chuck123wapati

from what i read only endangered in Virginia

some folks just lay the belt along the edge of a table and place/clamp/hold a length of wood on top so it doesnt slip then burnish away.

those rock man!!!!!

you could use two pieces of wood slightly shorter than your belt thickness, what ever length you can manage and a couple small clamps. if its shorter than your belt do a section then slide your belt through. how long is a full length belt? i'm doing a 64" right now. i use my lathe burnisher for smaller stuff lol.

got any pics so folks know what your talking about?

when i do brass on my wood lathe i use files, they work well.

have you gotten any business from it?

Darn good tooling you did an amazing job its very nice work i cant do letters lol. On your question a welt in a knife sheath is to protect the stitching it doesn't have to be an inch thick to fit the guard that's not what its intended purpose is but like all things hand made you can make it as thick as you want and i wont tell you your wrong by doing so. I make my welts the blade thickness at the most. Now on holsters i make a short tapered welt ,sometimes, because a revolver cylinder is much wider than the barrel but even those aren't an inch thick.

ok the edge doesn't need to be knife blade sharp but you shouldn't see a large flat on the bottom either if you get it to thin it will just keep bending. The edge bevel should be 30 degrees or even more, like your swivel knife bevel short and fat only on a punch its to keep it from bending. Just about half the length of bevel you see in your picture. i don't sharpen any of my small punches unless they get a nick.

if it was working and now its not...... lol If i were you i would just pop 10 bucks on a new set if you can afford it maybe a couple sets so you have a backup the one you have may have been made wrong. to soft of steel, burrs or what ever but its time to chalk it up as a bad punch IMO, place the order, have a beer!

oh yea now i can see it too the tip is jacked up. actually looks to thin and was flared out which would cut a plug to big for the hole.

A 1.5 and a 2.5 mm punch, `the plugs and holes should show a nice clean cut i bought these on amazon for about 10 bucks for the set. I can punch all day and they just pop out . I tried pushing them out with my round awl and they came out easy which is the way they are supposed to. One good quick rap with a wooden hammer is all you should need if your tools are working correctly.

your punch may just be to dull to cut the leather cleanly or your board is to soft to allow your punch to cut cleanly.

i use the smallest punch that the buckle pin will fit inside the hole. i use Weaver 1/2" buckles and a 3mm punch.

there is something wrong with your punch or your pounding board or both. That's all there is to it, punches have worked for hundreds, if not thousands, of years lol. I just went down stairs and punched 30 holes with my 2.5 mm punch nothing for lube on dry leather and not a problem. My punches were bought off amazon and are nothing special at all. This one i didn't even sharpen i use a 3mm for my 1/2" buckles but 4 would work ok too.

what exactly are you using to punch against? Is your leather damp or dry?

that embossed leather dont look bad atall very nice looking rig!!!

yes it would spin the work in a hand drill while using it against the sander. I ve made numerous round things that way including lifters, scribe and modeling tools out of stainless all thread. i was finally able to afford a small bench lathe just a year ago. fine work there friend!!!

i turn my rotary punch upside down, hold it tightly closed and whack it with a rubber mallet to use it for making multiple holes. the punches are aligned at opposite sides so it works well. use the opposite punch against a cutting surface like you would hand punches.

Man i have always wanted to see Australia, the outback looks a lot like the desert around here. we have a western meadow lark here that makes a nice song they live near water usually so around the little ponds , rivers and lakes you can hear them sing all day long.

lol i have a piece of leather speckled because i was sanding a knife by it as soon as i wetted it to tool .......tiny black speckles. the iron reacts with the tannins used in the tanning process turning the leather black so any iron that touches it wet will turn it.

Awesome!!!! steel wool works fast but any regular iron of will work Nails for example . it doesn't have to be just steel wool if you ever run into this problem again..

What do you apply to keep the leather conditioned/ oiled/ leather needs lube of some sort to keep its flexibility, Another thing to think about if he continually gets it wet the oils will eventually wash out and leave stiff dry leather that cracks. if you sent it conditioned and flexible then maybe all you can do is educate the customer on proper maintenance of his leather.

i like it too beautiful rig friend. work is always good therapy for a down spirit imo! And praying for your fast recovery.

none of the copies i have seen really match, i think a pear shader is the key the leaves don't look correct in most of them IMO. some look like an embossing wheel actually.