BIGGUNDOCTOR

I don't think the dog will notice the mistakes. Nice job.

Found this OLD post looking for something else, but here is my take on this. To answer the original question as to why I have an interest in firearms requires a multilevel answer. I grew up with firearms, and started shooting around 5 with a .22 cal. Marlin 39A lever action that was my Dad's. My Dad was a 24 year military guy who was in during WWII, did the Berlin Airlift, and retired in 1967. He saw what can happen when governments go bad, and citizens do not have a capable way to defend themselves. I love to target shoot, I have done some hunting, and if I felt the need I have them available for self defense. As to defense I generally do not feel the need, even when I am walking down in some of the hoods of Las Vegas for different events late at night. I asses the situation at hand, if I do not feel comfortable, I move on to another area. I have friends who are cops, and business owners who carry all the time due to their work, I don't feel the need. Crime is relative to where you live. Is there violent crime in the big cities-Yes. Is there violent crimes out in the boonies-very little to none. The USA is a big country with lots of open areas still, so I would bet that the majority of the gun deaths due to violent criminal acts occur in the large metro areas like New York, Los Angeles, etc that have populations in the several millions. The population of California (around 36 million) alone is bigger than all of Australia. The population of Nevada where I live is only around 2.5 million. Being a machinist, and interested in all things mechanical I find firearms to be a fascinating study of mechanisms. They all do the same thing, fire a projectile, but how many ways can you do it? Answer: a lot. I have purchased firearms, and have disassembled them as soon as I got home to see how they were made. I worked as a gunsmith back in California, so I had the opportunity to disassemble a bunch of guns. I also liked to see the craftsmanship that went into the older firearms, not like todays machine made wonders. To see what the Germans accomplished with the C96 Broomhandle Mauser pistol is amazing to me. Compound curves, all lockwork fitted like a puzzle, and mfg. started in 1896. No CNC machines, no carbide cutters, no modern machine capabilities, but they had CRAFTSMEN. My interests in firearms from that standpoint ends in the 1960's when more, and more firearms were made more inexpensively, and machines started taking over. Todays firearms for the most part are just ASSEMBLED off a production line. I am still old school with my rifles, and prefer the feel of a good black walnut stock, something they have not been able to make synthetically on the new rifles. We have the second amendment to our constitution. Our country got started by fighting for our independence. We want to stay free, and in order to do that we the people need to have a way to keep the gov't in check. Yes we have violent crimes committed with firearms, but they are just the symptom of a larger problem; drugs for one. Like mentioned before, the Oakland PD has tons of baseball bats in evidence lockers. If someone is intent on killing someone they will find a way. We as a nation need to rethink how we do some things, and maybe the shooting deaths will continue to decline. We need to address the breakdown of the family, drugs, gangs, racism, and other social ills that are the root cause of some of the violence we are experiencing. These are things that we have to live with when we have a free society. Australia is now looking at censoring internet content for sexual, violent, and hateful content, what will they want to limit next? Our Constitution protects us from those types of restrictions, but in turn it is our responsibility as citizens to manage ourselves in a civilized manner. On the blacksmithing site there is beautiful young gal in OZ that is a very talented bladesmith. Is knife carry only restricted to cities?

Tandy sells one. Do a Google search and see what comes up.

You can also get a phase converter , or use a jack motor to run it off of single phase at home. I would recommend a rotary type converter, as opposed to the static type. These generate true 3 phase power from single phase input. A jack motor is another 3 phase motor that is as big, ort bigger in HP than the machines motor, You essentially wire the machine through this second motor. Give the jack motor a pull start, and then start the machine. I have run a 18.5"X54" Monarch lathe 5HP, as well as a surface grinder 2HP, and milling machine 2HP this way. I had plenty of free 3 phase motors available, so I went that route. The one drawback of this style is that you only get 2/3 of your rated output. Example, if the machine has a 3HP motor , you can only utilize 2HP because there are only 2 hot legs powering it.

I would like to get a list together of other Southern Nevada leather workers, and possibly get together sometime. I have met with a couple of blacksmiths through the iforgeiron website, and would like to do the same with the leather workers. I am at a creative standstill currently, not just with leather, but all of my creative outlets. Lots of ideas, but I am missing something to get me going. I live in Logandale (Moapa Valley), but get into Vegas regularly. So who else is out there from Las Vegas, Henderson, Hendertucky, N. Las Vegas, Boulder City, or Mesquite? I am werkin in LaVerkin UT,so even Beaver Dam/Littlefield AZ, or St George,Hurricane, and Washington areas of Utah are in my driving area.

Shot you a PM a few days ago, but haven't heard back yet. Being near Las Vegas this could be a good opportunity for me to actually make some money with leather instead of just spending money on it.

I have an original one, possibly two-can't remember. I was teaching handicrafts at a BSA summer camp, and someone donated some to cut up for the leather. Some were shot, and they were used up in projects. I found some that were still in good shape, and rescued them.

Cool, I will get in touch with you as soon as I get it set up in the house. May be a week, or so,

Watch your local Craigslist free section, or materials for sale. I see a lot of granite countertops, sink cutouts etc. I was just given some the other week, and a coworker offered me another one. If it isn't thick enough, just laminate a couple together. My big surface plate is 36"x60"X10" thick, and NOBODY is pounding anything on that!

I picked the Vegas machine up. He actually lowered the price from what I bid because he found some issues with it when I went to get it. So, is there an Adler expert that I should contact so I can get it straightened out? I am a machinist, and mechanically inclined, so I figure I can figure it out eventually, but if someone has some insight into this series of machine it would be helpful.

Hmmm, thought this was going to be a discussion about the other vinegaroon http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg365.html

It is OK to keep your hopes high, but stay realistic too. Be prepared mentally in case you do not make one sale. It happens. Try and use the bad experiences to make make sales at another show by asking -why?. Why can answer a lot of questions. Why didn't I sell any cowboy rigs? Show concentrated on tactical gear. Why didn't anyone look at my high end items? Prices were above the areas market, IE: there is more disposable income in some cities compared to others. Why didn't I sell hardly anything at this show? Got stuck in the back corner, hard to find, no foot traffic, poor table display, confusing display, low attendance, weather- you get more attendance during rain than nice sunny days. You get the idea. Walk the show yourself to see what else is being sold, and at what price. Talk with some of the other vendors, and drop cards off at tables. I don't know how big some of your shows are, but the one at Cal Expo in Sacramento CA used to be 1000 tables . If you have some cowboy action shooters promoting a club, drop off a card. Gun club have a table there? Drop off a card. Reenacting group there? Drop off a card. Make up some inexpensive cards/flyer with your table location on it to leave at every table. You may find that by doing this they will send people your way. You may also look to see if anyone has a leather item that needs to be repaired on their table. I picked up a couple of "leg-o-mutton" shotgun cases really inexpensively due to threads falling out. The leather was solid, just bad threads. Buy, fix, resell. Always keep you eyes open, and ears listening for opportunities. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Having attended a TON of gun shows, I would say to just have some examples of your skill, and concentrate on taking custom work orders. The reason I say that, is at any of the gun shows I have been to there are guys selling new holsters from the bigger manufacturers, guys with large tubs full of NOS (new old stock), and tons of used holsters. What does that mean? Prices run from $2 on up, so you will have to offer something that they cannot get there at the show, or online. Look into offering leather repairs also, again, something the other guys may not offer. I have a friend who had to have a WWII Luger holster repaired. If you get into that type of repair, you better be good as some surplus holsters are worth big bucks now. Use the correct threads, do it right, and you will have customers.

That would be really easy to make. Do the shanks on the dies vary? If not then the base could be made from one piece instead of having a bushing in it. Steel is less expensive than aluminum. Even with a bushing in it , it would still be easy to make. They could also be done by fabrication as opposed to machining. I am a tool maker for a large screw machine shop, and used to own a small machine and fab shop back in CA.

There is a gentleman on the iforgeiron.com website the makes touchmarks (blacksmith makers mark) he goes by stampman, or a variation there of. No plastic, all steel. A lot of the smiths like his work.

How many are you looking for, and what width? My main interest is metal working (currently employed as a tool maker), so if you are looking for a quantity, it may be worth looking into making some..

As to the brim edge, I think just a really good burnishing would be fine. I personally would not like to have a laced brim, and feel it would detract from the rest of it, since nothing else is laced. Looks good, I have been thinking of doing some hats myself, but leather gets waaaaaaay too hot here in the desert where it gets 115 at times. One of my hats has a Latigo visor, and it gets all droopy when the temps get up to the 90's. I have to have hats for summer months, and hats for winter months.

I recently read a "hippie" leatherworking book titled Leather circa 1972 or so. They mention taking great care to avoid ankle, and other foot bones for maximum comfort. They also angled the holes into the sole to allow a more natural flow of the straps.

You can use anything from spit to oil, as long as it keeps the metal removed in suspension. At work I clean my stones in solvent, and scrub them with a brush. In machine shops we keep the stones soaked in oil, and clean as needed. My friend uses lamp oil for soaking his, I use cutting oil out of the machines when I am stoning a large job.

Thanks for the replies. looks like a lot of the thick stuff is horse related. As for the knife sheaths, and holsters. I have never seen any that thick over the past 30 years that I have been dealing with both. The only other possible application I was thinking of was shoe/boot soles. Forgot I got some saddle making books in with a batch of stuff I just bought, so I am gonna have to look up some of these hear terms y'all are tossin' out at me. I just live in an area full of horses, never messed with any of them beasts myself.

Hmmmm, I thought the Jockey stood in the saddle , not sewn to it. Lawn jockeys, now saddle jockeys, You're gonna make me Google that , huh? Them jockeys must be thick, since sheepskin is pretty thin by itself.

Thanks, now I know.

Just an observation here. Whenever I have ordered something be it on the phone, or online I was given the shipping total then. I have not ordered some items due to the high shipping costs. Do you guys just tell someone this is what I want, send it, without getting a total first?

Seems that it would make it harder to whip with the extra weight? I had a cheap whip I bought years ago at a tourist area, and got to where I could snap it pretty good. Always figured you just needed tip speed to get the snap. What purpose does that added weight have?

Moapa Valley which is made up of Logandale, and Overton is where I call home now, after almost 40 years outside the Bay Area of Northern CA. There are only 2 things I miss from CA, trees, and fresh produce. Population somewhere around 7,200. Elevation 1,500'-1,600' Settled by Mormons in the 1800's, and most residents here are still LDS-I'm not myself. Muddy River runs through the middle of the valley. Not much happening here, and close to 50% of us are commuters to LV, and StGeorge UT. A few alfalfa fields left, and some cattle. Lots of horse owners. Pomegranate Festival, home of the Clark County fairgrounds-county fair, rodeos, etc Grocery store, a couple of eateries, and 2 hardware stores. The ACE has a better selection of firearms than the Vegas gun stores do. 2 seasons Summer, and winter. 3 months of solid 100-115 every day with lows in the 80's @ 3am back to 100 by 9am. 106 and 44% humidity now during the monsoon season. Earlier in the month it was 115 with scattered showers. Rainfall totals for the year average 4.5" with 3/4 of that falling in the summer monsoons. I have seen 113, and 1% humidity reported, and 88 the day before Thanksgiving. Winters here are cold, and we had record snow in Vegas last year, but it is rare. 50 miles from Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada. 10 miles from Lake Mead. In the area we have the Valley of Fire, Red Rock Recreation area,Mt Charleston, Nellis AFB home of the Thunderbirds - Air Force's acrobatics team. Head north 75 miles and you are in UT. 100 miles to Zion Nat. park. Why am I here? Good question. I am here to start my life over. I have friends in Vegas, like small towns, but like nightlife too-I am still single, open gun laws, I could afford some property out here, and I feel like I am part of a community-not just a resident. I also hate rain and snow.