electrathon

http://www.razorknife.com/

If you want scary sharp, easily, it is really hard to beat a cardboard stone. Buy a harbor freight bench buffer and replace the stone and buffer with the cardboard wheels. Once you learn to use them (easy) you will see how simple it is to reach and maintain scary sharp. Aaron

Better, but: The cam lines radiating out from the flower center. They touch the flower center (to look like they are part of the center) and only go out about 3/8". Do not stack the tool out farther, just the first row. Barry King has a tool that is used for this that is better than a cam tool. Looks sort of like a thumbprint but the ends are differant shaped. Aaron

Loose the stop, completly wrong made and unnatural looking. Correct the beveling. Use a cam tool and make lines radiate out from the flower center. Your decorative cuts are great, that is one of the hardest parts. Aaron

This has been bugging me for some time. How do you deal with the lining delaminating at or around where the buckle streches the leather at the holes? Aaron

I got the actual shoes for the $15, I was amazed and happy! I also have a copy of the pattern taht was shared with me a while back. The pair at Tandy is not the ones I bought, the ones I have are very similar to them. I have a mold that I made the exact shape and size to fit my girlfriend, I formed a set of soles, and messed up! I was bummed and have not done another set yet (did I say how nice the soles came out till I trimmed then wrong?) I was looking at them a few days ago and need to get going on them again. The pattern I have in on my old computer, I will fire it up and get it transfered over. Aaron

Critique: On the leaves. When you are using the veiner, it needs to point both out and tword the tip of the leave. You have a lot of them tipping to the base of the leave. Look ar a real leave and you will see the proper direction for them to go. It is very comon to make this mistake because of the curve of the veiner tool. It almost seems wrong to do it properly till after you hit it and remove the tool. Aaron

You did good work. Aaron

Do you have pics of the test pieces? Aaron

Still humungous

Interstting. A tandy kit from 40 years ago and it has a Sheridan pattern in it. I have always though that Tandy had dug in and was only printing Western floral patterns back then. I have never understood this or knew why, just what I think I have seen over the years. Aaron

Critique: Backgrounding- Drive the background down farther, almost half of the thickness of the leather. Keep it even and level. This will make your carvings stand out more and not look as flat.

I would not wet the leather when using neatlaq, as it is solvent based. RTC is water based, so wetting the leather will slow down the initial flashing of the finish. Just dampen it, do not soak it. Then let it completely dry before antiquing.

When it was first switched, it was incredibly slow. After the changes were made it got better. Switching to Firefox helped too. I have just decided that waiting is part of visiting here. I see people comment on it every now and then, but think most are just polite and have chosen not to complain and bring it up over and over, sort of beating the dead horse thing. Possibly if there was a poll asking people how this forum compares to other sites they visit might shed more light. I would think it was me except I do OK virtually everywhere else. I do have an older computer, so possibly newer computers can mask the load times with faster processing speeds (I do have cable internet). I am not trying to complain, just commenting on it. I know I am not the only one dealing with this. In general, I have noticed when things are "improved" for various reasons, speed is almost always traded for the new features.

Tony, I had to install Firefox on my computer just to be able to come here. IE was so slow there was no way you could come here and look around unless you liked looking at pages load. I know there was a lot of work that went into the change, but I would have not been able to continue visiting without the instalation of Firefox. It helps, but does not cure the trouble. I am on the internet all the time, this forum is the only place I have trouble.

Something to try: Dampen your leather before you apply the RTC. When you apply it put it on thick and fast with a scrubbing action, applied with sheepskin patch. Let it fully dry. Not just an hour, overnight in a warm area. Then antique it. It looks like you rubbed off the RTC when looking at the pic. This is either a lack of coverage or the moisture in the antique disolved the finish when you were rubbing the antique off.

In the old days it was common to have to resize pics to post online. It is very rare to have to do it any more. If the forum does it then the pics will always be the correct size, no matter what or who uploades them. As simple as it may or may not be to resize pics, many can not even do a basic picture insert into the forum. Resizing pics is a step above posting in dificulty.

Johanna, The old forum used to properly resize the pics. Is it possible to turn this feature on on the new forum? Aaron

Ken, I sometimes use RTC. I think it is a good finish, for a water based. Your trouble is almost guarantied that you did not use a thick enough/wet enough coat of RTC. It does not like to be put on sparingly or slow, you have to apply it very fast. Aaron

I have to commend you on the tooling. Your work looks great. I do have to admit though, when I first saw this bag, it did bring the Geico commercial to mind. It is much more "acceptable" for a male to carry a computer in a bag than it is to carry your checkbook, wallet, car keys and stuff like that. You will just have to let it slip out what you are carrying. Aaron

Automotive paste wax will work and it makes the tools slide nicly through the leather too. I prefer McGuires #26 yellow paste wax. Aaron

Not sure about the quality, but Tandy has it on sale for $58.82 http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/search/searchresults/35010-05.aspx?feature=Product_2&kw=damascus

What about visible ink at a later date? After the pattern has been carved? Does it lighten up where it is no longer visable, of do you have to try to rinse the color off the finished tooling?

Kate, How do you deal with the ink on the leather as you are working with it? When you cut a line and you can see the edge of the ink line or when you wet the leather and the ink desolves and you slide your hand over it? My experience with inkjets is the ink is water soluable and will desolve when it gets wet. I will try this and see how it goes, but I am leary (I will try on a practice piece). I will try finding this post again too, every since the update I figure things are lost if I do not find it in new posts (and have now figured out if I view them once they are gone from that area even when others post after my viewing). Aaron

Depends on what you are going to have on the site. I personally think it looks like a video game site.