peejman

The "Sharpening" section here has several different types of strop... http://www.woodcarvers.com/PRODUCTS.htm Mine looks like this... The strop is 13" long and the leather is 7" long and 2" wide. The groove is there to help keep your knuckles out of the path of the blade, though I found it easier to sit it on a table rather than holding it. I used the compound per the instructions.... rub a little into the leather and have at it.

    Ah.  I'm 5'7" and have hit my head while touring subs.  At 6'3", I can see the problem you might have.  Ever find the guy who signed you up for sub duty and punch him in the nose?  :lol:               Sounds exactly like the strop I got...  http://www.woodcarvers.com/sh138.htm   Best I can tell, they're quite common.  Most of the "how to" youtube videos show that kind.  The old fashioned thick leather strop with no backing (barber shop type) don't appear to be as common and are much more expensive.  Thin leather glued to a board is cheaper and probably easier to use than a big piece of leather.

Was being a cook on a sub as interesting as it sounds? I'm completely serious. I've always been fascinated by subs.

Everything with SF. My agent is a long time family friend. Only had one claim and it was $12k storm damage to my house a few years ago. My rates have gone up a little, but not enough to get excited about. When he retires, which shouldn't be too much longer, I'll shop around. USAA is my immediate 2nd choice.

We switched from Verizon to Sprint due to Verizon's habitual shafting of existing customers.  Coverage and service is ok.  Not quite as good as Verizon out in the sticks, but not enough to matter to me. 

  If a dull knife is more dangerous, my in-laws kitchen is the most dangerous place I've ever been.    :lol:     I've used my pocket knife to cut stuff there before.  That said, a little heat solves a lot of problems.              Yep, the general area is still called Nawger Knob.  We've been to a few craft fairs there, but for whatever reason I've never gone in the wood carver's place.  Don't recall it even being there, which is a little worrisome.

My wife got me a strop for Christmas. She found it at a small woodworking place in Townsend, Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers. While I have never been in the place, my wife said it looked like he had at least one of every wood carving tool known to exist. My wife said he as a super nice guy and he also gave each of my boys a hand made wooden car and wouldn't accept payment. He just smiled and told them "merry Christmas". That alone means I'll be back at some point.   :up:    First off, I've never been good at sharpening knives. Free-handed, I can easily make a dull knife sharp as a spoon.  I bought a Smith's sharpening system a while back and after bunch of sharpening, I think I've gotten the hang of it. I could even shave a bit of hair off the back of my hand when finished, so I considered that success.   I started with my cheapo pocket knife which is my guinea pig for trying stuff, mostly because it was free and if I bugger it, oh well.    I presume the blade is made of one form or another of cheap stainless. The edge wasn't bad to begin with, but I touched it up with the fine diamond and the Arkansas stone just because. I'd watched a couple videos on youtube about how to strop a knife so I decided it was time to have a go....   Wow. :stunned:    Now I know how people get those beautifully polished edges I see in pictures. It was reasonably sharp when I started but what a difference! Instead of feeling like I was half scraping the hair off the back of my hand, it was actually cutting it off with little effort.   Encouraged by that success, I raided the kitchen knife drawer and went to work. While sharpening those, I discovered that stropping a thin-bladed kitchen knife isn't so easy. The cutting edge is so small that it was hard to see if I was holding it at the correct angle. I had to re-sharpen the first one twice before I got the angle right so I didn't dull it with the strop. I had to cut up some chicken for supper last night and those knives sliced that bird like butter.  :woohoo:   Now I may tackle a couple other kitchen knives that just aren't quite as sharp as they used to be.  :cool:

We have a blue heeler mix and what they said about the cattle dog breed is very true...   They're very smart and that tends to make them very stubborn.  They're a lot more work to deal with than a typical "people pleasing" breed like a lab.      In my experience, animal shelter people aren't especially reliable with regard to dog breeds.  It's hard to tell with puppies anyway. 

      I would assume that like lots of things, it's considered secondary enforcement.  If you run across a LEO in a bad mood, or do something silly and they decide to throw the book at you, it'll be on the list.   My guess is the cops in Maryland recognize you as a tourist and choose not to hassle you about it, unless you give them reason to hassle you. 

Welcome!

  I think this is the ticket.  I've also got a fixed blade with serrations.  Generally one puts MUCH more pressure on knife when cutting with serrations compared to a plain edge.  That seems to work a lot better with a bigger knife than a pocket folder.    I also sharpened my serrated knife over the weekend.  While it wasn't especially dull, it sharpened up easy enough with the diamond round file that came with my Smith's kit.  It'd be pretty tedious to do a long, fully serrated blade (like a kitchen knife), but it's not real difficult. 

    In TN no, in VA yes.  TN seems to generally ignore the window tint laws.  If you get pulled over in VA with blacked out windows, expect some hassle.     Another thing to keep in mind....   window tint laws apply where you are, regardless of where the vehicle is registered.  It doesn't matter if the vehicle has FL or AZ tags where the legal tint is 10-20%, if you're in another state where 35% is the max legal tint, you can get a ticket for it. 

The ECU software must be windows based...

I had walking pneumonia between Christmas and New Years a few years ago. It was pretty miserable. Had to sleep sitting up and generally didn't sleep for more than 3-4 hrs at a shot for a good 10 days. Takes a long time to get better when you can't rest. Hope you get past it soon. Stuff I've read about the flu that's going around is its H1N1. Don't know if it was included in this year's vaccine.

I've got a knife with a partially serrated blade but rarely use the serrated part. It's really only useful for sawing stuff... rope, wood, bones, etc.

Welcome!

Cool info, thanks. I didn't immediately think of X-ray diffraction when you mentioned X-rays. Seems like residual stresses would be only one piece of the puzzle for verifying a Damascus barrel was ok for use. I'd want traditional X-rays and penetrant inspection as well. I'll keep your mom's company in mind. I work on aircraft engine parts and residual stress determination occasionally comes up.

I view helicopters as a bucket of loose parts flying in formation. Those pilots have utter faith in their machines. One burp of the engine or if the cable snag, they're dead before they'll have time to say "uh oh." That said, heli-logging is fairly common in the northwest and Canada. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UAqe7FeBdOs

Welcome!

Wood stove emissions have been regulated for a long time. Past emission requirements drove technology that made significant improvements to efficiency and reduced fuel usage that likely wouldn't have happened otherwise. http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/hoepareg.htm The 2015 version is just another update. And it's not like they're outlawing old stoves or even phasing them out. But I do agree that surely they have something better to worry about.

    Care to elaborate?  X-rays don't show internal stresses.   edit... nevermind, apparently x-ray can be used to determine residual stresses... interesting.  Now I'm curious who did it?

I really like my Remington 552 Speedmaster.  It's a somewhat picky on ammo as it doesn't feed uncoated/unjacketed lead hollow points real well.  Anything round nose or coated/jacketed works fine.  It's got irons and an integral scope rail on the receiver.    That said, CZ's and Henry's are excellent too. 

My Dad has his grandfathers damascus barreled shotgun.  Yes, you could make some very low power hand loaded shells with either black powder or smokeless powder and probably be fine.  I won't do it with that shotgun because its too intrinsically valuable to risk it IMO. 

    Agreed, the levels of radiation are of no consequence.  But they're greater than zero and the media knows they can prey on the public's ignorance and irrational fear to get a few extra hits on the story. 

Agreed, there's a big difference between a machinist and a CNC operator.  While I know how to program a few CNC machines and design tooling and such, I'm no machinist.