MarshalWill

In today's world, most people don't want to have any kind of meaningful relationship and that extends to online. On FB, they only want to look without contributing or only contribute meaningless stuff like the hamburger they had for lunch at Culvers. No risk of starting a relationship, there. I'd bet the actual contributing percentage on FB is about the same as on forums. At least we have a core membership that keeps things going with actual content.

I've seen a slow-down in several other forums. It doesn't seem to be limited to this one.

I'm on another forum that was inundated with bots. They put a Captcha to verify you're a human at the login and that eliminated just about all bots. I don't know what's involved to do that but it is one solution to the problem. Maybe it would be a good idea here.

Nice tool holder. I like that kind of organizing. I see you have marked them with stamps. Maybe you could rub some antiquing across the top so the numbers show better. I keep many of my drills on a shelf behind my drill press in similar blocks. I also have blocks to organize many of my leather tools in my various tool boxes. They're made mostly of different hardwoods, depending on what was on hand when I made each one.

Those are really interesting. Nice find. No, I don't have any channeling tools. That said, there's nothing like old well-made hand tools. My grandfather was a contractor who worked on the Winchester House from about 1900-1920. I have his tool chest and many of his hand tools. Some are leather tools and others are woodworking tools. I love to use them. Good, old tools just work right. Samalan, those boxes of old tools sound amazing. What a treasure. Even the boxes.

Looks great! Clean and to the point. Yes, the pressure of tooling causes the mirroring.

That's a fine notebook. It lies flat when open. Looks great, too. Nice work.

Thanks. I also love lever guns. When I was a kid and my dad took me down to get my first hunting rifle, I chose a Winchester Model 94. Used, of course, but a great rifle. As to your wrap, I figured something like that might be the case. A bit of up front work sure makes the difference.

The whole trick is to work back and forth along the handle until the desired amount of leather has been molded over. Too much hammering at once will flatten the handles. We used to do that when covering the steel surcingle handles for exhibition/circus riding. Those handles had to be good to take the performers' weight without hurting their hands. I just decided to try it on a hollow tote handle and it worked well.

Looks really good. Your daughter should be very pleased with it.

This is a good design. Thanks for sharing it. It was nice to see the photo with the original, too. Outstanding. I have one suggestion on the handles, though. With bridle leather, you can wet the stitch line and use a smooth face hammer to mold the leather back over the stitching to make a more comfortable handle. Here's a photo of the handles on a tote I made years ago and the handles show very little wear.

That looks great, Chuck. I never did like those commercial lever crap wraps. I like something that doesn't shift around when it's used. I've made all mine by doing a simple double wrap but I like the look of yours better. Very nice job, pard. Here's what mine look like. At least until I need another one, now. Even these had a tendency to slide around the lever until I started with one loop around the trigger guard area.

That's coming along. The design is balanced nicely.

Thumbs-up, Chuck!

I have one of those Burgess wood carvers. You might have a good idea. Anyway, it warrants some thought.

Mighty nice looking. Good hand stitching. The handle looks good, too. It looks to be rigid enough to not fold when you have a heavy load. All around good work.

True. About a third of my stamps are ones I've made. I usually only make ones that I can't buy. Why make one when someone else has gone to the trouble to make it? There are some I don't have the ability to make. Then I'll buy what's close.

Bruce, that's the simplest solution. 15 cents at most yard sales. That said; Chuck, I like your stacked handle on that double-ender.

Both look good. Nice sunburst dye jobs.

Beautiful work. Your tooling is first rate and the two-tone really makes it.

Yeah, that hat has some character, now. My dad used to cut 4 air holes in his hats. His looked much like yours. Also from greasing the tractor then driving a good coat of dust on it. LOL The round hat clip looks good. Using a caribiner is a good idea for it. I'll try the bar magnets first to see how they do.

I just ordered some of those N52 magnets. Thanks for the tip on that.

If you have a Boot Barn in your area, they seem to have a good selection of hats. Some locations even have someone who can fit it for you. Everyone's head is a little different. I got one of the wooden hat stretchers and shaped it to fit inside my best fitting hat. Now I have the perfect fit and all I need is my wife's clothes steamer to do the job. If I get a new hat from a good shop, I take it with me so they can make it fit right. I also use it to keep my hats from getting out of shape. If I make a leather hat some day, it will insure a good fit. Good work on the wallet back. That's first class tooling.

That's a nice first piece. Stay with it and have fun practicing. Keep your first piece so you can compare later on. My first one has disappeared over the years but I still have the second. It's good to go back and look at it now and then.

Thanks for the tips on the hat clamp. A good fitting quality hat can't be beat. Make sure to have one steamed to fit your head by someone in a good hat shop. You can forget it's even on.