St8LineGunsmith

I would imagine horse would make good strop material I usually just grab up a thick stiff piece of veg tan leather out of the scrap box at my local tandy store then rub jewlers rouge all over it , serves its purpose well. I find that making a nice strop usually gets worn and cut so I dont put too much energy in making a strop strap.

Yep that is exactly what I use for burnishing and wax finishing. I never tried hardening it up with paraffin tho but it sounds like a good idea because it can be a bit of a mess when using it for slicking the edges however it penetrates good too I have also in the past used s block of paraffin for burnishing the edges too and works well

NICE!

the angle of the edge on mine is approximately 12 degrees. you can see the the difference between the two knives here. https://www.osborneleathertools.com/category.php?cid=5

sounds like you need to do some more honing on that round knife mine cuts through 12 oz leather like it was warm butter and requires very little pressure tocut through the leather. it cuts clean through in one pass. you will want to get the steepest angle on the blade as you can which means completely removing the factory beveled edge. trust me if you work it long enough at the proper angle you will soon have it as sharp as any razor blade. and holds its edge very well just make sure not to cut with it on hard surfaces and strop it before and after each use to keep it that way. as far as other head/ round knifes like the Al Stholman "Damascus blades" and the CS Osborne knifes they are no sharper out of the box than the abetta. in fact I have never bought any knife that was sharp to my liking I can even get utility knife blades to cut better by spending a few minutes honing and stropping them before trying to cut anything with them. I wouldnt mind getting a piece of 16 gauge 440 stainless and cutting out my own blade kind of like the configuration as the LW round knife. those are some very nice looking blades and look like they are very efficient at cutting leather and I imagine they are very sharp right out of the box.

this set from SC would be good to start with if you need a swivel knife. http://springfieldleather.com/29331/Stamping-Tool-Set%2CSLC-Basic-10/

I got a flier from my local TLF advertising a fathers day sale which they had a few managers specials that included the Al Stohlman mauls on sale for $39.95 for the small one. I have to confess I had been wanting one of these for a long time but just was not going to spend full price of $89.95 (or $72.00 with my gold club membership) so I just waited because I knew eventually I would catch them on sale.even at the sale price I am pretty sure they made at least ten dollars profit if not more. I have to admit it is a really fine quality maul and the weight of the small maul is just right for stamping. so I have decided that when my club membership expires I am not going to renew and just catch the sales and keep My SLC membership current.

That Is a cool strap!

goat skin will be more like deer/buck skin.

Speaking of which I was watching SLC 10 day deals or now called Kevins Value channel where they have introduced their new tool line called craft master so I will be keeping my eyes open for these new tools coming out they look to be high quality tools at a more reasonable price point.

wow That is some really good looking work!

SLC regular pricing has tandy Gold Club member pricing beat and SLC quality on their leather puts Tandy to shame even with shipping charges I can come out better dealing with SLC in most cases and when I buy on line SLC always adjust the shipping cost to benefit me when they charge my account pretty much the only reason I dealt with The local Tandy store was because they used to have a good manager now that he is no longer there I have very little reason to deal with Tandy except fort when I need something in a pinch.

AFIK Tandy dont make their own tools, they buy from a tool manufacturer .I dont know who is making stamps and hand tools for Tandy since Crafttool USA closed up shop they are just using the name crafttool since they were so well known so when you buy a new"crafttool" stamp or other tool that is branded crafttool you may in fact be getting a tool made by Midas and possibly the new pro series tools could be made by Barry King but Tandy has no control over SLC as far as which manufacturer's they buy from nor do I think SLC buys any thing from Tandy and I dont think SLC feels threatened in any way by Tandy. Here is some info that might shed some light on this http://pslac.org/iilg/background.htm I am sure there has been a lot of changes since this was written

this air brush http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__9294__Twin_action_air_brush_set_.html this compressor http://www.harborfreight.com/16-horsepower-58-psi-oilless-airbrush-compressor-69433.html very good combination dont let the price on the air brush fool you it is a very good little air brush

I used to love my local tandy store when Jim was the manager there He held free leather working classes every Saturday morning and did not mind helping you out how ever he could well they fired him supposedly because sales were down and replaced him with some snippity girl who is just fresh out of school and no longer holds clases and pretty much everyone I know no longer wants to do business with the local Tandy store since she has taken over. I am doing more and more business with SLC since this travesty. proof positive that tandy is more concerned with their bottom line than keeping a good relationshipwith their regular customers

that is kind of snippity response apparently they don't need any business

Bear man now that is a really cool little press!I am going to have to bookmark this page so I can cypher your photos so I can make one for my self

I just joined

the wet sanding hones and polishes the edge better than honing dry and keeps the metal from sticking to the paper. just keep working the blade between the 800 and 1000grit then polish it off with the strop before using it and after you will eventually get it super sharp round knife that will son be slicing through leather like it was warm butter... Mine does anyway.

yes you can cut back the posts. you can cut them down with a dremmel tool with a cut off disk attachment. pretty fast.

springfield leather should have what you are looking for give them a call and tell them what you are needing.

unless you are making production runs by the hundreds I would just stay with the hammer setter; Osborne makes a really good one that sets a good flange and has a longer stem opposed to the short stemmed ones from tandy https://www.osborneleathertools.com/category.php?cid=37 Lord and Hodge has good snap seters and quality snaps.; IMO those pliers setters are pretty much garbage not worth spending the money you cannot use too much leverage withouth them bendingon.Jat least that is my experience with the ones I bought, other folks opinion might differ from mine you can also use a drill press and chuck up the hammer setter and press them that way too. My little drill press is good at multi tasking for stuff like that also fantastic for punching and pricking lace holes

I use the ,2 needlesas well however I like the waxed nylon artificial sinew because it can be split to make any gauge thread you need it takes a little extra work by having to twist up the thread but I really like ithttp://springfieldleather.com/store/search.asp

Dwight I hope you got the file this time. cliick http://springfieldleather.com/35876/Brown-Chapity-Chinkity-Leather/ http://springfieldleather.com/34939/Olive-Chap-Sides/ this stuff will make really nice chinks and chaps