gtwister09

Dave, If you don't find one you may check at Proleptic and Campbell for manuals and parts lists as well. Proleptic Link Campbell Parts Link Regards, Ben

Geoff, Here's some old patterns that I have picked up over the years. Hopefully they will be of some help. Assembly Instructions Mocassins.pdf Baby Mocassins Measurements.PDF Regards, Ben

Mike, If you look at some of the Google books (old ones) that are out there on dyes/formulas and such you will find many natural products that are used in dye formulas. The walnuts are one such dye formula. There are LOTS of those books on Google book. Good to see more people doing this. Regards, Ben

I'm with Bruce! Regards, Ben

Tim, Contour gages are used by several of the building trades...finish carpenters, trim, tile and so forth to transfer a shape to another product. Here's a picture below as well as the link to Steve's page showing where he was using it... look under skirt and jockey section as well as the ground seat section. Steve Mason's Link Hope that clarifies it for you. Regards, Ben

Clay, The TSA is the issue not the airlines as already mentioned and it is good advice to familiarize yourself with their policies prior to flying. A few times when traveling while working (flying every week), I carried tools back and forth. I reviewed my tools here one afternoon with DFW TSA people and here was what they offered up as advice. They will absolutely not allow the knives through carry-on for obvious reasons. Awls, edgers, groovers, mauls, mallets, hammers would generally not be allowed either (to be safe - However they know that some security people might allow them). Don't laugh but single dot seeders were scrutinized as well. Their explanation was interesting to say the least because pens could fall into that category as well. They also offered this advice. If it is a straight through flight then it would most likely be fine but any hops in between have the potential for the bags to get lost. The risk goes up for each hop so if it absolutely has to be there for your demo or such, their advice is to send it to the hotel, center or store that you are headed to. Others have mentioned the TSA website as well as various forms of this including guns and so forth but I believe the stop-over/flight hops information is also good advice., Regards, Ben

Tim, Somehow this made it past me. I shoot for 20 degrees on most of my leather knives. Here's a general guideline for you concerning sharpening angles for various instruments. Some other guidelines that are sometimes followed is that as the material gets harder that the angle decreases with 15 degrees being used only for the hardest materials because of their delicateness. There are trade-offs of durability for sharpness. That's the reason for different blade types, shapes, grinds, sharpening methods and so forth. These aren't gospel below but they will give you some rough/general guidelines. Hope that helps. Deg -- Description/General Guidelines 30 -- For cutting cardboard, wire and carpeting 25 -- Durable sharp edge for hunting and outdoor usage 20 -- For folders, fixed blades(various types), kitchen knifes, etc 17 -- Razor blades - sharp but delicate edges 15 -- Same as 17 degrees - harder edges Regards, Ben

What an interesting thread. I will be honest I didn't look at this thread because more than 30 years ago I burned up a rotary tool when I was doing piece work for a western wear store. They had me do almost every piece that they ran through their store....anything that was leather and didn't have a finished edge was set aside for edging and burnishing before it was sold. I immediately made a replacement for a drill press on a lathe. Ed's comment and picture of his old burnisher in the Fantastic burnisher thread reminds me that we pursue the elusive edges and that as far as rotary burnishers that there isn't a lot of new items out there in the way of wood or felt. However I would like to see what the Fantastic's edge formula looks like in comparison with others. I shared over there that in visiting with many older saddlemakers that some of their rotary burnishers are over 60-70 plus years old. I know a bunch of people on the forum have shown or created rotary burnishers including some dremel based ones over the years (I certainly am interested in burnishers and have freely shared my insight on wood selection, steel inserts and designs with a couple of them so that they can produce them). Some of these that come to mind are DueceTrinial, leathermanxxxx (sorry don't remember numbers), Elton Jooristy, esantro, K-man, Dwight and antipaladin to name some. I am sure that you could find more of them but these are the ones that readily come to mind. I have talked with a couple of them and others have produced everything on their own. There are a lot of talented and creative people out there and even some that do quite a bit of research. Spinner.... Good luck with your efforts. Keep up the pursuit of great edges! Regards, Ben

Ed and I have had this discussion offline that we have tried many different types over the years. That's one of the reasons for wanting to see the pictures of the edges. Everyone is looking for better edges (Hoping for easier but that is generally elusive ). I know John B. used the felt pads for his edges. Many others use that as well including the Fantastic. I personally would like to see an edge to see how well his actual edge formula is working out. Just my selfish desire to be honest. I know that over 30 years ago I burned up a rotary tool (Dremel) with a lignum vitae handle that I modified when I was burnishing edges for almost every item in a western wear store for extra money. I moved onto a drill press type almost immediately. In visiting and talking with many older saddlemakers a lot of them have rotary burnishers that are 60-70 or more years old. Most but not all of them have some form of canvas/duck material in there as well for their initial edges, Most will tell you that there's NO SUBSTITUTE for elbow grease though for a final edge. Likewise there are a number of different types of rotary burnishers listed on here as well. Nothing new but we keep looking for a better mousetrap....hoping and praying for one actually when it comes to edges. Regards, Ben

Paul, Great work as always! Regards, Ben

Mike - I never thought of it being somewhere else because the clink..clink.clink gave it away for me. However the thought that it might have stuck somewhere else was not lost on him. I have to chuckle a little because now I am going to have to call him the Samurai Sharpener. He is armored up now. Last night he went on a buying mission. He now has a heavy leather apron that goes down past his knees, a leather welding jacket, steel toed lace up boots and a full face mask to sharpen by. It certainly scared him! TexasJack ---Buffers are certainly nothing to screw around with either. Of course there is a long list of other powered tools like tablesaws, bandsaws, chainsaws and other machines in metal working, woodworking and other fields that require as much scrutiny and safety consciousness as well. Maybe every once in a while a wake-up call is needed to keep us on our toes. Fortunately this was a casualty-free accident except for maybe his pride, the knife and the paper wheel. Regards, Ben

I would like to see some real close-ups as well. Regards, Ben

Bruce-------Sorry..... It's not a GOOD story. No Blood! However the look on his face was a MasterCard moment...Priceless. When he saw that he was only holding a handle. Dirtclod ---- Your knife was NOT kind to that wheel. KingsX --- Middle school shop was the first time I saw that type of projectile. No lottery for me...almost seems like a self imposed tax with my luck. On another note this guy understands clearly why I sharpen with a facemask. He stopped and is going to find himself some type of jacket/apron that can provide some protection for his midsection and pick up a facemask. All he could think about was what if that thing had come up into his face and slit his throat or his stomach. However I have to say that the rotation worked in his favor and carried the knife away from him.... Regards, Ben

Just a few minutes ago my neighbor caught me and said come look I added another tool to the drop in bench that you helped me make. He had bought a paper wheel system and had it running. I asked him if it was turning the right direction and he said, "Yes. I already read the instructions. I trued it up and put the compounds on the wheel." I said well good. He was still talking to me and reached across the grinder to turn it on. He started to run the knife across the wheel and then looked over his shoulder and asked me another question. Next thing I heard was this loud twangggggg and a clink..clink.clink on the concrete. I asked what happened? He said that he didn't know but as I looked at the knife there was no blade on it. I laughed and asked where did your blade go? He started to say right here and issued a few choice words. We found the blade and I ran to get the camera...... One of those learning moments. Here's the bite that it took out of the paper wheel...most likely catching one of the slits as he looked away. The other is his new two piece knife. Just a reminder to stay focused on the task at hand especially when dealing when spinning wheels, high rpms and sharp instruments. He was lucky! Regards, Ben

Meleck, Not really a weird question. I am familiar with many of the various systems (handmade and purchased) for woodworking/turning/knifemaking and so forth....so it was not problem to add further explanations. I guess a more proper term for the knob/magnet would have been a gripper. Regards, Ben P.S. They are pretty simple to turn and like I said I made a recess for the magnet (not necessary but it looks more finished to me)

Meleck(??), I drew a couple of quick sketches showing mostly flat positions. One shows the plane iron with sandpaper and glass. The other one shows a longer blade with the helper on the end opposite of the handle and your other hand. The other shows it on a round knife. You can use it flat as shown or it can also be used at a 20 degree angle (or whatever angle you choose) on a slack belt or even on one of the paper wheels (or the sharpening medium of your choice). This is something that helps people freehand their sharpening. I personally don't use it anymore except on plane irons to help grip the irons. Hope that helps. Regards, Ben

Ed, That was the same story that Bob relayed to me as well. They had seen the" twisters" which were actually closer to the burnisher shapes and were making this more for a modeling tool to open up the cuts and lift designs. The one I have from Bob is presently lent out but I will see if I can get a picture from the one using it. Once I received Peter's modeling tool, I started using Peter's a lot more. However once I lent Bob's out I realized how much I did use it. I have an old pointed piece of lignum vitae that I use in place of it. Not my brightest moment lending it out. As always I was more than happy to help and once again thanks for the gift. It was not expected or even necessary. Regards, Ben

Mark, The best laid plans....... I understand all too well! Sometimes on the flanky stuff I use an arch punch or the round strap end punch to make the cut versus a knife. I have seen several saddlemakers do that as well even on firm leather. Many of them say it's faster on inside curves to do that and then cut away from those curves. In fact I was just reviewing Jeremiah's tapes with a friend this weekend and he did the same thing on some rigging. Regards, Ben

Tim, Your humor wasn't lost.. I was trying a little as well with the "google as friend". The article also had a good explanation of the types that Ed discussed as well. I have used them for all sorts of things in wood including some jigs, positioning devices/stops, various boxes w/o clasps and even several guitar pick boxes where they had contrasting woods that allowed the magnets to be totally hidden and a quick twist revealed the picks within. Regards, Ben

Bob is an excellent resource for these but, I'll add Bruce Johnson to the list. He gets some every now and then. He's on this board as well. Regards, Ben

Bob, Congratulations! Ed has been a busy man. I have seen a similar design when talking to a couple of older saddlemakers. They called theirs the twisting snake. Their design had a more slender tip so that they could get into the belt holes and into the oblong punched holes to slick them. Both of theirs also had a cylinder top because they used theirs in their hands and by rubbing back and forth they created a rotating motion. They used them like an unpowered drill. In fact one of them had a bow that he added to his so that he turn his more quickly than just running it with his two hands. It's interesting to talk to these guys about older tools and methods. When you think that you've made something new these guys can almost always burst your bubble. Regards, Ben

Mark, You probably already thought of this but you might rough size the pancake; attach the knife portion and then final cut the pancake portion using dividers or something for the line. Since you stated it was soft that may be how you did it anyhow. The best laid plans sometime go astray. Still looks nice and yes the darkened brand does add to the punch. Regards, Ben

Mark, Nice design..... the customer should like it. I like the design A LOT. I have one comment about the offset of the pattern. It is a little nit-picky but the knife offset to the pancake isn't the same all the way around the knife. It is slight but it shows up. Regards, Ben

Tim, First one on the list was a Wikipedia article. Rare Earth Magnet Article... Regards, Ben

Bruce --- Yes. He did outdo himself.. JBear --- #2 is an honor. Kate --- Yes it was a nice gesture. It's really nice to get something from someone when you help them out and it was not expected. Regards, Ben