billybopp

While used footballs are probably somewhat plentiful for you, they're still a limited supply. Try tracing the shape of the leather on paper, or better cardboard and cut 'em out. Use those to experiment with your layout to find something that works and when you've figured it out use the real deal. Bill

It's not uncommon even for modern dyes to "take" differently from one piece of tooling veg tan leather to another - even on the same hide at times from one part to another. Most ancient dyes will not have the coloring power that modern ones do, so your results aren't all that surprising. You may find that some will need to really soak the leather - possibly even by submersion for a period of time. HO or W&C tooling leather are probably as close as you'll find to fully natural veg tan leather unless you tan it yourself. We know that they both use vegetable matter to tan - but not their exact formula - they're just not going to tell anybody exactly what they use. Bill

Pine would probably work OK, but it can be a bit resinous and as a soft wood, would likely wear down more with use. Oak will also likely work but it is porous and might be a bit more abrasive than you want. Maple is hard and tight grained, so that would be my choice in this case. Bill

Great looking work as always, Chief! I've gotta say, I especially like that last one - Great use of a veiner and swivel knife for a really different, simple, and good looking pattern! Who'da thunkit! The other designs look great too, but it's nice to see what can be done with minimal tools too. Bill

Three Days of the Condor, 1975, Robert Redford, Faye Runaway. I think they did a piece on ice and meat bullets on Mythbusters and they sadly didn't work so well in the real world.

If you think it's unfortunate for a sewing machine, they made airplanes at one time. Bill

Mattsbagger is right in my experience. But if there IS some over-riding reason to put paint atop resolene, it works fine. Bill

Lets see if we can figure this out. Given the makers identity it's some sort of shoe machine, so most likely is for some sort of leather work. Looking at the picture, it's motor driven - there's a drive belt and pulley at the right and no handcrank in sight. The center post part tells us that it's meant to either operate inside something or with some bulk on either side, and the top is a 90deg. angle. The drive pulley on the right looks like it's in line with the back roller arm, and probably designed to pull something through. Just in from the main drive pulley there looks to be a transfer pulley or gear to what looks like an upper shaft. On the left side there looks to be a gearbox, I'd guess to transfer drive down to the front roller arm. The levers on the front look to control pressure or thickness for the two roller arms. The profile of the cams/levers at the top probably release tension on the roller arms to allow insertion/removal of material. The front roller looks to conform to the post / anvil, so probably meant to bend something at 90 deg. The back roller looks to be ridged as though meant to pull material through. It looks like the upper part of the post / anvil might be replaceable, as does the front roller at least. Wonder if there are other profiles available? So, in short - it's a motorized shoe machine that pulls material through (probably leather but maybe not!) with two types of tension-able rollers which might be used together or individually (we don't know for sure). The post/anvil may be changeable. Given that, it may be a single purpose machine or possibly multi-purpose. What other clues are we missing?? Constabulary's first stab at a folder/bender seems right, but I don't know enough about shoe making to have any idea where that would be needed. It's obviously a pretty expensive piece of equipment, so it would be needed for something that is either difficult or time consuming by hand in order to justify the price of a machine.

Dang! Wish I could've been there, but I think you're on the other end o' the state. Bill

I'm not sure what that is, but is that a flux capacitor on the right side? Maybe Doc Brown will chime in and help us identify it. Bill

Zip material is pretty sturdy. I use the awl. Bill

Take a look at this Video by ian Atkinson about putting in zips. bill

I'll second what alpha2 said - search motorcycle line art - stick with something simple and you don't really need to overdo the detail in something as small as a checkbook cover. But I've gotta chime in - it's an awesome gesture for you to do this! Gotta love a two wheelin' granny!!! That's awesome! Bill

Do they look like stretch marks, maybe? Bill

I'm experimenting with this lately. Once I get back to 8hour days and 5day weeks I'll be able to work with it some more. Bill

I may be interested in that rose knife....

Yes.

Some have suggested in the past, using kitty litter (fresh, not used) and bury the work in it ... It's pretty absorbant stuff and can draw out some of the oil.

Looks good and quite usable! Wonder if a side release buckle would be the way to go on the straps? It's too tight, tho - it's cutting off circulation to your fingers and turning them blue. Bill

Wickett and Craig have tooling leather in black. Most other black veg tan such as bridle, harness or latigo can take an impression but only barely and with varying degrees of success... You really have to work at it, and wouldn't want to try too much with it. Good looking bag and belt, bynelson!

Great work! Gotta love it when your friends and neighbors get to see and appreciate your work. Bill

Blue green center is usually a give away that it is chrome tanned.

I can't imagine that belt would be very effective in any case - it looks like the act of walking would quickly work the gun loose and drop it. Yup. That's exactly what happened. I'd assume he left the safety off, or tried to turn it off as he was drawing. He was a brilliant bowler, but apparently not so well trained in firearms. Not surprisingly he didn't talk about it as far as I know, but in a small town, things like that get out. He was the subject of jokes for quite a long time.

I dunno ... If it goes off there the damage is more or less superficial. In the town where I grew up, long ago and far away ... we had a former pro tour bowler who bought a bowling alley that kept getting broken into, and the police were at a loss to find out how or stop it. So the owner decided to spend his nights there for awhile and catch the burglars. One night he heard the burglars coming in through a ventilation shaft from the roof and went out to try to apprehend them - and in the process fired the pistol that he was keeping in the waistband of his slacks, removing parts of his anatomy. He never had kids thereafter, and interestingly enough seems to have lost some of his vanity along with body parts as he shortly thereafter stopped wearing the toupee he had always worn previously. Bill

Just my opinion, but I'd go a little cheaper on a coarse stones- You only use them occasionally to establish the initial edge, or to clean up dings from dropped/damaged edges. Something that you don't need to do often. Finer stones should be better quality - you'll use them for edge maintenance far more frequently. Stones all should be flat for a real precision edge. By the time you get to the strop, you're only removing a tiny amount of metal to produce a finely polished edge, so I wouldn't get overly concerned about flatness. The leather will have a little give anyway, and again, you're removing very little metal there - just enough to polish and knock off the burr from stones. The experts may have a different take on things, but that's how I see it! Bill