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I'm thinking about getting some alphabet embossing stamps to emboss initials on a leather patch to be stitched onto bags. Can anyone recommend a good set of alphabet stamps, or is this something for which I'll have to custom order size and font style? Ed

Something for the T-shirts in the new shop: LEATHERWORKERS DO IT DEEPER: “All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.”

Some people have a difficult time dealing windfalls of enormous wealth that would allow them never to have to work again for a paycheck. I nominate myself as someone who deserves a lifetime of free time. Give me some bare wires, a soldering iron, some current, and a few calories a day and I am as happy as one can be. I just got my electric toys today. It's too soon for a full report but things look good. While these lights are brighter than most of what's currently available, I was hoping they'd be a bit brighter. But perhaps brighter LEDs will create a heat issue. ed

good looking rugged handle. Much better than the plastic handles on some of those other amps. Are you also making the lighter-duty handles on some of the other pictured amps? ed

I would say that the Chicago screws are stronger than rapid, jiffy, and tubular rivets. Put red locktite on the threads (I've used only the blue thus far) and I don't see how they would ever come apart. ed The Chicago screws from WEaver are about the same price as the Jiffy rivets from anywhere, roughly $15 for 100. Less if you by about 5000. ed

The solid brass Jiffy rivets from Ohio Travel Bag are made in Belgium. What about solid brass Chicago screws? ed

You can run a thin metal bar underneath the handle and drill holes at the appropriate places. ed

I tried looking into getting brass closures for the flap. The ones I wanted were about $20 from England, but I'm not sure if they are even made anymore. That may be the next design change, though. It would be nice to get Chicago Screws and locks with "Walden Bags" printed on them, but that would indeed cost a fortune. If it's possible to get them lazer engraved, that might be incentive enough to invest in the necessary machinery. Ed

I could see handstitching a bridle leather bag in its entirety and putting it up for $3000. Beyond that I don't think it's possible to "come up" with a $6000 bag, unless I use precious metals for some of the fittings. It seems to me that to move even beyond $2000 a bag, you have to create marketing mystique. If Hermes wasn't a "French" company, they wouldn't be able to get as much for their bags as they do. Swaine Adeney Brigg is a good indicator, I think, of the ceiling for pricing on quality goods and construction without going overboard with marketing mystique. IF I had people working for me, I could have them make however many versions of a bag that come to mind and then select visually. As it is now, I have to make every bag to sell and work the R&D in incrementally, which slows production quite a bit. Once you cut, you can't go back. Sometimes I'll hesitate two weeks in making a pivotal decision on a bag. I either get tired of thinking about the issue or a certain conviction just eventally comes. In about a week, I'll have two dark brown latigo Mavericks, one with an aggressively cut flap similar to the SAB, which is working out nicely. I'll post pics. I love the waking up at 3 am to quickly get an idea out of my head and onto leather to see if the idea works or not. I eventually go back to bed and sleep like a baby.

There's a metal bar running the near width of the flap that provides support for the handle and O-ring. It's all designed so that weight is not actually born on leather itself but metal reinforcements. ed There's a metal bar running the near width of the flap that provides support for the handle and O-ring. It's all designed so that weight is not actually born on leather itself but metal reinforcements. ed Thanks, Freddie. I had been meaning to get in touch with you a while back. We should visit each other's shop. Ed

Any 12v dc adapter with a minimum of 100ma will work. I'll look around for old wall warts and cut and splice as needed. I'll call Artisan, but does anyone know if the LEDs Artisan sells run off a 12v power supply? Also, The gooseneck halogen lamps Artisan sells have a magnetic transformer and can take an MR11 LED bulb. I've ordered one of these and will report its effectiveness. From what I've read, nearly all devices with magnetic transformers can power LEDs. Most, if not all, electronic transformers pose a problem. I knew the knowledge gained fiddling with transformers would pay off in some additional way down the road. Ed

Thanks Skip. Cool links. Word from LEDWholesalers is that their bright LEDs don't crequire a heat sink. The Luxeons and CREEs do. That one 1watt luxeon bulb is 90 lumens. Four or six of the SMT bulbs in arrangement are equivalent to about 90 lumens. I'd like to find a source for the individual bulbs and start making my own circuit boards. Ed

I have those lights from Artisan. They work well. And Artisan has been very good to me regarding those lights. I've realized you can't have too much light above the needle and am under the impression that the LEDs from LEDWholesalers are five-times brighter than regular LEDs. I'll find out when I receive these and will report back. I'll have to figure out a 12v adapter to run these LEDs. Ed

Here's a 17" Maverick I finished recently. ed

Here's a 17" Ambassador in bridle leather with padded laptop compartment I finished recently. Ed

We need to bring tinkering back from the dead. I do need to learn about resistors and heatsinks and more. Skip, did you have a link in your post? Ed

Now I'm down to four lives. And they've got to last me about 50 years. Well, I finally did it. I finally got the magnetic ballasts working. I had the plug-in ballasts working, but they didn't allow for the use of the two 110 v outlets on each lamp. Not being able to do without those additional outlets, I had to get the magnetic ballasts working. I wired them up in the manner I thought appropriate and was blowing bulbs and starter plugs left and right. I started putting together an illustrated PDF to post for help and then noticed how I was wiring the ballasts incorrectly. I'll get some proper crimps tomorrow and get both lamps back to 100 percent. Thanks, again. for all the help. Ed

I've ordered the following LED lights to be used to put more white light on top of my machine's needle. I'm going to try to connect them to a 12volt 300ma wall wart transformer. If it works, I will figure out how to put an on/off switch in the middle somewhere. http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index....p;productId=277 http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index....p;productId=349 http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index....p;productId=279 ed

Simple. Sturdy. Beautiful. http://www.danrayproducts.com/store/SnakeArmLamps.cfm ed

Some people think that all hard woods are alike. I'm of the opinion that there's got to be some visible difference in how the various woods slick. I haven't yet gotten around to using cocobolo yet. I've got the blanks, just not the time. It would be great if someone could do a quick comparison. Ed

I'd put the Sopranos right up there with Shakespeare. Deadwood is entertaining, a bit thought-provoking, but it's not the Sopranos, no matter how it might think of itself otherwise. I'm just about through the first season, and am beginning to see that it might be trying to comment about the relatively small-time somewhat innocent corruption of the late 19th century in comparison with the large-scale governmental and corporate corruption that started developing around the same time period up until now. The Sopranos did this marvelously. Tony Soprano is as American as Carnegie and Donald Trump. Eventually, I'll be extracting still pictures from the episodes of bags I'd like to make. ed

very nice case. I've started watching HBO's Deadwood, and every so often I get idea for bags I'd like to make. Your case reminds me of the stage coach traveling cases. Very nice work. ed

Try making the post flush with the leather or not more than 1/32" higher than the hole. Experiment with some scrap leather. Ed

I've completed the laptop case. Ed