BIGGUNDOCTOR

OZ is more than a days walk to get across, so you may want to get a little more specific on your location, so you can get better assistance. Hope to see some of your work soon.

All of the ones I have seen are unlined. I have a pile of scabbard blanks that were clicked out. They are mostly a russet color.

As a former business owner (machine shop),and now looking to start another business, here is my take on it. You need to sit down and figure all of your expenses; materials, shipping, tooling, driving, power, advertising,etc that are related to the business. Determine your shop rate. Remember that business may or may not be 40hrs a week. Sometimes more, sometimes much less to none. Study your competition; price,customer service, shiping, location,,,,, You may want to see if your library has Tony Hsieh's (pronounced Shay)book Delivering Happines a path to profits,passion, and purpose. HE has built Zappos.com into a billion dollar a year business with total customer satisfaction as a main target of the company. Dave Ramsey also has some good info on his site , as well as his radio program for small businessmen. Study successful businessmen to see what they do differently. Sarah Blakley turned $5,000, and an idea for undewear (Spanx)into 1 billion$$$ 12 years later without outside help, no paid advertising, and no loans. How? Passion, and drive. Your business will be successful, if you put the effort into it. There is no easy answer to your question as every location, and product has its unique qualities. To make it simple I'll say--Make a quality product, charge a fair price, and lean heavy on customer satisfaction. Happy customers are the ones who pay the bills, unhappy customers can cost you your job. Good Luck with yor endevor!

Welcome from the desert of Southern Nevada. Lots of good info on here, so start searching the forum threads. Many of your mates from OZ post regularly, and they can help with suppliers on your side of the world.

I can't say anything about lasting as all tanning is done to preserve leather.

They look like the tools my Mom bought when she got started back around 1952. Should be better quality than the new ones from Tandy. I have plenty at the momnet, and I didn't pay near that per piece. I have scored some great deals over the years.

I used oxalic acid to tan a skunk, and a couple of squirrel hides. There are lots of different acids used in tanning, you may need to find out which method was used. Off hand I would say they would be alright for inlays, etc..

Currently the tool maker for a CNC screwmachine shop in Southern Utah-commute in from Nevada. Also worked for; a machine gun dealer Jelly Belly candy co as graveyard shift mechanic Gunsmith Automotive lift technician Dental metals foundry Owned and operated a small machine and fab shop A small machine shop, and a wire display company.

I believe this is what was ment by humanizing them , when you said "You slaughter coyotes, they are thinking, feeling animals tied to families." Historically coyotes were not back East, now they roam all over the USA. In some areas they have become a nusiance by attacking livestock, killing house pets, and affecting deer herds. I have seen some out where I live, and they are always alone.

I have been involved with numerous group buys for gun parts. One person would need to take the lead on this, and be the main contact with the seller, as well as handling the money, and possible repacking/shipping. They would need to ask them what is the price, and how many would need to be sold to get them at that price. Will they drop ship, or will they only ship to the main person meaning they would handle the repacking/shipping to everyone else (double shipping $). Is there a time limit to do the deal. Being that there are several styles available mixing them would not be advisable due to the complexity of keeping everything straight. Is there a maximum limit at the price given. Once the details are worked out then the group buy is initiated. It is posted with all pertinent details, and everyone interested posts how many they want. When the time limit , or order size is reached then the buy is closed, and the money is sent into the main person. Once the payments are collected they are sent to the seller.

Utah is offering $50 for every yodel dog you take in the county you live in. Residents only =(. They want the population thinned out, so they doubled the bounty.

That is why it is called retired,,,,,,,,re-tired, as in you get tired all over again. Former Kalifornian (Fairfield).

Just scrub it down with some Scotch Brite, or some 230 grit emery cloth. Before you get too deep into it, what make of anvil is it? Some of the tops are very thin, so be careful not to take too much off. I also do some blacksmithing, and have 6 anvils of various weights.

I have an Arco Roto -Phase converter for my machine shop equipment. Static converters will not work on all equipment. My friend had a lathe that his static would not operate due to it having an electronic clutching sysytem. Everytime he went to start it , the lathe would stall out. A way that I have run my vert milling machine, 10"x16" surface grinder, and my 18.5"x54" MOnarch lathe is by using a jack motor. This is nothing more than another 3 phase motor of equal or larger HP that you wire through on your way to the equipment you want to run. This method has been used for decades by hobbyists. I have yet to pay for an old 3 phase motor. If the style of mount is the only thing keeping you from mounting a single phase motor then a machine shop can make an adapter.

Check with an industrial supplier like MSC.

The Adler patchers I found were both on Craigslist. The one guy also had a virtually new 441 clone that he sold for IIRC $1,200. My patchers were $400, and $350. Look in larger city newspapers for industrial auctions-the San Fran papers published them on Sunday most of the time. With my machine shop equipment I averaged 10 cents on the dollar for new. Example; 5'x10' CNC cutting torch that retailed for $27,000, and was only used part of 1.5 years for one govt job, I paid $2,700. E-bay (not my fave, but they have machines listed.) Craigslist, for your city, and surrounding areas. Check with dealers for trade ins, or refurbished units. Price out refurbishing a unit too in case you find a sreaming deal on an older unit. With any of these options you will need some time to find the deal. If you have a time limit, you may just have to pay for a new unit. Again, I would look at a used unit, pay cash, build up some sales, and move up if needed. Financially this is much safer than payments. Everything in my shop was paid in full, with 95%+ bought at auctions. We knew we could afford a mchine if we could lay down the cash. When we were told to vacate the building we were in due to the new owners using it for their business, it didn't hurt us. By that I mean we had zero payments to worry about , no loans, no leases, no worries. I have seen too many people get in a hurry, make a couple years worth of payments only to lose all of the equipment due to a shrtfall of income, or other issues. Hope this helps.

I would contact him sooner than later. The longer this goes the tougher it will be to correct down the line. Who knows he may want to change so he is not confused with you.

You can check with any industrial supply house like MSC, J&L, ENCO,etc for band saw blades like you want. You can get straight knife, or wavy edge. For metal I always prefer bi-metal blades. Those have a softer back, and a harder edge welded on. For leather a good all carbon steel blade should suffice. A knife edge will make less dust due to the slicing action, as opposed to the stock removal the toothed blades create.

For foam, just look in the Yellow Pages under foam, and rubber. Most larger cities will have a supplier. I had to get various foams for industrial uses whan I had my shop, and they would sell smaller amounts. If they have a close location, go check out the various types, and Durometers that they offer. An industrial supplier will have a vastly better selection than a hobby store will. I used quite a bit of high density neoprene foam for the winery labelers, along with some very low density silicone foam.

Now you need a couple more to make matching slippers (with tails of course).

Good deal. As with any barganing I have doen I give the price that I can afford. It may not be what the seller wants, but it is what I can afford. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. Someties the seller would prefer to see their tools go to a craftsman than going to a reseller, and will take a lower overall amount.Talking with them some, and explaining that you will be using the tools helps alot. I inherited my Mom's tools, and have added to it over the years with several purchases from folks getting out of the hobby, or selling off inherited tools. In each case we both were happy with the price I paid. Once you get it all sorted out post some pictures for us.

I have a coworker who built a rat bike out of a Kawi. He cut the shielding off the pipes exposing them, then wrapped them with the woven fiberglass looking heat wrap. That keeps him from burning himself, and it may protect the leather too. Worth a try. Model T fan belts were leather.

Make it out of whatever you want to and just add stiffeners on the inside. It could have a wire frame, or stiffener panels in between the outer, and liner.

Came, looked, didn't download. Adjust your vulture count as such LOL. Always nice when some can help others out with some swag like this. When, and if I make the time to get back to leather other than just viewing everyone else's work , I may download this. I cherish the big pile of vintage Doodle Pages that my Mom picked up back in the 50' and 60's when she was really doing a lot of leather work. Got another pile when I bought out another person who was getting out of the craft. Fun stuff.

An air gap may work, but the pipe puts off a ton of heat, so the gap ay have to be pretty large. Is it a straight pipe, or does it have a metal heatshield on it? You can also try putting a good layer of pipe heat wrap on it, then covering that with the leather. Leather will cook down, and shrink to a point, then stop. I have some welding gloves that are permanently deformed due to getting too close to a torch. Once cooked they are guite hard, and stiff. May try making a form, wrapping in leather, precooking, than installing.