Spence

I feel your giddiness, Brian. Put the rope in the closet, you've been properly bitten by the "roo bug." lol. G'luck and have fun.

I started out tipping them too, but then realized that the boxes they come in are actually designed to be bases for the bottles. Directions are on the back of the box, but the hole in the front fits the bottle just fine. I like the idea of the squirt bottles though. Gonna try some of those.

Beautiful work, RC

I seem to remember him being a member here, but under a different username. Am I mistaken? If not, can you tell me his username here? Another member asked me to look at one of his YouTube braiding videos and decypher it, but if Bernie is here, well ..... Thanks Take care Spence Name: joanna UserName: Spence IP Address: 75.106.64.58 Email Address: jaspenhof@yahoo.com

If more people recognized their emails, they'd dry up and blow away. Good work. They've wanted to buy puppies from me and I just tell them they sell for $18,000 each, cash. I guess I'm on a list, because they don't bother me anymore.

For me, functional comes first because most of what I make is for large working dogs. It depends on what the ring is being used for, if it's not really functional, then it doesn't matter. Go for the looks. If it performs a function, I look at the width of the strap in sizing the ring. A lot of my d-rings are on a stationary part of the project (a dog harness). Straps (leads, connecting straps, etc) will attach to the round part of the d-ring. If my function is to connect any number of straps, I use a properly sized o-ring. Sometimes I may sew in a section of "wear leather" to lessen the amount of wear to the edges. If the strap is too wide for the o-ring (or d-ring for that matter), the edges will wear through in no time. For example, if I use a 1/2" strap, I will go for a 1" (minimum) o-ring or d-ring. Hope this is clear enough to help.

Ben, as an old ropeworker, 'rope knots' go back a few thousand years and I have a feeling that Pineapple Knots are really a variation of a Turks Head and one of these days, I'm gonna see if I can find that Turks Head. lol

Great info, Bevan!! I also use the RMW for my strands. I use Dene Williams' skivver so often that I made a belt holster for it. I use it whether it's needed or not. It's great for store-bought lace because it evens out the splices somewhat. I've even used it on 1-1/2" 8 oz straps. For beveling, I'm still using the old box cutter with the single edged blade and lots of soap. No doubt there's other, more comfortable and maybe easier tools to use, but that's what I've ended up with in my lace prep pouch.

This is going back a few, but while aboard ship and doing fancy ropework on ships' railings, I used a cotton line. This, of course, had to be protected while still showing the fancywork. I was taught to use strips of cotton fabric, wrapped along the rail. Then I would tie on the cotton line in whatever braid (coxcombing) I was using at the time. Once it was finished, I put a couple of coats of thinned shellac over it all. Let it dry for a couple of days (very humid at sea) and then I painted it. I see no reason not to use a clear shellac and clear valspar varnish on your handle. g'luck Edited to add: I would have recommended Deft spray on lacquer, but since there will be no flex to the work, a valspar varnish should be a superior product for waterproofing. IMO.

The dining room table is plenty big enough to handle cutting lace from a roo hide. I've even done it over a 2x6" saw horse. Like roo4u says, it's the best way to know what you're getting. Having said that, I also agree that y-knotlace has the best pre-cut lace on this side of the pond. Both price and quality. Chrome tan is a pet peeve of mine. The process destroys the cell walls of the leather, thereby making them "soft as a baby's behind." That's where you'd get the stretch (and ultimately, the breakage) from. Plus, if you look up the MSDS sheet on Chromium Salts, it gets scary. Beveling is something you're most likely going to have to learn and live with if you're concerned with the bottom line. With practice and plenty of soap, it will become easy.

I'm running Chrome and that's where I was getting the Warnings from. It was/is intermittent. So, it's not a problem with Firefox, just Google.

Thanks, one and all, for educating the uneducated (or uneducatatable - I know, it's not a word). Oops! Duplicate post. It's an age thing, I guess.

Thanks all, for educating the un-educated. BGD, I appreciate your info and expertise.

bar stock needed. I recently built a service dog harness for a lady confined to a wheelchair. I've been getting inquiries and a few outright orders since then. This harness was strictly for pulling and guiding a wheelchair. I've been thinking about building one for folks with balance and leg weakness issues. This morning I got an inquiry from a gentleman asking about that type of harness. I'm not a metal worker and I think I'm going to have to have the handles made up (one or two at a time?) What I would be looking for would be 1-1/2" to 2" wide bar stock of 3/8" to 1/2" thickness. The length of each piece would be (roughly) 40". Does anyone do this work or know where I can find a source that doesn't require a minimum purchase. If worse comes to worse, I will drill and bend as needed. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. You can also PM me. tks

I miss the 'mouse-over' previews on the 'View New Content' page. Sure saves time when trolling new posts. Otherwise, everything is great. Nevermind. It's back. Thank you all everso.....

Ferg, I totally agree with you about customer service. The older I get, the worse it seems to get. Not too many years ago, if a company was relocating they made sure that their order dept and inventory was redundant enough to continue to provide top level customer service. Now it seems they feel they can make excuses and we, as customers must accept them. When I become Emperor, things will change, by golly.

Thanks all. Kate: I definitely had to take the comfort of the dog into consideration too. She said he could be in the harness for as long as 4 hrs with a nice long break out of it, then back into it again. Thanks to her dog, she's very active. She's training another one in order to switch off.

Here's a dog harness I just finished. It is for a client who's German Shepherd is trained to pull her wheelchair. Her previous harness was popping open at the most inopportune and dangerous times. I went with a whole bunch of solid copper rivets for strength, solid brass hardware and hand-stitched with artificial sinew. I made the straps long enough for the client to adjust and trim as needed. It's sorta like a "one size fits all." Critique appreciated.

I use my fid as a shim (as described by Hollywood). I also skive the ends to thin them down for the last tuck or two. I then push a bit of glue under the last tuck, pull on the string, insert the fid and cut it off. Whatever works works.

I agree about the 'pulling and packaging' being built in to the price. I don't really see why shipping charges should be more than what is charged the shipper. Again, a built in. The 'fondling' fee is just another gouger, as far as I'm concerned. I try to stay away from these companies. They reduce the price of the item, boost shipping and fondling fees and still call it a "Sale"? Insulting. The 'Restocking' fee is questionable. I can see it as a deterrent, in a way. I have a friend who is a compulsive shopper. Goes out and buys anything that catches her eye and then brings it back for refund the next day. No profit motive involved. If there were a 'Restocking Fee' I doubt she'd shop there. On the other hand, if I receive a defective product, I should not have to pay a 'Restocking Fee.' I would think that the company should quietly waive that fee on a case-by-case basis.