Chef niloc

I finally got my new blade for my antique chase pattern splitter. Michael sent it to me with only a 500 grit finish edge, this is how that edge cuts. Boy o boy new blade makes a big difference. He did a great job fit and worked first time around (he has never made one before) Specs from his mouth

Best source for true aniline dye? I have only been able to find a few places that sell it and it only comes in small expensive bottles. Is the stuff meant for wood "aniline wood dye" the same that would be used for leather ?Also I'm trying to get a rich cordovan (like #8) color. If anyone has a progression they found worked (I.E. yellow, then purple, then brown) well please post. Clear wouldalso be nice.

Can someone recommend a conditioner or method of conditioning that will give veg tanned:Soft supple feelNot have a oily feel or lookNot darken it (if anything lighten it)Leave it "fuller" or loosen/ open up the cell. That list is in order of importance, but I'd like to hit them all. I'm thinking some type of fatliquor, but I don't see anything offered anywhere.

Thank you very good hides and service

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=+Metal+Brake+ Don't see why it wouldn't work?

Looking at old pictures of them I noticed that they were enameled green and the plate when I got it still had remnants of gold left on it. So I took it all apart. I used a vibration tumbler to polish all the hardware. Polished the rollers by running them in between mandrels using a sequence of fine grit wet dry paper. I used gold leaf and guided the plate. i had to take a little liberty with the paint. I did not want to just use shaker can hardware store green so I used a auto body HVLP spray gun and sprayed it with top end "house of Kolor" lacquer, this one is called "toxic green". Then I used a two stage epoxy clear coat and buffed it like you would a New car. I'll post picks again next week as I just got word that my new blade is ready, and shipped. I have a good friend who was nice enough to make me one. I think it will be the first splinter to ever have a blade hand forged by a ABS master smith! He hand forged to out of 52100 high carbon, I was going with a more modern tool steel but thought it best to stick true to good old high carbon.<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">

I found the best way to do that blade is to make a simple jig. You need a flat serfice, marble block works. And a steel straight edge. Hang the edge about 1/32-1/16" over the edge. Its important to check the the blade is not bent, dead flat if its a little off you can lap the back. But if is a lot off you SOOL. Now clamp the straight edge to the top about 1/16"-1/32 (match the overhang. Now work your bench stones back and forth. Start with a corse one B/C you not only need to make a bur at the edge but flatten that extra 1/32" on the top so it's one continues slope, think chisel edge. Once done with the corse stone I like to remove the bur to make things go quicker, I use a felt block but a cork or copper pipe would work too. Now work your way up to your finest stone and last debur the back with you finest stone. The trouble with most pro's is they will try and hollow gringo or convex the blade, it needs to be flat. I did this one last summer

Barge here too

Anyone have any info/ photons of such a machine, ether industrial or home made. They are used to raise the nap/ polish hides to give leather a velvety texture. I would think they would be part of the proses of making newbuck?

I like the king and think its the best bang for the buck. Just got a beard and you know it's the bet but the wait time and price are long and high. I also have a SK3 and it's a great knife and Paul is great to work with. I'd start with the SK3, its the one i use the most and you would never NEED a better knife.....but it's fun to have a collection.

This seemed like a good place to show off my prized Excalibur of round knives. Bill Burke ABS M.S, forged to shape from 52100. Sheep horn handle and copper and nickel mokume bolsters. I made the sheath from diamondback rattlesnake and horse hide with a dear skin lining.

Reading this and taking you seriously.Refined beef tallow is used a lot, animals love that stuff. Petrolatum greases are also used a lot, My cats go crazy for Vaseline (Petroleum jelly, petrolatum, or soft paraffin). The 1st time I sore my cat licking out 1/2 the jar I got got scared and called the vet, was told its acutely good for them.Now for the bad news. Chromium oxide is poisonous in large amounts, in small amounts it's still not good and can cause problems. It will build up in the system if small amounts are consumed over a period of time. Lead is used in some compounds. We all know leads bad to eat but tastes great...think kids and paint chips. Lead acts as a binder & lubricant in compounds, I would think that it is not as commonly used today as it once was? I do know that the warning label on the compound would have to say if it contained lead. Eating aluminum oxide won't kill a dog over night but over time might give him altimeters.

Horween leather Any one here ever deal directly with them? I have sent a few sales inquires over the past few months to the email address they provide on there sight "Sales Inquiries: john@horween.com", but I never get a response? I am inquiring about purchasing shell cordovan hides in color #8 or whiskey. I asked them to quote me a price, availability, and minimum order requirements. I told them I was interested in 50-100 shells, I think that would meet there minimum? Maybe I'm wrong and that might be why I don't get a reply? My emails include my contact information and my businesses name, my title, so it should not appear that I'm just some guy trying to buy one or two hides.Any one know what I might be doing wrong or a better way for me to contact them?

A trick I found is to cover the back with clear packing tape.other tape works, but packing tape is what I found to work best. This trick is particularly useful when folding leather to keep the tooling crisp. 1) Case leather as described above 2) Cover back with tape 3) Stamp 4) Let sit for a day or two (fully dry) 5) Take off tape If folding:After steps 1-3 4) After stamping let the piece sit over night 5) Fold 6) Let sit for a day or so 7) Take tape off. Note: using "block out" after the 1st day of drying or after folding but before the tape is taken off helps to. The tape does three things: 1) keeps the leather cased bette r2) Reduces stretching when stamping 3) Reduces shrinking when drying Other things that may help to: 1) use casing solution, store bought or home made 2) A hi-tec speed casing can be with a home vacuum sealer (food saver) the vacuum insures that the leather is cased evenly and compresses the fibers. Will case leather in a hour or two but I usually still let it sit over night. It's also great if you want to keep leather per-cased as it will keep mold from growing for weeks unrefrigerated. 3)Slick the leather on a hard surface to compress and even out the cells.

I had the same problem not to long ago. You should contacted Bruce and asked him to pick out a good one. That's what I did and I'm very happy With what I got.

Or here is a link to his sons profile on this sight, maybe send him a P.T.? http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showuser=10736

Looks a little pricey but is this what your looking for? http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-POWDER-PATTERNS-FLINTLOCK-HOLSTER-SCABBARD-1978-/130346385357#vi-desc

That's what I was just going to say, Paul you beat me to it. A welt should be used in just about every sheath to protect the stitches. Sorry the only W.I.P. Pic I have is for this round knife, but I think you can see what I'm doing here and in the pic of the cleaver sheath.

Got my tools yesterday, this thread helped a lot , thanks guys.

Another problem with rouges or any "bar/stick" type compounds Most of them are not made with heat treated steels in mind. They are made to be used on buffers. Buffers spin fast and create heat this heat melts the binders in the compound thus allowing the abrasives to do there thing. When hand stropping not a lot of heat is produced so those "hard" compounds don't work as well as they should/hoods. There are only a few that are made for heat treated steel, you can tell because they are softer. The binders are geared to melt easer and have a higher amount of abrasive in them, they cost more too.For hand stropping tools I find that the green chrome and diamond powders work well, but can be a little dusty used on leather, felts better. For a leather strop the diamond sprays can't be beet. They are a slurry of fine grade diamond dust and alcoholl, the 98% alcohol so it evaporates fast leavening a fine even layer of diamond on the strop. As you can guess diamond will cut/polish better and faster then anything else. Diamond dust when looked at under a microscope looks like little sharp pieces of broken glass. Chromium and aluminum oxide on the other hand look like little balls. Now don't go thinking " won't sharp broken glass looking particles be scratchy and not polish? Not when your talking about dust that's 3 micron or smaller.The sight below has good stuff, good strop and such too. the green chrome powders and "diamond dust" can also be mixed your self that way you can control the concentration of abrasives your self. Hand America use to have a green chrome soap mix that worked great. I don't know what kind of soap he used but I think it was just dish soap? Other soaps made for leather should work just as good if nit better? http://www.japaneseknifesharpeningstore.com/mobile/default.aspx#C27

Wow !I was looking threw this thread trying to figure out how basket weaves were made. They just seem so intricate and impossible to make, I couldn't even think we're to start. You did a amazing job! It's been a few years I'd love to see how you work has progressed

Bruce do you split the leather dry or wet?

Dave:I did a few Internet search's and all I came up with for sit-n- stitch is the link I had above. maybe the add you found was marking up the price or the link I had was a old price. as you can see from the link I posted its not available, so maybe a old price? Do you have a link to the add you were looking at?Also in looking I came across this thread http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=6380 Looks like a good design for sheathes and not to hard to make. The clamps smashing your work thing, did you line the jaws with leather? I had the same problem till I did that. The trouble I run into with sheaths is the clamp pushing the top seam apart do to the welt. Looking at the above design I think if one cut a 1/2" channel about 1/2" -1" down from the top across the whole length of the clamp that would work better? This way the clamp would hold the sheath above and below the line to be stitched? PaulYes I do things the hard way and I should ask/ look for info before I do things LOL. That sad, I wanted a pony built from exotic wood (zebra in this case) and I'm a sucker or "old/ antique" things. So I used antique hinge on the bottom and incorporated a old wood workers clamp for the screw part. I used the a piece I cut from the threaded part of the clamp and one of the threaded rods, so I didn't have to do any threading myself. To be honest I would have tried to thread the wood but I couldn't find out how to do it. Hint: if some one reading this knows how to tap threads into wood and thread a dowel please point me in the right direction. I used the long handled rod B/C I always had trouble with the thread getting stuck around the short nobs that come on pony's. With my design the thread just falls on top of the handle. The leather strap and leaver thing on the one i linked to above (sit-N-Stitch) looks like a better way to go about it, wish I had seen that 1st.

I'm assuming your talking about this? http://www.grandpaspastime.com/Pages/SITNSTITCH.aspx Looks pretty good to me. I made this one my self, it was a P.I.T.A.! I wish I had seen this one first. I also make sheathes and have been wanting a hand held clamp. Sheridan Leather Outfitters makes oe they call the "colt" that looks good but it not in stock right now, looks like theirs a big run on stitching clamps these days???

I punched 1/2" holes in a leather 1" strap and set 1/2" x 1/8" rare earth magnets in it then covered it with some thin 3oz black leather so that it would blend into the lid of my case. I put this in the top of a suitcase style tool box so when the lid opens all the tools are facing me. I spaced the magnets apart as so to keep the specific tools appropriately spaced. I got the idea from a custom "magblock" kitchen knife rack that I have. I can't see how the magnets would hurt the tools? Knives have been storied on magnetic wall bars/ racks in kitchens for as long as I can remember. Hope that helps?Colin