gtwister09

I think that he also did one of the 2007 LCSJ covers. I believe that it was either the July/August or September/October one. I will have to look and see. Regards, Ben

To add to Bob's post, I have about 30+ tools from Bob Dellis that Ray Pohja made for him (a couple of them were made by others but the majority were made by Ray) while they were working at Porters. I use several of these quite a bit and they are literally bolts and a couple of nails. I have had no problems with them and I know that Bob tooled with them a lot more than I have ever done. I also have about another 40-50 that are made by various others that are bolts and nails. I can honestly attest to the fact that there is no issue. These tools are not blued, browned or anything. That's my mileage and yours may vary but up to this point it has never been an issue for me. Regards, Ben

Ditto to what Bob said about using Travis's work for inspiration. His boot pulls look a lot like some of his bridle work. If you need some more, here's his web site. Travis Stillson Website I generally check his web site every so often to see some new work. Regards, Ben

I know we have become accustomed to the "big name stores" fighting for volume business with price guarantees of lowest cost. How many of you want to compete with with the low cost model? There aren't many many of us that could do the same. Small volume sales do not generally follow the same economic or marketing models that large volume sellers like Walmart, Best Buy or others like that follow. Consider some other areas where you purchase items that are being discontinued or there is a newer model coming out. One such area is automobiles. Does the cost of this year's model automobile go down when next year's model comes out? How many have went back into a dealership to request a refund due to a reduced price within a couple of months? How many of those dealers gave you a refund? Another thing that came to mind for something similar is the story of the people who were without work and a person hiring them throughout the day to work. The person got some of these workers to work first thing in the morning and the people agreed to work for a set amount for the day. They were happy to have the work and happy with the amount. It was very fair. During lunch, the same person came and got some more workers and they agreed to work for the same amount. They were likewise happy to have the work and happy with the amount. It was really fair. Later in the day the same person came and got some more workers and they agreed to work for the same amount. They were likewise happy to have the work and happy with the amount. It was extremely fair. At the end of the day this person paid the workers the agreed to amount. Only when the the workers that started at the beginning of the day and the ones that started at lunch found out that they were getting the same amount as the workers that only worked a couple of hours did they start to grumble and complain about it not being fair. They were happy to have the work earlier in the day and had agreed to the amount earlier in the day. What happened? Hmmmmm. Just some things to consider and not necesarily an indictment for or against Artisan. There's usually more than one side of the story and sometimes it helps to consider all sides. Regards, Ben

Here you go for Walsall Hardware. Walsall You can also view Weavers catalog online as well... Click on the Catalog tab near the top of the web page. Weaver Leather Regards, Ben

Rob, It would have most likely been a good buy.... Regards, Ben

I've made some with an adapter chuck for a pin vise. Not my most favorite awls.... It would take some decent metal lathe work and such to create an awl chuck/mechanism. Bob's are a good buy..... Barra's idea works as well. If you get some nice older ones that have LOTS of perforations in them you can clean it up with a hardwood dowel (either bought or made) and drill the end out of the bottom of the handle. Make sure and leave enough around the edges so that the existing wood doesn't split. If you really want to get fancy then you can even add a brass ferrule around the end of the awl. Regards, Ben

I have lots of those Snap On tools as well and the cost is about the same.... As you already know quality tools cost. I picked up a little here and a little there. Most of mine have been through eBay over the past 10 years and a few trades here and there. Some came from leatherworkers leaving the business like Bob Dellis. Regards, Ben

Rob, Almost all of my Gomph and Osborne tools have had rust removed (close to 80). I generally only use EVAPO-RUST for hard or extreme rust. I would add the Strongarm Spray is much better than WD-40 for light rust removal. I would try to remove as much of this rust before putting it on the polishing wheel to keep the rust out of the polishing wheels....some rust in it can't be helped...not to mention that the metal removal also packs into the polishing wheels. Bob is correct about woodworkers using polishing compounds to make wood pop. I use green the most for polishing even on the handles. Another one that is used a lot for final polishing is the ZAM polishing compound which is a more refined version of green polishing compund. On the opposite end of the sprectrum are the coarse ones like Black Emery and Brown Tripoli. I rarely use these on older tools unless there is a fair amount of rust pitting. I don't like using a wire brush on these tools. If I do use one it will be a brass brush so that there is less scratching. You have to use a little caution in polishing tools because they have a tendency to catch with some of the tools. The handles require a light touch when polishing also. Press to hard and it will make a mess on some handles. Another option for handles is to use something like the Beall Bowl Buffs (2") to polish with. Clamping the tool and then using the bowl buffs is something I did with my son to keep the tools from flying around the garage. Adding Carnauba wax after polishing adds more shine to the handles. As Bob and Bruce said they are great tools and I also gather them up as well. Regards, Ben

PSLAC has a database, Here's the link to the topic.... PSLAC Tool Imoression Database Regards, Ben

Randy Knutson was the last person that I knew was selling these type of blades. His eBay ID is river_rat1541. His email is Randy Knutson. The last email address I have for him is in the link (yahoo account). Hope that helps. Regards, Ben

I would strongly suggest that you get a ledged surface plate so that you can move it more easily. On another note, I have a quick question about the flaking granite. What kind/name of granite was it that flaked off? That is pretty common with marble. Just wondering.... Regards, Ben

Grade B works fine. Grade A's are for high precision tolerances/machining. In fact when you step up to high tolerances you would keep the temperature constant in the QC room and even soak your parts in that room prior to them being checked. Regards, Ben

Ditto on the Ready Flow pens. I started using them in the 80's when we were making some banners and signs for a weight lifting equipment company. Ready Flow sells all kinds of things for signage and banners including inks, software, paper and a lot of other items. Regards, Ben

Andy, My first saddlemakers bow, smasher and a couple of burnishers were out of oak. They worked OK. The one issue that I have is that oaks are am open grained hardwood whereas the others like cocobolo, bocote, lignum vitae, rosewoods, etc are tighter grained hardwoods. However like everything there is cost (your is free!) and quality tradeoffs. Will they work?. Yes. Are they the best in my opinion? No. A rotating edge burnisher would have less impact from the open grained hardwood than say a slicker or smasher. All the burnishers (rotating and otherwise), smashers, slickers,string tighteners, bows that I make are out of the tighter grained hardwoods (some of them are listed above). This is just my two cents worth. Regards, Ben

Weber's carries a lot of camo gear. Elton may be able to help you. I seem to remember him posting a portfolio/notebook with mossy oak and a deer head on it. He may know a supplier. Regards, Ben

Thank you. I thought that there might be more than what is on the website. Thanks again. Regards, Ben

JW, Nice work! I like the contrast of the roughout and the stamped. Regards, Ben

Keith, I haven't been doing much with leatherwork lately for various reasons. However, I tried the Clear lac on two items about 2 years ago. One was a pair of batwing chaps for my Dad and the other was a holster for my father-in-laws Luger 22. The chaps only had the yokes, pockets and flares tooled. These have had blood, dirt and rain on them wiith no sign of cracking. The holster hasn't seen as abusive of an environment except for some rain and they have no sign of cracking. Some of the other lacquers that I tried did pentrate deeply and had lots of fine white lines when flexed. However on the flip side I have three belts, a portfolio,, some spur straps and a checkbook cover that were done with Neat lac that exhibited fine white lines from flexing a couple of weeks after being completed. Go figure. I got rid of that quart of Neat lac and started trying others. That was the last reformulation so I chalked it up to that rather than a bad batch...I might have been wrong on attributing it to a new formulation rather than the batch. On a name serach on Google.... Behr is the only Clear lac manufacturer listed but that doesn't necessarily mean its the only one. I would be interested in your information about the one from Panhandle Leathers. Here's some that I have tried in the past and give some informaiton on them... Behlen's Stringed Instrument Lacquer worked well. Watco Brushing Lacquer didn't do well Minwax didn't do well Several Deft's did not do well Zinsser did not do well either One I didn't try but would consider is General Finishes Gel Topcoat Regards, Ben

I have a friend that picked up a used Hansen String Cutter but he didn't get any instructions. Would someone who has the string cutter be kind enough to provide a copy of the instructions? Thank you in advance. Regards, Ben

They look awesome! Good job. I am glad that you are making some money off of them. If I didn't already have one of them exactly like it I would buy one. Regards, Ben

Keith/others, I use Behr's Clear Lac Semi Gloss that you can get at Home Depot. I would imagine that you could get something similar at Woodworkers, Lowe's, Aces and other hardware and woodworking stores. Regards, Ben

The instructions explicitly tell you to reverse the direction when you assemble the system. Regards, Ben

Rigid has had this machine out for a couple of years. It works well on wood because the oscillating action lessens the finish marks. It was one of the first oscillating interchangeable drum/belt sanders on the market. It is a nice machine! Regards, Ben

Matt, Why don't you put your Watt leather carving DVDs in the Marketplace so that others can see you are trying to sell these. Regards, Ben