Billsotx

~roo, You should move here, then you'll too feel the need to protect yourself. Come to class, we'd love to have you. Women are the best students. They learn quickly and they are very enthusiastic. The solution to crime is simple. Lock 'em up and leave 'em up, but that'll never happen. It'd certainly be cheaper and the rest of us wouldn't have to lock ourselves and our belongings up. Don't that seem a little backwards to you. We lock ourselves up, not the criminals. When I was a kid we never locked our doors and my dad left the keys in the car and no one bother it. BTW, do you guys have to lock up like we do? You're thinkin' I'm a nut case and you're right. I retired from 31 years of law enforcement and 12 years later I still carry a gun all the time. Rest assured there'll never be a cop around when you need one. Interestingly enough and there's been numerous studies on this. Criminals generally sense when a person is armed and they shy away from them. They pick targets of opportunity and run on innate cues. They are predators and that can't be changed, but you don't have to be prey. Glad you're safe and feel safe. You're real lucky to live in such a low crime country. I constantly run in a condition of readiness, because I know these things come out of now where and I'm the only one I can depend on to take care of me and mine and the best tool for personal defense is a firearm, but if I don't have one anything that's handy will do. Man is a tool bearing animal and he is worthless in a serious fight without tools. If you have to fight, fight to win. Train hard, fight easy. You take care. Don't let your guard down. And hang in there. Watch your six, 'cause no one else will. Refuse to be a victim. 'til later, ~Bill

I assume you're doing veg tan. Try on scrap first: spray it very lightly with water or wipe lightly with damp sponge then spray the dye cut 1:1 with alcohol in your air brush. Using water first helps to open the pores. I usually apply Lexol after dye but try Justwakingup suggestion before dye and see if that helps. Either or both should work. If you're doing black dye, try the above, but apply another color dye first, red, green, blue, tan, doesn't really matter, and then apply the black and it'll probably take 2 coats of black, dry and buff between the coats of dye and spray lightly with water before apply each coat. Good luck and let us know what happens.

Thanks Jo. I'll make up a new google acct. and use that, then I don't have to tust them ... lol I apprecaite your reply.

Is there a web based storage site where I can put an Excel File and give two other people access to it so the three of us can edit and update it once in awhile? Thanks in advance for your help. ~Bill

That looks pretty much like the Chan Greer instructions you'll get from Hidecrafters, at least the ones I bought.

I'm with JPH. It's all in the name: stainless! It stains (rust, corrodes) less than carbon steel, that's all. The Nazi lube works on everything, boots, belts, holsters, migas, tacos, enchiladas, tamales, tortillas - four or corn.

Where does one get xray film? I heard that before and it sounds like a good medium to prevent stretch.

That polymer has to be available somewhere if you're really in to making your own. I have a lead filled maul like you mentioned and I like it a lot. I'm going to try wrapping it with a thin piece of rawhide and see if that stops the tools from pecking away at it. Just thinking and reaping the benefit of all y'all's ideas. Glad Jo invited up to her place and thanks to everyone else for jumpin' in.

Nice piece of bodark! Don't leave that unattended if I'm around ... lol!

Aw, dog face please forgive me. You're at Bliss. That's cool! You're doing the do, I salute you. Should have looked, but there's malfunctions here lately. Tap, rack, it doesn't work. I rode up on "the Rim" and I see you're in Magoffinville, and while there on the rim we have a good view of the Franklin's, the Rio, Juarez, Wes' grave in Concordia, Hueco Wells, and Dead Man's Walkin' ... rode to misery, and that great two gun lawman Dallas Stoudenmire, not to mention some sly Texas Rangers & real cool Ranger history - par excellance of western lore and tales - God! you're steeped in history in that burg; lucky man you are. A lifetime of study, not to mention El Paso Saddlery, the ol' S.D. Myres Company, and should I also mention what's south of the ree-ver senor ... visit El Paso Saddlery and see if that ol' leather carver from Juarez is still carving their holsters. He's 70 plus if he's still kickin' and he can do with a screwdriver and bread knife what we'll only dream of - he is without question a master of the craft of leather. You in the land of gun leather without doubt. Lookin' forward to seeing your next scabbard ... buena suerte mi amigo .....

I don't think it's a oh, three hundred, but you're on the road. I think too much forward can't. Look way back in the posts under holsters, etc. and we discussed molding and boning. Molding is not different for molding than it is for tooling and stamping. When it's returning to it original color, that's the time to shove your piece in it and start to mold and detail in the lines with your boner ... lol You might think about more relief behind the trigger guard so you can get a firm and final firing grip on the piece before you start to draw. The firing stroke starts in the leather, no sense in having to juggle and fondle your piece on the presentation. Before you draw - a firm and final firing grip! What you've got is lookin' good to an ol' crotcher

It applying one of those finishes like Tan-Kote, Bag-Kote, Resolene before the antique so that you have more time to work with the antique before it sets up. Try to keep as much resist out of the depressions as possible so that the antique penetrates them better and quicker. I usually apply two coats of resist and let it dry at least 2 hours, over night is better. Gob the antique on heavy and don't work it too much or it'll desolve the resist if it's a water soluble. I'm applying the antique paste with shearling and whiping it off with a damp paper towel. I think George Hurst told me that one. The paper towel has a bit of rigidity to it, unlikely shearling it floats over the depression so to speak and doesn't drag the antique out. All that said you probably should stay with whatever you're doing. It looks real good to me. Thanks for your reply. Looking forward to seeing more of your work. Especially if you finish it with antique like this one. ......... later........

I read a post the other day describing the use of wood stain to make dyes. I suspect that the liquid antique stains by TLF are probably wood stain from the odor. I've used Walnut and Mahogany wood stain, but put a resist down before I applied it and got results similar to what you've done here, except it dries a lot quicker than paste so I tend to use paste. I'll look for that post on dye making and bring it over here if I can find it. I don't think it was on this forum. Wood stain is certainly worth experimenting with, but this guy was recommending it as more cost effective.

I thought maybe antique. Did you use a resist first?

I'm getting the same. I figured someone was monkeying around somewhere ... lol!

You might try it on scrap. I've never heard of it being used. Oxalic acid (common wood bleach - Home Depot) is used a a prep to clean before finishing. I've heard it will remove ink and blood, but I've tried both with negative results. Lemon juice is supposed to do the same as oxalic acid. I've used both and you can expect a bleach action (lighter) where you apply it. You should neutralize it with clear water. I've also heard you should use soapy water. I've always used plain tap water. It seems to make the leather drier and a little hard so I apply Lexol after using it. I use Lexol cleaner/conditioner in lieu of oxalic acid now and it works to remove oil and dirt from my hands during tooling, molding, etc. All said - test on scrap if you can whatever you decide to try.

Cool piece of work John. How did you finish that? I like the soft, matt look! later, ~Bill

I'd try rubbing alcohol. Just a little on a soft white cloth and with a light hand. Go slow and if it's working, keep turning the cloth and change it out because you're going to get quite a bit of build-up from that much surface. It'll try it out some but you can recoup that with Lexol conditioner. You might try to simulate what you've got on a scrap and then try the alcohol on that. I strip holsters like with alcohol all the time and then restore some of the natural oils with Lexol. Lexol won't darken or discolor like neats-foot. Don't use Lexol NF, use the conditioner. Let us know how it goes, and good luck. later, ~Bill

Call Tippman and ask about the bobbin winder shaft for a Boss. It cost about $5.00 - $6.00. Ask for Jim or Ben: TOLL FREE: 866-286-8046, if they're still there. The thing is a two dimensional or graduated shaft, the smaller end chucks into your drill, the larger end is split which gives it a spring effect and the bobbin is pushed over the forked end. The spring effect applies enough friction or tension that you simply run the drill and wind the thread onto the bobbin. How fast you wind it depends on how anal you are about winding it "just right" ... lol You could probably make one from a carriage bolt but this thing is pretty cheap for all that running around looking for just the right size shaft. If you have a bunch of round stock on hand just cut a piece about 4" long and split one end with a hacksaw, insert the tip of a screwdriver and spread the split or forked end slightly and you're in business. What you won't have is that little graduation that keeps the bobbin from slipping down too far on the shaft, but it won't matter if you're careful when you wind it. Unless you're going to wind a bizillion bobbins, then I wouldn't mess with fabrication. Hope this helps.

I use a drill to wind directly off the big spool I'm running on my machine. Takes about a minute to pull the thread loose, a couple of minutes to wind a bobbin or two, and a minute or so to run the thread back through the machine and install the newly wound bobbin. May be a better way and I'd like to learn that.

Thanks!

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Jo, Now on clicking over to a profile I get an error and the back button brings me back here, so I can no longer access profiles. Hope this helps. Bill Jo, I went surfing around after I wrote the above. Clicking on some profiles gets and error and the back button returns me to the thread in which I clicked on the profile, which is what should happen I think, but on others clicking the back button takes me from the error page over to the profile. (The back button will take me back to the thread on the forum where I started from the profile.) I don't think anything changed. Earlier I probably didn't click on enough different profiles. Hope this makes sense and helps out. I'll surf around some. Enjoy the show and don't worry about us, we ain't going to jump ship on you. later ~Bill

I happened on this for what's it worth. If you click a members ID and view their profile you're going to get that error message, then if you click the back button on your browser you'll get their profile. Don't know if it'll work on other links within the forum. I'll search around for something and see if I find another kink.

Did you check Seigels, or is that your source?