MarshalWill

I had to work hard to get that splotchy look to a finish one time. Looks good.

Thanks for replacing the image, Northmount. I'm sure others appreciate it, too. I use one of these knives for bleed knots.

I agree that making your own is easy. A good portion of mine are made from bolts. Stainless bolts are certainly the best to make them from but you can get by with other materials too.

Thanks. Looks like it works well.

Those look interesting. How do you clean them or keep the glue from setting up inside them?

The design looks very usable. Congrats. Looking forward to hearing how you like it.

Thank you, Bruce. I suspected they were. They're nice looking tools.

Bruce, I see 4 Gomph French Edgers in your inventory. Are those originals?

You may want to contact Lonnie Height, who is running the show now at Gomph-Hackbarth. I talked to him about a year ago and he was still selling tools. 520-642-3891 or on his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/people/Gomph-Hackbarth-Tools/100021212726476/ . He might be able to answer your question.

I like the simple tooling technique you used. Looks mighty good.

Nothing beats a good hand made tool. That one looks to make a perfect stitching hole.

Outstanding straps! Super work on all of them. Very nice detail work.

I use a 1' x 1' piece of marble for a lot of my tooling. It has worked well so far but it is developing a fine crack across the middle. I also have a large slab of slate I use for larger pieces. It's pretty solid but I don't dare hit really hard on it. Your idea of quartz is a good one but like you mention, it's thinner. I have been tempted to get two slabs of quartz bonded together to make a thicker piece. I'll probably pursue that one of these days.

I use oil dyes, mostly Fiebings or Lincoln. I add alcohol to get the shade I want. Before I apply the dye, either by dipping or wiping (heavy coats when wiping), I wet the leather with alcohol first. I never get blotchy finishes doing it this way.

I like the little round knife but with those points it would wear out my pocket in a hurry. Heck, keys alone do that. LOL