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I use two different ways to make boxes . . . the first you see as two pieces of wood . . . the leather is placed between the pieces . . . about 4/5 oz . . . WET LEATHER . . . and it is then placed in a vice . . . it takes about 10 minutes for it to partially dry and take the shape. That will hold a single stack 45ACP mag relatively loosely . . . which is the desired effect. The second way is the leather cell phone case. The bottom 2/3 of an inch or so is solid leather . . . cut out . . . and glued together . . . the inside width of the cell phone case. Once that is made . . . it is taken to a small belt sander that makes all the edges flat and level . . . then it's fastened with contact cement. I wore it for a number of years . . . my new one is made the same way . . . May God bless, Dwight

Thank you! I was down in Arthur last weekend and wanted to stop in but time was a factor. We were picking up a nice John Deere wooden wheel farm wagon east of him about 25 miles and were in a hurry. I'll be heading down to that area in a few weeks and will make it a point to stop in. He's kept my Landis Nr.1 in parts, shuttle, needles and knobs.

Thank you, got both of them in boxes somewhere from the move. Thank you, google can be a friend. Started on a Buck 119 sheath to go with the Bowie.

Hey Y town! My old stomping grounds were Youngstown, Boardman, Poland and Columbiana. I'm new to leather working and interested in learning leather tooling. Any advice on direction?

Don't have first hand knowledge but from what I've seen you could do it with a straight fabric strap. One end around the wrist a couple times (maybe velcro) then wrap around the bar a couple times. The grip is only to hold the strap in place. You're lifting with the wrist. Ask any boatman. A round turn and a half hitch could almost hold the Titanic.

I am assuming you are trying for something like the following photo where you have pouch attached to a shealth: You seem to be trying and fold under the bottom of the pouch during your wet molding. I would approach it using a form where the wet leather is placed over the shape form that has the side edges extending about twice the height of the form, place the wet leather over the form and clamp one side down, form the leather over that side and then move to one of the other sides and clamp. I would probably use a 2 inch "O" ring to shape the leather. Let dry for about 24 hours and then damp wet areas that need to be reshaped. This topic shows the shaping tool I would us. kgg

Where's the bottom "wing"? You need to unfold the bottom, then trim oversize all round so you can re wet it and clamp all round. Then force it around the corners with a bone folder or similar. Got to be wet. After drying and stitching, trim to final size.

Try using a small spring clamp on the corners; to pull the sides together. Use pieces of scrap leather between the clamp and your piece to avoid the spring clamp leaving an impression of its jaws on your piece One of these, that depending on the size of your piece. but I'd go as large as possible But you'll not get perfectly tight corners without cutting the leather

Go to google . . . search for "youtube: leather carving shadows I haven't done it . . . but anything I need info on . . . that's how I get it. May God bless, Dwight

I have a bit of hair on hide that I want to make a throw pillow, but it’s a little musty. I have put it in the sun, but would like to try to get it a little more fresh. What ideas might I try ? Thank you for your suggestions and advice! Richard

I’m making a wet molded pouch that is more or less square. I’ve got the form and the leather is in the shape I want but the corners are wonky. I’ve tried to search you tube but the videos I’ve found are for flat corners or gussets. There should be a way to make a cut that will result in a more square corner but I can’t figure it out. Project is the mid pouch on the back outside of a scout carry sheath where you would carry altoids tin or brass tinder box etc. Thanks to anyone who can assist. Bigs

Thank you!

I tried tanning myself, with a haunch of caribou given by a neighbour (I have a GREAT neighbourhood) Egg yolks instead of brains (I lacked spare brains) and work, work, work. Then, do more work. After that, more work. It's ready now, to be a toboggan liner for an American friend who just made a baby. She's a caribou researcher, so hopefully I did a good job. Oh, and it isn't hard work, just there is a LOT of it, and it all needs attention.

I do have some latigo, could double it to get thick enough...Might be my next set. Also thinking of adding grips to my pullup bar, again and again over time, to make the bar harder and harder to grip.

Nick - Great idea. I am not sure what the official "Leather Show Socials" schedule is right now. There is an Friday night event for sure. Thursday might be a good night.

Great info! Thanks again!

I prefer to use the single action airbrushes and the two main ones I use are the very inexpensive suction style at $21 CAD rather then the gravity feed type. Load up the dye bottle, push the button and you are spraying. If you are planning on using it indoors a regular compressor can be very noisy when it has to recharge the air tank and really is overkill for an airbrush. Keep in mind the dye will darken and spread in the leather after a few days. So you have an initial photo of the project so take another photo a few days down the road for a comparison.

I think the whiskey glasses were lol. Nothing western in Hollywood is real even now, but at least then they had some morality and sense of right vs wrong. Every show had a lesson and positive story line. I'll take Gunsmoke over modern "entertainment" any day. I think Matt was kissed only once in the whole series, and they didn't even have to show Miss Kitty's boobs to get the message across that she was a woman.

Tandy, in thier Library. https://tandyleather.com/blogs/leathercraft-library

Hey Bruce, that's great! I am a resident of Las Vegas. Is anyone is interested in a meet-up? I would love to meet any members of LW forum for lunch or dinner at Baja Miguel's Mexican restaurant, inside South Point, if anyone is interested. I don't know if it is possible to coordinate a day and time but I just wanted to throw this idea out there, just in case. Baja Miguel's Mexican restaurant is open 11am to 10pm, Wed - Sun. I would be open to other suggestions but thought I would start with this one. My apology if this is a ridiculous idea. Nick

I'd like know what you suggest and, if not widely available, where to get them. Thanks you very much

I've been looking at harmonica belts.. i have to make one for a friend.. i'm envisioning ideas so that it won't be like the others i've seen..Pls share me some idead and picture of the ones people here have made .. it would be great to see them

As always, you come through with some great insight. And yes, the airbrush is a light-duty cake decorator, but maybe it’ll give her a gift idea. After all, Christmas is coming 😉 I think (hope?) I have finally made my case to spend the extra $15 on the Pro Dye to not stress over the potential for bleed, and to skip the topcoat step and save time. Regardless, I still want to explore the airbrush application method. My initial project resulted in a halfway decent sunburst, so I’m excited to see what I can do with a little experience. — AZR

"Figure Carving" by AL Stohlman would give you that info for adding the shading. I see Tandy is sold out on that book; however they have "How to carve Leather" which also shows the process Al used. I like that sheath BTW, very well done imo.

Thank you!! oh yea they were! A nice homemade chokecherry/service berry wine accompanied it. I also used a bit to create the au jus with some black pepper for a bit of spice. Then I sauted some onions until brown and made country gravy and smashed taters, with a light salad. Hoping you are doing as well, are you going to plant a garden this year? Some good spring veggies?