slipangle

Old thread, I know. But just want to say I think that is superb. I really get the six foot turkey reference. Been having a lot of wild turkeys in the neighborhood and yard this year. For some reason, as Fall approached, I noticed some of them running. Not sure why but haven't seen that in years past. What struck me as they leaned forward and ran was how much they resembled a Velociraptor. Anyway, your tooling is sculptural art.

The ball head itself is standard stuff. From the ball upwards, however, that shaft and the fitting attached to it, with hinge, is a custom piece. The outfit making those swivel mount stitching ponies likely had it made specifically for this purpose, their design.

Now that there's some oil in the leather at the edges, it could bleed. The tool you use to apply the dye makes a big difference. A standard wool dauber isn't it. Even a Q tip can be tricky. Anything that is fairly firm and lays flat, and only contacts the very tip of the edge will help keep the dye from creeping down past the edge onto the front or back. I use a 1/4 inch square piece of hard felt, in the form of a "stick". Kept fairly dry and not sopping with dye.

I'll add 2 cents if I may, Chris. If it's the video I'm thinking of, he may have only used a Sharpie as the initial darkening agent for the edges. Then sanded, then applied a more suitable product. Sharpie alone won't last, in my view, and the black ink in Sharpies tends to go blueish over time. You could certainly try it over the oil but in my opinion the application of Mink oil is a no-no. Mink oil softens and degrades leather. What you don't want on a sheath or a holster, in my view. Since you've already oiled, I would obtain a bottle of Fiebing's black leather dye, the alcohol or oil dye, and go over it with that. Followed by wax and burnishing.

Just wanted to say Chris, I just visited your site. Your furniture is amazing. Outstanding. I only dabble in leatherwork and saddle stitching, but also have trouble with the stitches laying down in that consistent "diagonal slash" look. Especially on the back side. lots of people here are top notch at it. Just takes lots of practice and a consistent movement and technique with the needle placement and thread management as you go back and forth. Your sheath looks excellent to me. I remember the old Buck knife well.

That might be another good option, Matt. I used to have a fairly elaborate jig/fixture...Delta as I remember, that was designed for sharpening drills, and it might've worked well for something like this. A cutter grinding fixture in a machine shop might be just the ticket. I've seen videos of guys adapting a Dremel mounted to the compound of a metal lathe to be used as a tool post grinder as well. A clever alternative to a very expensive Dumore tool post grinder or similar.

Realizing this thread is old and that, hopefully, you've purchased a new blade, but if you wanted to keep the old blade as a spare and get it fixed up, I would try to find a service in your area that sharpens carbide tools, like saw blades, router bits, etc. They may have the fixture necessary, or could rig one up, to hold this blade, and rotate it, against the rapidly spinning grinding wheel. My second choice would be a well outfitted machine shop. One that has a surface grinding machine. It's likely this blade was made on a surface grinder and if there are nicks in the edge, the primary bevel needs to be re-ground and then a secondary bevel ground onto it to sharpen it. With an ultra fine stone, polished, etc. Could or would a machine shop do this? Unknown. But it's worth checking out, I think, given the price of replacement blades. The only way I would try to do this at home would be to rotate the blade slowly, held somehow in the headstock of a metal lathe, which I have, and ground using a tool post mounted grinder, which I don't.

I'm also fascinated by his blades. Diamond shaped blade but sharpened to a chisel point. I'll definitely have to try that.

Don't log in here much but wanted to comment on those Jerome David awl hafts. Just beautiful. As someone who has dabbled in awl making, and wood and metal work in general, I'd love to see how he constructs these. Just for my own curiosity. Here are a few I made a couple of years ago, and sold some of them here. Haven't made one in some time. Utilizing the Starrett pin vise and the nickel silver collar I turn makes these considerably heavier than Titanium, I would think. Awl hafts

Hello, Terribly sorry about the delay. As a matter of fact, I do still have number 3. If you are interested. Thanks...Scott

Hi Sceaden, You are next in line on this wanted list so thought I'd run this one by you first. Thing is, this one is quite small and probably more suited to things like wallets and such. I will be making some larger ones though. But this is the last piece of my really good lignum vitae. Even better than the LV than I made the four burnishers in my for sale thread. Though that is nice stuff too, this yellowish green stuff is just a cut above, IMO. I only had a small chunk of this left, hence the small size. Anyway, no obligation of course. If you can use this one, let me know. If not, I can show it to the next person who inquired. This one is 3/4 diameter, about 7/8 long overall, and the grooves are 3/16, 1/8 and 1/16, approximately. End button is 3/16 diameter. Shank is 1/8 diameter and 11/16 long. $37 shipped if interested. Thank you for you patience. Scott

Huh? Are you saying that only Tandy can sell these books? How about re-sellers who purchase them from Tandy wholesale, then re-sell them.You know, like every book store buys books from the publisher to re-sell. The Amazon listing does say that Tandy is the publisher. Paperback: 132 pages Publisher: Tandy Leather Co. (January 1, 1983) Language: English ISBN-10: 1892214938 ISBN-13: 978-1892214935 Anyway, there may be something here I'm unaware of. And probably uninterested in.

This is kind of odd, if you'll forgive me. The printed and bound copies of these Stohlman books are already copyrighted by Tandy, even the ones available on Amazon. So "legality" isn't an issue. Unless you think someone is bootlegging the books. Which I seriously doubt. As for down loading a file, personally, I really like having the books themselves. You can lay them open on the bench, enjoy the great illustrations and even read them while sitting or laying around, like any book. I like paper books though. Just doesn't seem the same viewing them on a computer screen. 2 cents.

If it were me, I'd start with these books. They are fantastic, IMO. https://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Leather-Cases-Vol/dp/1892214938

Grabbed his big score and took a powder? Man, what a deal. Very generous of you, Mr Edmunds.