whinewine

Ruby is the second hardest natural substance on earth. It can be sharpened and/or stropped by using diamond, if necessary. I have several ruby angle blades & I've never found it necessary to sharpen or strop the ones I have (although many I see on ebay are in pretty poor condition- chipped, cracked, etc, so a regrinding would be necessary). I don't know if an aluminum oxide based stropping compound would work for stropping them: what I do know is that in cutting or polishing sapphire/ruby gemstones, one uses diamond compounds.

Yes, that's the one! russ The blade part is secured with the screw. You then adjust for width &, holding the swivel knife just like you normally would, use the guide to draw/cut your border line.

I second Art's comments: the Ginghers are much, much better than the tandy 'pro super shears'... I have had at least 4 or 5 pairs of Ginghers, dating back to when tandy first sold them, back in the '70s. Since Tandy is now once more carrying them in stock, I'd speculate that there is a very good reason why they are carrying them again (...like maybe they are just simply damn well better???) I bought a pair of 'pro super shears' several years ago for my son... It cost me $20++ additional to have them sharpened to the exact specifications of my Ginghers- so they were no great bargain. Truly, you can't go wrong with the Ginghers.

Would that be the white plastic tool that the swivel knife fits into? If so, the longer slot is where the swivel knife blade is inserted (back off the screw, insert blade part of SK, turn screw till blade part is firmly in place); the other end is adjusted to where you want to cut the border (screw is then tightened) & placed against the edge of the leather... the whole tool is then drawn down against the edge & your border is cut. If this is not the tool I'm thinking of, well, i'd need either a number (as Tina said) or a picture to help out.

Same here! Yet I did not receive the latest newsletter via email like I normally do (& yes, I am a registered user...) russ

I am confused... when you say stain, what do you mean? Stains can be either dyes [or do you mean 'Antiques'?]. If you stain (by using dyes), the stain goes INTO the leather- it is not removed (even water-based stains/dyes). Do you mean "antique", rather than 'stain'? If you mean antiques, they are left in the low parts & removed from the high parts, most often by using a piece of sheep wool. If the wool is rubbed too hard, antique can be taken right out of the low parts, too... or, maybe, the oil prevents the antique from bonding to the leather at all. Until we know what you mean by "stain" , we cannot offer any ideas.

Thank you. I'm just a stupid old goat when it comes to finding my way around a computer sometimes (well, often, anyway). If it's not spelled out, I sometimes just don't 'get it', although one of my good friends is even worse. He avoids a computer like others would avoid kissing a bubonic plague victim. At least I try (computer work, not kissing plague victims). russ

Nice! Very nice! I have a question, though: I know that left & right shoes are a fairly recent invention (shoes were originally made so that they could be worn on either foot)... were Jacobite shoes made in lefts/rights, or is this more recent? russ

I was asked to make a drumstick case for a 20 year old professional drummer, based upon his deceased father's stick case. The case will be 17-1/2" long (not counting the flap) and only 5" wide. It will NOT be a hard case- it'll be soft- 3-4 oz veg tan and he wants it to have a very simple tooled design with his initials carved into the front. HERE'S THE PROBLEM: He wants it sewn, (not laced) with the sewing on the INSIDE (so it doesn't show at all)... I thought first: tool/carve, put the grain sides together, sew, wet, turn inside out so the carving is now outside... But the more I think about it, with the width being ONLY 5", I may not have enough room to do this. And even IF this this can be done, I'm thinking that the leather will now be either stretched out of shape, or have significant wrinkles, so much so that it will take away from the tooled design. The tooled design will consist of very stark, parallel carved lines outlining the perimeter of the case with two simple initials- so ANY wrinkles will show- it's not as though I can hide any wrinkles with floral or sheridan designs... And even IF I would sew first, then do tooling after, I'm afraid the wrinkles would still be there. Any suggestions to a stupid old man?

Assuming that the leather doesn't crack & is still toolable, you may find that it is better than a lot of the new stuff available today. I recently carved a fishing scene on a wallet back from a piece of 3-4 oz leather that dates back to the early 1970s... butter smooth, great burnishing, easy carving, great definition... The leather was 'old Tandy'. The 'new Tandy' stuff doesn't even remotely compare! russ

Jarl, I was also unable to find anything for Pennsylvania. The closest reference I could find was under 'folk Arts' & pertained to Phillipine Culture in Delaware County (clear at the other end of PA). Nothing under 'apprenticeships', 'art apprenticeships' or 'folk art apprenticeships'. Apparently our State is 'non-folksy' in its ...orientation... {'folksyfobic'???}

Exactly! I have used spirit yellow dye (to simulate the old 'nature tand' look of the '70s) & also acrylic dyes also.

Al, do your light dye (acrylic, most likely) first, then top dye with darker (I tend to use spirit) dye. russ

IF it is damascus steel you are looking for, I have purchased some blades from Ancient Arms. ( http://stores.ebay.com/ancientarms ) They are located in India & the shipping is reasonable. I bought sgian dhu blades and also 2 dagger blades which I had finished to wear as belt daggers for my & my son's kilts.

Thank you. This is greatly appreciated by all of us here at LWN. russ

Soak it once in the bathtub, take it out, let it dry flat (outside on your deck or inside in the garage), then cut off what ever you need whenever you need it???

Dan: never, ever use a metal hammer on stamps or punches. This is most likely why your handle is mushrooming, if you've only punched a few holes. Use a weighted mallet or a heavier maul ONLY.

Dan: For the round hole punches, Tandy sells two punch sets with interchangeable sets of various size tubes (the mini set & the maxi set). So you get a full set of punch sizes, from size 0 up to size 12 (I believe) with 2 handles. Probably a lot more inexpensive than buying a single regular punch. If you subscribe to the AC Moore website ( http://acmoore.com ), they very often have 50% off coupons which you can use on a punch set (yes, they have a small display of Tandy stuff, usually including the punch sets- Michaels also has sunday supplements offering 40% or 50% coupons, too- they carry a small tandy selection, too). Either way, a very inexpensive way of acquiring a full set of decent starter punches! russ

And how much, including shipping to ...(fill in your location), waiting period, monetary conversion, method of payment (is paypal accepted in China??)... All this & probably much more. Back in the '60s, I did a little bit of importing, as a college student, but I dealt with foreigh concerns that had people on their staff who could communicate more or less well in English.

Spirit dyes will also work. russ

Ginghers are the finest shears out there. I got my first back in the '70s, when tandy first sold them, and have had several since. Tandy is now selling them again, after years of pushing their own imitation Ginghers, which are called "Pro Super Shears" (which, in comparison to real Ginghers, are like kindergarten scissors).

Ed, brass being brass, it will tarnish again, over time. A dip in lacquer or a light spray will probably hold off on darkening for a while. I would tell the buyer that this is solid brass & will tarnish, so use either brasso or Never Dull when it starts to turn. russ

Skip: people just get stupid on ebay. They see something & get 'tunnel vision'= "gotta have it/gotta have it/gotta have it/gotta have it no matter what"... they don't look to see if the same item is available elsewhere. I have seen 'RARE TIGERSHARK STINGRAY SKIN" (which is merely dyed stingray in a tiger pattern) go for over $100 + shipping on ebay, yet if the high bidders would have looked at the seller's store, they could have gotten the exact item for about $35 + shipping under a 'buy it now' arrangement. I think people think that if it is on ebay, it must be rare, and we all know that that isn't true. And, I'm sure that some sellers have their buddies 'bid' up an item just to keep the suckers going higher. That part is wrong. But for those afflicted with ebay tunnel vision, those individuals who 'just gotta have it no matter what', well, that's not wrong. That's just plain stupid... russ

If you have a rock tumbler (either rotary or vibrating) throw in crushed walnut shells (available at pet stores) along with your brass & let tumble for several days. Will come out a nice satin finish. I bought a bunch of solid brass snaps (rough castings) & they came out with a satin polish. russ

You're right! I've wondered about that too (Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread!).