electrathon

I have a 107W1 sewing machine that stitches very nice but is so fast I have no control over it. I am making wallet inserts and similar small pieces. I found that this uncontrolable machine works well if I simply remove the belt and crank it by hand. Is there any reason why I can not find a treadle and convert the machine? I am not into production at all and simply do this as a hobby. Aaron

I am very impressed! Aaron

You will just have to call them. They are usually pretty good on the phone.

Hidecrafters sells Chan's patterns. Likely the easiest place to order them from. His patterns are very nice.

I recieved a bobcat pelt. Very nice and soft. When I get better at sewing, it is going to be a hat. My girfriend loves me! Aaron

A belt sander for shaping edges.

You did it correct. The rivit is all that holds it in place. Another method would have been to cut a slit and not use the second layer of leather on the rear of the sheath, it would be a little thinner that way.

Where are you at in Washington? I am in Portland, are you near? I can easily make one of these, have been thinking of doing one for some time. If you want to come over it would not take much more time to make a pair of them. I have lots of oak to make it out of too. Aaron

Tandy is well aware of the trouble. They have been saying for years that they are looking into fixing it. Don't hold your breath. Barry King tools are far superior. Great service and great quality. They do cost more though.

There is a pair of pliars made for holding them. They are black plastic and cost about $20. Unfortionatly I do not remember the company and the pliars are not marked. Possibly someone else can step in.

The trick with RTC is to NOT try putting it on thin. You use a sheepskin scrap and saturate it. Spill some extra on the piece. Smooth it out across the piese, FAST. You only have a few soconds to do this. A thick coat, put on fast makes a great finish. A thin coat neatly put on slow will make a spotty mess. Do a final pass with dry sheepskin. When it starts getting sticky, stop, you are done. Aaron

I like your design and work. Unfortionatly, with the fur on it you are hanging a sign on your back that says "SHOOT ME". Please be carefull!

I am ill equiped to get into a debate in this but I will throw in my opinion. When I opened the post the first time and saw the carving the first thing I thought was: One, extremely nice work. Two, that is Western Floral, not Sheridan. The vines are too big to be Sheridan. There should be more flowers and less folage. I would have moved the top right flower to the left and added another to the bottom right. Then the folage could have been trimmed back and the flowers would be predominate and not the folage being predominant. Not an expert, I am interested in the opinions of others too.

I use one band of orange nail polish on each of them.

The tooling looks very good! Is the font of your design? I like it a lot.

Start with a double loop lacing first, then move on to the harder ones.

The best advise I got when I was learning how to carve was to do your pattern 4 times. You will be amazed at the amount you will improve each time. A thumbprint tool is a narrow pear shader. It is used in Sheridan patterns in place of the pear shader. It is not used that much in western floral (what you did). Move your seeds closer togeather. They should almost be touching. Yours are far to spread out. This is a good thing to practice on scrap. If your ceramic blade is cutting better than your steel blade then your blade is dull. A steel blade WHEN PROPERLY SHARPENED will cut better than ceramic. A ceramic seldom gets dull though, so it is sometimes considered easier to use than to keep stroping and sharpening a steel blade. All steel blades are not equil either. Before you start cutting, give the leather a coat of Lexol, it will cut a little easier. Also use Bee Natural Pro Carve instead of water to case. A few more strikes with the camoflage tool will make a better "sunburst" from the flower center. Decorative cuts from the outside to the center. Start deep and feather it out to nothing. Most of your regular cuts should be about half the thickness of the leather. Deep with thick leather, shallow with thin leather. Practice, a lot. Personally, I toss more pieces than I finish. I do not want others to see my mistakes. Aaron

Last year they did. Have not heard yet about this year.

I have been running around doing other things instead of finishing this project like I should have. I have the handles attached to the knife but I have not yet had time to "shape" them and sharpen the knife. So far it seems to "fit" my hand well. Aaron

Neatlac is my favorite too. I was able to hoard a little in the last few months. If you want some, Tandy in Portland Oregon still has a few cans left (some spray and small cans). I also have to recomend RTC too. It is a good product once you get the hang of applying it (do not try to spread it thin, thick and fast).

I sent him a Costco box of Oreos. They were classic Oreos. There were enough there to make most people sick. Since it was such a hit I was figuring on the next shipment having a differnat kind of Oreos in it. Also, Ray, do you have snicker bars over there? Another item in a differant direction, Mr Clean magic erasers. Aaron

Here is the icky part that they do not tell you about Oreos: They are basicly filled with whipped lard. Why it tastes so good I am not sure.

While this thread seems to have gotten far off from the origional idea of the differances between two differant countries, Ray and I have started an exchange of "stuff. I sent him Oreas. A big enough box he can even have an Orea party if he wants to (it came from Costco, another shoping experience likely missing in Europe). He sent me a few differant candies and some Marmite. This stuff can most acuratly be described as liquified bullion with a lot of salt added. I think it has to be an aquired taste. It is fun exchanging thing with someone far away. Things we take for granted have likely never been heard of over there, and vise versa. Aaron

Leon Good to see that you found the site! There is a ton of great info here. Aaron

You have no location posted. Was I sitting across from you in the Portland class? Aaron