480volt

The price of real anvils has skyrocketed over the last few years, driven ,I think, by demand from hobby blacksmiths such as myself. By real I mean one forge welded out of wrought iron with a tool steel plate forge welded to the top, from a maker like Peter Wright or Hay Budden. For setting rivets, a cast iron ASO (anvil shaped object) from the third world country of your choice would probably do just fine, or as suggested, a piece of scrap plate from a fabricator. Pieces of railroad track are also frequently used as improvised anvils.

Brushes in a well designed motor don’t wear out like the brakes on your car, they last a long time and typically are easy to replace. I would put a much higher premium on reliability than on a perceived need to do periodic maintenance.

If you’re going to have to pay someone to move it, they might as well move it in one piece. It looks top-heavy, like a lathe. A good many lathes have been wrecked by inexperienced people not understanding this fact and tipping them over. If it were me, I’d bolt it to a pallet and try and talk a friend into letting me store it in their garage. Maybe make ‘em some shoes. If it’s going to sit in an un-heated space for a long time unused, there is a product called Boeshield that was designed by Boeing to prevent rust on bare metal surfaces.

It’s hard to see from the photo, but is the strap actually riveted to the bag? Looks like the load bearing connection is the sewn-in insert at the top. Can’t really make out what the bleed knot is threaded through.

Not sure if he’s still making them. I emailed him recently and have had no reply.

John James harness needles. Personally, I use pricking irons and wheels. I don’t know about other manufacturers, but Blanchard never gives you specific dimensions of the individual teeth, just the number of teeth per inch. With pricking irons, the size of the impression doesn’t matter, you are controlling the size and angle of the hole with the awl. In regards to awls, there is no standard sizing between manufacturers, just try a couple and see what you like.

When I set copper rivets, I upset them first with a 24oz ball pein, then either finish them with the ball end or switch to a rivet set and a brass hammer. For moving metal around, you really need a sharp, percussive impact. I’d like to try a two-pound Garland with one face copper and the other rawhide.

No oven rack grille guards. No 20” wheels with allen head screws all around trying to look like beadlocks. No snorkle kits good for 72” of water, cause frankly once the tops of the tires are under, you probably have bigger problems to worry about.

Form follows function. I’d put money towards stuff that actually does something, such as limited slip/lockers, increased suspension travel, etc.

My Dake 2 1/2P is good for 6 tons and has 20” of daylight under the ram. Haven’t tried it for leather work, it probably would be a little awkward as the throw is pretty long. I use it for bearings, bushings, etc. It’s really intended for broaching, that’s why the long travel. Weighs a bit over 300 pounds.

Always wondered what machines were used to join the fabric panels on zeppelins.

I built up an RPC out of mostly demo’ed and surplus parts. NEMA size 1 starter, 277v 3-pole contactor (pulls in fine on 220), some old Allen-Bradley momentary switches, 5hp 3-phase motor, used enclosure and disconnects. I did buy new capacitors though. Admittedly, I have better access than most to industrial electrical equipment, but you can build a simple RPC for not too much money. Most of this is moot now that VFDs and “static” converters are commonly available, and you can have speed control to boot! Advantages of an RPC are simplicity, durability and the ability to power an entire ship off of one device (what I do). Just my 2c worth

No idea where you’re located, but there’s a Phase-a-matic R5 for sale for $650 on my local Craigslist (SF Bay Area). I agree, an RPC would be a good choice for a clicker, simple, rugged and no need for speed control.

My wife was a traditional, old school (I hate that phrase) tattooer who apprenticed back in the 80’s, and I helped her run a shop for a number of years. That said, I have a couple observations: In general, tattoo ink is a pigment and does not remain on the surface of the skin, rather in the tissue below the translucent outer layer. Tanned leather will not behave like living skin. As of 15 years ago, when my wife got out, you made your own needles, i.e. you bought loose needles and soldered them to the needle bar. Needle bars are reusable, needles are not. You have to know from experience how to make shaders or liners. Unlike humans, leather is flat, does not stretch, or squirm or ask stupid personal questions. No professionals used rotary machines- they left those to the jailhouse tattooers who made ‘em out of old cassette players and shit. If you’re going to start tattooing yourself, or gods forbid, your friends, do you really understand sterile procedure and cross contamination issues? Tattooers, no matter how experienced, occasionally stick themselves. You have to hope the SOB your working on doesn’t have something nasty like hep c.

I don’t know what it is, but it is the wrong shape for a sheet metal bead roller as I have seen them.

I’d ask Bruce Johnson if he has anything available. Not everything he had is listed on his site. If you buy from him, it will be sharp and polished right out of the box.

Awesome piece of work, Death-of-Rats!

A 3/4 wood dowel. He didn't want any metal in it TSA proof?

What the heck do you use toad leather for?

My concern with buckles on vambraces is the potential for a glancing impact on another player. Holding things together with lacing takes the sharp edges out of the equation and gives me more of the "look" that I like. The San Brownes I've used on bag closures and the like, so no real dynamic loading there. I use solid copper or brass rivets on things like sword frogs and d-ring tabs and belt buckles just don't cause problems. We try hard to produce safe, somewhat realistic weapons, and anything you make is subject to approval by the GM, so I tend to be conservative on design. That said, there is more latitude as the players get older; you could probably show up to adult league in full SCA spec plate and nobody would stop you- but you'd still have to use a foam sword...

Nice to see someone else making gear for LARP. This is one of a pair of vambraces I did for my daughter, they are mirror images of each other. The design is a copy of a Roman Acanthus leaf and it was intended to be subtle. I generally don't use buckles on LARP gear as it can present a hazard to inexperienced players, though I do use Sam Browne studs for closures.

I doubt anyone will be able to give you any kind of definitive answer on the long term effects of using lip balm. But why mess around? Beeswax is cheap and easily available, why risk adverse affects in products that should last decades? Personally, I stitch with linen using shoemaker's wax, which is a mixture of beeswax and rosin, as mentioned by Matt S.

IBEW?

Since, presumably, this is to fit your own head, you would likely have to adjust any template that you find. It looks like it would be relatively straightforward to construct a pattern based on cardboard and duct tape (somebody here once referred to this as CAD: Cardboard Aided Design) My pattern making experience is not in leatherwork, but in years of installing vinyl sheet goods, which requires you to understand how to make flat, brittle surfaces do three-dimensional things. That helmet is composed of flat surfaces curved in one plane, maybe some wet molding needed for a few features.

I resize pictures by emailing them to myself, saving them on my i-phone, then resending them back at a reduced size. Don't know if it works the same with an android device.