Billsotx

Being used it won't match up, assuming it is/was the same dye. My guess is it's now a little darker, right? UV will darken it and oil from your hands, as well as some sweat if it's really been used. Buyer calls it age, and/or dirt, filth and the seller calls it patina ... lol! If I was going for black, I would get deglazer and strip it. Let it air dry, a fan blowing over it won't hurt. Speed it up with a hairdryer, but I wouldn't use heat, just blow air over it. Let it set a day or so after deglazing. Then dye it black. It may take more than one coat. Buff it real good after or between coats if you apply more than one. You'll probably get some rub-off even if you seal it, but make sure you seal it or you WILL get rub-off. I wouldn't dye the back/inside if it were mine. I'd wear some knock-around clothes the first time I tried it on and give it a good go because you're probably going to get rub-off even with a sealer. I'd use Neat Lac or equivalent product; I don't like the shiny finish, but it is the best sealer I've found for a re-dye like this one. I haven't messed with these "green" dyes much. You may find they are better than some of the older products. If the USMC black is the same formula, I'd bet on rub-off, so I'd seal heck out of it. Make sure to buff like crazy so as to remove as much rub-off as you can before you wear it.

W&C will sell you as little as a side.

What kind of leather would be best to cover lawn or patio chairs? I want to recover a couple of director style, metal frame, chairs with a leather that will withstand UV as well as a little rain. They are canvas now which has frayed around the stitch-lines, but the frames are light enough to pack around and have lots of useful life. Any tips of the type of leather and a source would be appreciated.

Looks like a good deal. Their polymer holds up as good as Bladetech on the range and street. Worth a try on a phone case for sure. Thanks for adding to this post Rob. We're all part of Johanna's leather elves ;-)

Yep! It's Bladetech, and I ordered from them. When you do the shipping part of the order look for 1st Class U.S. Mail and save some bucks. Their default shipping is only affordable by someone who fell down a diamond mine ... perhaps, I'm out of touch these days. I looked at a few other sources of Bladetechs but they would not combine shipping wanting to charge $6.95 shipping for each unit, so .......... you know the story.

Client wanted a design suitable for waist carry without belt. Wooden template was made in order to wet mold like a holster and not tie up client's iPhone.

What we typically referred to as a blackjack was a lead weight on the end of a spring and round in shape; while a slapjack is flat. You'll mostly see blackjacks covered with chrome tanned thin cheesy leather; a good one will be covered with rawhide braided thongs with a monkey's fist type of knot at the grip end tying it all together. We preferred the rawhide because it cuts like a knife when you wield it. I no longer have the casting tools but I altered a large fishing sinker weight to cast them, I'm talking a large sinker. I used to see them around fishing tackle shops. The procedure is the same as casting bullets; a stiff spring about 3/4 to 7/8 inch diameter is inserted into the mold and then the molten lead is poured in. If you're not familiar with casting you might read up on bullet casting, there's tons of stuff on the web. For slap-jacks I also used a casting, but my mold was the lid from a pickle jar. It's a onetime use mold; lids are cheap. The slap uses a flat spring, not a coil, at least the ones around this part of the country. You can use a coil spring if you want, but you'll probably have to jury rig another kind of mold. Anyway, for the flat spring I would cut and grind a piece of suitable shape from an old or cheap carpenter's saw. I've made smaller jacks of this design with old putty knives (large size); it needs to be spring steel hard if you want a good one and it needs to be cast in one piece too. Back to construction, just a thin slit is cut in the side of the jar lid and the spring is slipped through it; it needs to be a tight fit; you want the end of the spring steel within the lid taking up about 3/4s of the area cross the diameter of the lid, maybe just a tad more. Regress back, I also punched two or three holes in the business end of the spring, the one that protrudes into the lid, so that the molten lead runs through said holes and becomes firmly attached to the spring steel. This put the spring centered in the lead casting. After the lead has cooled the lid is cut away from the lead and spring and the lead can be cleaned up and shaped to your design. I covered mine with 11/12 oz. cowhide; a welt was inserted much like we put in the old border patrol style holsters so that there was a smooth flow in the whole appearance of the thing. I would also put a loop on one side to slip your hand through. I'm not going to preach to you about use and I'm not into PC crud, but my experience was the shot filled saps do not hold up well in actual use and veg-tanned cowhide or horsehide is more prone to leave large whelps and bruises, while rawhide cut and draws blood. Nothing takes the fight out of an opponent or subject resisting arrest quicker than the sight of his/her own blood. If you're just making one for nostalgia the shot filling will be easiest, if you are making an actual tool I would go with a casting no exception. All this said, jacks and saps fell from vogue in the late 80s as we in law enforcement were pounded into a kinder and gentler group of warriors. (If you believe the kinder/gentler part, I have a nice playa down near Del Rio, TX that I'll sell real cheap ... LOL!) Below are links to some pix that may help you. I haven't seen a pix of a rawhide jack, but the Nazi design on the one page is real close. That's probably where our original design stemmed from. http://www.donrearic.com/sap.html http://www.google.com/search?q=police+blackjack&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHHQ_enUS390US391&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=bn-gTe-nLNO50QHekY2QBQ&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1199&bih=654 Maybe this will make some since and help a little. Semper Fi, Bill

I don't have a pattern Jen, but making the pattern is the fun part - for me, anyway. I google fishtail collar and found this: My link I would just layout the center (wide) section on a piece of graph paper or you could wing it and just draw it. I would work on drawing just one edge as I want it, then fold it long ways down the center and trace along that first edge to establish a near symmetrical design. Once you have a paper pattern glue, or tape it to a piece of stiffer material, I like manilla folders, and it'll serve for a long time to come. You have something you can use for a dry fit just to see how it'll look on Mr. Jigger, before you cut your staps. I built one of these awhile back but I didn't know it had a name. It was for Lunchbox, I don't know if she'd like a fishtail around her neck or not ... lol! The photos on that page (link) show good details, if this is the type of collar you're talking about. BTW nice looking pooch!!!

Muy bueno.

Cool rig brother. Watch six!

Try Seigel's of CA - https://www.siegelofca.com/default.asp or Ohio Travel Bag - http://www.ohiotravelbag.com/

I try a test on a small scrap and reduce the odds of using the wrong stuff.

You can look in my gallery for a few. The fixed blade has the welt as mentioned and it's lined with goat skin to keep the snap from contacting the blade.

Like Mike says, get a kit since he's starting out. I'd go to Tandy/Leather Factory and get one. They usually have some merchandise marked down on a table, and I've seen those kits marked down as much as 50% off. Even at full price it's not a bad way to start. My first one (1955) was a Tandy kit and looking back I'd start the same way today. You hear a lot of adverse stuff on Tandy - take it with a grain of salt - he's just starting and those tools will work for years before he needs to move up. Like my ol' man used to say, "A shoddy worker always complains about his tools." Post some pics after he finishes his project. We'd like to see how it's going.

Thanks for all your replies. I appreciate it!

Is there a good free site to store .jpgs on? I tried flickr and when I tried to download a few of them back to my computer they came back way smaller than they originally were.

Those screws that thread into the conchos are 8/32 - size 8, 32 threads per inch. The Tandy screw is 3/16" long which I have found, but I have not found them with a small enough head to fit down inside a Line 24. I have found them in the standard slot and phillips head and I modify the heads so they fit down into the snap. You can cut longer ones like Art suggested, if you do, find a nut that fits and thread it all the way up before you cut it with the nippers. After you nip it off, dress it with a file, when you remove the nut it will help clean the threads and makes the job a little quicker. If you find some, like those in the Tandy kit, that will fit inside the Line 24 I'm interested in knowing the maker and/or scource of supply. Good luck on your quest.

Here's the crux of it: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=9940

I see 2 different pix in my directory listing, I don't which shows to folks searching. Can you delete them and I'll start over. Thanx Name: Bill McLennan UserName: Billsotx IP Address: 68.91.255.171 Email Address: bill.45.70@gmail.com

You might ask whoever that photo belongs to if they'll sell them to you.

The Bench Made 42S comes with a cheesey nylon case. Its price, I think, demands leather; not crummy cloth.

I use an old socket, like in socket wrench. It's a junker I found somewhere and not good enough to be a wrench ... made in *^*&^&* ... LOL!

There's nothing in the Startup. What's the proper way to get rid of the Kodak thing in Program Files (x86)? Delete it?

Thanks for your reply. I did a couple of restarts and have not had the pop-ups; following your advice I looked around and found (a folder I think) named Kodak in Program Files (x86), there are subfolders Kodak EasyShare Software and Printer Dock. There's a Tutorial in the Eashshare and it has numerous, what appear to be files, named pop-up.... whatever. I can't find an uninstall. None are .exe if that means anything. There's a couple of .htm files that I opened and they have instructions and links in them, I remember some of it from looking over the tutorial when I installed it first off. Should I delete this from Program Files since there doesn't appear to be an uninstall. I have Registry Mechanic and have run it. Is that similar to Tuneup Utilities? I have IrfanView but will look at Picasa. I saw Gimp mentioned somewhere else and will look at that too. So far IrfanView has worked for my inexperienced way. Always up to learning anything worthwhile. I appreciate your time and help on this.

Acquired a used Kodak digital. I kind of like the pix I'm getting but I don't like Kodak's pop-ups. I don't know if the CD had the pop-ups or Kodak is sending junk on-line. Everytime I startup or restart my computer 1st up is a Kodak popup which when closed pop-ups another and this goes on for 5 different pop-ups. Right now I uninstalled the program. Is this thing attaching itself to my start-up somehow and if so can I disabled it. If I can't disable it I'll just trash the camera, I'm not that attached to it. Thanks in advance for your advice. I'm running Vista Home Premium.