MarshalWill

LOL, I fall in the "Other" categories for everything.

That's a good selection. No two look the same so it should be easy to grab the right one every time. They look great.

I have an identical wet grinder to Tim's. It's outstanding for stropping. Even at 90 rpm, I don't like a wheel pushing the knife towards me so I turned the grinder around so it rolls up and over away from me. It's really easy to strop on the top of the leather wheel that way. Yeah, that puts the switch on the back but it's not hard to reach at all. To use the grinder wheel, I can always turn it back around. I have it mounted to a cast iron floor stand and it's rock solid, too.

A big thumbs-up for this! Very nice work.

Your bar stool is so much better looking than the original ones. Good job on it. The other two should go easier now that you have one under your belt.

Those are beautiful. Love the Saint Michael one, especially.

Looking mighty good. I look forward to seeing the completed rig.

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

Those are most interesting. I can see why folks like them.

This is what quality leather is about. It's the real reward.

Looks good. The magnet on it could also be used to hold your awl.