billybopp

Let's not forget about the dreaded dunlap disease too! When your belly dun lapped over yer belt!

One or two orders a year? Probably not worthwhil but. It doesn't take very long for Amazon prime to pay for itself if you order stuff online. It also includes prime video which is pretty nice stuff too. Bill

There is a thread on here somewhere which shows a useful spring modification to pull the handle and ram back up ... Haven't modified mine but will eventually since it looks useful!. Bill

You might experiment with a mule foot to simulate body feathers. Bill

It would work if you can work out how to control it.

Looks great, Constabulary! Congrats on a great find and great work. It gives me hope that I might one day find something similar. I think it would be a great learning experience to restore an old machine AND get something usable at the same time. I know I could do it with the fantastic help that you and others here provide. Thanks for sharing! Bill

I have a term for the current mentality in the US, and to some extent worldwide, "The WalMart Society". It doesn't matter the consequences, just get it cheap. I, for one, refuse to shop at or support their store. It would be bad enough if, as well publicized, WalMart (and others) didn't just screw over their employees. Less publicized is the way that they screw over their suppliers. A few years ago, I spoke with a VP of a well known paper products supplier, and was told that WalMart sends in teams to inspect the books of their suppliers, performs their own cost analysis and then negotiates what price they will pay for products. They offer a take it or leave it deal, which leaves virtually no profit for the supplier, who then has to decide, from a marketing standpoint, whether they can afford to not have their product on the shelves of the largest retailer around. Sounds like a good business plan for WalMart, doesn't it? The supplier doesn't really profit, and can't then afford to raise the standard of living for THEIR employees, ensuring that THEY no have to buy their needs as cheaply as possible. It also ensures that WalMart's small competitors likely cannot match their deal. Unfortunately, other large retailers are now using the same sort of practices. It's a downward spiral all around that can only be stopped by all of us. If we're willing.

I'd open a case with ebay. You did not get what you paid for.

That'll work just fine, Tinker. At 1190 RPM you will need a reducer, but this motor has the huge advantage of not needing a table at all. You just mount the head on the motor itself. Bill

Getting swatches is a great idea, but possibly even better if you have some scraps left, send them to some of the suppliers that deal with a variety of tanneries .. That way they can compare what they have to what you want! You might also look to upholstery suppliers as well. Bill

Those are very cool! Thanks for the video too. Oh, and if you need help with product testing, I'm ready! Bill

I haven't used this for dyes, but for paint where the pigment settles out, I use good ol' fashioned BBs. They work great and they are really cheap. Hmmm. Sounds like a product idea. "New, from Ronco! 'Nuts in a Bottle'. Shake 'em, stir 'em. Make your paint and dye work for you instead of you working for them." $9.95 if you call in now. But wait .. There's MORE. We'll include the shaker holster for FREE is you call in now."

It looks like the Green Grizzly has a pretty shallow throat depth, so that could be a problem depending on what you are doing. The Tandy rivet press is on sale right now for $170.00. Some of the die sets are on sale as well. It might be worth a look for you. Bill

I use 50/50 neatsfoot and beeswax with a few drops of eucalyptus ... Just because I like the aroma. I use a mason jar to hold the ingredients in while melting in a water bath in a crock pot. When melted, pour out into some cupcake papers and there you are. A very nice finish. Not too shiny, not too dull, just right.

You can find some pictures of complete plough gauges on Bruce Johnson's website. They can also be found new from Vergez Blanchard for around $450.00 US. I've recently seen plough gauges .. missing the blades you show ... on eBay, but can't seem to find the listing at the moment. Bill

Suggested books would depends a bit on what sorts of things you want to make! However, as stated above, the Al Stohlman books are an excellent place to start. I'd call these two essentials. There's not much in the way of project designs in them, but I still refer to these references now and then: Leathercraft Tools covers most of the tools used, how to use and how to sharpen / care for them. The Art of Hand Sewing Leather covers one of the essential skills of most types of leather work. Many of the other books, such as the case making books, are dated in terms of designs (when was the last time you used a Kodak Instamatic camera with a flash cube?) but the design principals and techniques are still valid, and cover just about anything you may want to make! Another good general reference is Valerie Michael's book. If you're interested in braiding leather .... Don't forget about internet resources as well ... LWN being one of the best, but also Kingsmere has tons of info on a wide variety of subjects. There are also a ton of good videos on Youtube ... Some better than others, some more concise than others. But that's another subject. Bill

There is a lot of really great info about ... well .. just about everything leather, including tannages, usages and such on the Kingsmere website. There's quite a bit about types of tanning and usages here. The website is a bit hodgepodge, but the info is excellent reading. Bill

What bikermutt is talkin' about is something like this, a shop press / hydraulic arbor press which some folks have modified with a plate top and bottom to make a clicker. There are threads about it somewhere here on LWN .. Here is one of them. Apparently, with bottle jack power, it's not all that fast, but no doubt still much faster than cutting by hand. Bill

It's not as nice as tiger thread. Not nearly as heavily waxed and not as plump as tiger. Closer to .8mm than to 1.0mm. For all that, you can afford to have a full spectrum of colors for around the same price as a single roll of tiger. All in all, it's not bad! Bill

Looks great! The flames work well, and fit in quite nicely with the colors and style that we usually see from you. I'd love to learn how you do flames so well! Well done. Bill

The yoke on mine has a slight amount of play, but it's not enough to cause any problems, and isn't a factor at all when there is a little pressure on it, as when it's in use. Bill

Beautiful work, as always.

Looks good! And yeah ... Letters can be a bitch. If you miss your cut or tooling just a little bit on flowers and leaves, it's just a little natural variation like you meant it to be. On a letter, everybody knows better. Getting bevels done around those really tight parts of your letters kinda sux too, you just have to do the best you and and use a really small beveler. I'm convinced that when it comes to casing your leather, it takes a good deal of time and experience to figure out what is exactly the right amount of moisture. It takes a good deal longer to develop the patience to learn to wait until your leather is at that moisture level before you start working on it!! You're off to a good start!

Kinda funny really. Seems like they are working hard to get rid of loyal customers and at the same they are stepping up marketing to potential future customers ... I've been getting more and more emails and mailings from them though I've never ordered from them. You'd think they changed their name to Tandy or something.

Really nice work, again! Bill