster sells for, but I guess this answers that question. So I'll ask this question between the cost of materials and time spent making the holster are you actually making any money on these?

Very nice could you show a picture of the backside? P.S. that gun is awesome looking as well, wish I had one of those.

I find horsehide stamps quite nicely and relatively easily, but sucks to carve and tool? I think it's the best and easiest leather to wet mold. I've only been working with lethere for a few years so I am a complete amateur. So I don't consider myself skilled in any aspect of the trade, but I mostly work with horsehide so I have kind of figured out a few tricks. Again I'm no pro but from what I've noticed is the most important part of wet molding is in the proper casing of the leather? Horsehide cases differently than cowhide and it is a bit more tricky and finicky to case as well. I think this is due to the difference in cell structure of the two letters, horsehide has a more closed cell while cowhide is more open. When I wet mold horsehide I literally soak the leather in pretty warm water (about 85 to 90°) with just a drop of baby shampoo. I do this in a somewhat of a insulated and or covered container to try and keep the temperature kind of consistent. I don't really time it but I probably leave the piece of leather in the water for about 30-45 minutes? At this point the horsehide molds works like play dough. For stamping I think I just use the traditional casing method? I soak the leather in a room temperature casing solution. The kind of solution I use is the kind you always read about on these boards, Distilled water, shampoo, Listerine, ext. I soke it till the bubbles stop. Then I guess I kind of use my own method of slicking the leather. Rather than using a slicker or piece of glass on a hard surface, I use one of those food saver vacuum packing machines. I started doing this at first because I was having a hard time slicking the horsehide, At the time I didn't have the proper tools and I really didn't know how to use a slicker either. But I find the vacuum packing machine works great, not only does it compress the leather evenly it keeps mold from forming. I leave it sealed for at least 12 hours but I've left it before four days. Note the reason I have left it for days before is only do to not haveing the time to work with it. I then take it out of the bag and wait for the color to even out and still feel cool but not wet to the touch. I then cover the backside with clear packing tape to keep the leathers shape when stamping. I think the use of a proper/ traditional slicking technique does all of this am one step, but I don't really know? I have a bad habit of not taking pictures but here's one. Try not to judge the stamping itself as it's only my second try with a try weave stamp, and I find the try weave to be kind of hard to do. Here are two pictures of wet molding I've done. The only picture showing the creasing from wet molding Is of one of the first sheaths I've made, So try not to judge too harshly. The second picture I think was a more successful sheath but the style of sheath doesn't have the creasing look I know where talking about.

Paul what happened to your old machine, think it was a toro 3200? Did it give out on you after all these years or did you just want something new? Why did you decide to go with the cobra? I remember in your video you saying how the machines you have can be bought much less money now. I bring this up becouse the cobra is on sale this month, just your luck I guess. Side note I bought one today.