Bree

Wow! That last one is lookin real good!! Great improvement!! Imagine what the 80th one will be like if you got so much better in only 8 tries.

Excellent addition to the knowledgebase! Great job! Now I need to pull out my XD Blue Gun and make one up for myself!!

I agree with Kathy. Cutting away from the corners is the key. I have screwed up a lot of good leather by thinking that I could stop my blade at the intersection of the corner. I now know that this was a mistake on my part. I took a class with Chan Geer on Swivel Knife Control and he taught us exactly what Kathy suggests... start in the corner and cut away from the corner so that you don't inadvertantly cut across the line into areas that you don't want to be cut. George Hurst taught the same thing in another class I took. And in swivel knife cutting Chan also does not join the cut at the corner but stops a little short and completes the corner with a beveller. That isn't really relevant to cutting out windows for inlays but it is a point worth sharing.

I have seen both Lignum and Argentinian Lignum Vitae (ALV). There isn't all that much difference between the two. "Genuine" Lignum Vitae is not available because it is endangered and banned for import. ALV is equally good and when you see Lignum Vitae advertised that is what it will be. It is very, very dense like the "real" stuff... maybe just a tad less in density. It is just fine as a substitute. It is lighter in color and serves all the same purposes as the original. ALV is a good deal harder and denser than Cocobolo probably about 20%. Mind you Cocobolo is very dense stuff as well.... I mean it is much denser than white oak which is pretty darn hard stuff. I got some 1.5" turning squares of ALV. The wood that is almost the same in hardness and density as genuine Lignum is African Blackwood. It is expensive but still available. I wouldn't want to get bopped on the head with a stick of this stuff!! I am thinking about getting myself a lathe... probably a midi like a 16-20. I used to have a real nice lathe many years ago but I moved from my Florida home and had to give it to a friend as it was too big for my apratment in Atlanta. I still have my tools. If I can find a good deal on a small lathe I will get one. I have been looking. I have some very nice Wenge bowl blanks and a dozen 3' long 2"x2" Burma teak turning squares that have been mellowing for over 30 years along with some padauk, maple, and purpleheart. I also picked up some nice rosewood and several unknown but extremely dense tropical hardwood squares. They seem like members of the rosewood family. Hard to say. There are many tropicals on the market now that I only recently became aware of. So I think I need a lathe for my wood shop. I keep wanting a big one but they cost big bucks and take up a lot of space. So I may just limit my desires and get a small one.

I will let you all know how the machines perform as well as how the vendors perform in filling the orders. You might be surprised with the results. I will be getting the shipping quotes tomorrow from Weaver since the Heritage machine weighs over 100 pounds and has to be shipped by commercial carrier. My understanding is that the Tippman embosser is on its way.

I picked up a few blanks this weekend. I got a couple of African Blackwood blanks, some Cocobolo blanks, and some Lignum Vitae blanks. I might be convinced to share some.

Well I called Weaver and bought a lot of goodies today. Got me an 8" skiver, a Heritage Foot Pedal Spot Setter with a bunch of accessories and dies. Some needles, Master Tool strap punches, CSO oblong punches, Misc tools, several gallons of dyes, Trag, edge paint, Barge Cement, Resolene as well as a nice Novolene block. I also picked up a bunch of straps with some custom services added to test out Weaver's Custom shop. For those who buy consumables from Weaver remember that water-based stuff can't be shipped when the temperature is below freezing so now is the time to stock up for the winter! Still waiting for my new sewing machine. No ship date yet. Very annoying. BTW... Weaver actually had everything I ordered in stock. That was a pleasant surprise!

I bought a Weaver Skiver today. I could have bought the Craftsman for $50 less but Vernon convinced me that the Weaver machine was a better deal despite being more expensive. The lifetime guarantee sure didn't hurt their cause!

If steel will work and it looks like it will just have your local gunsmith put some tool steel from a big drill bit on his lathe and he can turn a few radius coves lickety split. They should last forever and a day! I also did some research today on exotics. The hardest of them all is Snakewood. It is so dense that it will sink like a piece of lead in water. Close behind are African Blackwood and Lignum Vitae. Lignum is really not that exotic but it is dense and hard as hell. In any case you guys can get PEN BLANKS for turning pens in all these woods. They are an inch square or maybe 3/4" square by say 8" long or so which is really all you need. You can get them very cheap at your local wood store like Rockler or Woodcraft or just order some from the NET.

Yeah... I went down to Muncie, PA and picked mine up along with other woodworking equipment. i just bought a bunch of stuff from Weaver and may have to run down there to pick it up if the shipping is outrageous. Will know Monday.

Let me correct something I didn't say quite right. I don't think that a servo and reducer is going to give better torque than a clutch motor and reducer. At the same HP I think the clutch motor will always outperform the servo in torque. What I meant to say is that adding a reducer to a servo should improve the torque of the servo at the needle. It didn't come out exactly as I intended and I didn't want to confuse anyone. Now I could possibly be wrong about the torque improvement but I think I am on the right track.

Cal... Sounds like a TX CCW and a good .45 ACP pistol might be a real good idea given the situation down there. They broke in while you weren't there. What happens when they come in while you are there? Leather is replaceable. You aren't.

I like Misterart.com. I bought a good high quality airbrush from them some time ago. They always seem to have good stuff at the nice price.

Very valid point. With the reducer and a clutch motor you get full torque and right off the blocks. You even get better torque with a reducer and a servo. My new T-4000 LA-25 will have both a reducer and a servo. Unfortuantely it isn't here yet which is annoying. But because I used a clutch motor alone for such a long time, I became an almost inveterate flywheel control freak. So when I am powering through somnething that calls for heavier torque... I apply it manually. I was impressed by the control the Artisan guys had over the needle on the T-3000 and I am looking forward to weaning myself off the flywheel!!

Bobo is Da Bomb! Fantastic work once again.

I said it before... great stuff. Such attention to detail front and back is so impressive. They blew me away when I saw them at the show. The PIX are great but you have to see them close up. Just fabulous.

What are you guys using for leather on your double layer gun belts? Do you use veg tan strap on both layers? Latigo and natural veg tan? Drum dyed veg tan and natural veg tan? Other combos or tannages? I'm curious because I just got a Weaver Leather Sample book today and I was marveling at all the possible combinations of leathers that might be used.

That's some fine work. Great job.

No worries Mon! It is amazing that the stand costs more than the plate!! It is a very heavy stand to be sure.

A speed reducer is a pulley system which will cut your speed usually in half depending on the sizes of the pulleys. A better choice is a servo motor. A speed reducer costs about $100 while a servo motor costs from say $120 to $150 for a decent but inexpensive one. The servo motor gives you true variable speed control from 0 to the motor's max speed. With a clutch motor, except for the friction zone you are basically in an all or nothing mode relative to speed. Even at a reduced speed you get all of it or none of it. There is a fine zone where you can "control" the speed and that is the friction zone. It is a very small area of pedal depression and is not reliable for fine work. I used to grab the flywheel and cause the belt to slip to slow the machine down for fine work. Also not a really good way to do things. When I got a servo motor, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was the best move in sewing that I ever made. Hope that helps. Check Artisan's website for several servo motors that you could use.

Grizzly has an 18" x 24" granite surface plate for $49.95 and the stand is $59.95. http://grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=260040 I have one and I use it frequently. Excellent deal.

You could just use some chisels and sandpaper. Get it into a drill press and then use sandpaper strips. Messy but doable. +1 to the post about wood density. Lignum vitae is inexpensive and it won't splinter as some tropicals can. I am thinking about have my gunsmith take his metal lathe and radiusing some tool steel rounds and using them for burnishing. They would last forever I could chuck them in my drill press or a hand drill. Any thoughts about using steel?

Art... Looks fabulous! Can I see a PIC of the back?

Find yourself a local Rockler or Woodcraft store and just buy what you need.

I use Photoshop CS3 and have used Photoshop since version 2 back in about 1993. I can tell you that Infraview or the freebie image editors are definitely NOT Photoshop or in any way equivalent. Photoshop is a high power, image editor. It blows away any and all of the cheap programs. There is really no comparison. Of course, if you don't need that kind of power then you can get away tweaking photos with something inexpensive. But don't make the mistake of thinking that because you can do some resizing, transforms, or apply a few filters that you have a Photoshop equivalent. That just isn't true. If you can afford a copy of Photoshop... get it... you will never be sorry. It is one of the greatest pieces of software ever invented.