Vikti

I remember posting while back about a knife that looks exactly like that. The web site that I found it on said that it was a carpet trimming knife and was told that it would not do any good for leather work in the manner that I was asking about that is, I think I asked if it could replace a round knife or something.

Lucky, lucky, lucky. That's a great gift.

Hi from Cleburne. Everything you posted is looking good, keep it up, Conrad. I would suggest that for practice you should go through the remnant bins at Tandy and Hidecrafter, you can get some pretty decent practice size pieces for next to nothing. Last time I went to Hidecrafter I got a bag of scraps that yielded enough good pieces to make 2 cell phone cases and a zippo case that I'm currently working on when work lets me have the time. Take care

(Disclaimer: I took 2 semesters of religious and occult studies while in college and this is what I've learned, with this being said I am no where near an authority on this, even I take this info with a grain of salt as it's not my specialty, as my studies are actually more focused on a specific religious group. This info is simply what I was taught) Halloween is really an American celebration that goes back to the Puritan times. Though sources state that it has Celtic roots, the *way* it's celebrated today is pretty much a new world thing. The rest of the Catholic influenced world celebrates the Feast of All Saints (Oct 31) and Day of the Dead, El Día de los Muertos (Nov 1) (mostly in the new world among the Latin American people). The Puritans, while not Catholic, did have their superstitions, while I'm not too sure when the term "trick or treat" came into being but the idea was that when a spirit came to your house you would either trick them into leaving you alone or give them an offering (treat) if it was a spirit of a friend or family, to honor them. The costumes are *mostly* from the Day of the Dead reference where people want to scare away spirits who have lingered too long in this world with the hopes that they go off to the next world. In the Americas, it's customary for the common person to dress up and scare the spirits away while in ancient Europe it was restricted to mostly the priestly(shamanic) people. And since 2000 it has been my anniversary. And yes, me and my wife went trick or treating that year with a bag that said "just married". Hey, at least I won't forget about it. Damon

It reminds me of the Necronomicon from the movie Army of Darkness. Will it bite the hand of someone trying to open it? Sweet case you got there. Damon

The only 2 complaints I have about Crafttools is that 1) they do not have consistency. I have 2 backgrounders, both are the same tool number but one is larger and has a more course pattern than the other. 2) I have 2 basketweave tools and neither of them make even an acceptable impression. I can pound the heck out of one and as the leather dries the impression starts to fade and after a few days the leather just looks like it has ripples in it. I do have some good Crafttools, but just not that many. Damon

Hey Tim, I've been looking at the Lancers that Hidecrafters sells, do you think that they're worth it? I'm looking at either those or the Berry King swivel knife. Damon

Berry King makes a great blade

My little girl wanted me to make her a jack-o-lantern so she can decorate her desk at school. I now have to dig out the paints for her to decorate it tomorrow. Damon

That's absolutely beautiful. I wish I had the patients to do work that detailed. Damon

8-10 should be fine, maybe you can use a little thinner. I personally haven't used less than 10 oz. for armor but back when I used that thin of leather I had no problems with it holding it's shape. Hope your new set comes out the way you like it. Damon

Are you making armor for SCA combat (full contact, no padded weapons) then I would not recommend anything less than 10/12 oz. and then it still needs to be reinforced in most areas. Back when I played my armor was 14 oz. veg-tan Damon

In some cases, functionality is more important than looks. At least you know what you would change for the next one. Good luck on the next one you make. Damon

Looks great. In fact I was about to post a picture of one that I took that's on display at the Texas Rangers museum in Waco, TX. But if you ask me, they look uncomfortable. Damon

Sorry about the delay Roo! You owe me one good whomp up side the head with your favorite mallet. Ok, the information I have is for a 2 color, double loop lacing. I hope it works for you, I still experiment with lacing so I'm not too sure how much if this applies to a basket weave. You need approx. 4 ft of lacing per 1 ft. of project and you need to either have an even number of holes or you need to double up on a hole. I see nothing that states anything about about the number of holes in the project needing to be divided by 4 or anything I hope that this helps out. Damon

Are you talking about using a basketweave tool around the edge or a basketweave stitch to sew it together? If your talking about lacing then at Hidecrafters a couple of months ago we had a guild meeting over belt buckles and that subject was covered. I think that you had to have an even number of holes or you had to use a hole twice while lacing. Let me check my notes (if I jotted them down right) and I'll post an answer later this afternoon for you. Damon.

I saw a usb docking station for internal SATA hard drives and I believe it's hot swappable. You might want to give that a try. Here it is. Damon

Is that a picture of a boy and his dog or a dog and her boy? Very pretty dog though. Damon

bring up the photo in question and then right click on it and click on "save image as". Now if your using Firefox sometimes it's better for you to right click and select "view image" which will then bring it up in a new tab as a simple web page then you can right click again and save the image. IE only gives you the option of saving the image. Hope this helps. Damon

Can anyone recommend how to get a pebble effect in an area that's too small for the tool? My pebble tool is 7/16" on the smallest dimension and I'm not having much luck on tilting the tool. Damon

Could someone check it out just to make sure that it's not me, but it looks like that they have they're shopping cart up and running. Damon

Good find you have there Damon

COLORS!!!! Thanks Johanna and gang! Damon

Is there a way to change the color scheme or let the users change their own color scheme? I'm blue color blind (blues and greys look alike to me) and is some areas there appears to be blue on blue, whether it be text or icons, and I have to squint and stick my face a couple of inches from my screen to make out what's there. Basically, if it's not black or white or colors that are anything but blue, I'm having a really hard time making stuff out. Damon

Most re-enactors down here in Texas won't buy these for the price. 25 pieces doesn't cover a lot. I think for me (at 6ft, 225lbs.) it would take somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 packs. Once laced together it takes about 11 pieces to make a 1 ft. strip. It would be more time consuming but I think it would work out better in the long run to make the pieces yourself. Damon