dikman

Chuck, non of the native species have antlers or tusks (not even drop bears!) they come from introduced (and now considered pest) species. This tine came off a youngish fallow deer, unfortunately they tend to have thinnish antlers with large palms and lots of smallish tines, so it's difficult to get a lot of material that's useable as knife handles. The palms look really nice but so far I haven't figured out a use for them (too thin). There are several species of deer across Australia, I just take what I'm offered. I did have some off a Rusa or Sambar that was nice and thick but I used it up making grips for my revolvers. And yes, I've got to work on the blade a bit, this was in way of an experiment so I'll play around with it a bit - when it gets cooler, it's supposed to be 42*C today!!!!!

I've got these antler tines that I don't know what to do with, so......it can be held like a pen and the tine curves over the back of the hand, or it can be held like a pocket knife. Now I just have to work on the edge, I just can't seem to get them sharp enough lately, they'll cut but......

GP, that kit should be fine. The black airbrush is what's termed an external mix, the paint is sucked up by venturi action, they do not do as fine a spray or have the control of a double action gravity feed (the other two) but are great for covering larger areas. They are also much easier to clean! If you bought that kit as Beehive mentioned it might be worth considering adding quick-release air fittings, they're not necessary but do make it easier to swap between airbrushes.

As Beehive said colour mixing/matching is trial-and-error. As for compressors I have several (different sizes) two of which are the generic airbrush types, they are identical except one has a tank. While the tank-less one works ok my advice is to get one with a tank if possible. These are often sold as a "kit" with a double-action airbrush, try and get a gravity feed airbrush and one with a reasonable capacity cup (some of them come with different size cups, which can be useful).

I decided to make a smaller (1/4 round?) knife from the saw blade and while drawing it out I thought there's enough steel to make a 4" wide round knife with an off-set handle. So I cut them out and thought the bigger one was going to make a very nice knife. Unfortunately the Knife Gods thought otherwise! I heated the bigger blade and quenched it in water and it promptly took on several interesting curves!! Me being smart reheated it, quenched it and quickly shoved it between two steel plates to flatten it. As I tightened the vise holding the plates there was a lovely "ting" sound and I knew what had happened. I overlooked the fact that the steel being so thin cooled too quickly. It's pretty good steel though, goes really hard when quenched! Anyhow, I looked at what was left and figured I might as well make something out of it but didn't want to waste time doing a fancy handle so I found some very old oak (from a wine barrel) in the scrapheap and used that. It's surprisingly hard wood to cut. Gave it a coat of BLO and called it good. The other little one has a laminated handle made from the oak and some redgum, I heated the handle and put on some paraffin/beeswax mix, which looked nice, until I put it on a buffer and the nice white wood went dirty! The final problem I had was sharpening them, I used the paper wheel setup and could get a beautifully polished edge but could NOT get that really sharp edge you need for cutting leather. In the end I used a 1000 grit diamond stone to shape the edge then the strop, that seems to work. I think I might make a short straight blade next, as it shouldn't warp when quenching, and maybe use up some of the antler that is too small/too much pith for a bigger blade.

Regarding masking tape you could look at modelling shops (plastic kits etc) they will have suitable masking tapes. I have several airbrushes of various types (don't keep them in dark places, I think they breed!) some are "cheapies" from ebay/aliexpress and they all work fine. One thing that can help is to carefully polish the needle tips. I also have one like fred showed, I thought it might suffer from pulsing but it works surprisingly well. You might be able to find used airbrushes/compressors cheap on ebay/google marketplace, could be an inexpensive way to start.

That's excellent service. It's becoming something of a rarity in these days of internet shopping.

That machine requires a compressed air line attached to the air gauges at the left and uses the air to operate the foot lift, amongst other things. The right side foot pedal is normally used to lift the feet. I wouldn't want that machine unless it was virtually given to me because of all the complexity built into it. None of it is really needed for sewing leather and if it develops a fault will be expensive to repair. If it was given to me I would remove the motor and associated controls and replace with a servo motor. Just my thoughts on it.

Can you tilt the head back and take photos of the inside? There must be a connection point inside for the chain.

Bruce, I google-searched head knife and then round knife then clicked on images - it's amazing the variations out there! It's given me a couple of ideas.......which raises the question just how many round knives does a person need?

Thanks mate, when I started leatherwork and came across head/round knives I thought what a strange shape for a knife. Then it slowly got weirder as I kept coming across all manner of variations in their design. Fascinating.

Single head knife - yeah, I can live with that.

https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/122906-new-look/ It's not intentional, the site was hacked and Johanna managed to keep it going with a simpler layout. She's still hard at work restoring the site.

Angle grinder with a cut-off wheel. Toxo, I agree, head knife seems an odd term, given the shape of the blade. I've also seen this particular shape referred to as a bird's-head knife, which seems more fitting. It's a funny thing to use as I thought it would work by pulling towards me and using the large curved part but it just doesn't like to cut using it like that, very strange. It works better by using the pointed section.

Thanks guys. The craftmanship isn't that good on the handle (fortunately you can't see it ) next time should be better as I'll give more thought to the antler. I wanted this to fit INTO the palm as it makes it easier to push and control, and with a stumpy handle I can also hold it like a stabbing implement and cut by pulling it towards me.

Didn't know that, I've learned something new. So just buy sewing machine oil (check the MSDS if uncertain what's in it) or ISO 66 hydraulic fluid.

I've made a couple of head knives from a circular saw blade and while they work they're fairly big (plus I need to grind the bevels down a bit more). So I thought "why not make a smaller half head knife?". A guy on youtube called Red Beard made one and kindly made the pattern available so I pinched it. Looking around for a bit of steel I found a panel saw I'd bought for $2 but it wouldn't cut straight and I couldn't be bothered resetting and sharpening the teeth so I just hung it in the forge. I tried a centre punch on it, which it promptly blunted! Hmm, might have possibilities. I made an assumption that the Chinese factory would likely have used a simple carbon steel, with no differential hardening for the teeth, to make it cheaply. So I cut a little piece off annealed it and then heated it to non-magnetic and quenched in water. Bingo, the file skated across it, looked like I was on a winner. I cut the shape out with an angle grinder, annealed it and ground to shape on the belt grinder, then heated and quenched in oil. To temper it I ran a gas torch carefully along the edge to just get a tinge of colour, good enough for this experiment. The deer antler proved problematic as when I started grinding it became apparent there was going to be a lot of pith showing. At that point I decided not try and make it perfect, just functional. I wanted it to rest against the palm of the hand so that ruled out fitting an end cap. The blade was carefully sharpened on the belt grinder, then a paper wheel and finally a strop. I have some leather from an old saddle so it's dirty and stiff but it cut it without too much trouble and breezed through softer veg tan. There's still quite a bit of the saw left so I might have another go once I can figure out how to better utilise the antler that I have.

Why bother? This is temporary until Johanna has sorted out the hacking issue, at which point I'm sure we will be offered the option of the "old" scheme. In the meantime at least we have a functioning forum, which is the main thing. So us olde fuddy-duddy's will just have to put up with it.

I would say it's up to them to reach an agreement you're happy with. Complete replacement or full refund at their cost or, as suggested, replacement parts and partial refund. I know here in Oz consumer laws are on the buyer's side in such a case.

A cylinder arm will be the most versatile, as fred said you can always buy, or make, a flatbed attachment for it - if you find you need it.

Yep, like I said don't overthink it. I'm sure many out there use 3-in-1 oil because it's readily available. I doubt there's anything in modern engine oils that is likely to cause any damage to a machine but what you don't want is a heavy sticky oil. If you're not sure then do as Michiel said and just buy sewing machine oil and your Pfaff will be happy.

It was 8 years ago so was likely 2 years back then and has changed since.

If you're not familiar with BLO be careful disposing of any rags soaked in the stuff, they can self combust! Do a search on the 'net.

After reading all this my brains hurt.........

Many many years ago I was making a wooden carrying case for a rifle and lined it with foam. I used Selley's contact cement (most commonly used contact glue then) to glue the foam and after spending a long time leaning over the case gluing it all in I was feeling very........strange! A salutary lesson about using such glues.