TomG

Like Dwight said, you can dilute Black with thinner or 99% rubbing alcohol. But, you need to remember. Dyes are made from Dye Stuffs, which are mainly dyed powders. But, they never actually totally dissolve, in my experience. Black is by far the worst, which is why it is so prone to rub-off and transfer. I use dip dying for 99% of my stuff, and even though the tank that I use gets stirred real well each time. you still see tiny particle on the surface as it comes out of the tank. I ramble about this, because in my experience, with any dye the more you dilute it the fewer dye stuffs you have and therefore, the less color penetration into the leather. I, and many others, always dilute dyes 50/50 with alcohol to get the actual color it says on the bottle. Except for a 'true blue'. I always struggle to get a nice, rich blue color without it looking too translucent.

Well, fact is, wet leather stretches, so any bending while it is really wet will likely deform. With the understanding that I have never actually tried this, but have stamped leather for about 15 years or so and I can suggest a couple of things to try. I am not sure if you are trying to form it around the rope as you stitch or not, but I'd suggest you not do so. I would do my stamping and then let the leather dry thoroughly. Then use a dowel rod just a tad large in diameter than the rope and use that as a form. LIGHTLY mist the back side and let it sit for a minute or 3. Then do your forming and sewing. Let it all dry before you thread the rope through the handle and then curve it. Again, if you have a problem curving it, you may have to to the light misting on it again. Remember, this is just ideas based on straps that I've have to curve from time to time, so it may not work. But, it can't hurt to tray. And maybe someone who has actually done this before will chime in and help you out.

I've had one for years and love it. I do a lot of straps and 2 quick pulls does the job. The 4-cutter version is much more expensive and for my need was not worth the extra money. I've also read that the 4-cutter version can be tricky to adjust for even cuts, but don't have hands-on to confirm.

Thanks. I am not looking forward to the cataloging and selling. I do have a few people who I will be donating some to. My mentor was generous with me years ago when I started and I am going to honor that by helping a newbie. Wow. Not sure which stamps would carry that price tag, but I'd love to find a dozen or so of them in my collection, LOL.

Thanks. that's kind of the ballpark I was thinking, but was just not sure. NOW, for the task of cataloging them all and do the listings. I'm going to put them here on the Leatherwork section first. eBay will be the absolute LAST place I'll list them. By the time you pay the fees, you get a buck a tool, it seems.

I am starting to downsize, and I'm beginning with some of the extra hand stamps that I have accumulated. I'm not sure how to price them fairly. They are 99% Tandy, but span years. How do I tell which are the older, better tools from the newer, not as sturdy ones? And what pricing for the different ones? Thanks

If you haven't found this yet, it's worth a read.

Good Morning Dwight. Been a while. I am by no means a pro on this, but I can relate my experiences and what I was told back when I tried using this method. I did the same. Soaked steel wool in white vinegar for about a month. Then, drained it into a clean jar and started playing with it. I did get some nice blacks, but also got the greys that you mentioned. I was told that it depends on how much tannin is in that particular piece of leather. I stopped using it for 2 reasons. One was this inconsistency in color and depth that I never figured out how to cure. The other was the smell. Now, I was told to use a mild baking soda rinse to neutralize the Vinegaroon, but the smell never left. At least not in the time I had to let it sit. (Someone had said that the smell goes away with time). I really wished that I could have figured it out. I make a lot of collars and leashes in black and the dyestuff residue on the leather after I dip dye is substantial. I have a power buffer from Harbor Freight with double wheels on each end. I buff the hell out of the straps, but usually still have a little bleed when I buff the out by hand after the Leather Balm/Atom Wax treatments.

Check out Beilers. 717-768-0174. They don't have a website, but have an extensive paper catalog that they will send you. I just ordered some solid brass in medium and long lengths and they were about $3 - $4 and some change, per hundred. You write up the order in Word or PDF and fax it to them. A bit more effort, but great customer service and some of the best prices I've found.

Thanks to all. Yeah, I figured I'd wind up using layers. I was trying to avoid that because the collar has stamping on it, and the design is going to make it hard/impossible to sew the edges. So, they will likely be glued only. I'm going to do some experimenting later today. I may have to widen the collar and put a grove and stitches outside of the scrolls.

It's been a minute since I had to decorate with the post style crystal rivets, but I have a customer who wants them on a collar for her dog. It's going to be 8-9 oz and the crystals I've seen have short posts. I need some ideas of how to do this. First, does anyone know of a source for rivets with longer posts? 1 solution I think of is to use a thinner leather with a backing to add thickness, but I haven't done any backed items using anything thicker than goat/lamb or 1/2oz VT. Since this will be a fairly short collar (15" neck size) I would think using anything thicker would stiffen it up too much. The other idea I had is to somehow punch each rivet hole and then, somehow countersink the back of the hole to let the cap seat the rivet properly. My question is how to do that so I still have enough leather to seat the cap and not pull through to the front. So, any and all suggestions are appreciated.

I really don't know. I have only used Eco-Flo once, that I can recall, and it was not on an item that I needed anything blocked out. But, considering that it is basically a rubber coating, I would assume that it would. Now, I only used it on stamped lettering and can tell you that you do need to get it down into the depressions around the letters. Otherwise, the dye can seep in at the edges and stain the letters. It IS tedious on longer lettering strings.

No, The liquid latex that I mentioned will block all of the dyes. You may need a coat or two, but it will work. One caveat is that if you are using it on things like stamps letter, such as in my photo, you need to make sure that it gets down into the grooves around the stamping. I haven't used these brands and my local store no longer carries the one I used, but either these or similar ones should work. Just do some research and experiments would tell you. https://www.smooth-on.com/tb/files/HX-LIQUID FRISKET.pdf https://www.michaels.com/product/lq-acry-maskng-fluid-118mlus-10648713?cm_mmc=PLASearch-_-google-_-MICH_Shopping_US_N_Art+Supplies_N_PMAX_BOPIS_N-_-&Kenshoo_ida=&kpid=go_cmp-18514199888_adg-_ad-__dev-c_ext-_prd-10648713&gclid=Cj0KCQjwr82iBhCuARIsAO0EAZwjrxgSAiYqkkbRnIc14WS2qm2aH5Uq3lDSGbgKO9aNLxDJD4Q0xroaAvjSEALw_wcB

I've never heard of 'acrylic dye'. Acrylics are paint. Paint is not meant to be used with resist. Resist CAN and IS used to block both Fiebings dye and Pro dye. Do a search in the DYE section of the differences and you'll get a bunch of info on it. I use resist all the time. I don't the the Fiebings resist, but I've used both Resolene and Acrylic floor as resists successfully. Now, if you are applying your dye with a dauber, sponge or other wipe-on method, it usually works well. With dip dye methods, results are not as pronounced as a rule, because the immersion in the vat of dye saturates it. Also, if you do a wipe of the item after dipping, you an get smear in all directions, as you will be rubbing the dye onto the resist aggresively and resist onto the dye.. I do most of my stuff via dip, and if I need to remove some dye, I blot it off with a cotton cloth, quickly. Just understand that the blocking effect can be suble. Is you want a total blockout, the only thing that I've found is a liquid Latex that you have to paint on. It's a little pricey unless you will use it a lot, and it stinks like ammonia. Good luck

Try sewingmachines.com. Mel has been in the biz for a long time and used to have a whole bin, full of them. Now, they recently moved so they may have scrapped them, but it's worth a phone call.