RandyScott

I bought two older CSO head knives via EBay for less than $35 each including shipping. The steel is good, my favorite has that nice grey patina and the other has some pitting to clean up but no big deal.. certainly a lot easier than cutting a pattern out of O1 steel. The nice one is .005 thick at the tang and .003 thick a quarter inch in from the blade edge. The other is .007 thick at the tang and also .003 thick a quarter inch from the tang. I sharpen at 5 degrees per side, then hone and strop. They will shave your fingerprint ridges off. For anyone who decides to purchase via EBay, I suggest watching the bids and the items till something comes along that you like. For me, the more photos of the item the more assured I was of the item. Sometimes you can just get lucky on an item. Now just to put my comments in perspective, I make a few knives also.. and I took the easy way.

Bob is correct, paraffin is 'canning wax'. In my local Publix, canning supplies are in the produce/meat department area. Don't know why, just is. If you don't find it there, ask any employee and they will walk you to it.

Johanna, You may want to check the format of the text on the three 'Share this topic' versions: they are all right aligned. And, I am running Windows XP, IE 8. Randy

Yes... See this link.. all the way down to the bottom in the section titled "Finishing Off" is a photo that illustrates the technique. http://www.bowstock.co.uk/saddstit0.html

A standard 'utility knife' as found at Home Depot, Lowe's, WalMart, Ace Hardware, etc., (see this link: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?keyword=utility%2Bknife&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 is readily available and much less expensive than $30. HD carries an ergonomically designed utility knife for just under $4. Blades are inexpensive and readily available also. Strop the blade occassionally and it will do the job. My mentor only uses a utility knife and he has been doing leather for 60 or so years.

The intended purpose of both the metal and wooden creaser is to facilitate placing a crease on the leather. Both tools have a lip that uses the leather edge as a guide to maintain the proper distance from edge to the crease. One may get some 'burnishing effect' from creasing the leather. A tool to 'burnish' the leather edge is limited by your imagination. I have used an awl handle (with the awl blade inserted in a wine bottle cork for my protection), awl handles are made from hard wood - probably maple; the plastic barrel of a Sharpie marker; home made from a piece of 5/8" x 5/8" x 6" exotic hardwood (it was in a grab box at Rockler for 50 cents each) that I shaped with rasp, file and sandpaper; a piece of old blue jean material; a piece of cordura nylon; etc.. The gentleman who tries his best to teach me something about leather, and who has been doing leather work for over 60 years, only uses a piece of cocobola that is the remainder of the handle from a pair of salad tongs to burnish his leather work. I would stay away from any item made of ferrous metal... may cause the leather to turn dark.

bikerd69, At the top of the page, underneath your name, is a search box containing a magnifying glass icon. Enter the word slicker and either press the 'Enter' key or click 'Search'. There are 200 threads with the word slicker in them. Look at the text displayed for each thread, it may have 'glass slicker' or the text may indicate it pertains to using the slicker regardless of the material from which the slicker is made. Randy

Edited to correct my instructions: The 'pages' referred to are thumbnails of images, a '.gif' image. Left click on the image to open it to full size; right click the image and a drop down menu is opened, select 'Save Picture as', a Save Picture dialogue box opens, select the folder to save the image to, enter the File Name, i.e, horse3 (it should have pre-loaded the image name), verify the Save as Type is ‘GIF (*.gif)’and, select Save and the image should be saved. And I am running Windows XP..

Toast. First, I am surprised it bent. That means it was soft enough to bend vs. breaking. It may be soft enough for you to slowly and carefully tap it back out straight, however, now there may be a work harden portion that may break on any further 'stress'. I was reading a very old thread on heat treating steel last night and there was a discussion of the difference between the 'flex' of a blade and the 'bend' of a blade. Flex means the blade returns to its original shape. When the steel is flexed beyond the limits of its elasticity, it bends. At the point of the bend, it has lost some of its strength and becomes weaker. It may be prudent to replace the awl blade before it bends or breaks and you accidentally stick yourself or mess up your project.

I am unable to open the articles referenced in post #12. Is it me?

I recommend that you look at the following links. It is supposed to be some nasty stuff. I believe it accumulates in the body. http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/o6044.htm http://www.sciencestuff.com/msds/C2193.html http://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics0529.htm When I was cleaning out my dad's old wood working shop, I found a 5 pound box of the stuff that had never been opened. The label had faded almost to the point of being unreadable but the "store this side up" and "Caution - Corrosive" got my attention. Had I not known about the stuff I probably would have opened the plastic bag within the box to see what it was or just tossed into the nearest garbage can.

Oldtimer, My bad... I was in a hurry as the wife was calling me to the dinner table and I did not check your location. Hmmm, if the version of Listerine marketed on your side of the pond is the same as ours, it really isn't a deep dark green. Get a small bottle of the Listerine, a small bottle of the Johnson & Johson No More Tears Baby Shampoo (if sold over there or any shampoo for babies that does not burn the eyes) and do a test. The Lexol Conditioner emulsifies, i.e., turns the liquid a whitish creamy color. The Listerine is only a tablespoon as per the formula posted above. I doubt the green will change the color of the liquid or the leather. Test first on scrap. The stuff keeps forever. I have about a pint left from a quart I made over a year ago and it is still good. It separates (stratifies) a little but a good shake of the bottle and it is ready to go. Randy

Oldtimer, remember way back.. way back before there were all these orange and mint flavored (blue or green) Listerine's? The 'Original' Listerine is the one the formula was based on. In my part of the world there is a grocery store chain that carries Listerine and their house brand. The formulation is almost identical, it works just as well and is a little easier on the wallet also. And to specifically answer your question, I believe the bottle is clear and the contents are brown. I will be at the grocery store in the morning and check it out. I will edit this post if a correction is needed.

I just checked... seems to be alive and well for me...

Check this link for surface plates on sale through Nov 30th to see what $40 can buy: http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INLMPI?PMPANO=0515608&PMKBNO=2038&PMPAGE=16&PMCTLG=01 A 12"x18"x3" weighs about 85 pounds and sale priced at $24.95 + S&H. Or the next step up: A 18"x24"x3" weighs about 180 pounds and sale priced at $44.95 + S&H. I presume shipping cost will be ZIP code dependent. I bought their 9"x12"x2", weighs about 30 pounds, a couple of years ago. I think total cost including shipping (it too was on sale!)was about $25. I works just fine for my purposes. And by the way, I did pickup a sink cutout. It is still sitting in the garage. I just did not want to mess with a masonry blade (to square it up), a respirator (rock dust), goggles (rock splinters/shards), ear muffs (I have enought hearing problems as it is!) or the dust and listening to my wife complain about the mess and the noise. Your mileage may vary...

Try these folks: http://www.campbell-bosworth.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=barbour

Is there anyone who lives close to Jim who can teach him how to down load his photos?

Rusty metal is not required. It works just fine on any iron or steel object. BTW, above the ads is a search function on the menu bar. Enter vinegaroon, click search and you will get 200 hits.

It is still too early for me to have decided whether I like the 'new' look or not. As mentioned, it is slower than expected. From my days when I installed and managed conversions from one system to another, if the new system is slower than the old, then the user's perception of any benefit decreases exponentially with the delay - even if by seconds. To put that comment in proper context, that pertained to a data entry application. It would be nice to have been provided a time line as to the course of events relating to this upgrade. I usually login daily and it was a surprise to me. I really liked the old 'new posts' feature as that allowed me to quickly scan all the posts since my last visit, whether hours or days, check the posts I wanted to read, and skip the rest. That was quick, fast and efficient. It appears from an earlier post in this thread the transition to the upgrade is not complete yet, so that may be resolved in the near future. It usually takes a few days for all the 'dead fish' to float to the top and be handled accordingly. I expect all will be well in a few days and we will soon forget the bumps encountered in the journey.

Welcome JC, The stitching pony looks good! I too made one from Chucks' plans and eventually had to use a portable belt sander/wood rasps and sand paper to feather the front and rear edges on the board that go under your thighs. While the edge was rounded, it was still too abrupt an angle and cut off the circulation in my legs as I use a fairly hard bottom computer chair. Your mileage may vary. I spent less than $20, a Saturday morning fabricating it, used several coats of clear Danish Oil and steel wooled between coats and on Sunday used it.

TF, I don't think your thinking is wrong. I have been taught sheathmaking by a gentleman with about 60 years of leatherwork experience and he always grooves his stitch line, then machine stitches, uses a saddlers hammer to flatten the stitches flush with the leather surface and finishes with an overstitch wheel to 'pretty up' the stitches. I looked at your sheath again, looks like you hand stitched (I did not see the 'footprint' of the foot in the leather). I did not see any 'puckered' up leather indicating you had pulled the stitches too tight. The stitches may ride a little low but I like my stitches to ride a little low for a user sheath. I would say more but a thunderstorm is moving in and I must get off now. BTW - nice work on the sheath! Randy

See post #3 for a picture of the tri-bolt in this link: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...24&hl=stool

I think that you could try the bone folder (I think you intend to use the point of the folder to indent a crease in the flesh side) and see if the results meet your expectations. My concern would be the inadvertent burnishing of the grain side due to the pressure when making the crease. Get some scrap and give it a go! Do one each using the folder, the edger and the stitch groover and see which results best meet your needs. Oh, and additional thought just popped up. Are you using the Tandy/TLF 'plastic bone folder'? If so, I would suggest using sandpaper to remove the sharp mold extrusions on the folder. Start with about 220 grit and go up to about 800 or a 1000 grit to smooth and polish the tool. Now, this is probably not an issue if used on the flesh side, only on the grain side. Just a heads up for you!

Yes... Practice on some scrap, use different size edgers (if you have more than one) to see the effect, vary the depth of the cut, etc..

I have used an edger for that purpose. Case or wet the leather, use the edger to cut the groove on the flesh side (assuming the flesh side is the inside of the fold). Sometimes I had to slightly bend the leather toward the grain side to get a better cut groove. I have also sanded the flesh side when the fold was more of a curve than a fold. Good luck...