esantoro

Thanks for the replies. I like the soap bottle idea, which I currently use for neatsfoot oil. Brushes for the plastic bottles seem rather expensive. For contact cement I like using the horse hair brushes from harbor freight that come 36 to a pack for about $2. With PVA I can simply rinse with hot water. Contact cement is another story. If I don't have a proprietary thinner on hand, which one of the following, which I have on hand, will work best to clean contact cement from these brushes: acetone/degreaser, denatured alcohol, and gum spirits turpentine? I was thinking I could just keep the glue brush in its own sealed jar with a bit of thinner. Thanks, Ed

I was thinking of switching to Weldwood, but tried it the other day and it didn't seem to work for me. I guess I need to let the leather sit longer before adhering.

Only a guess here, but what about a good outdoor wood glue, as long as you don't need it to dry clear. I've never used wood glue, so this is only an educated guess, as I've been reading up on it lately and waterproofing abilities has come up. How will the piece actually be used? Titebond would be a good brand to research, though I don't know which particular glue. You can call them up and tell them what you're looking for. ed

The United States for the last three decades has had predominantly conservative leadership in both parties who have all but destroyed the Constitution for personal economic gains and economic gains of an industrial class. This class has not worked harder over the last forty years; it has enacted laws and deregulation to work in its favor. It is this class that loves the flag waving, as it so easily diverts attention from their own unpatriotic behavior and actions. Jefferson saw these contradictions in the early workings of America when he wrote "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever."

There is another aspect to patriotism that is willing to take a critical look at the country and recognize its shortcomings. I've spent several years in and around Europe. Every time I traveled it was long and slow on ferries, trains, and buses. You get to see a place that way. When I returned to the U.S., I did the same on Greyhound and Amtrak. What I experienced is that Europeans identify with their country -- the land, the culture -- much more than Americans do with their own land and culture. To me, the patriotism we tend to see here in America isn't so much about the country but about an ability and a desire to cut ourselves off from any kind of connection to and responsibility for the community, a misguided sense of freedom. What I see that tries to pass for patriotism is narcissism. The most patriotic Americans I know never talk about patriotism but feel a connection to the community -- a connection that isn't trotted out predictably on cue once or twice a year for superficial display -- and they know how much that sense of community has been deliberately eroded in the last forty years. U.S. history is dumbed down on both sides of the political spectrum. The very same type of people responsible for current large-scale financial mismanagement were the ones who benefited the most by breaking from British Rule. Two-thirds of those who fought against the crown stood nothing to gain. Their lot was the same under either rule and always has been. Thomas Paine was a show piece propaganda tool to rally popular support for the war. The founding fathers in no way wanted Paine's version of democracy, but they found his rhetoric useful and effective. Today we are still that same America.

I just confirmed that these female-end screw rivets are 6/32. Found some 2/8" 6/32 stainless steel truss head machine screws for a good price at Bolt Depot. That will do fine for the screws that are not exposed. I'll keep looking for solid brass truss head screws for the exposed applications. By the way, am I going to have a difficult time grinding down or sawing off the ends of these stainless steel screws? Just curious, as I bought them at this length for applications that shouldn't require modification. Ed

This is enough for me to go on. I'll get some dark brown and black oil dyes. I suppose I should have them around , anyway. Thanks, ed

Hi Marlon, I'll take your word on this. I was expecting more from the edge dyes, but they don't seem to be anything special. The one thing I like about the spirit dyes is that they dry quickly and I can get on with the next construction step. How quickly do the oil dyes take to dry? My wait time for trying is consumed with the edge finishes, and I'm not sure I want to factor in additional waiting, especially if I'm using the dye only as a base. I'll have to look into some oil dyes for finishing the edges. Out of curiosity, I threw in a 4 oz bottle of Fiebing's Edge Enamel with my ZW order today. Thanks, Ed

After reading this thread, I'm wondering if the Angelus Dye is what I need. I currently use Fiebing's Edge dye in dark brown and black. The black seems fine, though I like what I'm hearing about black Angelus dye regarding rub off, or lack of rub off. My real problem is dark brown. I got the Edge Dye thinking it would give a deeper, darker dark brown than what a regular dye would give. What I end up getting is more like a reddish brown. It's not a terrible problem right now, as I mostly use the dye as a base for an edge finish, but I would like to have the option of just using dyes and beeswax on bag edges. Do you think Angelus dye in dark brown will give me an actual dark brown edge on vegetable tanned leathers? I'm also thinking of trying Weaver's dye (from LCI) and Kelly's dye. Thanks, ed

The RL bag sold for $1500.

This is great to know. Thanks.

I agree in part with you both, but I would add the following that I think leads to further complex questions of how modern societies are organized and controlled. I've linked to this film before in another thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3LSyck0YTE This _South Park _ episode is rather poignant: http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/127947 Globalized business requires consumerism to keep the economic wheels churning. Structures must be positioned to fuel that consumption. That consumption, in turn, must be designed not to fulfill promises of satisfaction but keep the tease going. If a majority of society jumps on this bandwagon, it will be more willing to do the work required by such a system, even if that work is unfulfilling. In fact, the work being unfulfilling opens up opportunities to attempt satisfaction through superficial consumption. Thus the wheels keep turning. Oh, crap! Now I cant stop, so I must end with this passage from Henry Miller: "The way I see it, the world is going to the dogs. You don't need much intelligence to get along, as things go. In fact, the less intelligence you have the better off you are. We've got it so arranged now that things are brought to you on a platter. All you need to know is how to do one little thing passably well [...]. If you had any aesthetic leanings you wouldn't be able to go through the stupid routine year in and year out. Art makes you restless, dissatisfied. Our industrial system can't afford to let that happen -- so they offer you soothing little substitutes to make you forget that you're a human being [...]. No, just when they've got it down pat, everything running smooth as a whistle, nobody squawking anymore, nobody restless or dissatisfied, the thing'll collapse. Man wasn't intended to be a machine. The funny thing about all these utopian systems of government is that they're always promising to make man free--but first they try to make him run like an eight-day clock. They ask the individual to become a slave in order to establish freedom for mankind. It's rum logic [...]. Jesus, when I see what lawyers and judges are trying to preserve it makes me puke. The law hasn't any relation to human needs; it's a racket carried on by a syndicate of parasites. [....] You've got to squint as you go along; you've got to pretend that it makes sense; you've got to let people suppose that you know what you're doing. But nobody knows what he's doing! We don't get up in the morning and think what we're about. No sir! We get up in a fog and shuffle through a dark tunnel with a hangover. We play the game. We know it's a dirty lousy fake but we can't help it--there's no choice. We're born into a certain setup, we're conditioned to it: we can tinker with it a little here and there, like you would a leaky boat, but there's no making it over, there's no time for it, you've got to get to port, or you imagine you have to. We'll never get there, of course. The boat'll go down first, take my word for it.... Now if I were Henry here, if I felt as sure as he does that I was an artist, do you think I'd bother to prove it to the world? Not me! I wouldn't put a line down on paper; I'd just think my thoughts, dream my dreams, and let it go at that. I'd take any kind of job, anything that would keep me alive, and I'd say to the world: 'F__k you, Jack, you're not putting anything over on me! You ain't making me starve to prove that I'm an artist. No siree--I know what I know and nobody can tell me different.'" -- Henry Miller, _The Rosy Crucifixion: Sexus_ (1962) Ed

Damn you, Ben! Damn you, Man! Look at what you've done! In one single post, you have given me enough precise information to send me over the edge. I've got my folders and bookmarks already setup and filling up each day. For three days straight I have done nothing but read up and research Sherline mills. I was in bed with the laptop watching milling videos on YouTube till 5 am. Now I'm getting the bright idea of getting a Sherline 2000 just to replace my drill press and play with the rest gradually. How easy is it to use a Sherline as a drill press? There's no turning back now. You might as well just tell me, because if it's just as simple to use as a drill press for drill press functions, I'm gone. I've already got the trigger finger getting fidgety on a used press on Ebay. It will be worth it, just to have the mill sit around in the box and know that the only thing standing between me and turning raw stock into the stuff of civilization is time. There will be plenty of time to sleep once I'm dead. Life is for the pursuit of madness. Thanks, again, for the powerful nudge into the abyss. Ed

How about this for art?

I would say that Hermes approaches the artistic through the mechanical. Selection and arrangement of materials also has an artistic component. ed

"Barenia" is probably a term used by Hermes when they were using this leather. The RL bag referenced earlier would be considered of "Barenia" leather, which to me looks like a supple veg tanned calf or cow leather. I think this leather was more common in the 70's and is similar to a type of leather I've been looking for for a long time. It probably requires a costly tanning process. Here is another bag of "Barenia" leather. ed

Martin's net book on Business is a great read. I will soon buy his book on machining, just because I would like to have such a book for a better general understanding of machining. I like Martin's approach to business and his reasoning, so I look forward to his book on machining. Thanks, again, Ben, for answering my next questions that had been a few weeks or months out. ed

Ben, This is exactly the information I needed. Thanks. Ed

Once I run out of my stock of Tandy CC and Duall 88, I'd like to stick to buying gallon containers of XL-8, but I'll still need to reuse a few of the relatively empty Tandy and Duall 88 containers. ed

An alternative to the glass jar is to refill the tin quart containers,but the brushes on the lids of those cans are made to fall off when the glue has run out or a bit earlier. I'd have to come up with a way to store a brush separately, in something like a spaghetti sauce jar with a half inch of contact cement in it, just enough to keep the brush in glue and from drying out and getting stiff. Is there any disadvantage to refilling a can of one brand of cc with cc from another brand? ed

Is it possible to buy a dark amber tinted glass glue jar (32 oz.) with replaceable brushes? I need two of these and don't want to buy a teflon coated pot. ed

My 3 to 5 year plan is to learn how to do CNC machining and put one of these in my workshop. http://www.ixen-cnc.com/2007/11/cheap-mill-enclosure.html My first step is to teach myself how to do basic 3D computer design. ed

Thanks for the responses. I'll get a roll of the low adhesive tape to have on hand. ed

Rotary tool and cut-off wheel just worked perfectly without damage to the threads. The rotary tool is now on its way to overtaking duct tape as the most useful tool in the shop. Though, I still want one of those mini hack saws. ed

Mcmaster-Carr is looking into the possibility of ordering exactly what I need for a very good price, maybe $6 or $7 per 100. I think a mini-hacksaw would also be good to have to shorten brass screws. ed