Chris623

Well, mine is the Tandy Leather Comfort..........bottom of the line. Don't know if that's the same one you showed.

Thanks, YinTx. I must have lucked out because my swivel mechanism is as smooth as butter............but I'll still take your recommendation. You say it just "pops" off? Hmmmmm. As I mentioned previously, my "thing" is sharpening and polishing. I make knives. But I also make a lot of wood carving knives. I teach wood carving and if a knife isn't scalpel sharp it's a waste of time to use. So the bevels on my new swivel knife are absolute mirrors. I've a lot of practice ahead of me.

Thanks, battlemunky, I'll check it out. Edit: Thanks again. I watched the video and it was very helpful. I teach wood carving at the local Vo-Tech, and one of the things I teach is low relief..........which it looks as if he does a lot of. I'm not sure what that "swivel bevel" tool is really called. Very effective, though. I've tons to learn, but I'm a sponge, so I'll get there.

You know me, or should by now..................I have another question. Just got my new swivel knife blade properly sharpened. Fine, that's behind me. I'd appreciated it if someone would take the time to share with me the benefits of wide blades, narrow blades, thick blades, thin blades, hollow ground blades and angled blades. I'm sure they have purpose other than "personal preference".

You sure do nice work, young man!

Same back at you. I've spent the last couple of hours putting a "proper" edge on my new swivel knife. Personally, I'm leaning towards thinking I'd rather have a thin blade...............of course that's an opinion based upon no experience.

Hope you have good luck with it. I'd sure like to have one, but as I mentioned here previously, I'll have to make a temporary one for the little work I expect to need it for.

Well, I went ahead and spent the $15 for the low-end Tandy. I can tell just by looking at the bevels this thing isn't anywhere near ready to use. That's okay, sharpening and stropping is "my thing". Now to get to work on and with it.

Ha-ha, Mike, I thought I was going to save myself some problems with Tandy. Called them this morning and asked if they had the two items I wanted and were they part of the Black Friday sale. "Yes on both counts" was the response. So I drove the half hour on the highway to the store. But when I got there, neither of the two products were on sale. Almost walked out.............but I'd already wasted time and fuel (both precious to me) and I just plopped the items on the counter and brought them home. Typical Tandy. Can't wait until I can get my knife and sheath making to a point I've some regular income so I can afford to buy on-line and not sweat the shipping charges. (dang I hate being "po"!)

That's because Tandy's Black Friday sales are "limited to on-hand stock only". (their words, not mine) I'm expecting the same results as you found when I get there. They only had two of those splitters on Monday, so I imagine there will be a lot of disappointed customers this morning. What I'd like to pick up on sale they only had one of, so I imagine the 30 minute drive will be a waste of time.

Maybe I can come up with a hundred bucks if I win a scratch card.

Indeed they do.............................at about twice the price I'm willing to spend as a beginner.

Good point. Thanks.

Your last two sentences are of great importance to me, Arturo. It almost makes me sick to buy a tool and find I need to upgrade and then have wasted my money on the original piece of junk. This is why I ask so many questions on forums of people who have more experience than I about such things. Keeping in mind what you've said, would a Henley swivel knife fit into that "something above" suggestion?

WOW, that's plumb purdy, Josh. Looks like a proper way to transport that beauty. I've got a C. Sharps 1885 Highwall that deserves that scabbard. I'll send you my address and you can just send it on over!

I'd like to try my hand at learning to use a swivel knife. Doubt I'll be doing a ton of work with it, but I want a decent one. I'm the kind of person who'd rather buy something once and not end up with a drawer full of "all the ones I've bought up until now", if you know what I mean. I've been looking at the 'Ol Smoothie from Chuck Smith. I've read several people's comments about it that are pretty positive. The only thing is, he offers 4 different lengths and not having ever used one, I have no idea what size to order. Holding a pencil as if it's a swivel knife, I think the 2 1/2" would work, but what do I know?? Number one, is the 'Ol Smoothie a good one to start with.....................and most likely to continue with rather than having to upgrade? Or would I be way in over my head with that one? Number two, is there a less expensive one that would most likely serve for what I'm looking for? I don't intend to do saddles, belts or anything else that requires a lot of swivel knife work. At most, I'll probably just do an occasional leaf or feather on a sheath or something of that nature. I'm not in any kind of rush.................just ponderin' this leather working stuff.

You are correct, the exposure of the camera was slightly off..................but I didn't oil the sample first. I haven't tried that yet, but will next time. I don't own an air brushing system. That's something I've seriously considered for my wood carving work. My hobbies are all far too expensive. My little wife is about to divorce me over all of them as it is. I'll have to wait until I can sell a bunch of my larger wood working equipment (or my beautiful wooden teardrop trailer!) before I can spring for that!!!!!

Okay, I tried to put to use some of the suggestions you guys have made and this is what I came up with. Just a sample piece to make sure my stamping is deep enough. I thinned my Pro Resist and applied one thin coat. Let it dry. Then I applied Antiquing full strength with Sheepswool. Let that dry about 15 minutes. Gently wiped the top or highlights with slightly dampened paper towel. Then one coat of thinned Top Kote. I'm "fairly" pleased with the results. Color of the Antique isn't my preference, but it's the only color they had at Tandy's. I might try thinning it with Top Kote next time. Over all, I'm pleased with this. Just wish I could have had more of this "look" with the sheath I just finished. Almost tempted to turn around and make it again!!!!!

Thanks, Josh. I picked up several pointers in all of that I want to try. First off is only hitting the highlights with the resist. Makes sense that the antique would stick better to the leather than the resist. Also never thought of using a dampened paper towel to remove the antiquing. Thanks for the comments.

I sent a message to Fiebings last night. I want to know the solvents or thinners used on each of their products. My Pro Resist is so thick it reminds me of a bottle of Elmer's Glue that's almost dried up. The Tan Kote isn't quite as bad, but still, it's thicker than I think it should be. (so I tend to agree I may have filled the finer recesses in my stamping with the two coats of Pro Resist) I remember seeing a video somewhere where the leather worker mentioned you could use Tan Kote in an artists air brush. NO WAY.............unless you could thin it considerably. And this folded sheath looks and feels more like plastic than leather now. I've seen leather workers use both Pro Resist and Tan Kote as interchangeable components. One guy says he uses Pro Resist as a top coat and the other says he uses Tan Kote as a top coat. (opposite of what I did on this sheath) Some say to use Antique paste and another says Antique Gel is what to use.............while another says "don't ever use the gel". Driving me nuts.

Okay, thanks. I was disappointed in how shallow the lines were, but thought the stamping was deep enough. Oh, and I did wipe "across" the lines, but as you mentioned, they just weren't deep enough.

Oh, I don't mind exposing my ignorance...............no shame in not knowing what I'm doing. That's why I'm asking questions.

Well, I'm disappointed.................mainly in me, but also this sheath I'm working on. It's a folded sheath. Got it all put together and nicely decorated and stitched. I put two coats of Pro Resist on it, with 8 hours of dry time between the first and second coat. Then an hour after the second coat I applied Fiebing's Dark Brown Antique Paste. Let it dry for about 10 minutes and wiped it off. And wipe it off I did!!!!! The sheath was so shiny from the Pro Resist the Antiquing wouldn't stick...............and came right off. Tried the process a second time and (Meh!) was able to get it to "sort of" look okay. Not letting it dry long enough may be where I messed up. (Also, I used a paper towel to remove the Antiquing, if that makes any difference) This second time I let the Antique dry for about 15 minutes before wiping and then applied a coat of Tan Kote on it. The Tan Kote dissolved the Antiquing and smeared it all over the sheath. So then I had a muddy streaked mess! Huge disappointment. Thinking I needed to get all of that off the sheath, I started looking for a solvent to remove the Tan Kote. After trying to dissolve a small bit of Tan Kote in about 5 different solvents I have, I (as a last resort) tried water. The small puddle of Tan Kote in my cup dissolved readily in water. So I took a wet rag and took all the muddy Tan Kote off the sheath. What is left is the "far too shiny" Pro Resist. So I softened the shine with some 0000 Steel Wool. Out of frustration, I went ahead and finished the edges and inside of the sheath. At this point, I'm not happy with it. I wanted the stamping and lines to be darker than the rest of the sheath. I've watched every video I can find on the subject and don't see why mine won't turn out the way "theirs" did. I realize I'm new at this and this is only my second sheath, but I'm not used to making something that's not right. But what upsets me is I don't know what I did wrong. I still want to find a way to antique the stamping and pressed lines in the sheath. Any helpful comments about what I may have done wrong would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Northmount. Impressive design skills. I admire that. Used to have to do a lot of that in my family business. I'll have no need to skive edges of leather. The only reason I'll need to skive is to spit strips to varying thickness to use as welts in knife sheaths. I'm thankful of that, because it will mean I can fabricate a much less complicated tool to do the job.

Thanks for the offer sonnyboone. Might take you up on it. I've been making a living making and designing things all my life, so don't think I'll have a problem. Will probably make something along the lines of this one but with several upgrades.