Nuttish

Assuming you're talking about flat or tinners rivets set with a burr, it's not practical to stamp the burr because it will be marred. You could make a jig for stamping the bottom of the rivet with any jewelers mark, but the bottoms are typically distorted from the process of forging the flat part of the rivet. If it's cost/time efficient for you to grind and polish these to make a nice surface for your mark, more power to you. Fashion rivets as for jeans are nipple or cap rivets stamped with a die and closed with a press that does not mark the surface. These are what you commonly seen with a logo e.g. https://grommetmart.com/products/14/jean-rivets.html There will always be an up front tooling cost of 300+ for the die. Turnarounds are not as quick as one might like.

I think it's still worth it. You don't need to have the tapered maul that I made. A perfectly round one drilled for a chair leg handle is not only adequate, but pretty darn useful. Go nuts with a more exotic handle. I could give zero poops about fancy mauls with custom machined hardware. I needed a heavy thing to whack stuff with. I used the same materials to make several smaller mauls for chisel work in the wood shop.

My time is worth more than melting garbage or taking it apart. Is yours? http://www.mcmaster.com/#hdpe/=w99ep8

I made a whacking stick for $20 in 30 minutes. Works good. Time is worth more than melting milk jugs for poor quality plastic.

I made mine on an engine lathe with a 4" rod of HDPE from McMaster-Carr.

I edge CXL by sanding, rubbing saddle soap in with my fingers, burnishing with a mesquite tool on my drill press, rubbing saddle soap in with my fingers, burnishing with a mesquite tool on my drill press, etc. Anything more doesn't seem to do much, since the leather is so soft that any further finishing will eventually become sort of hazy. Are your edges as durable as you'd like? Are you sure that's not Dublin or Essex?

Don't cut all the way through it. Only cut through the grain and finish the cuts with a fresh razor blade, which will follow the slight "channel" you've created. Enough black dust to cause much less staining to your thread will blow out with compressed air. You can also use a very fine tooth brush with highly foamed saddle soap to lightly scrub your stitch holes if you're laser cutting them. Wash the surface with foamed saddle soap to remove the film of carbon that collects as the machine exhausts fumes over the grain. The laser will sometimes make a small spot of damaged grain when it's cutting over previously charred material farthest from the exhaust plenum. The obvious trick to cutting edges is ... sand them.

Fresh razor blade and a piece of flat steel bar from McMaster.

Your edges look fabulous! What are you using to bevel them? I cannot find the appropriate tool for the job. Augustus. your edges look fabulous. What are you using to bevel them? I can't find the appropriate tool.

What kind of machine was this person using? I can show you examples of a split on a Fortuna style machine. They're ugly, but perfectly serviceable if the flesh doesn't need to be exposed.

I think you were on the right track and that it was just an execution problem. I have never seen smaller awl needles than have been mentioned here. I would suggest you figure out what the appropriate angle for your particular diamond is, buy a water stone, and try again. I've done the same. Draw a picture of the angle and put it next it on the bench next to your stone. Nigel Armitage has a video about sharpening awls. I'd treat them like knives, but his strategy of moving them across the stone in the dimension of the point-to-base probably makes it easier to keep a consistent angle even if it ruins that part of a stone.

Pictures of your particular lamp would be helpful. Please be careful is fuel is leaking out of your lamp while it's lit! In general, a spirit lamp is like any other wicked lamp. The fuel is drawn up the wick by capillary action. There are no other vents or holes than the one the wick passes through and the wick should not completely occlude the opening it sites in.

In my experience, the grain is far too supple to be able to bevel with my tools. Perhaps an exceptionally sharp edger won't skip and dig into the grain. After working with it for the last 10 months or so, I've discovered that it does burnish, it just takes some doing. Doing it by hand is a real drag. A grooved burnishing tool or a drill press or buffer/polisher is essential in my opinion. Why would you dye it?

It's from the 50s or 60s and looks absolutely dead identical to older Fortuna's I've seen, but how would I know? The manual doesn't show dimensions, not that Fortuna manuals do either. I'm stumped.

I'm looking for a burred steel drive wheel for a Fortuna style machine. My stone wheel is clogged and doesn't appear to have been adequate to feed heavier pieces even when it was new. Also looking for presser feet or will pay someone willing to measure, trace, and photograph theirs so I can machine them. Any leads appreciated. Thanks.

Forget it. I made urethane belts. Now to machine some presser feed and guides. Anyone willing to trace theirs I'd be much obliged.

There are no rolled edges there. The top one is just painted. The keepers are folded and glued. What look do you mean?

Did you take some pics? Greg, what style plane body are you using?

Ditto waterstone and extending the bevel above the thickness of your leather. Tools never come from the factory very sharp. I treat mine like woodworking chisels and eyeball scary sharp edges on a combination 800/6000 Japanese waterstone. You don't have to go that fine — it's just what I have that's not an orange/grey Norton stone. I guess you could make a jig, but this isn't fine woodworking. Eyeballing works just fine. You will not enjoy removing a much material as you need to using a strop and rouge.

Newberger Brothers on Fullerton and I90 in Chicago. http://www.newbros.com/

I use a 2 ton Dake every day. 1 ton doesn't do it. Don't attach it to your bench with clamps unless you want a broken foot. They've got mounting holes for a reason. I drilled and tapped the base so I could permanently attach a scrap of 1/2" steep plate. For small flat Delrin dies, I literally just use the ram on the back of the die. Larger dies will flex, so I have a little bit of steel on the back. My dies have little tabs on them that fit into laser cut templates so that they're perfectly registered for every piece I'm marking.

I use a stiff denture brush to remove some of the dirt that seems to collect on my thread. Notice that you can sometimes scrape it off with your fingernail, which means it hasn't penetrated the thread. I also wear nitrile gloves when I'm working with very bright white thread and something like Chromexcel. It's pretty filthy stuff.

However, I question whether you're going to like the quality you get with those tools making a mold for moveable type hot metal. Custom moveable type is either photoengraved or very very very very rarely punchcut, which is what you're essentially proposing. For allllllll the time and trouble you're going to go through, I'd honestly suggest just using Illustrator or Inkscape and drawing your mark to send it to Owasso and have some deep cut embossing dies made. Their plates come large enough that you can get so much on them that they're ridiculously cost effect — sometimes less expensive than a single Grey Ghost Delrin mark, for example. How much is your time worth?

Hi guys. I'm refurbishing a Manufacturers Supplies Co. "Combination Skiver" probably from the early 60s. I think it's a knockoff of a Fortuna bell knife machine, or even a rebadged Fortuna. I say that because it doesn't match any of Manufacturers Supplies Co.'s patents, and they have a few for different machines. I need the main head unit belt (not the 3 phase clutch motor drive belt) and serpentine belt dimensions. The owners manual only includes part numbers. After 4 calls with promises of follow up, Manufacturers Supply Co. (still in business in St. Louis) does not appear interested in either selling the parts or telling me their dimensions. I can't fault them for not stocking $10 parts for a 50 year old machine. So — I'd greatly appreciate it if anyone who has one of these or a similar Fortuna give me the dimensions of these belts so I can possibly avoid having to order 10 parts from McMaster to find the correct size. Thanks in advance.

I have looked for similar and found none made in the US or reasonably priced for my purposes. Abbey doesn't make or sell them. You can get fair looking Chinese knockoffs for a few dollars apiece in reasonable quantities on Alibaba a la http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/SOLID-BRASS-Fishhook-Key-Chain-Ring-Hook-Clip-Fob-Holder/231659_1392744893.html