Bree

I have a 16 oz, a 20 oz, and a 64 oz. For all-around use, the 20 oz is my favorite. It has some heft for heavier work and is not too heavy for fine control. Each size has its use.

My method is a just a tad different. I wait until I am about an inch or so from the end and then mentally calculate just how close I am going to come to the target point and then I will divide up that difference and make several stitches just a bit longer or shorter so that it is very hard to notice that any stitches are different from any others. Usually I divide it up amongst three or four stitches. And I do that the same way that Art does... with the flywheel.

The black comes from iron... the iron comes from the nails/steel wool etc. The acetic acid in the vinegar reacts with the iron in the steel and forms ferric acetate (iron acetate). That reacts with the tannins in the leather (from the tanning process) setting the dye and the result of that reaction is blackness.

All I can say is that "fools rush in where angels fear to tread." The guy is like a moth flitting closer and closer to the candle's flame. Sooner or late he is going to get too close and get burned.

If the thread frays, the needle is too small. Go lower on the thread size or key up the needle size.

Yes... excellent price. I use #69 thread in my 29K60. It likes that weight a lot.

Be careful with your brew. If you drip some on oak furniture for example what do you think will happen?? Black Oak furntiture!! Here is an MSDS for the main ingredient of vinegaroon http://www.alfa.com/content/msds/USA/31140.pdf Handle it properly for your own safety. Here is a fascinating link for you dyeaholics... http://www.knaw.nl/ECPA/ink/index.html

The HD Bar and Shield are trademarks and are protected. There is simply no way that you can use all or part of a Harley trademark without placing yourself in jeopardy. If you make money from it, you stand to lose it... now or years from now in the future. The message is just don't do it. Save yourself a MAJOR headache and don't use trademarks without permission. Ben's experience is very similar to the experience of others I know that get zapped just by inquiring! They defend the brand and the brand's marks tenaciously.

Google the word "mordant". It is a substance that acts as a helper in a chemical reaction that creates a dye or stain. Tannic acid in the leather as a result of the tanning process and ferric acetate formed when ferrous metal is placed into the weak acid solution of vinegar can both act as "mordants". In this case, if I am not mistaken, it is the tannic acid acting as a mordant for the ferric component of the ferric acetate that gives the leather its deep black color. It helps set insoluable iron into the fibers of the leather and thereby darkens it in a way that will not rub off since it is bonded very strongly within the leather to the leather fibers themselves. You put steel wool or old nails or other ferrous metal into some vinegar and let it "brew". It forms ferric acetate. When you put leather into a solution of vinegaroon (ferric acetate), the tannic acid in the leather helps trigger the chemical reaction and sets the dye which is basically iron. Bottom line...the two chemicals interact in the leather and voila... black throughout the leather!! I think that's how it works. The chemists can maybe explain it more precisely.

The marks of these companies are trademarks and are protected under law. Harley Davidson for example WILL vigorously defend its trademark... guaranteed. The only way that you can use these marks is under license from the owner of the mark. That inevitably means compliance with strict standards of use and payment of licensing fees. I have a website www.dynawide.com. Harley Davidson owns the trademark Dyna Wide Glide. If I tried to market any motorcycle related product on that site, Harley Davidson would very quickly have a cease and desist order in my hands and likely a lawsuit to recover damages to their Dyna Wide Glide mark under the theory that within the same industry my site name is too similar and would cause confusion in the mind of the buyer and damage to their brand. Would I lose that fight?? Most likely yes. I have no desire to even test it. I can't beat HD's capacity to hire and sustain attorney's to litigate the issue. Your stamps are probably worthless except as momentos or souvenirs IMHO.

Went down to the shop to show a friend my vinegaroon brew. I found black crust floating on top of the brew. All of the steel wool has completely dissolved. The rusty nails are almost dissolved. The brew is turning bullhide strips black in a half a minute or less. It's starting to look good!

Yeah I was thinking that the heavier maul is no doubt used for brute force operations like cutting off the end of the billet where as the lighter mauls are used for touch operations like stamping. So there might be a very natural tendancy to be balancing the maul in the hand and striking closer to the end where the force is coming down naturally. The tool is doing most of the work in the smaller mauls. The action with the heavier maul is less about balance and more about arm action in practice. The natural force of my 64 oz maul dropping from a balance point most often is not sufficient to cleave the thick leather apart. It needs to get whacked!

Yep... familiar with the Texas law and defense of property rights there... the fortunes of old Joe Horn who shot two guys robbing the neighbor's home. Too bad we don;t have that here in NY. And I agree 100% about the shotgun. It is the home defense weapon of choice. The best load is slugs but if you are urban then you have to ratchet down because of overpenetration. I am in a tightly packed urban environment and I have ratcheted down to #1 buckshot in my shotty. There is a debate about the shooting thru walls and doors issue and I have always sided with the not shooting unless I absolutely know what my target is. That isn't possible shooting thru doors or walls in 99% of cases. I can imagine some circumstances were I might do so but they would be something like the BG's shooting at me through the walls. Other than that kind of thing I just don't see myself shooting at a blind target. I am too fearful of harming an innocent. We have no kids in the house or coming over to the house so the issue of unintended use by kids doesn't exist for us. If you have children, new ballgame. It is essential to protect against unintended use of your firearms. There is no disagreement there. With kids around only the firearms concealed on my immediate person would be in condition 1. All others would be in a gun safe that the kids have no access to. Kids make self defense much more difficult. Planning and process are critically important when kids are around. For example, they must not ever see you open the safe lest they get the combination and gain access. Your gun handling process must preclude this from happening. A new gun owner should get training and a lot of it... good quality training from professionals... so that he or she understands the operation of the firearm and responsibilities of gun ownership. Trained people can and should carry in condition 1 as it is the best state of readiness. Every second saved in a deadly force situation can mean the difference between life and death. But if you are more of a danger to yourself and others in condition 1, then the person should ratchet down to a lower state of readiness and train for the higher state. I don't think that we really disagree.

Sorry to hear that you have fallen on bad times. It is good that you are reaching out and that will help. But I want you to see something crystal clear... here are the words... If you want to save your marriage, banish this idea from your head. If you go down the path of the blame game in marriage you are very likely headed for divorce. There are two sides to every story. You appear blindsided which often means that one fails to see the effects of their own actions. Marriages are two way streets and both parties act upon one another. Both parties do good things and bad things. Getting it straightened out isn't going to work if both sides are simply blaming the other for the problems especially if both sides contributed as is most often the case. So start with her as you are starting with us. Ask her for help. She is the one person most likely to help save your marriage. Indeed without her help it won't happen. I can offer you a simple strategy. Build on the good things... the things you both agree are good about one another and your actions... and work hard to reduce the bad things... the things that either one of you perceives as bad for whatever the reason. Start with reasonable expectations... target a 20% change at first rather than 100%... then work for more. Create a plan to restore faith in one another by modification of behaviors. Write it down. Measure it. Review and evaluate it from time to time with her. Doing so demonstrates that both of you are serious about making your marriage work. If either of you doesn't want to work for renewal of your faith in one another, it's too late. Then you have to work on being civil to one another for both your own benefit as well as the benefit of the kids. In any case work on behavior is necessary. Oh... get those tools back, they are for your spiritual renewal, strength, and sustenance during these difficult times. Good luck!!

Nope. You can select the type of organization that you want for your LLC in most states. Here in NY we can have a proprietorship LLC. Check your own state to see what they allow. Sometimes they have a special tax for LLCs. For Texas here is a start for your info hunt: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/forms/205_boc.pdf Edit: You can choose a corporate form for your LLC and of course you will pay corporate taxes. Just wanted to be clear.

I keep the back natural though I have made them dyed both sides. I am now using FROG tape to prevent overrun of the edge dye onto the natural blank. I airbrush the sealer on both sides and the edges in several layers. Works well. Here is some info about the tape technique: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=13899

A disclaimer like that isn't worth the paper its printed on. It won't stop the lawsuit. For a little business, if you get sued at all, you lose whether you win the case or not. More often than not, you get the insurance coverage just to pay your legal fees. And... most courts will toss the disclaimer anyway so what good is it?

Josh... I am usually not in a big hurry so I cut the leather in multiple passes. When I am down to the last pass or so my pressure on the round knife is very slight and the cutting board doesn't really matter. I have been using Novolene which I got from Weaver. It is a thick poly used for clicking. It is very tough, smooth and slippery so it provides little friction to the knife to catch. I like it better than my old poundo boards or the self healing mats that I have used over the years. I am nowhere near the leatherworker that Bob is but I find it to be unsafe for me to lift the leather when using a round knife. I prefer the slick poly surface, going in multiple shallow cuts, and opening the cutting kerf a bit rather than lifting the leather off the cutting surface. That round knife is very dangerous if you lose control of it. I don't trust myself. Heck I sometimes want to wear Kevlar gloves when I cut with it. I don't but the thought has crossed my mind more than once.

LOL!! Frags like ExtremeShock or frags like pineapple grenades?? Don't believe in ExtremeShock or other frangibles. If it doesn't get in at least 12 " or darn close I don't use it. My handgun ammo is Federal LE HST, Federal LE EFMJ, and Corbon DPX. The shotty takes Federal LE Tactical Buckshot and Brenneke slugs. The AR takes Black Hills and Corbon DPX while the 10/22 consumes mostly Stingers and Velocitors or anything I can get on the cheap that is copper coated/plated to keep the lead fouling down a bit. Not allowed to carry pineapples here in NY. Restrictive state you know!! Plus the object is to STOP the BG not blow him to smithereens!!!

Thanks Jim! I seriously doubted that Tandy would do something so foolish over something that costs them little or nothing yet draws many customers to their site. I look forward to seeing the return of the free patterns though I too have most of them saved JUST IN CASE!! LOL!

Hot Dayum Tom! I love that copper and bronze bracer! That is just awesome. The others are excellent but that last one really caught my eye. Super job!

I'm not in insurance anymore but I can speculate that this coverage won't be cheap by any stretch of the imagination. What I can say is that if I were making holsters the very first thing that I would do is either flat out incorporate (Inc) or organize my business as an LLC. Get your personal assets out of the reach of creditors. There is no question in my mind that you are at higher liability risk than someone making leather belts or the like. For example... http://www.ocregister.com/articles/gun-law...579-chavez-shot My $.02.

Swivel knife project Numero Uno. Never did a thing with a swivel knife before this. Quite frankly, when I was finished I was in a state of utter disbelief at how nicely it turned out compared to my expectations when I first saw the task. Nowadays I attribute all good things to Chan Geer!!

Shorts is right on the money with the points concerning the law. Good post. Being an armed citizen isn't for everyone. It is a heavy responsibility to own and carry a firearm. It necessitates a change in lifestyle and thinking. You can't be a hothead and be armed. You have to know a LOT about the laws of your state and any state that you visit while armed. You have to live in a state of preparedness when most people are happily oblivious to risks. You have to know your tools very very well because they have huge consequences for you and others if misused. Like I say, it isn't for everyone.

Count me in on your class.