ohboy

It's too bad the industry doesn't standardize thread to some sort of universal language. How nice would it be if the spools of a certain weight were all the same color.....I might purchase a brand for that reason alone. The stick on ID labels haven't stayed stuck to the spools very well and I wasn't sure if someone had come up with a way too keep them from getting mixed up... other than don't mix them up. Oh and that's a nice cabinet shelf by the way.

I'd like to say hi to everyone, long time lurker, first time poster. I've sewn fabric and worked with leather since I was little and I'm in no way a pro. I'm starting to accumulate quite a few spools of industrial thread bonded nylon/ bonded poly #69- #207 and I have a few different brands to personally access what I like. One thing that I have noticed is that one brand of #69 looks almost identical to another brands #92. I can feel a slight difference when I break the thread although this method lacks any accuracy. I could thread it through a needle and gauge how it slides. Visually they are they are pretty much indistinguishable. Is there a good way to identify unknown thread? Is there a good way to permanently mark the cones for easy identification because the stickers are terrible?

Solder Irons for stained glass. They make some high quality irons that are temperature adjustable and would probably work fine with the tips listed on ebay. You'll still have a couple of hundred in a good soldering iron that's adjustable. You'll probably be guessing to get the correct wattage as soldering irons generally adjust well and work within a certain temperature range. Being a bit of an oddball I have built pyrography pens, hot wax sculpture tools and that's pretty much what the fine leather working tool is...a home made tool. Having built a few I wouldn't question the durability of the unit or the quality of the tips, you can obviously see the quality of those beautifully polished tips and you just know they would produce a first rate finish. The high price is because it's not a mass produced unit. I would wager the Randall tips are nicer than the ebay version and you'll probably be getting more for your money. You'll have to show us how well the Randall works for you

I keep a running assortment of spray paint probably no less than 24 colors at least three shades of each color. To be quick about it, I would probably line up each set and spray paint the handles a different color and paint the tool rack/ holder the same color. Krylon dries quick and has a lot of different colors. The bad part is that the paint will wear off the chrome handles with use and make the tools look ugly and valueless and purchasing a bunch of colors of spay paint in one go would be expensive. Overall I doubt the groups that will use these will care much about how they look. The heat shrink sounds like a winner although time consuming for the number of tools.