ntex2000

This looks like a great source for the #13 in copper and will enable me to get started. Would still like to eventually find a source for these in brass. I did find some brass #12 x 3/4" on ebay but they're a little too long and the shank is a little too thick. Thanks for your help!

A little frustrated right now after spending hour upon hour during the past week trying to find a supplier of #13 x 3/8" and #13 x 1/2". Would really like to have brass but right now would gladly settle for copper. If you know of anyone who sells this hard to find size of belt rivets, I would be very, very grateful if you could steer me to them. Thanks!

What is R.M. Williams? I've not heard of this product before.

Try Beilers in Pennsylvania. They build tack to order. I wouldn't outsource anything to Mexico. Anytime I've come across Mexican tack or saddlery in a saddle or tack shop its been absolute junk...i.e Buffalo Saddlery. At one time, way back in the forties and before, there were some fine saddle makers in Mexico. My advice would be that if you want to sell your customers the lowest quality tack available to human kind then by all means, outsource it to Mexico. Here is Beiler's contact info: Beiler's Mfg. & Supply 290 S. Groffdale Road Leola, PA 17540 Phone: 717-656-2179 Fax: 717-661-7228

It's doubtful that Hide House will ever get my business. Delaying a refund after receiving a return is unforgivable. A word of advice to everyone who uses debit cards to make online purchases....DON'T! As a former bank compliance officer...former being up until the week before Christmas 2008 when 200 of us were laid off...I can advise you that federal consumer protection laws and regulations provide far superior protection for electronic payments made by credit cards than they do for debit cards. Afterall, regardless of how your complete a debit card transaction, it is in effect the equivalent of cash. If you had used a credit card for the Hide House purchase, the day following the day that they failed to post your promised refund would have been the day I would have contacted the credit card issuer to dispute the transaction. The funds would have been credited back to my account and the merchant would have been issued a chargeback. No hassels having to listen to empty promises or stress waiting for your checking account balance to be back to where it should be. However, if you are one of those people, like me, who doesn't like adding to their credit card balance, then you can always log on to your credit card web site and make a concurrent payment to your credit card account that equals your online purchase amount, or you can always log on to online banking to sending an immediate payment to your credit card equal to the purchase price. I do this all the time, and am able to max out my gm points each year while keeping your credit card constantly paid in full.

Here are a few recipes for coloring metals black. Of course, when you place your order for the various chemicals required for the colorization, you'll probably notice strange black helicopters following you from time to time....or end up on a of homeland security watch list .... Lustrous Black In a quantity of oil of turpentine, sulphuric acid is poured drop by drop, stirring continually until a precipitate is no longer formed. Then the whole is poured into water, shaken, decanted, and the washing of the precipitate commenced again until blue litmus paper immersed in the water is no longer reddened. The precipitate will thus be completely freed from acid. After having drained it on a cloth, it is ready for use. It is spread on the iron and burned at the fire. If the precipitate spreads with difficulty over the metal, a little turpentine can be added. It is afterwards rubbed with a linen rag, soaked with linseed oil, until the surface assumes a beautiful lustrous black. This covering is not liable to be detached. Bluish Black Make a solution composed of nitric acid, 15 parts; cupric sulphate, 8 parts; alcohol, 20 parts; and water, 125 parts. Spread over the metal when well cleaned and grease removed. Dry and rub with linen rag. Black Make a solution composed of cupric sulphate, 80 parts; alcohol, 40 parts; ferric chloride, 30 parts; nitric acid, 20 parts; ether, 20 parts; water, 400 to 500 parts, and pass over the object to be blackened. Brilliant Black Boil 1 part of sulphur and 10 parts turpentine oil. A sulphurous oil is obtained of disagreeable odor. Spread this oil with the brush as lightly as possible, and heat the object in the flame of an alcohol lamp until the patina takes the tint desired. This process produces on iron and steel a brilliant black patina, which is extremely solid. These recipes were obtained from the following links: http://chestofbooks.com/reference/Henley-s...ing-Metals.html http://chestofbooks.com/reference/Henley-s...lphuration.html

I would make a shadow box and make several short belt pieces representing the billet and buckle ends of the leather. After all, buckles we've all collected sort of look a little naked when they're not attached to a belt. I would try to keep these short billets and buckle ends at less than 8 inches in length for each piece so that they complement the buckles and not detract from them by becoming the focal point. I would secure those through the back of the shadow box. I would tool each set of belt pieces differently. With so many buckles, it will take more than one shadow box. I would probably do them in a 4 by 8 pattern per shadow box, depending on how large that would turn out to be. Good luck.

I stumbled across the following website that has published a 1916 encyclopedia of recipes, formulas and processes for such things as dyeing leather and coloring metal, etc. The recipe's for creating leather dye appear to be pretty old. They call for ingredients such as extract of fustic, extract of hypernic and extract of logwood. If anyone is able to come up with these ingredients and actual create the dye and use it, I'm sure there are many of us on this forum who would be interested in learning about your results. Here's the web site: http://chestofbooks.com/reference/Henley-s...ng-Leather.html. Good luck.

If you've still been unable to find the antique brass dees that you need, one possible solution would be to create them yourself. The following link is to a great web site I stumbled across that has DYI recipes for just about anything you can imagine, including the coloring of metal. The recipes are excerpted from what appears to be a book entitled, Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas Recipes Processes. A direct web link to the section on coloring metal is: http://chestofbooks.com/reference/Henley-s...ing-Metals.html. Good luck to you.

How many parts Bicks #4 to dye should I mix in? Thanks!

I've just had the same trouble as someone else who posted a similar problem. however, his problem was with using old leather. I have just started making strap goods, headstalls, halters, breast collars, etc. and I recently made a replacement throat latch for a headstall, which was cut 3/8' wide by 47" long from a new hide of 7-8 veg. I used Fiebings pro oil saddle tandye, thinned down with denatured alcohol at a ratio of 1 part dye to 2 parts alcohol. I applied a heavy coat of dye to both sides, and after the dye dried I applied two coats of satin sheen. I DID NOT condition the strap with neatsfoot oil between dyeing and applying the satin sheen. In fact, I never assumed that you could apply any type of conditioner to the the leather prior to putting on your top coat. This wold appear to be the solution to my problem. After everything dried, I found the entire strap to be hard and brittle. I tried bending it to soften it up but the top grain side layer cracked at each place I bent the leather, which was all up and down the 47" length. I've had this problem with other strap pieces of varying thicknesses and from different hides. I assumed the problem was the heavy coat of dye with all that alcohol in it was the cause of the leather drying out and becoming hard. I also thought the satin sheen may have been part of the problem. But...no matter which color of Fiebings dye I use, the strap leather I dye always curls at the edges. Is this supposed to happen? I'm talking straps that range from 1/2 inch to 1 inch in width. As an experiment, I'm going to dye another strap from that same hide the same way I did the throatlatch, but this time I will apply a liberal coat of neatsfoot oil to the grain side after the dye had dried and will then airbrush two coats of satin sheen on over that.