shtoink

Which version of the M9 are those? Looks like one of those could be a Phrobis III. I have one of the Phrobis III M9 bayonets, before Buck took over the contract and company. The contract was later picked up by Ontario and then later someone else. I forget all the history behind it, but at one point I remember you could pick up a Buck version in the store that was identical to the Phrobis just with Buck markings. It's a great blade, too. Nice job one the sheaths, too.

I concur, toluene is some nasty stuff. Just take a look at that link. Should make those using the barge cement really think twice about dismissing any warnings on the label.

I know that Art has talked about the airbrushes from Veda, specifically the WD 180, in a couple of other threads. He had good things to say about them and that he was able to get three of them for less that what he'd have paid for a similar Iwata.

It certainly is! That was why I tossed the idea of a used one to test to destruction. It's been shown that we learn more from our failures than successes.

I did a few minutes of searching and found these... Mind you, they may, or may not actually be the same person referenced above. I found nothing useful search with "Grizzly Collars" USPTO <-- patent information Wyoming Inventors <-- patent information MyLife.com <--- a people search for the same same, city, and state listed in the patent information Etsy.com <-- a very empty etsy page.. Change.org <-- some petition he signed This is all public information and was found with a simple search.

What I am hearing is that it probably won't be easy to change the color on this leather then... Or am I misunderstanding something?

The big issue is that they are already a relatively dark blue color and your only options are going to be darker. You may be able to shift the color some, but only to something along the lines of a color that mixes with blue. i.e. purples, ugly browns, dark greens, and black. It's an additive color process. Putting a layer of paint on it won't be anything more than a layer of paint that will wear off and expose the color underneath. What you'll end up needing is an actual dye meant for use on leather, but if it'll be use in a car, you'll need to worry about colorfastness. Exposure to UV will lighten the color. There have been other dyes that are meant for use on shirts for tie-dyeing that seem to produce very good, colorfast results. I wish I had better new for you. Hopefully someone else with more information on the topic than I will be able to add to this.

I did a little bit of research on the topic of presses for the leather tip. I ran across was couple references, but mostly it was from places that sold a press and not about the "hows and whys." The only other thing I found was information on different styles of tip shapers. I think that had to do with the large number of tips that come without any preformed shape. I also found out that there is some form of hardness measurement used to classify the tip for whatever purpose you desire. Not sure if it's a standard durometer or some other measurement type, though. Here are two of the different presses that I found. Both of these are from the same place, but that type one seems to have an unreasonably high price tag on it. They sell it though the site for about $75, but it looks like a bunch of common stainless steel parts from a hardware store with a bit of rework done. If I ever get a chance to make one of these up, at least I'll know who to send it to for testing...

I wonder if they are wet formed into a tip-shaped form? It seems like having the circular blank wetted and pressed would compact the fibers as well giving it the right shape. No clue on this one, I was just making a guess. Nice job on that, by the way. A great idea, too.

I would agree Leela Valley Leather. It seems very unlikely that the cake beater would hold up to the abuse of being bogged down by the act burnishing. It'd be better option to get a cheap rotary tool from Harbor Freight, or somewhere similar, and use some of those Dremel burnishers from Bear Man. I might even be possible to make the burnisher yourself on the rotary tool, too. Maybe a cheap mixer from a second hand store to test until destruction might give an idea of how much abuse it can take. Just a few thoughts. I'd hate to see you throw away money on an unknown without knowing the risks.

Ooops, I completely forgot about that...

I can't help but think that having a positive and a negative mold to clamp the leather between would be even better. It works pretty well for other wet forming, why not a hat? It'd just be the time invested in making the molds and then you can make them very consistently.

What a completely simple and elegant solution! It kicks the leather right off the tool with lifting action. I have my doubts that I would have ever come up with the idea. I was still thinking about some form that replicated a sewing foot. This... This just blows that away. Thank you very much for sharing it.

Is someone a fan of the Halo series?

Well, it's Semi-Gloss, of course!

No arguments from me on that one, but I'd wager that getting the needle out of the leather is a whole lot easier than getting in there.

I stumbled onto an interesting thread over at The Home Shop Machinist that was dedicated to home brew tools and such. The main reason being that I have an interest in that sort of thing and thought I might be able to get a few ideas for future use. While digging through the nearly 200 page thread, I ran across this post. It was clearly made by someone frustrated with pushing a sewing awl through leather with their bare hands. I thought it might be something that could be appreciated and even replicated by those of you in the same boat here.

After quite a bit of searching around through the multitude of hinge types, I managed to find what I think might be the ideal solution. The hardest part was trying to find a hinge type without knowing what that type is called. Ugh.... So, for the side with the punch block, I wanted it to pivot a certain way and the hinge needed to take up very little space. I was thinking that a chunk of piano hinge might to the trick, but I'd end up having to put screws right into the walls of the case. The problem with that is that the case walls aren't very think and it might fail prematurely. Here's what I think might work... Hinge 1 and Hinge 2 For the side that'll have the strap and lift to allow access to the space below, I need a different style. I think a quadrant style hinge might work well, since it won't be carrying a heavy load like the side loaded with a bunch of punches/stamps. Although, I may end up using a section of Velcro so it can hinge, but also be removable if the need arises. The trick now is to source the hinges for a reasonable price and in the correct size. I'm not excited about dropping upwards of $30 or so for a pair of hinges that you'll never even see. I thinking much cheaper than that.

I have used the Evapo Rust with excellent results. I had anticipated that it wouldn't work all that well, but I was blown away. I put it through its paces by testing everything in it. I did find that you really want the item to be completely submerged in the liquid or you'll end up with a blackened line right where the item is exposed. It's also not very reusable. What I mean is that it it has a certain amount of iron oxide that it'll react with per unit of volume and once it's done, it's done. You just dump it down the drain and pour in more. It took bluing off very fast, but that's because it's also a form of iron oxide. Oddly, I also found that fruit flies like to die in it for some strange reason.

I was in the chat room not too long ago and we were talking about some of the finer points of this modification. One of the things that came about was the possibility of getting some small(ish) diameter plastic tubing bundled together to hold the tools. I did a little research and located some cheap plastic tubing of 1/2', 3/8", and 1/4" that just needs to be cut to the required length. Here's what I came up with after taking real life measurements of the tubes. I think it looks pretty good, so far. I still need to figure out exactly how I am going to get them all to stay in place, but I do have a couple ideas on that one already. The added bonus is that it increased the number of tools it'll hold from 33 to 43 by doing it this way.

Agreed! Fire Bad!

I think you just answered one of your questions right there. Reading through this, I kept wondering what the temperatures needed to be for the beeswax and the pitch mixture. I knew that beeswax had a relatively low melting temperature, but had no clue on the pitch ( I did assume it to be higher, though). When you described the condition of the pitch lining, it really seemed like it was cooling too fast to produce the desired results. Maybe something along the lines of an insulating blanket wrapped around it to prevent the rapid heat loss or immersed on another double boiler or similat heat bath to help keep the pitch viscosity low. It might be possible to find a liquid to use with your double boiler that reaches I high enough temp to deal with the pitch. An off hand guess would be an oil, like peanut or vegetable, but care would need to be taken to keep you from getting burned or the whole mess from catching fire. There are things that can be mixed into water to raise the boiling point, but I don't know if there would be anything that would bring it high enough to deal with the pitch or what it might be without a bit more researching. No idea if these might be viable options, but it does seem cleat that the pitch is cooling too fast for you to get the results you want and preventing that somehow might be trick.

The added bonus, the seat will smell like cedar AND leather. That sounds like great combination to me. I wonder if that's and "Old Spice" smell already....

That was an odd little trick that was passed on to me after I was issued my first beret that refused to take proper shape.

Glad to hear it. Also happy to hear that it was an easy fix.