gtwister09

Ed, My hats off on this one. I see combinations of several different past mauls (spacers, heartbeat, faux ivory, heat treat) in this one as well as the additional stippled metalwork. I really like the smooth transitions from the head to handle as well. I would even trade out for that one... Regards, Ben

LJensen, I second Brent's system that Al mentioned for sharpening. I have shared this site several times over the years. I was fortunate that one of the Tool Cutter and Grinding guys that I worked with turned me onto Brent's website in 2002-2003. You should have no problems sharpening the blade if you use his system. Regards, Ben

with Clay! Please send our kindest regards to Billy since you are in contact with him. Regards, Ben

Romey, AWESOME. Beautiful work as always! Great combination of material in the steel, Ambonya Burl with the tiger striped sheath. Regards, Ben

Denise, A backup of the hard disk is one thing to restore files but it doesn't always take care of the operating system, registry and so forth. Leatheroo has given some great advice about Acronis True-Image. It makes a duplicate image of the hard drive that included the boot partition, registry and all files at the point in time snapshot. I have been using this since the mid 90's for all my machines including my Windows servers and my Linux server, Sure makes life nice to install a new drive and boot Acronis up. Select the image and wham.... I am exactly where I was at when I made the image (generally less than 45 minutes start to finish). I don't have to install an OS, all the programs and the backups. I use various methods of these OS images, some backups, replication, consolidations, synchronization with external drives, offsite storage, versioning and a couple of other methods to keep data and OS's available as quickly as possible. A combination of backup and image creation would serve you well. Regards, Ben

JC, Here's some older threads that discuss ins/outs and gotchas of purchasing swivel knifes. Hopefully these can keep you out of the weeds. Swivel Knife Thread 1 Swivel Knife Thread 2 Regards, Ben

Adriancg, Try this link for your manual... Machine Instruction Manual "Brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Google..." Regards, Ben P.S. For some odd reason the Add link wasn't working. It removes the hyperlink for this PDF everytime. Try cutting and pasting this below. www.mansew.com/PFAFF/PFAFF%201245%20INSTRUCTION%20MANUAL.pdf

John, Very nice job on the knights. They are striking. Regards, Ben

Spinner, It lets us get more TOOLS! Especially when you start delving into multiple areas like woodworking, saddlemaking, engraving and others. Regards, Ben

Pounder, Dale Grabowski said that he would likely start making some in February if there was enough interest. You can contact him through his website. Grandpas Pastime Regards. Ben

Brent, I have run them through planers and thickness sanders with very good results in removing the cuts and refurbishing the surface. The planer was quite a bit quicker and didn't require a few passes through like the thickness sander did. I also helped someone refurbish his 4ft X 8 ft sheet (cutting table) with a router in a sliding jig like the ones used to surface large wood tops. That worked extremely well also. Of course it took some time running the router over the whole surface. We removed 1/32" of material from his surface. It was good and flat and was certainly faster than trying to do it with a belt sander or such. Regards, Ben

OUCH on those prices, There are other places to look around on the internet for better prices like US plastics or the Cutting Board Factory if you are looking at those sizes and/or precut boards. From US Plastics, you could get an 18in X 5ft piece for the same amount as the 18in X 2ft piece from Small Parts or a 2ft X 4ft piece is almost the same price. It was the first site that I brought up in my bookmarks. US Plastics link You can also get sheets from them and Cutting Board Factory, There are plenty of other companies that carry it as well. A quick google search will yield a number of suppliers. Regards, Ben

I'm pretty sure that his information is listed in several other threads but here it is. Douglas Tools 46-S Wakely Road Sheridan, WY 82801 Phone: 307-737-2222 Bob Douglas email Kingwood Leatherworks also has a listing of some of his tools as well. Kingwood Listing - Douglas Tools You can also get them from Sheridan Leather Outfitters. 307-674-6679. Hope that helps. Regards, Ben 307-674-6679

Alan, Agree with others that its quite clean.... You have been a busy person with the saddle and braiding. Regards, Ben

In the past when working in a place where we had a couple of lasers we used them in vector and bitmap modes. In the bitmap mode we used a mask and just swept the laser across the wood, leather or whatever material we were shooting at the time. To answer your question you can use it for all sorts of graphics (both vector based and bitmapped based) as well as cutting leather. Regards, Ben

Mike, Like JW, I prefer a heavy single welt and I do use a large round bottom edger like Bruce. I found the large bottom edger to be nicer/easier to use on the welt over the french edger. Regards, Ben

metallurgynerd (???? name), There was a discussion in another thread and I miked a number of hand saws, circular saw blades and a number of round, head and half knives. That should give you a great start. I miked them at the top most portion of the knives so that it would yield the thickest portion of the material to start with. Hope that helps. Regards, Ben Post with Thicknesses

He will be missed! Our prayers go out to his family. Regards, Ben

Bob, Great looking work. It's obvious that these are happy customers since they keep coming back for more each year. Regards, Ben

Nancy, I had to laugh a little.... Not at your predicament but the exercise comment from the therapist. When I was heavily involved in ergonomics the exercises were ALWAYS the least followed item especially for the hands whether it was for computer operators, engineers, deburr people, symbolization people or any other occupation that required some degree of manual dexterity. FYI. I would not waste my time trying to "build up" a tool with the liquid latex. Anything past a layer starts to get problematic. I would start with tape to see how much buildup is comfortable for you. Test several thicknesses to see which feels the best. You might also try relaxing your grip on the tools as well. And yes....exercise those hands. Regards, Ben

Nancy, Some of the things that you might try are surgical tubing (most prefer that over the automotive rubber tubing - for a more tactile feel). Another thing to look at is the pen sleeves. These come in many sizes and shapes (round, square, triangular and octagon). They should fit the majority of your tools. I have used them and the surgical tbing with quite a bit of success with helping others with this problem. Tape is another low cost alternative that some use. Some even use thin leather rolled up to increase the diameter. Good luck. Regards, Ben

Buckaroo93, Welcome to the forum. Look forward to seeing some of your work. Regards, Ben

Bob, Great use of various design elements as well as great execution in the tooling. design and lacing . As always another great piece! Regards, Ben

Kyle, Thanks. These are generally available on Google Books and you can download them as generally PDFs or in ePub format. Sometimes they are in other formats. There are LOTS of these books available from harness, leather manufacturing, dye stuffs, woodworking and so forth. Regards, Ben

Bobby, FYI. John Bianchi has been using these felt based burnishing tools (maybe not exactly like this one) for years. In fact in the video series he made in the 90's for western holsters he has information on using the felt wheels. There are plenty of others who have used them over the years as well. Not sure what his wax compound combinations are but the wheels are felt. Regards, Ben