Bounce ? Bouncing? Bouncer?

[jmorton]

Greetings from the Arabian Gulf:

I another thread, I saw a reference to using a bouncer to help prevent wrinkles in a lining. I looked in an old HC catalog and see that a bouncer may have various shapes, they seem to be made of smooth dense wood. But what are the for, and how do you use them? do you rub things with it or whack'em?

How do you pick the right one for your needs?

Thanks,

John Morton

News report from Kuwait - yesterday we had an 18" rain. I found the muddy drops on the windshield and measured the distance between them. Yep, 18 inches! It was accompanied by about 1/4 inch of new dust from Iraq/Saudi Arabia.

[barra]

A bouncer can also be be known as a smasher or pompy (dunno where that one comes from). They are usually made from something like lignum vitae or similar wood but can also be seen these days made from aluminium. A very handy tool that can rub something smooth, slick, burnish and pound things into shape (hence smasher).

Barra

[jmorton]

A bouncer can also be be known as a smasher or pompy (dunno where that one comes from). They are usually made from something like lignum vitae or similar wood but can also be seen these days made from aluminium. A very handy tool that can rub something smooth, slick, burnish and pound things into shape (hence smasher).

Barra

Barra,

I think I get the idea! Once when I was a little boy, I hit my head on a pole. As the lump raised up, the baby sitter took a spoon and rubbed the lump back down. Hurt like the dickens, but there was no lump for my parents to see!

I wonder if a 1/2 gallon glass jar full of sand or water would work for the smooth, slick & burnish functions?

Thanks,

John Morton

[Aart]

Barra,

I think I get the idea! Once when I was a little boy, I hit my head on a pole. As the lump raised up, the baby sitter took a spoon and rubbed the lump back down. Hurt like the dickens, but there was no lump for my parents to see!

I wonder if a 1/2 gallon glass jar full of sand or water would work for the smooth, slick & burnish functions?

Thanks,

John Morton

Now that's a very good idea John.

First I'll go out to find a Pole

and then a sitter with a spoon.

Thanks

Aart.

[Aart]

More serious John,

I think a glass jar has often a not smooth rim at the bottom.

It would 'hurt' your project I'm afraid.

Abbey in England sells these bouncers

http://www.abbeysadd...il.cfm?id=FS027

They're not that expensive but 'freight' might be more expensive than your actual item.

Best

Aart.

[thecapgunkid]

Yup. That was me using thew bouncer on the lining. Bouncers are today most often referred to when making saddles. There's a great video by Dusty Johnson that shows making saddles from soup to nuts, and you get the idea of how to use one to mold leather to the seat of the saddle. The idea is to have a smooth surface so as to not damage the leather. I like ceramic more than metal because they will never discolor the leather when it is wet and being molded.

Leather is wet to be worked with a bouncer, because the wet leather will take the shape you press it in.

Although not a big fan of using it on holsters, there are a lot of craftsmen who will rub the leather with their bouncer just to tighten the foibers and harden the surface of the leather.

Dunno how it became called a bouncer, but there are plenty of historical resources that'll show that. Remember that Colonial America used many of our contemporary words differently.

For example, the word .."Militia"...in the second amendment had nothing to do with as national guard. It was another word for the average Joe who worked all week, met on the green in New England on the day before the Sabbath, maybe drilled a little to sort of show some community muscle, had a shooting contest and a keg or two and then went home to get dressed for Sunday Go To Meeting. Sort of like the word..."people"...

You can see the reason for the word if you recall that the colonists experienced all the molested women, emptied food cupboards, occasional theft and bullying, boorish behavior and otherwise unpleasant circumstances that came when British Troops were quartered in the home. They chose the word militia to make sure that every governing official henceforth would know that we the people were armed.

The point here is that the word originated in a different time with a different meaning. "Address", for example, did not often mean where a body lived, but was rather used frequently to mean..."Skill"...

We, today, can picture a ball bouncing, thus determining the image coming to mind, but have little idea what bouncing meant during an age where they did not yet have rubber balls.

Try and talk to a classroom today and mention the word pricker or boning tool and see how fast you can get arrested.

Anyways, experience and boo-boo's have taught me to bounce carefully, usually with a piece of leather, flower side down against the surface of the piece to be worked, so that no mistakes, uneven rubbing strokes or the like show on the finished product. In the case of the lining I referred to, I was looking for a way to prevent wrinkles in holster lining leather so I tried it on a dampened piece where I rested it on my smoothe marble slab. I bounced the backbone of the holster where the lining had to fold in on itself and actually got away with it. Been doing so ever since.

I don't like metal bouncers because they sometimes discolor the leather.

Rubbing firmly, in smooth strokes, with a lot of bicep action will usually do wonders to shape saddle seats or constrict holster leather and give a real professional look. ON flat, broad surfaces I sometimes use a cleaned out glass jar to do the same thing.

Refer to the edge finishing piece we have posted to really get a great looking edge.

Don't shoot yore eye out, kid,

The Capgun Kid

[Kevin]

I got one of those aluminum bouncers for somebody once and that thing was rough as a cob, I was embarrassed to make them pay for it, but I sure couldn't use it. They use them a lot in stuffing English saddle panels, I never felt the need myself, nor does the guy who does our saddle work now. In the end, I made a whacker, a wooden paddle with some weight to it and covered with leather and she loved it.

Kevin

[azrider]

Probably still hard to find where you are, but I have also seen antique ceramic door knobs used for this. Just make sure there are no chips or cracks in it.

[AZ09]

A bouncer can also be be known as a smasher or pompy (dunno where that one comes from). They are usually made from something like lignum vitae or similar wood but can also be seen these days made from aluminium. A very handy tool that can rub something smooth, slick, burnish and pound things into shape (hence smasher).

Barra

FYI In spanish "pompies" (pompy) means butt cheeks more in line with english language term "BUNS"

Tal~

[AZ09]

Greetings from the Arabian Gulf:

I another thread, I saw a reference to using a bouncer to help prevent wrinkles in a lining. I looked in an old HC catalog and see that a bouncer may have various shapes, they seem to be made of smooth dense wood. But what are the for, and how do you use them? do you rub things with it or whack'em?

How do you pick the right one for your needs?

Thanks,

John Morton

News report from Kuwait - yesterday we had an 18" rain. I found the muddy drops on the windshield and measured the distance between them. Yep, 18 inches! It was accompanied by about 1/4 inch of new dust from Iraq/Saudi Arabia.

Jmorton,

A porcelin door knob can make do as a passable "ssmasher" so can the old timely glass insulaters that were used on the "wooden" telephone poles to string wire to way back when..

I also would like to find one made from wood if anyone has a contact site etc.

Tal~

[dirtclod]

Tal you know anybody that has a lathe ? Is their a trade school or high school shop class close ? They all could make you wooden one you'd probley have to supply the wood.

[AZ09]

Tal you know anybody that has a lathe ? Is their a trade school or high school shop class close ? They all could make you wooden one you'd probley have to supply the wood.

Hey Clod,

Thanks for the ideas, I normally think outside of the box LOL but you gave me an AH HA moment with the shop class idea..

Tal~

[dirtclod]

Tal, slip the shop teacher a couple of bucks to stay after school and let you be there when it's made. That way i can see how it fits your hand and get the shape you want on the big end.