What's going on in your shop?

Jon Buescher said:
some of you may need a map to understand this. This is my KMG-TX grinder and all the accessories, FedEx makes no sense to me, they routinely ship things to about 4 or 5 different places before it gets here, often times it goes right by me twice. The package was about an hour away last night now it is 4+hours away and probably won’t get here until tomorrow. I know it’s not that big of deal but damnit I’m not patient and I want to use my new toy...Err Umm Tool!
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Fedex is a nightmare all around I think. For the most part their drivers aren't Fedex employees, they are contractors. I don't have delivery issues like you describe, but we get non-delivery excuses in the tracking notes like these all the time: Gate in the road (there is no gate anywhere), security guard blocked them (huh?), Convention in town prevented delivery (no conventions in this town of less than 10k people and we're 15 minutes from town), Address doesn't exist, etc. I'm sure I've forgotten a few over the years.

I got a look inside one of their trucks and the packages were literally in a pile in the middle of the truck. When getting my package he just sort of rummaged through the pile until he found it. I was astounded to say the least.
 
chrisstaniar said:
Fedex is a nightmare all around I think. For the most part their drivers aren't Fedex employees, they are contractors. I don't have delivery issues like you describe, but we get non-delivery excuses in the tracking notes like these all the time: Gate in the road (there is no gate anywhere), security guard blocked them (huh?), Convention in town prevented delivery (no conventions in this town of less than 10k people and we're 15 minutes from town), Address doesn't exist, etc. I'm sure I've forgotten a few over the years.

I got a look inside one of their trucks and the packages were literally in a pile in the middle of the truck. When getting my package he just sort of rummaged through the pile until he found it. I was astounded to say the least.
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There was a big fracas at the Fed-Ex distribution center here in Salt Lake City. Evidently the center manager was taking kickbacks and other money from various vendors. About ten employees in all were involved. What I found out is that the manager of these centers have a great deal of latitude in how they run things. So one distribution center might run smooth and the next one not so smooth.

In spite of the graft problem, we've had good success with Fed-Ex. But we don't use it very often.
 
Sean Jones said:
There was a big fracas at the Fed-Ex distribution center here in Salt Lake City. Evidently the center manager was taking kickbacks and other money from various vendors. About ten employees in all were involved. What I found out is that the manager of these centers have a great deal of latitude in how they run things. So one distribution center might run smooth and the next one not so smooth.

In spite of the graft problem, we've had good success with Fed-Ex. But we don't use it very often.
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I’ll avoid using them as much as I can. I am one unhappy camper!
 
Daniel Macina said:
At least around here the only place I even halfway trust is the USPS. FedEx and UPS around here are terrible.
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Wish I could say the same Daniel. I sent Bruce's NITH last week. It was supposed to be there this past Monday. Tracking shows it won't be delivered until tomorrow. Eight days to get there after paying for priority shipping. The Pony Express was faster.
 
Daniel - Very good choices. Tri weave stamp is one of my favorites. Also the camo tool for edging. I will say that the basket weave stamp is a hard one to master with the uneven outside lines. It is tough to line up correctly.
 
Daniel- on the tri weave stamp. There are small dots on the outside edge. Let the tool line up those dots. Stamp up/down. Then line up dots in the next row. Then repeat. I have a how to diagram somewhere. I will look for it and share it with you. I suck at that basketweave stamp. I gave up years ago.
 
Dennis Morland said:
Daniel- on the tri weave stamp. There are small dots on the outside edge. Let the tool line up those dots. Stamp up/down. Then line up dots in the next row. Then repeat. I have a how to diagram somewhere. I will look for it and share it with you. I suck at that basketweave stamp. I gave up years ago.
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I finally began to figure that one out took me a while. The basket weave I’m not anywhere near close on. Much more difficult than I was expecting but really enjoyable.
 
For the basketweave, scribe a guide line down the center of your leather. I try to do it at the fold point so it doesn't show up as much. Then alternate on each side of the line to start with. Use the bottom line of the one you just punched to fit the top line into for the next one. Also, wet your leather before punching it. It will take a much better imprint.

47580268_10205610768945465_4114439138965454848_o.jpg
 
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Daniel Macina said:
I finally began to figure that one out took me a while. The basket weave I’m not anywhere near close on. Much more difficult than I was expecting but really enjoyable.
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Daniel, it appears you're not lining up the basket weave stamp correctly.

The two outside sharp ridges on each end of the stamp need to rest exactly inside the end ridges of the previous stamp, so that they appear as one line. It appears that you have the ridges lined up end to end rather than nesting one inside the other. I hope that makes sense.

Maybe these pics will help, they're crude but hopefully illustrate the point.

It appears your alignment is like this, with the two red stamps being the next two in the chain:
Capture+_2019-12-13-07-11-52~3.png

They really need to be like this, with two yellow stamps being next in the chain, note the two legs (one on each yellow) that overlay and nest exactly inside the legs on the previous stamp. Then the next red stamp in the chain nests exactly into the legs of the yellows.
Capture+_2019-12-13-07-11-52~4.png
 
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Daniel - If it helps at all. With basketweave, it is much easier to line up a straight sided stamp as opposed to the offset variety that you show. At least for me. I get a much better result with the straight variety.
 
I'm new at the leatherwork too and found as mentioned above that wetting the leather is necessary and don't be afraid to give it 3 or 4 good whacks with the mallet to get a deep impression, especially on that particular basket weave pattern. Those fine details won't show up otherwise. Alignment is key on that too... takes patience. I did practice on scraps too and found a YT video when I got frustrated... Maybe it was on the Tandy site. My first and only finished basketweave sheath... see? anybody can do it!
 

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Dennis Morland said:
Daniel - If it helps at all. With basketweave, it is much easier to line up a straight sided stamp as opposed to the offset variety that you show. At least for me. I get a much better result with the straight variety.
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I definitely agree with that. Didn’t think about that when ordering it.
 
With leather stamping - Do a bit of research on "Casing the leather". A quick google search should do provide the information. It is a bit more complicated than just "wetting" the leather. Some makers use different lubricants for this procedure. For me, tap water has work out okay. Casing the leather requires some patience. You wet the leather and then allow it to start getting back to its original color before stamping. Some makers place the leather in a big zip lock bag to slow the drying process. It will help to soften the leather and get it ready to accept the stamping a bit better.
 
I completely agree. For whatever reason this practice leather is not wanting to tool. This was eight pretty good wacks with the Hammer.And freshly wet leather.
 
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