Sylvia

Hi Bruce: A few days ago I did call BK and asked Brad is there is a straight blade for these knives. He told me "no, only hollow ground." On the website it even says "All swivel knives are solid brass with a free-spinning bearing design. Each has a hollow ground, heat treated, tool steel blade." Anyway..... Your photo...

That's what I thought... but I'm having problems "finding the angle" I think I'll call Brad tomorrow, express my frustrations and ask to send this thing back, since they don't offer straight blades. Disappointing. Oh and btw Aaron... I am a meat cutters daughter... I know the difference between sharpening and stropping. Thanks though.

You no speaka Russian huh? LOL Translated via Google translator... it says Sorry, but I do not speak angliyski (English) .Tolschina (guessing "child" or Kid) skin 1.5 mm. Glued together in two layers, it came out of 3mm.

I bought myself a Barry King swivel knife and I love it's action but I'm not so fond of the hollow ground blade provided with the knife. I have a hard time stropping it. and can't seem to get the dang thing sharp. Picked up my old old craftool knife with a straight blade, thick as all get out but I can get it sharp and I seem to do better with this old knife than my new one and that !@#!!@#$#$@ hollow ground blade. Please, if there is a secret to getting this hollow ground blade sharp and stropped properly... please let me know. I'm about to send this whole knife back out of sheer frustration with the blade.

You got it. I know there is a wood worker here that does some pretty nice wood trophy style buckles. I think he goes by the "Buckle Guy" Sadly his stuff won't work for my applications. I used to know where there was a craftsman who did Guitar "bling" knobs and what not. But I've not located his site lately. I was thinking of asking him if he could make buckles. Another idea is finding a blacksmith but the cost may be prohibative... unless we can gang up and make a massive order. I did find one manufacturer in RI... but I don't see a listing of their distributors. http://www.philipmachine.com

My Boise Tandy is manned by very nice folks. (pretty rare in my area, actually) I typically order online but when I finally called them, I was surprised to find that when I introduced myself as "Sylvia ," the fellow knew my last name. My city is probably all of 20 minutes from Boise. If I was so inclined I would probably drive there... but I'm not, I just can't stand the traffic in Boise. But who knows maybe someday I will go visit them. I always make sure I praise my local Tandy people... with special instructions like "You Rock!... just thought you should know." So far they have made a huge effort to pick out the best items with which to fill my orders, that they can. I'll have to send them doughnuts someday when I can afford it. All this said... I've emailed a few of the other "online" sources... and the response is sometimes extremely delayed. I've still not heard back from one and I inquired almost 2 weeks ago. (stleather) Even a canned response would be preferable to no response. Sometimes I just don't feel like calling...

Craftool B997 Double beveler is V-shaped.

I admit that Tandy isn't for everyone.... but then again not everyone has the budget to go spend $350 on one side of excellent tooling leather especially when they are just starting out. Nice analogy btw.

LOL I never took a painting class but I did take Ceramics. You know the class where you use the potter's wheel and spin up (hopefully) a vase or bowl? I really enjoyed that class even without the ipod. Very zen spinning up clay like that. I still use some of the bowls, cups and what not, I made in that class.

I'll try to find it for you. A member here "Spinner" did a partial tutorial on painting leather... then he got busy and the rest has been delayed. Maybe that would give you some ideas. Man that took way too long to find ..... but here it is. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=35955 Hope that helps. S

LOL yep, I got mine!

I spent a good deal of time writing Tandy about their foreign made tools and the poor quality of the materials in the kits. I think if more of us grew a pair and wrote a leather "strongly urging" them to bring back quality to their kits and tools and jobs to the USA, we might be able to affect a change at Tandy. just my thoughts. Funny you say that about "neatsfoot oil" I ran all over this valley near Boise, ID and was never able to find Pure Neatsfoot oil. Most places didn't have it at all... and the only thing they had was a boot dressing paste stuff. I even looked at farm stores and found nada.

Sounds like you got an awesome deal on those. The transparencies for laser printers is an interesting idea. I may have to dig around in my office supplies to see if I have some of those already.

Well, I guess they think it's like you are asking for their grandma's cherry pie recipe. Some folks keep stuff very close to their vests for fear they will lose their buyers to another. It's a shame really.... they miss out on a very good collaborator and an extra pair of hands if they ever need help.

That's probably wise... I would take a few pictures to have on hand and call around to find someone. Then you could email pictures before you go hauling them off to Minneapolis. There is no telling what cold weather (even inside of a car) could do to these drums. Err on the safe side and do most of the leg work via the phone and email.

The best (and least expensive) place I've found for Angelus leather paint is http://www.dharmatrading.com. Angelus gives some instruction on what to do... but typically you need a deglazer to remove finishes. If you plan on ordering several colors this is the best way to go even with paying for shipping. Dharma rocks and I highly recommend them. The trouble I see with some horse tack is that it's made from oiled leather. Acrylic based paints won't stick to that. I would think "roughing" the leather with even fine sand paper would spoil the smoothness of the leather and show through your acrylics. Most leather painters thin their paints and use an air brush (from what I've seen and read) However others use thinned paints with a brush and lay several thin coats on.

Here's that book the one poster recommended. Dictionary of Leather-Working Tools, C.1700-1950: And the Tools of Allied Trades by R. A. Salaman http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Leather-Working-Tools-C-1700-1950/dp/1879335727

I'm reticent about offering ideas because of the nature of these drums. My advice would be to contact a professional restoration person or a museum curator and ask advice. The reason I feel this way is because your item is 45+ years old, made of exotic skin (potentially) and you have provenance. If as I suspect they are worth a good amount, it would be horrendous if you screw them up by improper restoration attempts.

Does this really work?

I tried this with angelus spirit dyes... looked orange in the bottle, rubs, buffs off as orange... the the color of the leather is almost a burgundy-brownish color.

I had a similar problem with "3D" stamps. I found that if it's cased well and I take the time to rock the stamp in the four cardinal directions I get a better impression.

<coffee spew> ha ha ha ha ha!

Did you win your auction?

oh! ha ha ha ha! Yep forgot the link http://www.frank-brushes.de/en/pschuh/inforau.html

Read this to understand a bit more about leather. To my understanding that a hide is split in order to thin the leather to a uniform thickness across the hide.. You don't say if your "scrap" bag was vegetable tanned or not.