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electrathon

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Everything posted by electrathon

  1. electrathon
    My guess is that the main brown background id brush dyed with fiebings dye. Let it dry. Seal the whole piece with neet laq. Antique it all with fiebings paste antique. Seal it with tan-kote.
  2. electrathon
    I was going by the "made in China" part on them. Very little Tandy sells is not made in China. I have long considered them the Harbor Freight of the leather industry.
  3. electrathon
    Fiebings red diluted with alchol. Very pink.
  4. electrathon
    I have a tangleboss. It is not one I would want to use as a primary knife. There is a learning curve to it and so far I have not yet mastered it. It would be best used on small, tight cuts and fast direction changes. My newest and most favorite to use knife is a leather wranglers. It is also the most exspensivew knife I have. I would hesitate telling someone to buy it as a first knife purchase. My previous favorite knife is a Chuck Smith. Still like it, but being a tool addict always looking for better. I use a straight blade most of the time, used to use an angled blade. It felt like I grew up to the adult table when I got the hang of the straight, like taking off the training wheels. I don't know if that hurt or helped.
  5. electrathon
    There are three pieces. The outter leather, the rolled leather and the lining. The rolled and the outter are sewn face to face. It is wrapped back around and the edge of both pieces fill up the bubble. It is likely glued to the back of the main piece. The lining is then placed behind the main piece, the stitching seam you see on the fornt holds it all togeather. I think.
  6. electrathon
    Tuck and roll. It is sewn face to face, flipped around, back to back and sewn again (the sewing you see). There is also a liner on the inside.
  7. electrathon
    I would dye it black, let dry. Then spray a thin coat of silver and imediatly wipe it with a rag that has thinner on it. Ring the rag well so that it just messes with the paint and not totally wipes it off. Sort of like doing a heavy antique. You want about half coverage, thinner and thicker in spots. Practice on something you do not care about.
  8. electrathon
    i think the best way to explain it is that many times you do not know what you are missing till you get better. Imagine someone from the jungle of Africa and give them really low quality ice cream. They would be is awe of how great it tastes. Would rant and rave, tell their friends that it is the best tasting stuff in all the world. You could tell them thst it is low quality and the good tasting stuff is Ben and Jerrys. They would tell that that there is no way that there could be anything better, this cheap ice cream is wonderfull. As to the sharpening, I can sharpen almost any quality of steel to a razer edge. The question is not if you can get it sharp, it is will it stay sharp. Quality steel holds an edge. Tandy blades are not that hard, they can easily be sharpened, they also easily go dull. I don't know if the steel is differant or the same in the new knifes, so not sure if the blade issue has been addressed. Aaron
  9. electrathon
    Awsome looking design and construction. Really like the color too. I have a question though about the wearing of this rig. It relates to the knife and the cross draw holster. When wearing it, where does the knife go? Is the knife taken off when wearing the second gun or is the knife slid to the rear? If the second gun is not worn and the knife is worn on the left side, then isn't the sheath backwards? It seems that if you were wearing the knife on the left side that it would be drawn with your left hand, so the sheath should be reversed. I have wondered this for some time, likely could get answers if I hung out at a cowboy shoot, just never have had the time to go to one yet. Again, your work looks great. Aaron
  10. electrathon
    I personally prefer smaller barrel knives. My hands are small (wear medium gloves) so they fit me. The blades are tapered and I am not sure of the metal alloys. As usual, this information is not available. If you are currently using a Tandy knife I think you will be in awe. The bearing in the top makes a huge differance. Most other knife makers have been using a top bearing for a long time, so if you are using a top end knife I am guessing it would be a sideways step.
  11. electrathon
    My guess is it is a black base with a silver spray paint wash on it.
  12. electrathon
    Barry King Tools Ceramic blades are very hard but are not truely sharp either. I tell people if they are not going to sharpen their knives, ceramic is good. If you are going to sharpen, quality steel is better. If a Tandy tool is damaged, they are guarantied for life. Take it back and exchange it. Running on is OK, I like girls.
  13. electrathon
    I have tro agree that the price is surprising. Chinese mass production being sold for the same price as American made small scale production. But, this is true for most of what Tandy sells. Tandy is convenient and many people do shop there. Almost all new leatherworkers start at Tandy. The new tools are far superior in quality to any tools they have sold in the last 30 years. They are stainless and not nade out of crappy metal that it covered in chrome, muting the impressions. The huge differance is that they have modernized the shapes. They now have undercut tools that actually undercut. There is a leaf liner, center shader, thumbprint and so on that they have not previously sold. If you are using western floral tooling patterns from 50 years ago, you likely will not be affected by this. If you are tooling in a more modern Sheridan style (tighter, closer more busy) this is huge.
  14. electrathon
    I am a tool addict. Not a drug addict and not an alcholic so I buy tools. Most of my tools are Barry King. One advantage I personally have with these tools is I teach basic tooling at Tandy and it is nearly impossible to do floral tooling with the previous line of craft tools. This gives me the ability to have tools to teach with.
  15. electrathon
    I was refering to the tools. They look like someone bought a set of Barry King tools and copied them. I like the look of the knife. Didn't try cutting with if so not sure how it fits in my hand. It looked pretty good though. I didn't see any info on metal alloy in the blade.
  16. electrathon
    Looked at the new tools today. Bought two just to see. My impression is that compared to the other craft tools they are a huge step up. The crispness of the tools looks good. The machining looks fair. They are stainless. They are more than Barry King (at list price). Overall, Barry King tools are nicer. If you get a discount the new tools are charper (these tools are virtually exact copies of Barrys tools, Chinese manufacturing flattery). If you want to buy from Tandy it is really awsome to finally have a usable choice of tooling tools.
  17. electrathon
    Find the smallest needle you can get your thread through.
  18. electrathon
    Go to the local sewing store and buy needles there. When you get home dull the tips of them on a whetstone. You do not want them to be sharp.
  19. electrathon
    My referance to car seats was just part of the big picture. Car seats, sofas, office chairs, dresses and so on. As leatherworkers we use a very tiny, small amount of the total amount of cows that are made into leather. No amount of holster making would make even the smallest dent in the world market.
  20. electrathon
    There is no way we could make enough holsters to use up all the cows. Car seats put a much bigger demand on the supply.
  21. electrathon
    Great lookng work and like the design too. Aaron
  22. electrathon
    That is what tubular rivits look like without the cap on the backside. When you put a cap on the rear they look the same front and rear. Also they are incredibly strong, not like the tin jiffy rivits. Tandy sells the rivits in a few sizes but does not sell the caps that go on the backside.
  23. electrathon
    The style of rivets you really want are tubular rivets with a cap on the backside. Tandy sells the rivets but does not sell the caps. They are very strong and durable. The double cap rivets are cheap and tend to pop apart under stress.
  24. electrathon
    Of course it really matters what finish you are using, but often times it is from putting it on too thick.
  25. electrathon
    You did great on it. I like the color and the design. Makes me want to shake your hand for not boning the leather so that it looks like a gun outside the holster. Aaron
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