immiketoo

That's a good way of looking at it!

Between him and Bacchus, its nearly impossible to get it all straight. Thank you kindly!

You bet. His site isn't mobile device friendly and the translation isn't great either, but here's what I have. https://shop.leder-louis.ch/product/Diamond-awl-ready-to-use-45-mm-S/1595

Click the english or american flag on his website at the top right corner for mostly english.

Lederlouis is inexpensive, for a working awl thats good. Leather wranglers is 200 bucks, Douglas awl is 120, so for a good awl, 20 bucks for a blade is pretty cheap.

I have all kinds of awls. Leather Wranglers, Douglas, Osborne, some custom ones and the best by far for most of my work is one made by Lederlouis in Switzerland. You can buy a prepared blade or a complete awl. He is a master at shaping them and they make the neatest hole and are easiest to use. I opted for the 45mm complete awl, but if you have a haft waiting for a blade, get just the blade.

Now THAT's a wallet. There's so much good going on here. Nice work.

As a good friend of mine says, one is fun, three is work and ten is a dismal existence. I (and I think most) often experience lack of motivation on tasks that are repetitive or tedious. Taking the time to refine your process with templates is a great idea and I have found that the more proficient I become with a particular item, the less arduous making multiples is. Plus, you increase your dollar per hour when you are proficient. This is common and you'll either learn when to say no, learn what you like and dislike or learn to increase your pricing!

Welcome back. I would fight like hell to keep my stuff in a divorce! Thankfully, I had all of it beforehand! Anyway, get back at it and post up some work!

That's how you practice! I too like to challenge myself to do things beyond my reach. Most times, I find I can do more than I thought I could. As for the knife, you are sooooo right! A good knife offers better control, less hand fatigue and the blade geometry is far superior to anything form a big box leather craft store. I am always amazed at those that have the opportunity to try a new knife but refuse to. They never know what they're missing!

Im guessing for aesthetics only. Nice pouch!

That stitching is better than a LOT of stuff I see on the web. You now have shop workers!

Depending on how you plan on using it, it should work, unless you want to use it for tensioning. Then it needs to be malleable and hold a shape.

In the states, I used plain old elders, here in Europe, I use Renia.

Good stuff, Bob!!! How is Crystal doing?

I use rubber cement. My dust looks clean and like it was purpose made, but any color should work really. Weldwood is not ideal for this task.

You'll want to get some galvanized steel. Its firm but malleable and easy to cut.

As a man who has tried nearly everything out there swivel knife wise, I will say this. You can buy a good swivel knife at Tandy. Their pro version is as good as anything else out there apart from aesthetics. Rickert Werkzuege sells a phenomenal knife for cheap. Problem with these two are the blades. They all need work to cut smoothly. Geometry is terrible for some types of carving and passable at others. You can learn to use it, but if you experiment with blades, you can fine tune your carving pretty quickly. Everyone has a preference. I like a thin barrel and a low angle blade. As you can see, I've tried nearly all of them

Hopefully next year!

Bob, those are some sweet pieces! Thanks, Noob!

I have OTT lights, and I bought them for 75 percent off at JoAnnes with some of their coupons. I got 120 dollar lights for 27 dollars or something like that. I love them. Another great light is made by Dazor. Just be sure to install daylight bulbs. I have one on each side of my bench and I wish I had a third for fill.

I'm not either, but its SOOOOO worth it. There's something about it that's as cool as Sheridan but with a different feel.

Thanks, Bob! you should come next year!

Just a few non traditional things.