rickdroid

I just received four spools of 0.8 mm Tiger thread from Abbey England. With shipping cost was $119.00. rick

I will be using this for knives, my leather knives, pocket knives, pretty much any knife that I have. I know that the compounds are not made equal but who do you trust when making a purchase. There don't seem to be any standards on compounds and I understand that one companies compound may nor be anywhere near another companies. How do you make an informed choice? For my leather knives I use green followed with red then a bare strop. While this works fine for me I would simply like to know more and perhaps make a smarter choice.

Stropping compounds have always been a mystery to me. There are a lot of sites on the internet that offer compounds but what to order/use has always been foggy to me. I have for quite a while been getting compound from a local jewelry supply dealer, and while he has a pretty varied selection his knowledge doesn't seem any more complete than mine. Recently I ordered some online wanting to see how what the differences might be from what I have been getting. Along with the compound this card was included which offered some information, most of which I didn't know. Anyhow, I have a lot of questions on this subject and if anyone has some experience with compounds, any knowledge that you might share will be appreciated.

Beautiful, looks alive. Looks like i should stick a pin through it and place a label under it. Is that based on any specific beetle? Really impressive piece.

Please don't throw it in the dump, I know that I'm certainly interested.

What do you have against rocks;-) OK, this series that you started has emphasized to me how little I know about the steel used in knives, what the differences are, why one type would be better than another --- and tons of other questions that I don't even know enough to ask about To try and fill in some of the bigger gaps in my knowledge, can you recommend a good book or maybe a few that might give me a little more basic understanding. I'm not talking about some step x step knife making book but something that covers steel, what the differences are in different types, what the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds are and why one type would be more desirable than another. Again I am not sure what basic questions to ask in this area so assume that I don't know anything (you would not be wrong in that assumption) when considering any recommendations you might think of. I figure that you could probably answer all these questions but taking up that much of your time, even though I would enjoy having my own instructor, would be pretty selfish of me and a large waste of your time. Thanks for starting and hosting this forum, I have already picked a great deal and look forward to lots more. Rick

Thanks Tugadude, found it easily with RFID fabric. Amazing how easy it is when you use the right term. rick

Please post the information if you find it. I would like to incorporate this in my wallets also rick

Here is a good place with a large selection of loupes and magnifiers. The pocket microscopes look useful and easy to use. Think that I'll have to sell something and get some money together. rick http://www.carson.com/

I think that you were right with your third sentence. After working through the stone that I normally start with I checked for a burr and of course there was one. Using the original stone I worked this burr down until I could not easily feel it with my finger but I knew that it still existed because even though the blade felt sharp it would not easily cut a single sheet of paper. Experience has taught me that this is the burr interfering and i need to remove it. I then went to my finishing stone and stared working the burr off. I went slowly checking very often for remaining burr and working the side where the burr remained instead of assuming that i needed to flip the blade every so many strokes. This was a major mistake that I was making, not checking well enough for where the burr was located and assuming that I needed to work on the other side of the blade. By checking closely I got the job done easily and quickly. The entire process took about twenty minutes. Thanks for your help, not sure that i would have figured out without it. Rick

For the cost comparison you are doing, a 500 meter roll of 1.0 mm white Tiger thread is BP 22.71 or $32.53. Go ahead and register with them, they don't send out spam and you can check the prices of every thing they sell. Also, my latest shipment just came in today by DHL. The total cost, including shipping was $119.00. I placed the order on Feb. 11, so not too bad. Im happy with the price and the service so I'll keep on using this process. I don't know if there is some limit where import taxes kick in but if there is I haven't hit it yet. Maybe this info will help someone save some money. rick

Flawless and beautiful.

Dont forget to check the exchange rate, it is pretty stable but you might save a few bucks by waiting a day or three.

Order Tiger Thread from Abbey England. I just ordered 4 rolls of 0.8mm for the equivalent of $96.77. Shipping will add some but it sure wont be $60 a roll. Here is a partial copy of my order Product Range Product Code Product Name Options Quantity Unit Price Amount TAX DKT01 DKT0807 Tiger Polyester Braided Thread Waxed diam. / length:0.8mm 500m colour:Mid Brown JK7 1 16.73 (£16.73) 16.73 (£16.73) 0.00 % DKT01 DKT0811 Tiger Polyester Braided Thread Waxed diam. / length:0.8mm 500m colour:Green JK11 1 16.73 (£16.73) 16.73 (£16.73) 0.00 % DKT01 DKT0877 Tiger Polyester Braided Thread Waxed diam. / length:0.8mm 500m colour:Havanna Cigar JK77 1 16.73 (£16.73) 16.73 (£16.73) 0.00 % DKT01 DKT0814 Tiger Polyester Braided Thread Waxed diam. / length:0.8mm 500m colour:Navy Blue JK14 1 16.73 (£16.73) 16.73 (£16.73) 0.00 % Subtotal GBP 66.92 (£66.92) Total Incl. Tax GBP 66.92 (£66.92) Total Number Of Units: 4 Here is their main link http://www.abbeyengland.com/ and the link to the Tiger Thread is http://www.abbeyengland.com/Store/tabid/77/CategoryID/202/Category2ID/27/List/1/Level/2/ProductID/68933/language/en-GB/Default.aspx If it matters £16.73 is $24.16 a roll for the 0.8mm. 0.6mm is £42.93 a roll which is $62.00. High but still not the $99.00 that so many places on the internet charge. Hope this might help.

Thanks for posting the finished pictures, these are awesome. No doubt that you could sell as all the saddle bags you could make if you wanted to.

Really awesome work, be sure to let us see them finished please.

Where did you see a notice on copyright? I didn't find one. The file is available for download.

Check this link You can contact Daniel at flyby99@gmail.com

I cannot say for sure what steel is in this knife. I have had this particular one about 15 years. Here is a link to the model that I carry but it looks like Benchmade now offers a choice of steel if I am reading their page correctly. From what little i know about it i believe that this would be the one they have marked N680 (57-59 HRC) http://www.benchmade.com/griptilian-family.html I will say that inflation also applies to knives, i think that i paid about $75 for this one all that time ago. I am not sure how much i change angle when remove the burr. Dont really think that I change much if at all. I will experiment with a steeper angle and see if that makes any difference. Thank you

Art said "Pull the blade in a stropping motion (away from the edge) on a 4000 grit or finer stone, burr side down on the stone." This is my starting spot for deleting the burr. Once the blade is sharp, at least by my standards, i check for a burr; there is almost always a burr;-) so I check for the burr, place it against the stone and usually do two strokes then check for the burr again. If the burr still exists I turn the burr toward the stone and strop it again. I usually use this routine for a few around twenty strokes and if i have failed to eliminate the burr i normally go to the strop. Why do i go to the strop, because I figure im too dumb to properly use a stone by this time. I normally would try to delete the burr by fatiguing it, (stropping opposite sides of the blade on the stone) until the burr breaks off, however this doesn't seem to work very well on this knife. It is not that I can't get rid of the burr is just seems to take a very long time to remove the burr on this particular knife. I really want to figure out how to accomplish this task quicker that I currently do. Art, thanks for the help. I will reread this and make sure that I am not missing something, i believe that what you have described is pretty much how i have proceeded at various times. I have no doubt that there is something I am doing wrong, or could do better that would speed this up, just don't yet realize what it is.

I have got one knife that always gives me a problem getting the burr knocked off. Not one of my leather tools but my carry knife, a Benchmade model. It is easy to get a good edge on and holds a good edge but working the burr off has always given me trouble. After I get the edge that I want I have tried to wipe the burr off on a piece of hardwood as I have done with a great number of my knives but no luck with this particular one. The only way that I can consistently get the burr off if to work the blade on a strop, working the burr back and forth until it comes off. Takes quite a bit of time and doesn't seem like the best way to do this task Anyone know a fast way to clean the edge of the burr?

PM sent

There is a post from yesterday "Patriotic Holster" http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=67838&hl= that has a flag theme that I believe looks like what you are trying to achieve. The colors are muted making it look like it might have been around during a battle. Give it a look and if it is what you are after ask the maker how he achieved that look.

Those are magnificent pieces. I don't think that i have ever seen anything comparable.

The manager of my local Tandy store was "retired" by corporate with a sorry excuse that they wanted someone to "build the business faster." What a crock. That store is in an ancient shopping center with inadequate parking and not nearly enough floor space to adequately display a reasonable range of materials. I know from first hand experience that he had been trying to get Tandy to choose a larger, more modern location for over two years but they had refused. I ran into the ex-manager Sunday at a local leather guild meeting and asked about his retirement; I would have been really bitter about how the dismissal was handled but he was still loyal to the company, though not to Tandy corporate. He was the main reason that I continued to shop at the local Tandy; he is knowledgeable and always willing to help. Tandy sure crapped in their own backyard when they let him go, I will be ordering a lot more of my products from out of town suppliers in the future. I can also remember when Radio Shack was a good place to shop for the electronics hobbyist but apparently that didn't bring in enough profit either. Guess their decision to abandon the hobbyist finally caught up with them when they couldn't compete with businesses such as Best Buy and Fry's selling computers and cell phones. Now it seems that Tandy Leather may be going the same way. Sad. rick