shtoink

^This! Key chains are pretty common place and unless you have some really cool ones, they will possibly just get passe over. You might have to include them as free gifts with purchase to get rid of all 200 of them. I still think the Othello: Leather Edition or even Checker: Leather Edition would be awesome. Yeah... Yeah.. I know what opinions are like. With the checkers, you could use a border stamp and matting stamp to give it a pattern similar to the plastic ones.

Here are a couple pictures I took of the one I have. It's pretty simple, really. Two components, that's it. The blade isn't anything special, and a quick measurement put it at 0.127" in diameter. While looking at the shank on the blade, I noticed that there isn't any special polishing or anything done to it. It looks to have been cut off with a big shear and a little bit of grinding to deburr the edge.

Funny thing.... I actually acquired one in a bundle of tools I scored at a second hand store. There was a some oddball stuff tossed in it, but the bulk was some very nice 60s era tools from Craftool and RBS. The blade doesn't have any special retention mechanism at all. It's just a smooth metal shank inserted into the end of the handle. I'll try to get some time to take a few pictures and see what I can come up with.

Not sure if there is anyone that still has any spares on these blades, but I have actually thought about giving a shot at seeing if one could make their own with no special tools. My idea is to locate some annealed drill rod of the appropriate diameter so that it fits in the end of the handle, give it a bend like the original, put a pair of bevels on it, harden it, sharpen it up, and put it to use. Seems easy enough in theory. Ideally, it could be done with a sharpening jig, a torch, and a vice or pliers maybe.

One side is black already, so paint the other side white and do up some sets of Othello: Leather Edition. You could make up a board for each set and then sell them.

I agree that that's the way it's supposed to be in the diagram you have. I have some beefy forearms, not quite like Popeye, but close, which makes my stance a bit altered. It actually puts more of the upper area of my forearm at risk for string bites. I've also seen plenty of the kids get snagged with the shorter style guards, so we provide these for them and it eliminates the issue completely. I've had kids whose arrow never left the string because it got snagged on the arm guard. When you are dealing with about 20 or so kids, most of which are 12 and under, there's bigger things to have them focusing on besides a slight change in position of their elbow which they may not even be able tell the difference of at this point anyway. It is something that gets addressed as they get older, but when they are younger, you still want them to at least enjoy the activity. After getting bit by the string on a 60+ lb bow several times, you start to keep an eye out for those potential issues. As far as the pronunciation of my name, it like a 'sh' sound attached to a 'toink' sound. Smush them together with no pause in between. It's kinda like a springy noise, really. Your response made me chuckle and you're not alone on the confusion. There's been plenty of permutations on actually pronouncing it, so no worries.

It wasn't apparent until you posted a picture with your arm in the arm guard in the thread where you provide that pattern for it, but there is a small flap that sticks out towards the elbow that will be the source for interference with the string. It was an issue that a number of kids in my 4H group ran into when another leader had a project for them to make their own arm guards. That little bit that sticks out is free to pull away from the arm and be a place for the string to snag on. Since there is a slight difference in how everyone's posture is when shooting, it can be an issue for some but not others. From the looks of the image you uploaded, it may have happened to you already. That also puts your arm at risk of getting smacked with the string. I guess the point I am trying to make is that it's a good idea to eliminate anything that could possibly snag as you have no idea of the stance of the person that will actually be wearing it. Sort of a 'better safe than sorry' sort of thing. This isn't a criticism of the arm guard, just an observation of part of the design for something that could potentially be an issue for those who decide to use your pattern. I actually like the design and execution and it's not something I have seen done before.

I think it involves floating a couple of drops of oil based pigment in a bin of water and dipping it. There are plenty of takes on the process, but the idea is usually very similar. You want the colors to marble on the surface of your item. I found a video that outlines the process I am talking about pretty well. I wouldn't start with the leather submerged in water, though. You could float your colors and then dip your item and pull it out at different angles to change the pattern of the marbling. Mind you, I have not actually tried this out on any leather personally, but the theory is that it should work. I would recommend experimentation with scraps first.

I recently got a new macro lens, so I decided to try and get some better shots of the difference between these two ceramic blades. Just click the picture to open up a full size view.

Here's a couple of pictures of the 7/32" drill bit that I was using to make the very first hole in the titanium. As you can clearly see, it suffered from some pretty extreme temperatures and the debris that failed to clear only added to the sever abrasion of the tip. The leading edge along the flute is worn down to the relief that was ground into the side to reduce friction induced heat. This all happened during lower speeds, too. It was cutting reasonably well at first, but the poor heat conducting properties of titanium trapped that heat once the bit was about 1/3" into the barrel blank. Those same poor heat conducting properties are the very reason I am experimenting with it, though. It makes it feel warm in your hand instead of cold for an extended time like other metals. I need to dig up the other one that was broken off in a bit of drill rod that's pictured above. It's a #53 in my drill index. Not that many people here are going to be digging holes into titanium, but it was a reasonable pretense for testing out the new Canon L glass we just picked up. I love macro shots, so I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did taking them.

With the recent price increase of new stamps at Tandy to 9.99, the inflation is much closer to 40x. That's just insane!

I would argue that the carving and all of the lettering on the back was done by the same person. Looking at the spacing, shape, and overall feel of the letting, they seem consistent. It seems as though it's possible that the artist knew that his wife's nickname was Mick and just added that to the bottom of the carving he copied from Ken Griffin's book. It's very likely that Nicholas was either very new or knew that his guitar would be seen by many to sign it that way at the bottom. I'm leaning more towards the former than the latter due to the uncentered look of the signature block. Also taking into account that he has no makers mark or specific signature that is much shorter than his entire name nearly running off of one edge despite laying down lines to aid in keeping the lettering straight. The other thing that makes me think this artist was rather new was the level of detail that he was even able to duplicate from the original image in Ken Griffin's book. Comparing those two images, you can see a great deal more detail in the face and clothing in Ken's versus Nicholas's carving. It's even possible that he just traced it right from the page in that book onto the leather when you think about just how big that book actually is. The dimensions of the paperback book are 15"x18", so it does seem conceivable. I can't offer up any other information about the guitar other than knowing it's a 1957 Gretsch Roundup 6130 solid body electric. The copyright in my book is 1952 and I found a picture of an original carving by Ken done in 1951 over on ClayB's blog. This means that there was at least some time for the book to be in circulation before the guitar was even made or decorated.

I found this on page 11 of "Ken Griffen's Scrap Book." Anyone else see a similarity? Here's a close up

The thing is, stabilizing wood plasticizes it. This process is done in an extreme vacuum to pull out any air within the wood to be replaced with acrylic. While this does have the result of making the wood highly resistant to cracking, humidity changes, and the like, it also removes all the properties of wood that I chose it for in the first place. It makes the wood heavier, colder to the touch, and is generally unnecessary on the much denser, oily woods that I am using. The thing is, I have done my best to actually work around the slight fluctuation in dimensions from humidity in my design. This is also part of the reason that I have not immediately jumped into selling them, too, since I have some long term testing that needs to be conducted and evaluated.

One of the materials I have been experimenting with besides wood has been titanium. The reason being, it is a poor heat conductor and light weight. This means that it will feel warm in your hand in a very short time. The one really big shortcoming is that it's not the easiest to machine with HSS tooling. It can be done, but it requires frequent breaks to cool and resharpen the tooling. This link below is my first cut into a bar of titanium and it got hot enough to ignite the oil I was using for cutting fluid. The chips were coming off glowing white and somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 °F. I clearly had my speed a bit too high and have since not had chips come off that hot. http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/shtoink/?action=view¤t=cutting_titanium.mp4 The other solution is to get some Tungsten Carbide tools to do the job, but the downside is that it's not a cheap option, but that's why I spent a good deal of time trolling around ebay for low-cost deals. That's what the following picture is about. I managed to score some carbide drill bits, spiral fluted taps, and a couple reamers. The taps and the bigger reamer are HSS, but will be used gently. If I had purchased all of this at retail, it'd probably be in the neighborhood of $300, but I'm a cheapskate and I have about 1/4 of that or less into them. This is partially related to the process of making the swivel knives in the sense that it really helps to have the proper tools to do the job once in a while.

There are many sizes, shapes, and types of blades for your swivel knife. Depending on how many you have, you may want to have a specific blade mounted into each knife body. I know that isn't a universally common theme, as others may only have one or two knife bodies and need to swap out the blade as needed. This is one of those things that I think I may have worked out. I am probably not the only one that came up with a design that might work for you, but the shape of the yoke and a really wide range of adjustability of the yoke height make it very friendly for a wide range of hand shapes and sizes. The only downside I see with mine is that I have a minimum size for the barrel based on the limitations of the wood and bearings that I am using. Basically, I'm stuck with a minimum size around 0.5". Working on a smaller design is on my to-do list, but I have other things to work out first.

It occurred to me only after making the original post that pictures of the broken bits might be wanted. I managed to find some of the broken bits and pieces of things that failed to work the way I wanted along the way. This is certainly not a complete collection of things that broke, just the ones that I hadn't tossed out before being encouraged that pictures would go a long way for this. Here are the pictures: As usual, these are clickable thumbnails that will open a full size image. This image is the full shot, but shows one of the wood barrels that split open, a couple of the taps that I broke multiple times, a busted up center drill, bits of brass all-thread that crapped out when trying to turn a pin for the set screw marking tool, and the chunks of steel that had drill bits or taps break off in them. This is a close up of the small chunks of drill rod that devoured my drill bits and taps. There was really no way to remove the broken tool chunks, so they just got cut off. As for the knife barrels that split, this was the only one that didn't get tossed out. I actually had a really hard time keeping that particular wood from splitting open. I think there may have been 5 or 6 that split open on me when the bearings got pressed in. I also had a couple barrels that I tried to do a brass tube insert in that failed pretty hard, too. Of the six attempts I had with that run, only two didn't get obliterated, and of those only one didn't end up all crookedly drilled and reamed. One of the other things that I was having a great deal of problems with was lining up the hole for the yoke adjustment set screw. No matter how careful I was at taking measurements, I just couldn't seem to get it lined up on and would end up having enlarge the hole quite a bit. I finally ended up making a jig to help mark those holes. I can't show you a picture of it as it is one of those little trade secrets I'd like to keep to myself. Despite all of the failures of tooling, materials, and ideas along the way, It's still feels like there is a good idea that will fill a niche market for those that want to have a unique, handmade tool. At least, once I get to the point of making them full swing. I don't want to rush it and have an unexpected shortcoming bite later on down the road. As it stands, I'm a hobbyist, one guy, and the whole process is a really big experiment and learning experience for me. Even though this is very small scale, I felt that getting the chance to see just how many unexpected things can crop up along the way in a products' inception to final design can give an excellent insight. Having not seen anything like this anywhere else is what made me want to share and part of the reason I did my best to keep it a bit generic on the details. I just hope that there are those of you that might find the "behind the scenes" stuff interesting and/or helpful.

Holy Hell! That is some amazing work!

Another option would be to modify the stud by drilling and tapping it so that something like a Chicago screw could be used to secure it. This option seems a bit better in the long run since it can be removed and attached to a replacement belt later on. It seems like a little bit of work, but the metal is soft would make it quite easy to shorten the stud, drill the appropriately sized hole, and tap it. The real question is if you want to go through all that work for the possibility of being able to reuse the hardware on a different belt at a later date.

I know that this is about as far from leather as one could get, but there are some of you here that enjoy other things, too. I am hoping that you guys enjoy it anyway. I do realize that there are plenty of you that do not enjoy punk or metal, which is the bulk of what these "guys" play, but please do not hold it against them as they are only limited by their programming. So, CompressorHead is an all robot band, however, it's the first all robot band that I have ever seen that has personality. If you live in Australia, then there might be a higher chance you've already heard of these guys, but nevertheless, they are fun to watch. It all started with the the drummer, Stickboy, who looks like a prototype of General Grievous and the creator behind it all has been adding to and refining the band since. Fingers and Bones respectively. Fingers has 78 pneumatically actuated fingers and Bones is the newest addition as the bassist. There is technically a 4th robot that hangs out under one of the symbols that bangs his head with the beat, but there is no mention of a name. The groupies of this band are aptly called Meatbags... To be honest, when I saw the first video, all I could think of was some dank bar in Futurama where Bender would frequent looking for cheap Floozie-bots.

I was doing some searching around on the subject since I have several bits that need bridles made for them and a one-ear bridle the might need to be remade entirely. While on my search, I ran across some really good information on the subject of measuring the bridle parts and your horse they are to be made for. I realize that part of this information is listed above, but having a good pictorial reference is very indispensable for those of us that are visual learners. So, here they are... How to measure your horse for individual bridal parts: This one has a PDF that you can download. How to Translate Horse Measurements to Bridle Parts: This one also has a PDF that you can download. Bridal sizing guide: This one provides a decent average for horse/pony sizes if you plan to be making bridals and halters that aren't earmarked for a specific animal.

It's an unusual bunch in here and a bit chaotic at times, but there are many that very knowledgeable and very willing to help. I guessing from you initial visit to the chat room, that you've at least experienced the unusual and chaotic nature it can have when others come in to blow off steam and/or ask serious questions at the same time. It's a little like trying to herd cats at times in there, but the ability to get your questions answered quickly and from multiple sources is a real boon. Welcome to the forum and don't forget to embrace the crazy!

I am really digging this case. Thanks for posting the plethora of images of the progress.

In an effort for completeness, I managed to get some reasonable pictures of the bevels on my ceramic blades. This wasn't, altogether, easy since I still do not have a dedicated macro lens yet. The pictures I did get, I feel, manage to capture the condition of the blade right out of the package, and I have the blade that I used to test out polishing of the ceramic blades explained above for comparison. Hopefully this clears up a few of the details with points I covered in the posts above. In these two shots, you can clearly see how rough the condition of that bevel is. Not very pretty and will cause a good deal of drag and crud to build up on the blade. Also, depending on the blade, some of those lines can run at different angles. It just depends on what blade and who was running the equipment, I guess. As usual, these are clickable thumbnails that will open up a full sized picture. This is the side-by-side comparison to show what the blades can look like before and after addressing the condition right out of the packaging. The last image, I was attempting to capture the reflection of the unpolished blade on the bevel of the polished blade. It's easier to make out when you open it up to full size.

I have to agree, It's highly dependent on many things and is one of the most common questions asked here. It's truly up to you how far you want to go with the designs. There are some programs for the computer that help with layout and drawing, but it's still very possible that a pencil and paper will work for you as well. I have heard of people here using Inkscape, GIMP, Illustrator, or even CorelDRAW. This is, by far, not a complete list. Some are free others, not so much. It just depends on your skills and budget. The amount of detail you want to add is up to you. It can range from just simple swivel knife cuts to extremely elaborate works of art with a myriad of option in between. There is something to be said for the simple carvings, but those won't always fit the project well. I depends on the skills and time you want to invest. As for the tools, there is a beginners list for tools that will help you get an idea of what you might need/want. Once again, it's dependent upon your budget and what direction you go with the projects you do. It's also possible that you can get your tools and supplies in a piecemeal manner. There's no need to buy everything all at once and I've heard more than a few times about other members here who still have tools that have either not been used yet or only get used on rare occasions. Another note on tools, there are some that can actually be made or modified from other items. It just depends on your skills and how you want to go about that one. I personally enjoy making tools myself, but there are others' that would rather just buy the tool they want/need and get to work. It makes sense to buy the tools if your business depends on you using said tools, but for a hobbyist it can be fun to experiment with what may or may not work.