Tex Shooter

I have two Lucris five ton clicker presses that I use for single clicker dies and stamps. They are very fast clicking single dies or stamp impressions. I have three small dies that I click a lot of parts from and can click about 250 parts a hour. Unless your are going to multiple part dies there is no clicker press that I know of that clicks as fast. I love these little presses for small work. As well as cutting you can do designs easily. Here is a video of one being used for that. http://youtu.be/C-eUq9hMZNk

A few years age before I got a Lucris clicker press I made me an end strap cutter or punch. This 1 inch one was made with a 3/4 inch deep Craftsman socket that I got at a garage sale. I still use it for when making prototype pieces. It was ground on a bench grinder and often dipped in water to keep cool. Then it was sharpened with a Dremel tool again dipping in water often to keep cool and maintain the temper. I used this one a lot and it has remained very sharp. With a little patience a man could have a whole set. -- Tex

There is a bias, most leather stretches in one direction, but not so much in the other. A lot has to do where the leather is taken from the skin. -- Tex

In answer to why mount on a board? The way it is mounted you can sit close to it with you legs under it. Also if you turn the board over and re-clamp it the to the table the vice becomes a vertical clamp for stitching. Because it is a wood vice it has provisions for mounting wood inserts for facing. They could be extended up about 3 inches safely to get more depth for larger items. -- Tex

OK for the other side! When I worked for companies as a designer I was involved in many patents and still do consulting work for a couple of companies. One of the things that happen when a company gets a patent is there is people out there that goes through new patents to copy and they do. Usually a company ignores these copies unless they start hurting there business on the product patented, then they are forced to do something. Usually what is done is a lawyer for the company will send a letter to the one making the copy explaining the companies position. If this don't get action then they may be steps taken to stop the infringement. Legitimate companies use patents to protect legitimate new ideas. Not every idea patented is a good one and some will never make anybody any money. If I was a company today I would be careful about spending the money to patent any leather products as there have been so many products produced. After one pays a patent attorney maybe $5000 there is still the patent fees which are not cheap anymore. If you click on Goggle, then on more, then on even more and scroll down you will find patent search. If you browse through patents you will see what I mean by unproductive patents. -- Tex

I picked up this mostly worn out Craftsman junk aluminum clamp on wood vice at a garage sale for $2. After thinking on how I could use it for a while I came up with this stitching jig. It works fine for what I make just the way it is, but I will probably modify it a little as time goes on. I already have a couple of ideas. I don't call it a stitching pony because it does not quite fit that bill. -- Tex

Hi Tina, I am humbled by your excellent work. My daughters name is Tina and she is very talented also. -- Tex

I don't have any pointers as I am not that great of leather craftsman myself and joined to learn more. Having said that I will wish you a big welcome to the forum and I am sure there is a great deal to be learned here. -- Tex

One Point! He probably has already shelled out about $5,000 for the patent. I think that he is only protected against someone using shell casing trim. As with all patents, they don't apply to anybody making one or several for there own use, but just for selling the protected item. I own a couple of patents myself and several tried to get me to sign off on them so they could sell them without dealing with me. I never had to even warn anybody about a infringement of mine. None of mine are no longer valid. Here is one of mine. http://www.google.com/patents/US5490654?pg=PA4&dq=william+herriman&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FQaxUYP_OMmOqwGTkIAg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA

I am no expert, but I was a wholesale knife salesman for several years and set up in stores and hunting camps to teach how to get a good edge on a knife. The razor strop that my dad used had 3 parts and one was a hard finished linen. A strop is meant to be used to remove the wire formed by sharpening. How sharp one get the edge is determined by how fine of a wire that is formed. That is why a little rubbing compound on on the last sharping operation and before the stropping operation is important. There are several ways to get there and I like the rubbing compound on a tightly woven cloth mounted to a board myself for the finial sharping and before the leather stropping. I have been sharping edges for many years and even took cross sections of edges to exam under a microscope. But I will say that I have met a few that just had the knack for putting a super edge on. There is one thing that one has to be very careful of and that is not to remove the temper by heat from the microscopic edge or the best steel will not hold a edge very long. -- Tex

That is how I do special project leather now also! -- Tex

I use a very crumpled up piece of a heavy brown paper bag to give a hand finished look on wood. Does anybody do that with leather and if so what finish? -- Tex

Blue jean material mounted on a board makes a pretty good strop also. I use two strops the blue jean then a leather. I keep a little rubbing compound on the blue jean material and find it still leaves a microscopic wire that I remove with the leather. -- Tex

More years ago that I want to remember I was do some leather work and carving, then I lost interest, but because of another interest I have renewed my interest in leather work. I am not planning on becoming a super talented person, but will just make simple things for a business that I own. I am 76 years old, but believe that you can teach a old dog new tricks. -- Tex

I recently had a problem with a die from Texas Custom Dies and they fixed it right away without a hitch. They are great people to do business with. I highly recommend them. -- Tex