electrathon

Make the belt out of leather, make the end out of webbing. Aaron

No need to measure. Make it too big, mold it and then cut it to size durring finishing. Aaron

The thicker the stone the better. Also, the color makes a differance. Red granite is about the hardest, black is next. Generally, the darker the stone the harder it is. Aaron

I think you are missing the point a lot here. Reguardless of the quality of your work, people find the oversized mark to be offensive to the beauty of the holster. If a painter painted a picture for the wall of your living room and delivered it with a signature that could be seen from the other side of the room most people would not be happy. Paintings are signed in a small, understated manor. Makers marks need to be the same way. The mark is a signature for those looking for it to see, not an adveriisement for the customer to display. You know this to be true because people are asking you to leave it off. Not becuase they do not like the maker of the holster, but because it detracts from it's bueaty. Aaron

To those above who have posted and those reading here who were involved in the service. I want to say a heartfelt "THANK YOU' sincerely, from my heart. Aaron

I was referring to round/head knives. They do have some other knives that are presharpened. I have looked at a few different round knives they have and all of them were between dull and less than sharp. The "Damascus" one I looked at was defiantly not as sharp as it needed to be. Properly sharpened, a round knife will be on par with a razor blade. What Damascus steel is made from is stacks of hard and medium hard steel, forge welded together, folded and twisted. The patterns you see in Damascus is the result of the layering, folding and twisting. There are numerous ways of creating patterns, some of which are well known and some are secret. The purpose of the folding is that you end up with, on a microscopic level, a serrated knife. The "Damascus" knives Tandy is selling are laminated steel. It is forge welded together with a fairly thick center core. The center steel cutting edge has no serrations (look and you will easily see no twisting on the steel). As to the function of the blade it is only a steel knife with laminations on the outer side for pretty reasons (I do like the look). The blade has absolutely zero advantage from the "Damascus". This is also a very liberal interpretation of Damascus steel too, few knife makers will agree that it is actually Damascus due to the lack of folding. Tandy has not released (as far as I have been able to find out) the rating on the steel used in the core, so no telling on the quality on the blade (has anyone here bought one and analyzed the steel yet?). The sharpness of the knife out of the box is not necessarily a reflection of the quality of the knife. The knife quality is a reflection of the steel used in it and properly tempering of that steel. You can easily sharpen junk steel to a razor edge. It will dull quickly. You may have a tough time sharpening a dull quality knife, but once sharp it will hold the edge for some time. The knife being dull in the box just means the company was too cheap to pay someone to sharpen it, not that is is low quality (although it is a hint to the workmanship if they did not even sharpen it).

The problem with this is that Tandy sells their knives unsharpened. You will need to take it home and sharpen it. Then there are a lot of issues having to do with steel and hardening. Very few people would ever be able to tell the quality of the blade without extensive use. Even then, many would not be able to tell the difference Just look at how many people think ceramic blades are sharp. They only think that because they are going from a dull steel (likely crappy steel) to a medium sharp ceramic blade. Trade to a quality, sharp, steel blade and the difference is huge.

I don't have an answer for you, but I have always wanted one of these machines. Aaron

As far as the hinge is concerned I don't think it could get any simpler to make. You use two pieces of band iron. Drill a hole near the end of both. Fasten them togeather with one rivit.

To start with I would have them warranty it, then decide if you want to upgrade to a higher quality. If you do, save it as a spare. Aaron

If the strap goes behind the elbow it will pull the cuff off as you are bending it back and forth. It will also rub the elbow raw after a while. I would suggest having the blacksmith make a hinge out of band iron (long and slender) then you embed it in the leather arm band. I would envision it looking a little bit antique crossed with some steam-punk styling.

Cool and interesting project. My input is it needs a better hindge on the elbow, you seem to have more of a pivot area. I would also strap the top over to the other shoulder (like a shoulder holster) so it does not simply slide forward and off. Aaron

Very nice. Cool to see something actually being made for a Makarov. I have one that has been my carry gun for many years. It was inexspensive, fits in my hand well and is easy to conceal. I have shot well over 1000 rounds through it and have not once had a single jam. Aaron

For tooling I am going to agree that the basic 7 set is a good point to start. BUT: Have any of you see the tools coming in the Tandy set lately? We complain all the time about the crap quality of current Tandy tools, the ones coming in the set make current Tandy tools look awesome. I doubt anyone will ever really be able to learn with them. A basic 7 set is OK to start with, the ones in the beginning Tandy set are nothing but an embarasement.

When I read "lighter leather" I was thinking Zippo.

This very well could be where it is from. I heard this and accepted that it likely was true, went on from there. I do remember it was over the statement that antique was a wax bassed product (not even sure if that is true) and that it was difficult to bond neet-laq to a wax layer. My next project I will try using Neet-laq as a top sealer and see how it goes.

Bobby, Not to hyjack this post, but this is in line to the question. First I want to say that you are a far better tooler than I. I am not trying to contradict you but am very curious over this statement. It is my understanding that the reason to not use Neet-Laq as a second finish coat over the antique is that the antique creates a layer that the Neet-Laq does not bond to. Then, much later, the flexing can make then Neet-Laq pop/chip out of the cracks where the antique is. I have noticed when using Tan Kote that it does disolve off some of the surface residual that was left behind sort of cleaning up the surface a little better. I don't know if Neet-Laq will do the same thing or not. Aaron

Do you have a picture of this? Aaron

It looks to me like you are being too conservative with both your finish and the antique. Not sure what brand of finish you used, that can make a big difference too. What I do: I usually cover the piece with a generous coat of Neet-Laq. One coat is better than two. Make sure you have full coverage. I use sheepskin as a dauber. Let it dry overnight. I then cover it with a layer of Fiebings antique paste. It needs to be really covered. Right away wipe it back off. I wipe it on with sheepskin, wipe off with a rag, then gentle directional wiping with sheepskin to do the final clean up. Follow that with a coat of Tan-kote. Aaron

That is the place. He is not very internet friendly, so just call him on the phone.

What a question, you will get a lot of different opinions. Here is mine. Ceramic blades are always sort of sharp, never really sharp. People that do not properly sharpen their steel blades tend to think they are sharp because they usually use a knife that is dull. People that properly sharpen their steel blades hate ceramic blades because they are horrible compared to a sharp steel blade. So... If you are going to sharpen and care for your blade, you want steel (actually you want a cobalt steel blade, like a Henley). If you are not going to sharpen your blade properly, you will likely think a ceramic blade cuts well. Aaron

You are going to use vegtable tan leather. Don't know much about arnor construction though.

Just keep going, but the next stitch goes through both layers of leather. Aaron

I recomend y-knot lace too.

Rubber cement= temporary bond Contact cement= permanent bond BUT- The rubber cement Tandy is selling is NOT rubber cement, but is contact cement. I don't know why they have done this. If you open the can it separates like contact, it looks like contact, it smells like contact and it holds like contact. The smell will dissipate with time. Normally I would say you messed up using the wrong glue, but in this case you accidentally used the correct one. I have a couple cans and it is actually a very strong, permanent glue. Aaron