electrathon

Welcome Aaron

I always use auto transmission fluid on my stone. It is high in detergent and will keep the stone clean. I am far from a professional at sharpening but my guess is your angle is to shallow on your knife. If it is, you will make a very fine burr that will shave well, but when you go to cut it will fold over and your knife will be dull.

I started with Tandy blades, found that a well sharpened one was about as good as a ceramic one. I used ceramic for a while till I was demonstrated the differance betreen the ceramic and a good steel blade. The drag differance was unmistakable. I now have a Henly blade. I almost cut through the leather the first time I used it the differance was so great. I have never used a Ruby blade. My Dad has been doing leatherwork for 50 years. He told me he got a ruby blade once long ago. He loved it till it got dull and he thought he could sharpen it, bad mistake.

Being as we have never met, what do you look like or where in there are you going to be? Or do I know you and not realize it? Aaron

Is this still on?

This really is a pretty good analagy here. I am a mechanic and I spend a LOT of money on good tools. Cheap tools are a waste of time and often keep you from doing a proper job. I don't think I have ever known a good mechanic that uses cheap tools. Aaron

I shoudl be able to be there (if is don't space it out!).

Brent, Your finish work looks very nice. Walnut has a very rich, pleasing look to it. I do see an issue with it, not one that you did buy from the way the wood was cut. If you look at the end grain you will see that there is grain running in a half circle (the wood came from a very small branch or the center of a tree). This causes warpage and splitting of the wood over time and drying. You third board down in the glue-up actually has the very center circulat grain of the branch, the most prone to cracking, twisting and rotating of any part of a tree. When selecting wood, always avoid this, or cut the wood so that it does not happen. The grain idealy shoud only run diagional to your piece. Your two upper boards would have had more strength if it was cut lengthwise and half of the board flipped, then glued back togeather. The third board down should have been trimmed and the core of the tree disposed of and wood used more to the outside. I hope this makes since. Aaron

Monday nights, Thursadys nights and many Saturdays are out for me (also all weekdays, I work a normal shift). Other than that I am usually open. This can get complicated trying to schedule around everyones lives. I am not really into forming a guild. Not much into leather politics, I just like making things. Aaron

OK, that was dumb. I should not post when I an that tired. I use isopropyl alchol, not denatured. I started using it because it was cheap and I had some. It seemed to work well, just kept using it.

I have always used denatured alchol to thin dye.

I am in, depending on time and day. Aaron

It looks cool. Dye it gray. Burnish the edges.

I got my set yesterday from Hidecrafters. Played with them a little last night. I like the look, and they are easy to run.

Personally, I still screw up more things than I finish. Keep practicing and learning! Aaron

I does look like you have the splice (if I can see it correct in the pic) miswoven. Also, you have the lacing backwards: The outside pattern is on the inside and the side you see when the wallet is closed is the inside pattern.

Personally, whenever I don't see the price listed someplace I always figure that the price is so far out of line that even the seller is embarased to post it. Either that, or I figure that the seller is going to try to feel out the buyer and see if he can raise the price. I move on.

Not the shrinkage one. It was about George finding out how easy it wsa to run around in sweat pants all the time. I remember them asking him if he gave up on life or something.

There was a Sinefeld show about that a few years back...

Overall, I like it. I can't draw at all, so any creatitivity is always impressive to me. The main critique I would give is that you need slightly less background in the leafy area and more fill in.

Bruce, Awesome looking work. Do you have a scan of the article you can send out? Aaron

I am late, but got it done. Aaron

The spacing on the grown bag looks better than that on the black one. Aaron

Is there another class at the same location this summer? Soemtimes my memory is off, but I seem to remember a while back about a class. Differant subject, same location. I think it was on weekdays, not the weekend too. Aaron

You need to repost the pics on ebay fast. There is no way to see what is in there. Get the stuff out of the bags to take the pics.