billybopp
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Posts posted by billybopp
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23 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:Today is eclipse day, and we're supposed to get 99% coverage of the sun. Yeah - woke up to a totally overcast sky, and can't even tell where the sun is...
[grumble!]
Ah, well, guess that would qualify as a first world problem to most people!
And no, I have no plans to drive anywhere to get a better view of it. According to the weather map, that would mean either driving south of the border, or almost as far east as Quebec!
Edit: Welcome back, Chuck! Glad you are doing well!
We're expecting about 90% here in Philly. Skies are clear. Couldn't find eclipse glasses anywhere, so I'll use a sextant to view.
I also put together an eclipse kit .....
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54 minutes ago, Southerngunner said:The musician gene jumped over me and went straight to my Grandson. He is a blessed and talented lead guitar player with his own band. I could never get both of my hands to work together on a guitar, regrettably with the nerve damage in my legs and feet from 3 back surgeries my feet are not super cooperative to instructions for what pedal to push. Everything that I do has to be slow and deliberate. Not whining about what I have , just explaining. I am determined to make it work. At 71 years old I'm too thick headed to say I can't do this and just give up. I will get it done slower is all
Thanks for everyone's advise and tips it's saving me a lot of rework.
Best Regards, Terry
I'm lucky to be a pretty fair musician, but I've never been able to get my hands to move the right way to play stringed instruments ... Other than the ol' 88 string.
- Bill
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I don't know what it is, but the dog clearly has a guilty smile. Just sayin'.
- Bill
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10 hours ago, dikman said:Just spent two days trying to figure out why I couldn't tack on another image to my test piece. Part of it was outside the area covered by the engraver but I figured Lightburn would just chop it off at the limit point. I was getting all sorts of line and image layers but nothing would burn! Finally worked out that if part of the image falls outside the work area Lightburn will not process anything!!!!
So I tried burning it into a scrap piece of leather and it worked well. I dampened the leather to try tooling it but it doesn't cut or tool easily. It's very old leather given to me with a lot of other stuff and appears to be a "hard" leather. I might try casing it with saddle soap and see if that helps.
It's also occurred to me that maybe I don't need to use a swivel knife, perhaps if I can get the burn depth right I can simply use the engraver to "cut" the pattern and then just tool it? Have to give it a try.
That looks nice! If you're doing a full length belt, consider turning it by 90 degrees so that the rest of the belt can hang out front to back and not interfere with movement of the laser tracks at the side. Also, consider putting a small index mark at the very edge of the belt, and one on your jig to help alignment as you move on to the next segment of the pattern. If the index on the belt is small enough, you can probably remove it as you bevel the edges. As for, using the laser in place of a swivel knife, it might work but unless you can adjust power to change depth of cut on the fly you will not get some of the finer control of trailing off lines that you'd have with a swivel knife. Even if you CAN control that depth it's likely a lot of work to get the software to do what you want. That's probably worthwhile if you intend to make a lot of the same belts, but likely not worthwhile if you're making just a few.
Just my thoughts
- Bill
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12 minutes ago, MtlBiker said:I just saw the latest Sailrite how-to project... just a simple waxed canvas and cordura dopp bag, with leather accents. For all the leather accents they said to apply Neatsfoot oil BEFORE the Fiebings Dye. That surprised me as I'd always thought you apply the oil (if not using a different product) after dying the leather. Is doing it their way common?
It's not uncommon to add a very light coat of NFO before dying. Folks say that it helps even out the dye when applied. Some will even mix NFO and dye. I haven't tried either and can't attest to whether it works or not.
- Bill
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Congratulations!
To the great suggestions above, I'd add a small inspection mirror, a small flashlight, a nut driver set (Klein tools has a great new set with hollow shafts for longer screws), a little organizer box with common sizes of small screws, C and E clips (they have a way of flying away from you to God knows where when you remove them), some spring hooks, and for hex wrenches get the ball end ones, they're great! I'd add some slip stones to your abrasives. Consider a backpack tool bag to carry tools around, it'll spread the weight over both shoulders (your back will eventually thank you!).
Over time, you'll figure out what you use most and should carry around, and what is useful but better left in the workshop.
- Bill
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I had a skinny leather tie in the 80s and loved it! It's probably still around here somewhere.
- Bill
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I totally get it with doing your best possible work, but consider that you do sometimes need to work to a price point. It's the same with just about everything on the market today. VERY few people have an unlimited budget, but some are much bigger than others. You don't want your less expensive products to taint people's opinion of your more expensive ones. One way to do that? Branding! Release less expensive, plainer, perhaps even less durable products under one brand, and then higher end more expensive products under another brand name. It happens in the business world all the time ... Sometimes everybody knows about it such as GM with Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, etc ... Other times, brands that you buy every day are owned by the same parent company but few people know it!!
Just a thought
- Bill
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15 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:This was a kit for a change purse they were discontinuing, so I think they didn't care anymore. I also had trouble getting the holes to line up, which is probably why I haven't done the other kit I bought. I did notice the problem with the dome, though.
I haven't had too many problems with Tandy kits. The leather sometimes isn't the best quality, and they punch REALLY large holes in the projects. You won't like the holes if you're planning to sew, BUT if you're lacing, your poor, blistered fingers will sometimes wish the holes were even bigger!
When I started doing leather stuff, I bought some Tandy kits. It was good to get a feel for how to put things together. Since then, I've bought others but the first thing I do with them is to make a pattern from them! I put the kit together to learn where the "sticking points" are in assembly and other details, and also use them to try out my first thoughts on decorating and colors. They generally come out OK, but what follows is usually much nicer when I use the templates to cut out my own version, use proper chisels to make sewing holes, and any other changes!
The kits they sell tend to be attractive, nicely proportioned, solid designs that are then buggered up with huge stitching holes, the simplest possible way to attach hardware, etc. There are a lot of relatively simple improvements to be made by anybody with some experience under their belt.
- Bill
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Keep the handle, maybe!
- Bill
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I was tempted to order a sample, but shipping is $10!
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2 hours ago, AndrewWR said:Not humidors, Jack. The pale box is my collection of EDC penknives and the darker one is a shoeshine valet box.
Good try... but no cigar :-)
... I see what you did there! LOL
- Bill
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14 hours ago, BrainTannedKiwi said:Thats good to know, Ive got a roller machine on the way so I can get a grip on the dyeing techniques then maybe in the future get some plates, could you not make the rollers larger in diameter to make a bigger pattern?
Roller diameters do differ some, but there are limitations on how big machines will take.
-Bill
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That's definitely Dan Akroyd, but that must have been edited in by somebody. He would have been around 10 years old when that episode came out, and there also wouldn't have been a cassette player at the time.
- Bill
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On 7/1/2022 at 1:42 PM, fredk said:Matt, I think you must be correct.
Handstitched, that is Fiebings Purple, same on both sides. As it fits perfectly the way I want it to there is no need to stretch it
tsunkasapa, Gremilns only cause problems with RAF machinery.
As an aside; at least into the early - mid 1970s putting down 'Gremilns' on an RAF aircraft service card was a legit reason for when a ground crew could not locate and fix an intermittent fault as reported by the air crew. Gremilns were first discovered by the RFC during WW1. They are not what the 1984 film portrayed
Gremlins show up on airliners too ....
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Roller embossers and plates both have their place. Rollers are generally easier but are more or less limited to patterns that repeat at up to about 4 or 5 inches or so (depending on the outer diameter of the roll). If you want a more varied pattern, you CAN use rollers and switch them out for different sections, but that is a huge pain to get things lined up right. For those more varied patterns, embossing plates are a better choice. It's relatively easy with plates to mix and match patterns for a wider variety of items.
- Bill
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I suspect that those are not embossed with a roller, but rather embossing plates. Look at the topmost blue belt and you can see a slight separation between embossed sections. It's noticeable with some of the others as well. Also, agree with @GatoGordo they are likely dyed the base color and then block dyed black after that.
- Bill
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12 hours ago, dikman said:I've been pondering the subject of tallow and trying to do what little research I can on it. It seems that traditionally tallow is made from beef or sheep fat as both of these appear to store indefinitely without refrigeration. When using pork fat it's called grease as the chemical structure of pork fat is different to beef and sheep fat and it also has a finite life. Tallow can be made from other animals - bear, elk, deer, buffalo - but from what I can glean none of them have the shelf life of beef or sheep tallow BUT I have no experience personally with them. Quite a fascinating subject, did you know that tallow was used for lubricating steam engines? Amazing stuff, really.
If you have 50 TONS or so of lard ... You can launch a battleship! Before oil became civilization's main source of lubrication, animal fat of one sort or another was used to lubricate. Everything from wagon wheel axle grease to steam engine bearing surfaces. I have no doubt it was used to build the pyramids and great cathedrals too!
P.S. At least for me, Bacon fat does a wonderful job lubricating my cast iron skillet for the eggs that are cooked after. Just don't tell my doctor that I do that, please.
- Bill
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2 hours ago, DieselTech said:Thanks billybopp. I appreciate the info. I'll give each a try at some point. Does it take a lot of dye to dip dye? Or is your dye quite diluted/thinned when dip dying?
Thanks.
It all depends on how you do it - but you need a good amount to run leather through. I dilute about 50/50 with denatured alcohol. Afterward, however, most of it goes back into the a bottle for use another time. Most things don't get fully submerged, and don't stay there for long. Belt straps, for example, just get held under with a gloved hand and pulled through - so not TOO much dye needed for that.
- Bill
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Dyes do not need to be diluted to be airbrushed. They are quite thin already. If you want finer control over the color, however, thinning can be helpful for building up color slowly. I've often used sponges, daubers and wool as well. All work fine. Dip dying can be a good option as well - but I do prefer diluted when dipping.
- Bill
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I've used sewn on velcro on similar straps. Glue alone would probably be fine, but I prefer to sew as well.
- Bill
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Merry Christmas!
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15 hours ago, DieselTech said:Is that what they consider a plough gauge/draw gauge?
Whatever it is, it looks well made to me.
That is a plough gauge. You PUSH it through the leather, like a plough.
Below is a draw gauge. You PULL (or draw) it through the leather.
spring flowers and good food
in All About Us and Off Topic
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As it turned out, we didn't get to see much. I was able to see up to about 1/3 coverage when heavy clouds rolled in ... and just about the time it was all over they rolled out. I don't mind so much for myself as I've seen several eclipses in the past, but my partner has never seen one, and now still hasn't.
- Bill