I have been looking for classic leather working tool stamp patterns.  A lot of patterns these days show barbed wire and Texas style stars.    Fortunately I found a catalog of leatherworking tools from 1880.  Steven Shepherd, was kind enough to provide it for Gary Roberts’ Toolemera Press to provide it for us to read.
The reason [...]

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I just this week read a post about fleam over on Popular Woodworking. Aparently Colonial Williamsberg does not put fleam on their saws, since there is no evidence of fleam on saws in Colonial America.
This got me to thinking, Tage Frid, an expert among experts,  liked to use a ripsaw  for cutting dovetails across grain.  [...]

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I cut a few slabs of O1 steel to be kanabans.  Since diamond grit will inbed itself into the steel, I want to label each plate seperately in a clear and permanent way.
So I am trying a few experiments.  First off, I have sprayed enamel on them.  I plant to scratch through the enamel and [...]

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A few odd points to clear up some common misunderstanding on tools and sharpness.
The first point is, that unless you are changing the actual angle of the blade to make it a lower degree angle, you are more specifically making the blade keen.

Making a blade keen does not make a weaker blade.  Thing about the [...]

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So far, I have hammered into shape a bit of steel.

The one on the left is the original.  The other two are attempts of mine.  Notice that I am not apparently much good at selecting the right size to begin with.
Both of these I think will work, but I want to come a bit closer [...]

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