Sylvia

it does dissipate after a while. When you seal the leather it will help stop the smell too.

Is the inside finished as well? If not you can use any of the stuff above to oil, balm or lexol. It might be more tricky on the finished side especially if you want to retain the color since a lot of these treatments will darken the leather quite a bit.

Cat urine is oily, believe it or not, which is why it is so difficult to remove and why the Ammonia worked for Double C. The trouble I see is soaking the rawhide well enough to float out all the urine is likely going to change the texture of the rawhide. Who knows. since natives used urine turned to ammonia to make white leather, it might even tan it. I suppose if you've thrown the thing away a few times it can't hurt to try. Sudsy Ammonia (found at the dollar store) then Vinegar and Baking Soda. (place vinegar in container and soak, then rinse, shake dry... then bury in a box full of baking soda for a few days) Finally.. A good dousing of Listerine (the old fashioned flavor, if you can find it) I mean for you to use all three to REALLY get this thing clean.

I've used Angelus paints. They are smooth, but I do need to warn you that "gold" and "silver" are not solid colors they are more like sparkly glazes with silver looking more like a pearl. Yes you deglaze first. It's a good idea to deglaze even if it is Veg tan. Allow to dry after deglazing then put your paints on in very thin washes, allowing to dry between each one. DO NOT expect to paint it in one day. Plan on several days depending on the number of colors.

If you have a Walgreen's near you that is where I got most of my sharpies in kits. The silver and gold ones usually come in 2 packs. My BIC permanent markers came from Riteaid. If you watch for the rebates and coupons sometimes you can get a whole set for a couple dollars. (after coupons and rebates) And sometimes they are free. In fact along about July-August we should see some great deals on school supplies... then again in January. I think Bic or Sharpie have great coupons available...during that time.

Oh! It's a mallet... I thought you said it was a maul.

I'll take this one. Sending PM now.

Think Silhouette, Cheryl. Remember the things we did in grade school for our Mothers? Or for president's day? That looked something like this? http://www.peggymcclard.com/Day%20boy%204696%2001ac%2096px.jpg What happened is you picked a picture with "legs." I think you would have been better off with just a horses head in silhouette. Good for you for trying...

Sweet!!

Hi Trox: During the dust bowl in America... many many people just packed up what they could carry and walked away from their homes and farms. Across the midwest even as late as the late 70s there were abandoned houses which still contained furniture, pianos... etc. I've also seen old homesteads in the mountains of Oregon that still had stuff in the cupboards, old firebox cookstoves, and one had a piano. It is possible.

Hi: Do you plan on tooling the pieces for your bronc halters or are you just planning on painting the pieces? If you plan on painting only I think you can get away with pre-finished leather in the thickness you want. I've read where paints will NOT stick to oil tanned leather, so that is something to think about and or test. Good luck

I added color a couple days ago to test a color theme. I used a silver sharpie and green, red and orange sharpies and a dark blue fine sharpie. It turns out the silver sharpie works great! It is flexible and doesn't seem to want to flake off. hmmm weird that the icon is black but go ahead and click it to see the picture.

Hi Ed: Thank you for providing us with extra insight on the poly vs. nylon vs. rawhide thing. So let me get this straight... you are placing Barry King's Mauls in the same category as Al Stohlman ones?

Yes! Or finding an old abandoned barn full of old leather tools.... and an early Harley. lol

It seems the end punches work much better than the oblongs, that's for sure. My tandy one went right through the leather even without stropping it. BTW... I found that an old acrylic "tooth brush holder" from a bathroom set I had... worked great to keep my larger punches "sharp end up" and out of the way. Just make sure the holes in the holder are around 1 inch big.

Wow! Wish something like would happen to me.

Cheryl. I used to host a few people on Hostmonster... MUCH cheaper than $20 a month. They have a sale on now too. Read through things, because I didn't... but It was great a few years ago http://www.hostmonster.com/?gclid=CMK9hs-OjbACFaEJRQodVzcbpg

Cheryl. I used to host a few people on Hostmonster... MUCH cheaper than $20 a month. They have a sale on now too. Read through things, because I didn't... but It was great a few years ago. http://www.hostmonster.com/?gclid=CMK9hs-OjbACFaEJRQodVzcbpg

Oh well then Pfft!... you don't need MY help then. LOL

I guess I could have been more specific. It's the black safety skiver that I use with a fresh blade it works really well. The sanding helps too. I recently got from my hubby a bench top belt sander so I don't skive as much as I used to. It's got a pretty aggressive grit on the belt and makes really quick work of things like this... and as long as I keep my fingers out of the way... It is pretty safe. It's this belt sander and I keep it tilted up like this and the very top is where I sand... I just drag the belt across the top because the belt is exposed there and it works really well. As far as "too wide and too shallow"... I would skive from just past where your buckle tongue will go, to the end of the edge that will fold under. Skive linearly not across the belt, then sand and sand a little extra across where it folds. Practice on some scrap belt... so you can get a feel of this. Good luck! Syl

Hi Joe: I use a safety skiver for that, then a little sanding with 150-200 grit paper, to smooth it so it doesn't look so rough. Keep your french edger though... I understand they are good for a few things like insetting rivets syl

That certainly is a valid temporary solution, Twin. Ive considered doing that myself! But even with a bunch of lead shot I don't think you'll get the heft you want, unless you melted the lead and poured it directly into the cavity. If you got lucky and it didn't catch fire... it might work. lol From what I gather 14oz to 20oz Poly headed mauls are preferred, for all around use, with 5-9oz being used for lighter more delicate stamping. Balance seems to be important depending on the users method of holding the maul. I tend to old my mallet like I would a 16oz framing hammer... all the way down on the handle. Especially when I am using brute force to get some of these larger punches to go through. According to the young man at Barry King (not Barry, and I've forgotten his name), the white material is the most resilient, and there was some side note about nylon I don't recall. The brown and black apparently have a slightly, almost indiscernible, difference in feel from the white and yellow.

I bet Double C would if the price was right.

I am very happy that everyone loves BRL... I don't typically stick my neck out for a company like that but I just knew some of us would love to be able to get decent templates at a reasonable price. Of course, Joyce and Jerry are super awesome folks that really good care of the customer... which makes it really easy to sing their praises here.