Arturomex

That's interesting stuff, Chuck. Appreciate you taking the time to put it out there. Some other interesting information about prison made saddle trees here: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/70422-found-mcclellan-tree-maker-paper/ Regards, Arturo

Very nice. Fly fishing and leather work are both slippery slopes, aren't they? LOL Tight lines, Arturo

Props for Bob's customer service.

I also like Barry King tools. Nice, clean, sharp impressions and worth every penny. Here's a link to a section of his website that has a listing of recommended tools and sizes for your reference. http://www.barrykingtools.com/sizelist.htm Regards, Arturo

You can pick up a cheap, plastic vernier caliper for a few bucks and measure the shank of the blade you're using now. (Assuming, of course, that you like your knife and want to keep using it.) I like Barry King blades and I think they offer very good value for the money. As Buzzardbait says, in addition to the blades that fit BK knives, BK blades are available with a smaller 7/32" shank that fits Tandy knives. Leather Wranglers also offer excellent blades in different shank sizes. Can't speak about other suppliers due to lack of first hand knowledge. I lament the fact that swivel knife/blade vendors don't list the shank sizes of their products. It would make things a lot easier. And remember that no matter which blade you buy, the vital thing is to keep it sharp so it performs at full potential. Regards, Arturo

I've had some experience with oil/acrylic paints on canvas and as Chuck has said, acrylic over oil doesn't work well at all but I think there might be other things at work with leather. For starters, a gesso treated substrate is a lot different than leather. And it could be that the different types of vehicles used in oil painting might have something to do with acrylic paint not working well over oil paint (think linseed oil, mineral spirits and several types of varnish). As one of the links below points out, it can take a long time for the volatiles to fully evaporate and oil paints also form "tight, water resistant films" (as per Golden). Here are a couple of links relating to the artistic painting side of the question: http://chromaonline.com/paint_talk/can_you_overpaint_oils_with_acrylics https://www.goldenpaints.com/technicalinfo/technicalinfo_oil_over_acrylic Leather is still pretty porous even after it's been oiled. I don't recall ever creating a "tight, water resistant film" on veg tan just using oil. I've never had a problem applying acrylic finish to oiled leather. I haven't tried it but I think using acrylic paint on top of an acrylic finish like Resolene over oiled leather would work fine. I'll take it for a drive when I get a chance and see what happens. Regards, Arturo