gtwister09

Over the years I have compiled maul information (sizes, shapes, materials, etc) from personal experience and personal research . I have compiled the weights below from various forums and even asked the same question on favorite size (weight) and so forth. From 282 responses here are the responses that I received... Favorite Weight (282 responses) Oz %age 16 41 20 38 12 09 14 06 24 04 Others 02 Regards, Ben

Then it needs to be removed from the MAIN forum description so that there isn't any confusion because IT IS STILL OUT ON THE MAIN FORUM. I took my quote directly from the main forum webpage. IT WAS NOT MY STATEMENT. It is the description directly from the forum. No you aren't stepping on my toes. If it's decided then the forum needs some housekeeping to bring it into line before another escalation takes hold. Regards, Ben

Not to sound contrary BUT this site does allow for "rants"..... It just needs to be properly classified. They need to be in a section called.... All About Us & Off Topic Here's the blurb for the description of the subforum. We all have real lives. Share a birthday message, wish holiday greetings, post links of interest for IRL (in real life) stuff. Rant and rave, any subject. Congratulate a soldier, mourn a loss, share a laugh, a comment, some wisdom. We're more than leatherworkers, we're people with jobs, families, hobbies, happy times, sad times. General discussion of any topic, leather related or not. Forum Led by: Administrators Regards, Ben

As others have already said.....They are absolutely great but like Art said... no jigs for a round knife. In fact my neighbors like it so much that it has been borrowed a whole lot more than I have used it lately. Regards, Ben

Very nice!!!!! Regards, Ben

FYI. It has not been in Brownwood for many years... It is now in Witchita Falls. Regards, Ben

Brent, Really nice. Great contrasts with dyeing and matching finish work...even with the strings. WOW! On the horn with the silverwork, tooling/design. Regards, Ben

Ed, It looks good and you received a great compliment on your edges from the "Edge" man. The one thing that looks a little out of place with the rest of the wallet is the stitching. It looks to be a little heavy. Good work... Regards, Ben

Congratulations! Well deserved David. Regards, Ben

Josh, Here's a couple of posts where you can see brands of desktop lasers. Laser Post #1 Laser Post #2 Regards, Ben

Bree, Zen....well I guess that's one way to put it... It is good to see someone else who mixes wood, leather and IT together. Regards, Ben

It looks really good for just starting... Regards, Ben

Bruce/Bob/et all, Lasers can be adjusted for depth using many methods. We played around with larger YAG ones a lot in the early 1990's when we bought a couple to cut substrates and aluminum. In between making G&M codes and setting it up we also did a lot of various methods like masking with paper and sweeping to cut some intricate designs (bitmaps). We also acquired additional depth with bitmaps by placing alternate masks. We also used it to cut deeper into wood by adjusting time of cut with vector based information as well. There are a bunch of other methods that you can use to cut. Usually most of the people use the CNC functionality (vector based) to gain depth today. Regards, Ben

Yes it is a great link...been buying from them for over 20 years. Even tried replacing some of the No More Tears Formula with some of the tanning oils. They darkened the leather a little so I didn't use them as replacements. I also tried their bacteriacide in the formula but it was a lot more costly than some other mold/bacteria fighting liquids. I used to use the vinegaroon formula 20 years or more ago to do all black items but I am not a huge fan of all black. In fact I think it has been more than 18 years since I used the formula. It was on an old saddle that someone wanted to convert to black. In fact it was Krenov's ebonizing formula that I used to blacken the saddle. I have used Krenov's formula for ebonizing almost as long as been buying from Van Dykes. He states to add tanning barks (tannins) to add greater depth of black to the formula. It makes some absolutely gorgeous arts and crafts furniture with quarter sawn oak (when people want a black - non lacquer finish). FYI - James Krenov was who Boggs garnered a lot of his information from. Mentioning other methods like guitar makers use (in fact Big Orange did a similar orange sunburst style on leather like the Telecasters use) was only to get people to open up their leather creativity finishing like Big Orange did. The Sunburst method is just one method. There are lots of others to consider and airbrushing techniques open up all sorts of other methods like masking and so forth. Vinegaroon is for the WHOLE project not just for other affects like sunbursts. Each has it's own place. There are some knife makers that use the quebracho bark to produce different shades of brown for the WHOLE knife scabbard project also. Regards, Ben

Just adding to what Bree stated... Ebonizing wood with some derivative of the vinegaroon formula is an age old "recipe" for woodworkers. Just look up some of the recipe books from the late 1800's and early 1900's for harnessmakers and woodworkers on google books and you will see many of these "recipes". In fact some of them mention the taxidermy/leather tanning places as businesses to acquire the various tannins like Quebracho from. They also warn you that some of these tannins impart a urine smell to the product. A couple of books mention tea as a home substitute for tannis as well. Many of the wood working techniques for coloring can be used on leather as well. Fading techniques are standard methods that are used by furniture makers and guitar makers. On another note, several of the segmented turners that I know will ebonize wood when they don't have access to ebony. Regards, Ben

Here's their web page for Bick 4, a leather conditioner. Bick 4 Leather Conditioner Regards, Ben

Shirley, It looks nice so far. It's a great tribute to these men and women....not many of them left anymore. Can't wait to see the color scheme. Regards, Ben

Bob, When are you going to buy a microscope.....they keep getting smaller and smaller. Great work as always... Regards, Ben

Depending upon what you want here are a couple of posts..... below. A Modification of Verlane and Dale Tool Rack Tool Rack Progression I have also included an older design that has a layout for single holes. I would make the angle from the side steeper looking back on it. See below. Leather_Tool_Rack.pdf Hopefully it will give you some ideas for making your own to "fit" your situation. Regards, Ben Leather_Tool_Rack.pdf

Bob, Good luck.... I have had my eyes peeled for about a decade for one of those. Regards, Ben

Peter, We have been joking that Marlon is your secretary. He also posts to flasah also. Regards, Ben

Bob, The answer is both grit and material. Each performs different functions. Some only cut, some cut and color and some just color. Getting one that cuts and colors would be a better choice for general purpose or single use material (like in the use of the strop). I would imagine that long ago there was a greater availability of white compounds than there was of green for stainless steels....thereby the cost was significantly less for white than green. At a high level... grits/color material/functions Black is the most coarse and it's generally used for removing pits, scratches, rust and paint. Brown Tripoli is next in the coarseness range and it is generally used for fast removal of softer metals. White is even finer and is generally used for color and final finish on hard metals. It does have a cutting action. Red is generally referred to as Jeweler's Rouge and is designed to polish without cutting. Blue is another one that is designed for polishing without cutting. Green is generally used for stainless steel for color and cutting. Yellow is another one designed for color and cutting. It is somewhere between white and green. Generally in buffing you have three phases. (1) Rough Cut To Remove Scratches (2) Final Cut & Initial Polish - you should first use your wheel with a cutting action, then finish with a color action. (3) Final Polish - creates luster As denoted above there is a cutting and color motion. The cutting motion produces a semi-bright, smooth and uniform surface. The color motion produces a shiny, bright and clean surface. Cutting motion should be performed against the direction of the wheel with a medium to hard pressure. Color motion should be performed with the direction of the wheel using a medium to light pressure. The same applies to using the strop and pushing/pulling a swivel knife. One cuts and the other polishes. Regards, Ben

TF, Here's some information from another post on types of stitching horses and such that may help answer your question ... Post on Stitching Horse Information Regards, Ben

Steve, They look really good from this distance. Give us an update and some close-ups when you get finished. Look forward to seeing it completed. Regards, Ben

Per OSHA rules a distributor does not have to send an MSDS to a consumer. However OSHA states that it would give consumers a better feeling concerning the company if they choose to do it. It suggests that it would be good will to the consumers to give out MSDS's anytime they are requested. This was a FIRST for me. Regards, Ben