Vikti

You also need to get a leather needle (a good one will cost you about $2.50). And I also don't recommend a plastic sewing machine (Brother, Jenome, etc.) While they may be good to high quality sewing machines, I doubt that the plastic parts will last too long. I have an old Dressmaker. It's all metal, the only thing that isn't is the drive belt.

And at Hidecrafters we also get together on Saturday mornings (from opening till about noonish) to work on projects. Come on out. Damon

I just noticed the Lone Star card inside the cover, I didn't know that you were a fellow guildie

Love it! Damon

Freakin' awesome, dude!! What do you do to keep the Chicago screws from pulling out of the slots on the backing? Or are you using a heavy enough leather that they won't pull out?

They have some of the prettiest work that I have ever seen. Thanks for telling me about them. Damon Muchos Gracias! Exactly what I was looking for.

I used contact cement to hold the clip and magnets in place (I know it will hold because I used the same cement on my armor when I was in the SCA without any problems) and used rubber cement to hold a velvet liner in place until I got the stitching done. I'm pretty confidant that it will hold together.

My wife and mother in law are into the flea market thing to bring in a little cash on the side (but mostly to hang out with each other) and they want me to make some bolo ties for them to sell. I can get everything I need from either Hidecrafter or Tandy but I was wanting some of the crimp on tips and I can't find any. I've looked at E-leatherworks.com and Springfield Leather Co. and only find the same tips that Tandy carries. Can anyone help me on this? Damon

I just gave the case to my father in law a few minutes ago and he loves it. I made this for him to replace the one he got at the ROT motorcycle rally in Austin last year which fell apart on him after just 4 short months. Their old cases claimed they were leather but as I took one apart it was vinyl an chipboard. So I took the belt clip and concho off and reused them Now my mother in law wants to replace hers too. She also said that she'll talk to a couple of her brothers and see if they want new cases too. A little business never hurt anyone. But after placing the phone in it I realized that I should have used a touch thinner leather. Oh well, live and learn.

I'm kind of proud of myself because this is the first pattern that I've made on my own. Pretty good I think. The only thing I don't like is that I couldn't find any pig skin or something of the like to cover the clip on the back. I'm hoping to find some in the next few days. Damon

I bet that's real handy when you have to play attic/sewer rat and have to constantly crawl over and around all sorts of stuff. Can't wait to see it.

Hey sparky, Do you have any pics you can share that might give me any ideas? I've gone through 3 tool belts in 3 years because they didn't meet my needs (didn't hold the weight I needed to carry, didn't distribute the weight appropriately, etc.). I'm currently working on making a rig of my own. I'm working out of my Greenlee tool bag and my hip pockets right now. To Tat2 The only thing I could recommend to improve it is to add a carry chain for holding electrical tape. Other than that, keep it up. Damon

If you can get it, George Hurst has a book out called "The Mighty Oak" that has a good bit of pictures. You can get it from Hidecrafters. Damon

I ended up getting this about 6 years ago for glass etching and it still hold strong. A bit underpowered but still good.

The brushes in a motor is what make the physical, electrical contact with the rotor (the shaft) and they do eventually wear down to nothing. I doubt that they are replaceable unless you have one of the high end Dremel tools Damon

I couldn't find my camera so I scanned it, I hope it looks good enough to see some of the details. I've been tugging on it and rolling it and I got a lot of the twisting out but it's just a simple 4 ply braid using 1/8" leather lacing with a box braid closing it off. I also made a key fob the same way but I tried closing the box braid off with a crown knot and I'm just not happy with the knot at all, so I might undo that and finish it off the same way as I did the lanyard. Damon

Last night I made myself a new lanyard for holding my id badges around my neck and I was wondering if it's suppose to seem somewhat twisted upon itself. It's not bad but is this due to me not holding consistent tension, too much or too little tension? Is this something that will eventually work itself out in time?

Hidepounder, I feel that there is a difference between hand crafted and hand made. I consider what we all do for a hobby is hand crafted, we get intimate with whatever we're making, we put in a serious effort to make each project unique. Hand made, to me, means that there was a person involved in the manufacture of it but nothing that makes one different from the other. When Bi-Moto motorcycles first went into business they were not automated in the least. While they had milling machines and such needed to make their engines and frames they didn't use any kind of robotic equipment. There was a person handling each part involved in each bike they put out and that's what I consider "hand made", direct human involvement but not anything unique about what they make. Damon I like these little, relaxed debates

Dude, you just gave me some tooling ideas. Especially for my tri-weave stamp. Damon

The deal is with motors is that it takes more power to get the thing started than it does to keep it running, so running it for 18 minutes isn't showing you the true power usage because when you sew your constantly starting, stopping, speeding up and slowing down the machine. Those power meters are really for something like refrigerators and computers as well as other stuff that you turn on and leave on for hours on end. Damon the mad electrician (who happens to be studying motors in school at this time)

Back from the days when I worked in a print shop, May the paper arrive, may the presses run, may the client pay when the job is done. And when I die, let my body rest where I'll never see another press Damon

Dremmel has always been a good brand I bet that you would get your moneys worth from it. I have a kit from Versa-Tool that I have started experimenting with and I think is pretty good. The down side for the Versa-Tool is that unless you got real tough finger tips you may want to make a koozie to keep the heat down around your fingers. it's easy to find tips for it at just about any hobby store. Damon

No, no, no, no, no, no. You save the honey and get a lot more of it and put it in a steel pot and heat it with water and a little bit of fruit to flavor if wanted, let it cool, add yeast or let it set until yeast forms on its own, seal it in a big bottle and in a few weeks to months you have some mead. A much better use for honey. And if you distill mead you get Dragon's Breath, which is way better. Damon

Keep it up. The only recommendation I can offer for your 2 bracers is, that if you have the means that is, heat the rings up and curve them a little to fit the curvature of your arm a little more so the wearer doesn't get a sore spot on the back of their wrist from wearing them too long. BTW are those snaps holding the ring on or are those rivets with very big heads? Damon

If your warped then what do you call me? When I listen so some songs I don't hear the lyrics, I substitute Weird Al lyrics instead. Damon