hidepounder

Okay David...Johanna just got my full attention...I would like to know what you are doing also....

Hi Rickyfro... I sold all my Osborn(new ones), McMillan, Watts and Ron's edgers (I liked the Ron's) and replaced them all(it's still a work in progress) with Gomph round bottom edgers. The "round bottom" is important! They are harder to sharpen but stay sharp longer. I also have accumulated some Gomph common edgers. My #1 will edge 2 oz leather.....no exageration....I couldn't do that with any of my previous edgers! Old CS Osborn & HF Osborn are very good also....I've never had a Dixon. The old steel is just better! Bob Beard is now making a short handle edger which looks very good...he uses really good steel, but I've never used them and I don't think they are "round bottom. As you can probably tell, I get a lot of satisfaction in using these tools which are 100 plus years old and I use them every day!

They both look great Bruce! Flower centers really stand out!

Randy, Your idea of building a strop for your belt sander is great! I would like to know what weight leather you used and how did you connect the ends together....glue? Bob

Thanks guys I appreciate the info....I suspected that was what you were going to tell me!

Is 1095 the steel that's in my old Gomph knives? They cut soooooooo well!

Goog idea Tom....now I know what to use when I'm out of Barge & Neat-Lac!

It appears that the overwhelming favorite combo is Neatsfoot Oil & Tan-Kote. Would someone please tell me the downside of Neat-Lac on a carved saddle....just for my personal info...?

What a geat idea, Randy! Tell me about the leather strop for your sander!

I'm not familiar with the Clyde knives that Bruce likes, but I'll tell you my opinion, first however, here's an expert! His name is Bob Douglas. I don't know if you know him or not, but he is making his living refurbishing old leather tools and reproducing high quality tools that are no longer available. He is a Don King trained saddlemaker....so he knows what the tools are and how to use them....and make them! He is in Sheridan WY, his number is 307/737-2222. After getting to know Bob, I have sold all my head knives and purchased old Gomph and W. Rose knives. I did keep a Bill Buchman knife I bought years ago and still like a lot even though it's stainless. Anyway I made this switch at considrable expense because the steel in these 100 year old knives is so superior to todays knives and is not available to makers today. (or maybe it's just not affordable?) I could never seem to get along with a head knive until I met Bob, learned what to buy and how to sharpen them. Now I use 2 Gomphs, 1 W. Rose and the BB regularly. I love using head knives now....I feel I can do anything with them. I keep one for cutting out on the table, one for skiving, one for general cutting & trimming on my bench and one that I will only use on wet leather and it never touches the the bench. They are all small...from 2-1/2" to 3-1/2" except for the skiving knife which is 5 ". I don't have any use for a large head knife except for skiving large areas. Then I like the extra reach. I used to sharpen mechanically...now I sharpen by hand. I have removed about 3/4" of shoulder on all of them, thinner is better, and I use a 1200 grit diamond stone to sharpen with(because there so damn hard)...which is not very often....I mostly just strop. Once my knife is sharp I begin polishing, mechanically, and I take the knives through 2 or 3 different rouges until I get a mirror finish. (very dangerous!) I even have a diamond dust embedded strop that I use when I have to. Since I aquired these good knives...all the mystery and frustration using a head knife is gone! I would like to own a Dozier also...just because it's a Dozier! However you can buy knives on ebay for a lot less money! Especially now, prices are way down. You'll see a lot of old CS Osborns, HF Osborns (I like them too), and a few Gomphs and W.Roses. (never a Dozier!). The sure bet is to call Bob. He won't sell any that aren't in excellent condition and he removes the shoulder on them...they're ready to go. I think a head knife is closer to 180 degress and is fairly shallow at the "nose"(my term for the center). I think of a round knife as one that sweeps considerably past 180 degrees and is deep at the "nose" and is usually a large knife. No one has ever been able to explain the difference to me...so I have come up with that distinction myself. I hope this is helpful....one of the good things about this forum, is that advice doesn't cost much here! Good luck!

Thanks Rick, thanks Crystal!

Are you using an alcohol dye?.....you want penetration! I have a multistep burnishing process, I burish pretty hard, and I have no problems what-so-ever. I do NOT use Gum Tragacanth! I would love to dye first, but I can't get that neat clean dye line when I do....

Pete, What Bruce said is exactly on the mark! There are a million methods! I think that intermediate toolers will try to stick to a particular sequence in tooling. I think you'll find the big boys varying their sequence based on the "needs" of the pattern. I frequently undercut right after I finishing cutting and then again....in the same place....after I've finished tooling the whole piece! Because some of my patterns need the extra encouragement! A production tooler will background first and then bevel...that way he can eliminate beveling everywhere there is background...which is much, much faster! On a difficult pattern you might have to bevel a couple of times to keep a particular part of your pattern on the plane it belongs on. Bottom line is follow what the big boys like Don do, but keep and open mind....experiment a little....do what the pattern tells you to do...

Letter stamps are great tools a certainly fill a need.........but unless your handcuffed and are absolutely required to use letter stamps, try finding a font you like on the computer, print out the letters in the persons name, etc., etc., and trace them onto your leather, then cut and bevel them! Nothing says "custom" or "professional" better than hand tooled letters!

That's right Marlon....in addition...you can burnish first and then dye, if you use spirit dyes, which enables you to get a really clean straight edge!

Way to go Clay!.....that was a "heads up move"! Very nice!

Not only are you a Leather Doctor, but a pretty darn good Psychologist as well! Great job Bree!

Marlon.....Great job for the first time out! David gave you some really great comments. I wanted to add to them, but I decided to do something else instead. I've taken your flowers and leaves and the general pattern layout and re-defined the stemwork. I thought it would be easier to show, than to explain the "flow" of the stemwork. As David pointed out, there were areas where the pattern seemed disconnected...in other words it was difficult to see how the pattern got from A to B. It seems to just appear out of nowhere. There was also an issue of "scale" as well. You'll see in my stemwork that the lines defining the petals in the stem are long and help to create the "flow". In addition I greatly reduced the size of the petals and created more of them, making it is easier to follow how the stemwork travels around the major components which are the flowers and the leaves. I thinks this also makes the pattern more pleasing to the eye (I hope anyway!). I highly recommend that you get a copy of "Sheridan Style Carving" by Bob Likewise. I think it is invaluable in learning to design your own patterns. In it, Bill Gardner takes you through the fundamentals of Sheridan Style design and there are a lot photos to study! Well worth the money! Keep at it, you made an excellent first attempt and I hope this will be helpful to you! Bob

Thanks Ed! Thanks Larry!

That's a really good point! I wish i knew more about acrylic dyes....

Why don't you guys like using Neat-Lac on carved saddles....never heard that before? Is the concern not being able penetrate the finish with oil again?

Bree...I don't see any problem using a solvent based dye. My experience stops right there though,...I've never used acrylics. It should be fairly easy to come up with a color that covers up the stain and still gives you a brown hue, but it might be time consuming because of drying time. If the first color is not dark enough, you can dye it darker. Might be best to just jump in with a dark brown if he doesn't want the case black. The only downside to using a solvent based dye that I can think of is the obvius one...once you start, there's no going back. If a brown tone doesn't work you can always go black. I can't tell you why, but black takes a lot of buffing to remove the reisidue and be sure it's really dry before you apply a sealer. Let me know how it turns out.

I'm with you Bree...I can't keep my hand off of the flywheel either. I think that's because I learned on an Adler 205 that went from 0-60 in about a 1/2" of pedal!

Thanks Johnny, I appreciate it! That detail is F.O. Baird influence. Thanks Art, I appreciate it!