dikman

CdK, I find lathe time to be very therapeutic.

Very classy! Which colour dye?

A friend of ours had a leather business many years ago and kept a bit of stuff when he got rid of it. Just before he died he asked me if I wanted the stuff, so of course I said yes. There is various pre-dyed leathers, tools, buckles, fasteners (including several thousand assorted quick rivets) and three very old Carr hand presses, with an assortment of fittings for various fasteners. Strangely enough, though, there are no fittings to use on the quick rivets. So, a bit of lathe work and I now have a set of dies for quick rivets (which I can also use in my arbor press if needed). The bottom anvil is flat while the top die is slightly domed. Heated and dunked in linseed oil to minimise rusting.

Even though I don't need one I'd grab it at that price! Can't go wrong. If you still want to use your heavier thread you could just use the machine without thread to pre-punch your stitching holes, it's a good way of getting nice straight evenly spaced holes for hand-stitching.

Nice job on the reducer, the method of adjustment is ingenious and simple.

If you had just shown me that, without saying anything about the dye, I would have said it looks great and would have asked how you high-lighted the snowflakes!

I guess I should have made it clearer, I've been experimenting with casting lead jigheads and powdercoating them, I wondered what would happen if I added the glitter stuff to the pc before baking it. That's nice to know, bladegrinder. I need to try it on a decent size piece as I've no idea what the final finish looks like, I'm hoping I like it since I've got so much now. And yes, I've now got enough to dunk stuff if I need to. As an aside, the big bottles are now $75 each and the Neatsfoot oil $45 so I think I did well!

That comment from Hightex sounds a bit odd to me. I wouldn't have any qualms about buying one, the only reason I didn't is because the cost of just the head was almost the same as the 441, so naturally I bought the biggest I could afford!

Browsing marketplace (as one does) and saw some dyes advertised for $50. After a couple of weeks it was still there so offered $40, she said ok so I just picked them up. 2 big bottles of English Bridle (full), 1x Light Brown (50%), 1x Dark Brown (50%), 1x Black (almost empty) and 1x Neatsfoot oil (full). She also threw in some ecostain (Slate gray and Silver), 1x small bottle of Mahogany, 1x Black edgekote and some glitterlites. I'm not sure what I can use the glitterlites for, might be good on fishing lures? I'm feeling pretty chuffed, just need to try the English Bridle to see what it looks like.

Thanks for that, I've been lying awake nights wondering how much they hold! Nice job on the winder, though, you might as well tell us how you made it.

What do you mean by "drop gun belt"? Buscadero style? If you want it to be historically accurate then the only wet molding is to fold the leather around the revolver in order to line up the edges for stitching. I wrap the revolver in a couple of layers of cloth (to give it a bit of bulk) and then in clingwrap to keep the revolver dry, wet the stitched holster and force the revolver in then as the leather dries keep wriggling/twisting it. This should ensure there is minimal retention. There's probably other ways but this has worked for me.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Have you read this? It may be of some interest to you.

For $100 it's definitely worth it! At that price you should be able to afford to fit a servo motor. Of course, that assumes it's either working or at least fixable without too much effort if it's not. $100 is awfully cheap but worth looking into. It's an upholstery-class machine, should have 3/8" under the feet, nominally uses #69 thread but may take #138, so a useful machine to have.

It seems to me that your idea of drilling/countersinking holes along the travel path of the detent ball would be easier than cutting grooves? I can't think of any downside to doing it that way.

Too many donuts!

Ooohhh, I'll have to get one, I've always wondered how many turns went on a bobbin! The counter aside, it does look a bit neater than my diy one.

Perhaps try a light coat of NFO first? Try a scrap, let the oil soak in overnight and then try the dye. Or try warming the leather first with a hair dryer and then apply the dye. Tallow is waxy stuff so warming it may help the leather to "open up" for the dye. I'm guessing here because I've only ever applied tallow after the leather is dyed and finished.

Yes, I couldn't help but notice how organized and labelled things were (very jealous). I have stuff scattered through a garage and three smaller sheds, I sort of know where things are - until I move something! I daren't try and re-arrange things! As for memory loss, you don't need surgery for that to happen, in my case it's old age, bit of a bugger but unavoidable. One good thing about it is I can rewatch a movie, or reread a book, and it's almost like enjoying it again for the first time. All things considered I'd say you're doing well.

Very nice indeed! The handle is linen micarta, I would never have guessed it from the photo, it looks like a classy wooden handle.

Very neat. The cutting track looks like a heavier duty version of the one I have for cutting paper? Edit: ok I just saw your first post, now I see how it works.

You're better organized than me, my friend.

That's bizarre, Patrick, as Canada is your next-door neighbour!! Brian, thanks, it never occurred to me to check where I bought the machine from. Looks like it should do the job and at $98 shipped it's not worth stuffing around.

The second photo made me smile at the clutter/odds and ends that inevitably gather under a bench!

Looks like it's back to the drawing (thinking) board for me. While Patrick's table is a reasonable price in the US the exchange rate for our dollar is pretty pathetic, plus shipping rates from the US have skyrocketed in the last couple of years so it's not a viable option.