hdtraveller57

I'll also throw this out for any leather-working riders out there, the Barber motorcycle museum is an absolute 'must see' if you haven't been there already. I'll be happy to meet anyone at Barber that might be visiting from another city and show them around. If you want, I can guide you along a few of the nearby rural roads that are pretty scenic. I'm still having fun exploring new places to ride near here since I relocated to B'ham. I'm always looking for an excuse to go ride. my email is 'hdtraveller57@gmail.com'.

Tramps, thanks for the good advice. I agree its a great idea to watch a few videos. I've been reading up on techniques but there's nothing better than actually watching someone that knows what they're doing. Fortunately for me, my 1st projects will be meant to have an well-worn biker look and feel to them so the stitching won't have to appear "professional" as far as looks go. This gives me a chance to develop basic skills before tackling anything that will be subject to greater scrutiny looks-wise. I hope my reference to "rocket surgery" doesn't offend anyone. I was referring to basic stitching which seems pretty straight-forward. I realize there are quite a few stitching techniques that require much more skill and a great deal of experience to master. Not to mention tooling which requires such a level of delicate touch and artistic talent that I'm not sure I could ever achieve. I'm an engineering type so I tend to see things from a more utilitarian viewpoint rather than artistic appeal. Side Note: I forgot to mention in my 1st post that I recently relocated to Birmingham, AL but grew up and spent most of my life in Memphis, TN. Planning on remaining in Birmingham for the time being.

New Member here....I've never worked with leather before but my dad made a few gun holsters and knife/ax sheaths when i was growing up so I figured why not. I'm planning to make a leather side bag, a tool bag and a large ruck sack for my Harley "Night Train" softail motorcycle. All Harley related leather goods are generally black and I want distressed brown leather since my motorcycle is pretty much all black already. I picked up a side of 6-8 oz. oil tanned leather in distressed brown and was trying to figure out just how to begin when I read somewhere that I needed something called a "stitching pony" to make the job easier. Well, i gathered up a few spare pieces of plywood and 2x4's along with a couple of brackets and bolts I found lying around. I'm attaching a picture of what I threw together. I mounted a hook on the side to hang my stitch marker, drilled a few holes to hold the awl and a couple of needles and mounted a dowel to hold the roll of thread. It's got enough weight in the base to be pretty solid. I've made a pattern for the side bag and cut the pieces today but I think I'll practice stitching on some scrap leather pieces just to be sure before I know what I'm doing before I actually begin stitching the bag together. I realize it's not rocket surgery but I figure a little practice can't hurt. I'll take pictures and post as I proceed making stuff. Who knows, I might take an interest in it and actually make a few things for friends and such. I'm looking forward to reading through some of the posts to see what others have done and hopefully learn a few tricks to make future projects easier and the end results more professional looking.