BIGGUNDOCTOR

First off this is a gift, and hopefully the recipient will accept it as it was meant -as a heartfelt gesture. I have received items that were not top notch, but I loved them anyway, as they were given to me by friends who cared enough to make something, as opposed to buying something. As your friend uses this it will develop some character, and look well loved. To smooth the points on the outer edge you can also use a sanding block to smooth them down some, then burnish them a bit. The carving will get better with time,and practice. Careful layout will help a lot in the overall look of a piece. Keep working at it, and posting your progress.

It is probably worth a lot to the camel it came from.

You can bone in some of the tight details. Look at some of the holsters that guys make on the forum, they have details that have been boned in. The bones used can be made of bone, plastic, wood, etc. Don't know if it is just me, but I don't see the last picture you posted. Another way to make a quick mold of your dress form would be to wrap it in Saran wrap, then spray it with expanding foam that you can get at the hardware store. That will give you a sturdy enough mold to pour your plaster/clay into.

Turn on the air conditioning, stay cool when you tool.

Do a forum search for Vegan leather, there was quite a discussion on this very subject. The vegan leather being offered was from naturally expired cattle. I am sure that you can find a saddle maker that could use that type of leather. I may not live a vegan lifestyle, and I don't judge anyone who does. I have had many days that I didn't eat any meat, and have cut my meat intake way back. I have a friend who is a vegetarian who showed me that being a veggie killer is not just beans, and rice. Some folks are vegan, some are vegetarians, or ovo-lactose-pescatarians vegetarians, I like to refer to myself as a vagitarian ....... Good luck on your search, and I hope your friend gets the saddle that they want.

I would be leery of that considering that it is made of spruce, and pine, and it only has one screw in the middle. Watch Craigslist for a Harbor Freight hydraulic press. They are usually around 12 ton, and don't take up that much floorspace. Plus it has other uses. To do a bookmark with c-clamps, you can use multiple clamps to get even pressure. Nobody said that you could only use one. Since you are only doing 4-5 at a time, you don't need anything big. A couple of steel plates , or some thick wood, and some c/lamps would get you by. Try some thick plywood, or 2x6 for starters. Put a c-clamp at each corner, and one in the middle if you have one big enough to reach. Think simple, it is easy to get way beyond what you really need, as noted by some of my suggestions so far. The only thing with wood is that you may end up with a woodgrain pattern on the markers-which may be fine. To help pull the moisture, try paper , or cloth between the clamp,and the leather. Lots of options, just pick the best one for you.

You need to determine how much pressure is needed per marker to compress. Example; if it takes 500# to do one bookmark a 1 ton press will only be able to do 4 bookmarks. # per x number of parts that you want to do = press tonnage needed. Look into C-clamps. A good c-clamp can create a ton , or more, of pressure. Now if you use a big platen press, it may be possible to make heated platens to speed the process up some. An aluminum / steel plate with some stove top, or oven heating elements added to them could speed the process up a great deal. We used various heated platens at the Jelly Belly Candy Co. Being a machinist I view options like this as straightforward projects, so sorry if I come across as everyone should have these capabilities. A simple air operated press could be made with an inner tube, and some plates. Air is measured in PSI (pounds per square inch), so if you have an inner tube that has 100 sq" of side surface area it can apply 3,000# of pressure when aired up to 30 psi, and is contained in an enclosure. If you can find a small industrial tube that will take 80 psi it can create 8,000 pounds of force. Makes you think when you are airing up a 235/85/16 on the truck to 80psi,and you start figuring the sq" of tire in front of your face. Speaking of that , a tire that projects away from the rim width could also be used. Most D, or E, load range tires will take 80psi. Inside of a STURDY framework , place the markers on a plate, slip the other plate in, then slip the tire on top of them. Air up the tire to 80psi so that it is pushing outward in the frame, and wallah, you have a scrapyard press. How many markers are you looking to churn out?

Dodge offered leather as an option on the Coronets, so there should be some pics out there.

A couple of things. What is this air dry clay that you mention? Is it regular pottery clay that is just air dried---greenware, or something else? Plaster strips like a cast is made of? The ones that you cannot get wet? If you use them , you would have to seal them from moisture. Why not use something firm like plaster instead of batting to fill the gaps between the duct tape, and dress form? I would say that you want the form to be as close as possible to you. The leather cannot shrink any smaller than the solid form underneath it, as long as it remains on the form till dry.

search forum for fish scales, this has recently been covered before .

Back home Mom had made a lamp kit with the mini saddle from Tandy. I met a woman at an art fest that made some really nice sewn leather pictures. I'll see if I can dig her card out.

Depending on the size of the leather that you want to compress , your skills, who you know, or what tools you own, you have some options. Pasta roller, as used by a forum member. Vise. Hydraulic press. Find someone with a sheet metal slip roll. A plate with a lot of weight stacked on top of it,car,truck,forklift---don't laugh, I have all of these.......

I always find it interesting that it is usually the guys who end up discussing the construction of corsets, etc.. As to air dried clay molds. You would need to seal them as once they get wet, they will start to get gooey again. The other problem is that greenware is also very brittle. Sealed plaster would e inexpensive, and easy to use. Just cast a block , then shape to fit. It carves really easy with basic tools. Check out the Smooth On website. They make a line of products that would work for a project like this. Good luck.

It gets down to what can you afford to pay, and can you use what you are getting? No offense to WySlick, but in all of my dealings on purchases like that I pay around $1 per item, sometimes far less. My last purchase had well over 300 tools alone, and filled the back of my Saturn wagon with books, piles of leather, patterns, DVD's, granite slabs, tack hardware by the bulk bag, and more. Total price was $300. Another tool purchase that came with a stack of old Doodle Pages was $45, and had maybe half as many tools as those shown. It also included a nice wood carrying case, and some misc items. I made my purchases in N.CA, and here in Las Vegas. With a lot of items location plays a role in pricing. I also do blacksmithing, and I have averaged $1 a pound for all 6 of my anvils. In other parts of the country $2-$3 a pound is more common. It is that old law of supply, and demand. With any negotiations that I have done in the past I like to talk with the seller some. In a lot of cases once they find out that you will be using the items instead of reselling them they may cut you a better price. I was also involved with the Boy Scouts, and some folks discounted , or donated tools, so that I would have extras for the MB classes. I purchased $6,000 worth of machinist tools from a gentleman that was retiring. He sold me the works for $550, and told me that it was because I was going to use them. Those are the tools that I currently have where I work. I have the gift of gab, so talking to people has always been easy for me , except when it comes to asking a gal out, then I am all tongue tied . Have ca$h with you when you go to look at them. Greenbacks can seal a deal, and show that you are serious. Again it depends on what YOU can afford to spend. If you can only afford $50 then that is what you offer. If you can afford more then do so. What are they worth to YOU? Don't be afraid to walk away from them , there are plenty more out there. Newspaper ads, garage sales, Craigslist, and word of mouth is how I found all of my tools. Just an aside, since I probably have everything that is in the pictures already I would probably offer around $100 tops. If I got them, they would become trading material. Don't forget that there are tons of these out there. That is one reason I got the machinist tools as inexpensively as I did. There are gobs of machine shops auctions in the area I grew up in, and tools average 10 cents on the dollar. I have a 5'x10' CNC cutting torch/plasma combo that runs $27,000 that I got for $2,700. Simple supply, and demand. Times are rough for some folks, and they are dumping tools to pay the bills. I am not suggesting that you take advantage of someone, just that there are people dumping tools at bargain prices. The big $300 purchase I made last summer was someone leaving the state, and wanted to reduce their load. I went to look at the tools only, and he said "How about $300, and you can have everything that I have left minus the machinery?" Couple of weeks later I ended up with an Adler patcher that he had for $400. He set the price on that too,and I didn't argue with him. To find tools start talking to everyone that you know, and let them know what you are interested in. Someone may have a relative that has some old tools stashed away that they would like see go to a good home. Every garage sale i went to I asked if they had any hunting, or shooting supplies. I got quite a bit of stuff that had not been set out, or advertised. Watch Craigslist, the newspaper ads, garage sale ads, let the folks at the local thrift stores know that you are looking for leather stuff, and pretty much tell everyone that you know. I bet in a relatively short time it will produce results. Example , a friend just told me that he wants to get set up for blacksmithing. I went to a garage sale up by where I work, and asked if they had any smithing stuff. Sure enough I turned up a forge blower, some tongs, and 3-1/4 barrels of coal. Good luck in your treasure hunting.......

Maybe in cooler climes, but here in the desert if you have leather seats you can expect to fry your thighs during the summer. Most cars here have cloth seats.

Make the top part the thicker wider leather, and have leather laces to tie together. Velcro dies after awhile, but it will last a long time. I have had wristwatch bands that were velcro that I liked. You could do it like a welding helmet where there is one stud, and a series of holes to adjust for the individual's head. This would require a loop to secure the loose end. Another method would be to use the strips that Tandy has/had for the woven lace bracelets. Essentially it was a thin strip of steel that the lace was woven around. This allowed the bracelet to be bent to fit, and it would hold its shape. A wire woven under the edge by lace could work too. A lot will depend on the budget per item.

Hmmm, when I do a search for leather in movies I get films like The Adventures of Jane Bondage

Define typical hat, and for what century. Google up kepi for the history-they go way back, and were used by several countries. Yep it is suede. I still remember when I bought it, and thinking that $25 was a lot of money for a hat. The brow needs some repair on the inside as sweat has rotted it over the years. I believe that the bill is a Latigo, as when it get hot down here the bill droops down. It is also doubled up in the top, and base which contribute to it's heft. Over the years it has developed a bit of character after being exposed to years in the Scouts; bailing out a canoe, endless campfires, sweat, dirt, rain, and many years as my daily hat. I am looking to make a lighter weight version for summer use since I have become a desert dweller. The next one will probably be cloth though to keep it light, and cool. I have always liked this style hat, and it helped me be me, and not another sheep. I liked this line--You laugh at me because I am different. I laugh at you because you are all the same.

Here is a pic of one I bought back in 1979 from The Sandalmakers shop on Pier 39 in SF CA-my brother was the controller for the pier at the time.

O-1, and D-2 would make good blades. As to the saw blade, it is already tempered. Tempering is done after hardening to get either the desired hardness, or to relieve stress. Tempering is usually used to reduce the hardness down after full hardening to get desired results like flexibility, or break resistance. I would think for a splitter the blade could be full hard , as it is not receiving any impact. For an inexpensive blade look into blades for home planers, or jointers.

Got any rockhounds, or reloaders in the area with a tumbler? Another method would be to chemically etch them, but that could be nasty to deal with. We do some chem deburring at work, and what we use is not for the average home hobbyist.

And why would you need a CNC to do this operation? This is an easy operation, and could be done on a manual mill. It could also be knurled on a lathe. How about a rubber sleeve over it to add grip? Being a machinist it makes me chuckle when someone mentions that "you need a CNC." If you get a chance to look at a Mauser Broomhandle pistol you will see what I mean. Introduced in 1896 long before CNC's, carbide cutters,and many other modern advancements in machining were even thought of. The difference was that they were made by skilled craftsmen, not some binary brained machine, and they were made in the hundreds of thousands.

Sounds a bit like me. No kids, and I was a Scoutmaster for 11 years after I got my Eagle. 23 years total with Troop 252. I also taught leather working, wood carving, and basketry merit badges at summer camp. I think if I get involved with Scouts again it will be as a merit badge counselor. Been pretty busy though since I moved to the desert.

Use small tubing, and cut the tip in half. This will give you a variety of sizes for round scales. Once cut they could be collapsed some to make oval ones.