Cyberthrasher

I'm sure a lot of them are tubular. The problem you'll face is that the Craftool one is a really thin gauge metal ( I don't even want to guarantee that it's steel). You can check out Osborne. There is also another thread here with some cheaper ones from Taiwan, I believe, that were inexpensive but seemed to be decent quality for the price. You may be able to just stock up on those and break them as you need to if they're not strong enough.

Got a closeup of the design? For your blade, save some money up now and get a good one ASAP. Go without soda for a couple days, make coffee at home, something. Barry King blades for "Tandy and Other" barrels are only about $15 and it will make you a lot happier. You can get a different barrel later that will be a lot smoother, but for now focus on the business end. But, I really want to take a closer look at your cuts there. There's some very important stuff we may want to address.

So, your problem is one that I've had a lot of issues with when it comes to the how-to videos and Tandy's literature all together. Stain should be considered a liquid antique, so when you're looking around for information, go that direction. It really shouldn't be used as a dye in my opinion. You SHOULD start using dyes. They're a lot easier to work with. But, you'll want to use an antique to make the tooling really pop out if that's what you're after. My problem with the literature is that they don't do enough to explain the differences between dye, antique, stain, or finish. As it is, based on there videos, a lot of people think you can just slap some SuperSheen on something and it will stop the dye from penetrating that area. It's a HUGE disservice to the craft and all the people who go looking for information on how to get started. Now, problem #2, SuperSheen = CRAP. If you want a similar product, try Resolene. But, there are several good finishes out there, SuperSheen is NOT one of them. There's lots of info here on how to use Resolene, so do yourself a favor and research around a little bit on that (it can be tricky sometimes if you're not familiar with it).

Wow - Dejavu http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=45724&hl=%2Bsealing+%2Bautograph

The best one I got was accidental and got covered up with the real color shortly after. The other one I did on purpose came out a little too dark and for times sake I moved on. But, I started with the Royal Blue and thinned it 50/50, which came out with a blueish hued grey. I was attempting to add the black in to get rid of a little bit of the blue tones, but I added too much for the mix. If memory serves me, my next step was going to be something like 25 drops blue, 50 drops alcohol, and about 2 or 3 drops of black. That was going to be to finalize the ratios and then I'd do the math to get some more workable numbers. I need to revisit it to get an actual recipe, but I know it's workable with that kind of process.

Do it and see if it works man. The only thing I'll say is that I only apply the oil to the flesh side if I'm worried about darkening the natural leather, or if I think I might pull up some pigment from my dye and spread it around. Other than that, it's usually best to apply it to the grain side. Remember, this is just "A" process that works. You've just gotta experiment and find what works for you. We can make all the lists in the world and they won't matter because you'll never understand WHY things are in that order. Don't be afraid to fail - that's why they sell scrap bags So, put down the keyboard, grab some scrap leather, and play around with different methods to see what works and what blows up in your face. That way you'll KNOW what each product does in which order.

A note on "Grey" dye - you probably won't get satisfying results with it. Fiebing's pulled it from the shop/lineup because it was crap. I have, however, come up with some cool greys by thinning Fiebing's royal blue and adding a touch of black back into it.

Usually before. Sometimes you may need a little tiny light coat after to help even out some dye, or because the dye has dried out the leather too much.

This is why all the malicious code writers are starting to write code to infect Macintosh computers. Please quit thinking this way!! The only reason they're "bulletproof" is because they weren't profitable to attack until recent years. EVERY COMPUTER IS INFECTABLE!!!!! Now, back to the topic at hand. I ran their site through a bunch of security scans and couldn't find any red flags. I'm at home right now and don't have access to my fancy security tools, but things look pretty good. It's possible that they received notice and fixed it. I haven't checked it from my own computer because I'm not in a clean environment right now.

The second I saw those I realized I had seen you post those in the past!!! The things our brains forget.

I use Resolene all the time on Pro Oil black, on the back of belts that go with business men in khakis - no bleeding.

Yeah, I figure if I'm going to go through the work to round it I'll want it polished too. Maybe if I had an angle grinder to start with, but I don't feel like buying one just for that. Once I have a project I need one for though. For now I know it's not going to scratch up my work.

Yeah, I wish mine was polished and rounded edges. The guy at our shop took me to a pallet and said "like these?". I said "sure" and grabbed the top one and went on my way. They actually pay to have them hauled away. But, it's all rough edges. I just taped some folded up paper towels over the edge to give a nice surface in case I accidentally drag my leather that direction..

You've done it again Nigel!! How many hours do you have into that thing? I'm really trying to pickup my stitching speed, but I don't think I'll meet the level needed to do something like that for quite some time.

That's what i was doing with some other stuff and my acrylic paints. But, I have a gold paint that I really don't want to thin at all and it's $16 for a little tiny bottle, so I don't want a bunch to dry out. But, when this stuff starts to dry up I'll see if I can restore it But, I bought those little disposable dip cups just for the purpose of mixing dyes and paints. Like these - but not at this ridiculous price. They're like $3 or so for a pretty big package. http://www.amazon.co...=pd_sim_sbs_k_1 Oh yeah, and I thought we were talking about pink ACRYLIC, not Dye...Oops yeah, I've never found a good pink dye and don't think I'd ever try mixing one. I pretty much say "any color that's based in white at all will have to be acrylic". Now, if they've got a good pink dye, I'm all for it. I just couldn't find one when I went looking.

If you want to - do it!! But, I'm sure there are some videos out there somewhere. I think everyone should just experiment and find the method that works best for their process

I've been having excellent results with some cheap 3M packing tape from China-Mart. It's really low adhesive so it doesn't leave a bunch of sticky on the flesh side, but still holds the leather in place.

I got a really cool pink pretty easily out of red and white, but I was using Createx Translucent colors. I just bought their primary pack for something else and ended up using it on leather when I was in a pinch. Now I've gotten to the point where I'm used to them. For pallets, I've been experimenting with the little disposable dip cups with lids like you get for take out fast food. They have them at WalMart here. Helps me save paint if I accidentally pour out too much. But, they're not as air tight as I would like so I've been storing them in ziplock snack bags to make them keep a little longer. If they were FULL of paint it wouldn't be a problem, but since we're talking about 4 drops worth, it dries up pretty quick even though its more than enough to do extra projects with.

I just keep sending him my old used ones. I'm pretty sure they're getting thrown out at the border though as a "hazardous" material.

I usually use one of my trusty blue shop paper towels But, sometimes I have a problem where it squeezes out into my tooling because I'm pushing too hard.

I'm not sure if duct tape would be the best. Might absorb moisture or just make a sticky mess. I use clear packing tape. I actually have some 3M stuff from Wal-Mart that SUCKS for it's intended purpose and I would never trust it for mailing a package. But, it's so low on adhesive it works pretty well for backing my designs, as well as securing the back of my lighter weight work so it doesn't deform from tooling. You'd be amazed at how many people aren't familiar with their work before they attempt to put it on leather. It really shows when they put it out there too.

+3 on block dying. it's not actually white in the "tooling", it's just natural leather.

I think Tina was just answering both of your questions at once there. Sounds like she was saying she uses the Angelus Reducer for her colors and then when she finishes her work, she uses the Angelus Acrylic Finish. I just checked the MSDS for the Acrylic Finish and it states the product is water based, so water would be a good choice to thin it. I've never used it, but it's probably "similar" to Resolene, which is one of my primary finishes that I use and I always thin it with water. BUT, Resolene has characteristics that require thinning for a good application. I may have to pick up some Angelus and see how it reacts to my process. I'm always getting new products to test out and see first hand how they perform. As for the dyes, the MSDS looks quite similar to Fiebing's dyes in chemical makeup (I didn't verify amounts), so denatured alcohol would be a good way to reduce it I'd think. For Fiebing's, i actually use plain old Isopropyl alcohol because I'm cheap and get good results with it.

Let's get some detail of the face man!!! Basically what you're going to need to do for those tiny things is drop the knife and beveler and pretty much do straight modeling tools. Because of the size, you don't need the depth of the knife cut since depth is relative to width. From what I can see it looks KILLER though