gtwister09

This weekend I was helping someone sharpen several of their leather knives (round, skiving, shoe makers, etc) as well as several of their kitchen knives on the slack belt. They were struggling greatly trying to maintain a 20 degree angle and trying to keep their hands out of/off of the belt. Anyhow they started to get the hand of looking down the knife onto the lines on the sander table to maintain the angle but were struggling when feeding across the belt. So I thought of something that I used sometimes for sharpening plane blades and let them use this to provide another touch point for them to maintain a parallel cut/grind across the sander. It worked much better for them with the round knife. They thought that I should share the tip with this group. I have made a quick sketch of the "tool" in question. I turned mine from an individual piece but you can utilize things like a hand plane knob, handle, drawer pull or anything that you can add a rare earth magnet to. Mine has a turned recess for the rare earth magnet. You can glue or epoxy the magnet as shown in the picture. The magnet connects with the blade and then you can use this to control the sharpening of the blade. A long blade allows you two places to hold onto if you put the helper knob on the end opposite of the handle. Whereas a round knife can utilize the tool in the center and you don't have to hold onto the handle and twist it around. As stated, it is quite simple and effective for those blades that are difficult to maintain a parallel grind across the belt or an aid to help those who struggle with awkward blades. Hopefully that will help some of you in sharpening your knives. Regards, Ben

I was blessed to receive a gift of a Bob Beard Special last night. Even though I am "maul poor", it will be a cherished gift. Ed said that he had a special piece of wood set aside for me since I was a "woodie" and I must say that this piece of wood fit the bill. Unfortunately my Photoshop was broken so I had to resort to Paint as an editing tool.... Not the best tool for the job but it still should allow you to see the fit, finish and distinctness of the wood. I have one that shows 3 side photos of the maul that shows 3 distinct patterns in this piece of cocobolo. The other one just shows a side perspective with end views of the bolt and cap. Reduced them to 30%. Sorry for the less than adequate compilations of the photos. Thanks once again Ed! Regards, Ben

Jared, The saddle looks nice. Talk about deja-vu! In the late 80's, I used AutoCAD to generate some of those vinyl templates but we used a vinyl cutter to cut the masks out. I did this for a lady in the symbolization/masking group who was just starting to do leather work and struggled greatly with geometric stamps and basketweave angles. She struggled with using draftman's triangles and I don't like score lines that show up in your finished work no matter how small. She likewise would warp even her scored lines so we had to come up with another methodology. So this was a standard masking method that we came up with but was applied to leather stamping. I will see if she still has them and get some pictures. She had me create several for "arrowhead" patterns of various geometric stamps as well as a couple of basketweave stamps that she had. As shown here masking techniques can be used for etching, templates, airbrushing, sandblasting metal/wood/glass/other materials and so many other things. We have used it for all of these things including bead blasting patterns with glass on plain conchos and monel stirrups. On another note the Lewis trees are pretty well known in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma region for their roping trees. Lewis Tree Shop Once again nice work. Regards, Ben

There are a number of places that you can pick up doming or dapping blocks like Contenti, Rio Grande and other jewelry making places. However I don't imagine that you can get them for the same price.....Harbor Freight will be a lot cheaper. I picked up a doming and dapping set at a yard sale almost 30 years ago for a couple of bucks(Back then we created a lot of conchos out of pesos so it was used a lot back then). One of several of the supplemental incomes while working on a ranch. Regards, Ben

Steve, What a nice clean working saddle.... I agree someone will be proud of that one. Regards, Ben

Keith, Somehow this one slipped past me. Absolutely great work...that's a fairly unique combination of silver on accents for the acorn and leaf stems. Extremely nice design, execution and certainly impeccable quality on all aspects of the belt. Regards, Ben P.S. I am going to have to search your posted material to see what other gems I've missed.

EngineCo1, Spinner has pretty much hit the nail on the head about issues with OUTSIDE forum pictures. This is the reason that I wish everyone would leave them on the forum because they break so easily and now we can't see them to admire and comment on them. Many of the other forums that I am on have the same issue with people who don't post their photos on the forum. Regards, Ben

KingsX, I think that we have had all had some of those training moments. First thing I do is to teach people how to sharpen and strop a blade. Bob is right about sharpening but a couple of those blades that I had you had to strop about every 10-12 inches to get the kind of cut that you wanted. Even if you are just starting out...who wants to spend more time sharpening and stropping than cutting. Not me! Some think that it's good for them to learn the hard ways but I am not into discouraging people with my limited time spent with them. Like you said they really get an UH-HUH moment when they have a sharp blade. Regards, Ben

KingsX, You are quite welcome. Not sure what it costs for S&H but even doubled it would be less than $40 for a brand new one. There's your answer. I used one of them for several years until it came loose. A couple of years later I found a small chip on it even though I had not been using it. In fact it was the first "upgrade" that I made with tools. Unfortunately Tandy DID NOT stand behind the lifetime warranty on them. Needless to say my love affair with the product and the company waned at the time. When I went to work for a defense contractor, one of the guys that worked in the optics fixed it for me. I later gave that blade in a Henley knife to one of my nephews who is in the service. I likewise gave 3 of the blades that I had traded for or purchased in bulk deals away earlier this year as well . They are certainly better than the starter blades that they were constantly stropping and working on so these guys were certainly happy with the gift. Regards, Ben

Dwight, To add to Bob's and Tim's answers a little, some outfits in NM and AZ will use chinks in the summertime with hightop boots to be a little cooler. Most of the ones around us used chaps all year long to bust through mesquites and cactus. All the places that we rode for and helped wore chaps all year long but I did know of a couple of outfits where they used chinks in the summertime. I have personally seen cholla get caught in the fringe on more than one occasion when chasing animals and busting through those cactus. Therefore it would not be my preference even in the summertime if I were working cattle in the mesquite/cactus terrain. I am not sure I would like oak thickets poking at me as well. However riding on a 100 degree plus day would be a nice time to not have chaps on either. It also seemed like most of the desert hands preferred batwing chaps but when I went to work for an outfit in the mountains of NM most of the people wore shotgun chaps and a couple of the hands wore chinks except in the winter time. The man that I worked for had come from Colorado and had several pair of chinks but never wore them. One of his kids did use them in the summertime except when we rode one specific pasture that had a lot of cactus in it. His son then used a pair of shotgun chaps that he used mostly in the wintertime. His Dad's preference was shotgun chaps all year long. The first time that I saw chinks en masse was when I was working for them and we went to help a rancher who purchased a ranch near us (actually he lived in British Columbia) and also owned land in Canada. All of his hands wore chinks. It was also my first indoctrination into Wade saddles. They were certainly different than anything I had ever seen at the ripe old age of 17 at the time. Lots of water under the bridge since that time. So like Tim said weather and terrain come into play as well as regional preferences. Regards, Ben P.S. Tim --- Nice working chinks!

KingsX, There are new ones for sale from Lefflers. Here's the link. Leffler Ruby Blade Regards, Ben

Ed, Nice work as usual... Regards, Ben

Spence, Actually Firefox uses the same ad-blocking services that Google uses as well. It is a partnership with Google, Firefox, SunBelt, NSFocus and PayPal. They also utilize information sent in by users as well when they perceive an attack site. Then they perform some investigation and see if it is an issue and mark it accordingly. If you are interested. Here's a web site that can give you some more understanding. Stop Badware Regards, Ben

Hilly, This is one of the issues when you let everyone have input into a designation as an attack site. Johanna is working on it. They have a process to release the status of the site. I would imagine that it takes some time. I only get it with my Firefox browser. IE doesn't register it. Of course the way around it in Firefox is to go to Tools Option and under the Security tab uncheck the "Block reported attack sites". However I would not recommend this as a fix because it then opens you up to real threats. Regards, Ben

Tina, Very nice and clean room. Maybe you should call it a "studio".... Already looked at the three fine postings of your work. Regards, Ben

Ed, As I stated earlier, very nice looking maul. Since this a Bob Beard Special are you going to stay with the cocobolo handle (his preference) or offer handles in other materials but the Bob Beard handle style? I didn't ask that the other evening but was wondering. Regards, Ben

Tina, Once again... some nice things and lots of them. Regards, Ben

Tina, Yes it has been a while but certainly worth the wait.... and to say that you have a few things in these 3 threads is a misnomer. There's some neat designs and great work as always. Glad to see that you are getting settled in. Regards, Ben

I picked up a modified Badger 150 about 10 years ago for next to nothing ($15 because someone didn't know what they had - It is actually a parts brush part Paasche and part Badger). Still a great brush. I have used a couple of different Iwatas, Paasche's and T&C's and they are all good brushes. Some models have a little finer control, some can tolerate heavier paints and so forth. I would suggest looking at the different types and see what best meets your needs. I would also suggest getting the best that you can afford. I would certainly choose a double action but you might want to read the various sites. Many have listed some of the better known airbrushes but you will find more on the airbrush sales sites . I have included some specific to choosing airbrushes since that's what you asked for. A small walkthrough of the major brushes and how to choose between the various ones whether single, double, siphon, gravity, internal versus external, etc. would be a good place to start your understanding from. The two below have some decent information. Choosing Airbrush Don Johnson Choosing Airbrush About mid page there is a recommended supplies list for the various illustration types. Airhead Recommendations Some lessons that may help... How to Lessons They already gave you some of the forum and tips/tricks sites previously. Here's some of the more well known airbrush sales sites. They also help you with compressors, traps, templates, paints, etc... Dixie Art Bear Air Airbrush Depot Regards, Ben P.S. There are several other threads that have more information than this so you might look for those as well.

Bobcat, Great tooling and design as usual. Regards, Ben

Darcy, Ditto. Thanks for the link again. Regards, Ben

Troy, Many years ago when I did a few pair of chaps, I misunderstood that designation as well. I had it exactly backwards about which one had the dye completely through the leather. The sewing machine I used had a broken part that was being delivered by a slow herd of wild turtles so I went to an upholsterer's shop to use his machine. It was then that the old upholster taught me the difference and straightened me out. As you already know "dye struck" is leather with dye fully struck through the leather. The "struck all the way through" designation is what has stuck with me through the years. Regards, Ben

Diane, I can't help with the usage of the charro saddles but here's some internet sources on charro saddles. Hopefully these will give you some additional information in the photos. This is a link to photos of some fantastic leather, silver and metal work from museums and private collections in Mexico. Mexican saddles, bits and spurs - gallery photos Here's a site that has some information on one of Pancho Villa's parade saddles. Pancho Villa's Last Saddle These people sell charro saddles and you may ask them for additional information about their saddle trees. Jimenez Saddles Regards, Ben

Dom, Whoa! Somehow this slipped past me. I don't know a lot about this type of work but can certainly admire the workmanship, design and layout. This is top notch work. The quality of the work is excellent. You designs flow well and the back is clean and refreshing and is well set off by the small amount of tooling at the neck. That is an understated but powerful statement on the back of the armor. Great designs that are well balanced, executed, tooled and finished. Hats off! Next time you might share a few more pictures up front as the interest in this project was overwhelming Once again...great job. Regards, Ben

Bruce, Balance is a HUGE deal for me as well. The handle design contributes to this as well as the head materials and head weights. Ed and I have had some long conversations about maul designs, balance and materials. How people use the maul as well impact this as well. Regards, Ben