Bree

Sweet! Another fine piece of work Marlon! I like the simplicity and the nice finger cuts inside AND... all the rest of it!!

I think you did a great job on the holsters! My guns would love to reside in one of those holsters!! The idea about using the wood chisels is really good. I have loads of them in many sizes and I never thought about using them to create oblong slots. What a terrific and simple idea! At $40+ an oblong punch, you may have saved me a lot of $$$ for punches that I don't really need.

I saw the tool at Barry's display in Columbus. It is a nice tool. I kind of wanted to buy one but I was afraid because I thought that any small particle on the leather might get either smooshed into the leather or worse dragged across it causing microscratches that might show when the finish is put on. Is that possible? I don't really know because I never used one of these glass smoothers. I ended up getting a nice new maul and swivel knife from him.

BC... you are top gun!! Do you have the line pattern for the carving... just the lines? I would like to take a crack at this one. I love the way you did the horse.

Super Idea! Looks great!

It will never make it past Santa. I predict it will be found at Santa's desk at the North Pole after he kleeps it out of his bag of gifts before he slides down the chimney!! Dayum... you just can't trust anyone these days when there is great leatherwork around!!

I am going to speculate a bit. I looked at several of my Tandy stamps tonight and I think they are all plated. They sure look like they are plated to me. That would mean that a crisp cut on the metal is going to get "softened" by the plating deposits. A tool cut from say good stainless steel and unplated should have better edges than a tool plated with nickel and/or chrome. Anyway that's my unprofessional SWAG.

I think your brother is going to be a happy man!

I think I will offer an opinion. I don't think there is anything wrong with asking. Indeed, I think it is wrong not to ask. Patterns for projects belong to the maker. Patterns within projects belong to the maker. The maker may or may not be willing to share. The maker's decision to share may well depend upon your intended use. One use may be fine while another may be forbidden by both the maker and the laws governing copyright. Best practice is to state your intended purpose and ask the maker's permission. Abide by the maker's decision and respect his or her rights. You will never ever go wrong following this principle. It is really just an instantiation of the Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. My $.02.

I was taught to do decorative cuts from the outside towards the center. You get a deep impression on the outside which then tapers away as it gets closer to the center. I don't think that ceramic vs steel is an issue. The trick is to learn how to control the knife regardless of the type of blade. And the key to that is practice and I think good coaching from someone who knows what they are doing. That helps you correct mistakes before they develop into bad habits. For example, I was in class enjoying the free flowing nature of deco cuts and started to pull and lift at the end in a kind of joyous quick sweeping motion. Chan Geer warned me against this and kind of plunked my butt back on ground as I was taking off into the stratosphere. The object is total control of the blade all the time. I was doing something that in essence caused me to lose some control. It pays to get good advice from pros.

Great job Bob! Another fabulous piece of work. It's a thrill everytime I see new stuff from you.

My workbench surface is plastic laminate contact cemented to two 3/4" sheets of MDF (94" x 30") which were contact cemented together with registration pins for accurate alignment. For tooling I use an 18" x 24" granite surface plate on a stand at the end of the bench.

Looks great Barry! Where are all the After Thanksgiving and Christmas specials??

Geez Bruce... Do you need an heir for all that great stuff?? Nice job!

Case/bag for quilter's supplies.

Ah Jim Linnell's B-Day. Happy Birthday teacher!! I enjoyed your class very much. I hope you get some nice goodies from your friends and loved ones.

It isn't the greatest machine to sew beautiful stitches on presentation leather. But if you want to sew a patch over the top of a pocket without sewing the pocket shut, there just isn't anything better. It is one of the very, very, few machines that can sew a rectangle on a piece without rotating the piece being sewn. I have 4 of them including a parts machine. I hate their idiosyncracies but I love their capabilities.

Here is a link to some half chaps that I have been wearing for the last 5 years. These are for bikers versus Western style but they are easy to make and they work beautifully. I made a template out of plywood for a similar design which I use to cut my leather when friends ask me to make some similar to mine. I like to line my 1/2 chaps with berber fleece. http://www.leatherlegs.net/ BTW... these are real nice folks at Leatherlegs. I highly recommend them.

I use a Juki 1541-S with a servo motor. It's as fine a machine as you are likely to find. It will stand toe to toe with the Pfaff 1245 or other excellent midrange leather machines. What people say about Artisan is true. They are great people, with great service and they sell fine equipment. I have an Artisan Toro 4000 myself and I recommend them. But don't count out Juki because I recommend them as well. They are big hitters in the sewing industry and for good reason. They make a GREAT sewing machine with full backup by a huge corporation. Here is a brochure on it http://www.juki.co.jp/industrial_e/downloa...g_e/dnu1541.pdf Flat out... I love this machine. BTW I bought mine from Hoffman Brothers in Rosemont, IL. They set the machine up meticulously and are there whenever I need them. http://www.hoffmanbrothers.com/index.asp

Yep... the Artisan boys will do right by you. There's no doubt about that. They made me a believer.

Another place where you can get them for $35 a pop is Botach Tactical. http://www.botachtactical.com/ Service is spotty for some but I have never had a problem with them. Once in awhile they have some great deals.

Terrific idea Art! Who cares if it looks banged up as long as it gets the job done. I have been thinking about making one like that myself. Weaver has an add-on to their Adler machine which is similar. It looks slick and has a pretty high price but it performs the same function. Too bad it doesn't fit our machines. How did you curve out the center section?

The older ya get the more it is true that you just can't have too much light!! The next time I do an Artisan order, I will also pick up one of their LED lights. I like the Rockler because I can reposition it at will.

I was over at Rockler Woodworking today and I found a terrific LED Gooseneck light for my Toro 4000 LA-25. The light has an 18" gooseneck and three 1" neodymium magnets on the base. It sticks to the machine like glue!! The 14 LEDs are bright and it allows me to direct light from the left front without interfering with my sewing operations. I attached mine to the very end of the cylinder arm and it works great! It runs on 3 AAA batteries or an AC adapter. You can also attach it to an included clamp base to attach to non metallic surfaces. Rockler has a $20 off on $50 coupon so it only cost me about $34. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=21263

I got a couple of those Harbor Freight pedal switches and I also found something I have been wanting to try for some time. I think I mentioned somewhere that I wanted to mix some beeswax and carnauba wax for the purpose of burnishing. Well I found a product with the wax pre-mixed in paste form. It is from England and it is named Antiquax. It is designed for wood care. I tried some Antiquax on some scrap leather today with Ivan's machine and I got a very very nice glossy burnish. The carnauba lets me put extra pressure on the leather without burning it as the hard carnauba wax has a higher melting point... about 40 degrees higher than beeswax. I like Ivan's wax but I also like the Antiquax which is a softer paste. I applied it with my fingertip. It's nice to have several options.