billybopp

I first read the title of this post shortly after having gone out to Taco Bell .... and well ... the places my brain went..... -Bill

The conditioner used depends on the type of leather and how the leather is being used! For most of what I do, vegetable tanned leather used in belts, more rugged bags, etc I prefer a beeswax & neatfoot oil paste that I found here on LWN. I want to say the recipe was posted by @Dwight. I usually include some with every item that I make. Smaller items get a lipstick container of it, bigger items either a cupcake paper cup about half-full or I'm starting to look into silicone molds for it. For chrome tanned things that are newer and not dried out, I like Fiebings Aussie cream. I've tried others that seem to be fine for that use too. - Bill

It makes perfect sense, but ... getting dressed must have been a PAIN! LOL -Bill

You might find that disposable blades work even better after a good stropping. - Bill

All things considered, it's not horrible. I've seen less sold for more at times. That said, I agree with just about everything said above. That said, if you wanted to make your own, you could do better without too much trouble! Materials, tools, and all would probably cost less than the $100 asking price - Not including your blood, sweat and tears. - Bill

I feel your pain. I don't have hearing aids, but I do have arthritis. Many medications (including some kinds of arthritis pain medication) come in blister packaging like your batteries. They SUCK to get open. - Bill

Woke up to no water this morning. The cold caused a water main break. At least we have a nice skating rink in the street! Hope the water dept. can get it taken care of quickly.

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas!

Cut from the back side (fur-side down) using a knife NOT scissors. - Bill

That looks strangely familiar .....

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I wouldn't worry about concentrated heat from a reptile heater - an incandescent lightbulb would be exactly the same sort of heat pattern. If that worries you, put the heat sources in the bottom and a sheet of aluminum or other metal above them to spread out the heat. - Bill

It might be quite a stretch to find a manual from just a picture. What is the model number?? - Bill

All good advice above, I've used all of them. Another thing to consider is that the leather needs to be relaxed before you start cutting (no no .. not like give it a cup of tea and a comfy chair relaxed). What I mean is that you'll want to lay out the leather flat and not at all stretched nor compressed before you start cutting. It's tempting to pull it taut to make cutting easier, but that will cause problems down the road as it shrinks back to size. - Bill

@AtomicLeather You are correct, the stamps and roll embossers are bookbinding tools. They're even more expensive than most leather working tools from what I've seen!! - Bill

Depending on the embossing height, if high enough I'd use a combination of layered leather bits to get up close to the level needed then dust goop for the final shape. The main difference is that using just stacked leather, you then have to remove leather to get to the final shape, sort of like whittling wood it's a subtractive process. Goop is more like working with clay, you pack it on and then move it around to get your shape, more of an additive process. I haven't done anything practical with either as I'm a crap sculptor but I did play around a little just to see what it's like several years ago. - Bill

I'm not going to make a joke .... I'm not going to make a joke ... I'm not going to make a joke ...

According to the parts books like it's an "Oil Regulating Screw" - whatever that means! - Bill 255RB-3.pdf Consew255RB-3 parts & opermanual.pdf 255339LSW2BLLSW28BL.pdf

Thanks again Dwight, but no. It's toast. The laptop fell from a table while powered on. I opened the HDD and there's a hard physical crash on the disk surface. I've recovered drives from a minor head touch, but this one you can see bare aluminum through the substrate. - Bill

I've heard that stamp called "Crazy Legs". They do make a really cool looking pattern. - Bill

Thanks for the offer Dwight! Sadly, I don't have the plastic and the drawings were lost when my laptop HDD crashed. Lost a lot of good stuff with that crash including some leather designs that I was working on. - Bill

I made a bigger jig like this years ago, out of thick plastruct plastic sheets, and used chicago screws as the pivot points. To make it a little more versatile, I sized the centering holes the same size as the other holes, and with a couple more screws that allowed me to add a third arm in the center which can be exchanged for different needs, exactly the same length as the ones at the edge. Need extra small belt holes? Make a center arm with small holes that fit that small punch. Need an oblong for the buckle tongue? Make a center arm, use that oblong to punch the plastic the right size and orientation and your oblong is centered and as straight as you were able to make get the plastic. You can also make a couple of holes in the edge arms and add a stiff wire pointer to set up hole spacing to help you move the jig the right distance for even holes. I took the idea so far as to put the design into cad software with a measurement scale on the arms to assist with spacing, and some accessories with the intent of having it laser cut in some nice clear plastic! Unfortunately, before the laser cut folks could get to my project, they went out of business. So, for now - my old jig still works even if it doesn't have all the niceties. - Bill

I can hear the OLD Mountain Dew jingle in my head ..... Good work!

It makes no difference that I have noticed, other than you might get a little more pigment coming up as you rub in the NFO. - Bill