Yukonrookie

Sounds great! Thanks again.

Sounds great! Thanks for all your replies. I think I got my list together. My heaviest Maul is 24oz so I might add one of your 32oz WJ Mauls to it. Thanks again for your advice.

That’s beautiful work there @bruce johnson ! Thank for posting those pictures! I’m putting together an order with you in the near future. I won’t be back home for another 3 - 4 weeks so I gotta wait at least another couple weeks before I’ll actually place it. You see, too often in the past have I forgone proper research before placing an order for stamps. This time I’m trying to do it better and try to gather as much research as possible, so that the tools I order actually fit each specific job while still looking nice to my eye. Where I live it’s keep the tool you ordered because shipping back would be on my dime and a hassle. Anyhow, that’s why I’m asking so many (annoying) questions. I narrowed my choices down to WJ230, WJ245, WJ90 and WJ221. Those are all 1/4”. They should fit perfectly with my 1/4” wide basket stamps (I.e. BK#3). Would you say they should still fit well with my 3/16” (I.e. BK #2) wide basket stamps? Last question (promise ): WJ245 and 246 should be placed tightly together, right? Leaving no gaps. Meaning it wouldn’t work so well on curves, corners, bends etc. Better for more or less straight borders. Or am I missing something? Thanks in advance for your patience!

Thanks for explaining that. Yeah, I still have some craftool or craft Japan stamps, but I stay away from them as much as possible. So far it’s been mostly BK, Sergey, Texas leather tools, I think I’ll give those Jueschke stamps of yours a try next though. Thanks for that picture. That helps for someone that’s still a bit of a newb like myself and can only order online with deciding. You see I’m not exactly sure which camo or border stamps I want. Just that I want to try out something else. What does that rope border you mentioned look like? At the risk of becoming annoying, would you happen to have a picture handy?

Just to clarify for dummies (I obviously don’t mean myself )….. If we take a BK “rope” size 3 (1/4”x7/16 or 6.35x11.11mm) as an example….. By the “Golden Rule” you mentioned, the width of my border stamp shouldn’t be wider than approx. 1/4” or 6.35mm, correct? Would you consider a C425 (7x6mm) on the big side the BK #3? I think I may have been using bigger camo stamps than I should’ve.

Thanks for the reply and picture Bruce. Looks great! Yup, I’m sure now. The wagon wheel will definitely be one of the 3 or 4 camo tools I’ll be getting this time around.

Hi folks, I‘m in need of some decent camo tools. But just in combination with basket stamping. So right now, I’m just interested in camo stamp alternatives that work well with basket stamping, yet are different than these ones I already own: C425, C431, C709, N305, N720…. For other jobs I got a decent array of border/camo tools. For basket stamping I only got a few Craft Japan starburst? or clam? style camo stamps- mentioned above. They are alright but not the cleanest imprint and a bit boring to me, by now. Some examples of camo tools I searched around for online I found on Bruce Johnson’s page. Like Wayne Jueschke 219, 220, 221, WJ 228, 229 and WJ 246, 248. Does anyone own one or some of them? If yes, some pictures would be a huge help in deciding which to try next.. Sometimes seeing pictures of finished or partially finished projects can really help with choosing. Now those were some examples to give you guys an idea. Any other makes and models you know of would be very helpful too though. I know even Sergey has some nice camo stamps, a couple of which I even own myself, but they all seem too large for the size basket stamps I use. Basket stamps I own that see the most use are Barry King rope and single bar sizes #2 and #3. I haven’t yet had a project where #3 looked too small. So, to summarize I’m just looking to hear what camo tools some of you guys/gals use for basket jobs that are different than the typical clam/sunburst Camo tools, like listed above. Any ideas would be great to help me pinpoint and shrink down to 2 or 3 stamps to order next. Thanks a bunch in advance!

Now that sounds very cool, beehive! Do you have any pictures?

Yeah, I hear ya. I never realized how long some of these jobs could take. At this stage any project I make takes me ages to finish. I don’t mind though. I’m still new enough at this that I enjoy every aspect of it. Even the sewing, although to a lesser degree then mostly anything else I actually made 1 Ranger belt thus far and it took me more like 60+ hours lol. I stamped some of the main strap with a small hollow box diamond stamp too though. So that took me about 6 -7 or so hours. I’m trying to be pretty meticulous.

Do you make a lot of those?

Well, I had to put this project on the back burner for a while. I’ll definitely reporting back on it once I made progress. Apart from a lot of unrelated crap that I have to pay attention to I also had to squeeze in a belt and a simple pancake sheath for pocket knife. I’m hoping to get those done this weekend though.

That’s what I find the most intriguing. To make the tool that works best with whatever project you’re working on.

All great and important suggestions. Thanks a bunch guys. Lots to think about before making my exact plan of attack

I got a question to you guys and gals out there that use an airbrush. What type filter do yous all use? I’m using mostly Fiebing Pro dye and Angelus Alcohol dye. I read that for solvent based dyes one should wear at least an A1, but there is acetone in some of them so I thought I best ask here. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Will do. Probably won’t be pretty by most people’s standards but I’m slowly getting a handle on this;)

I’m guessing not too many people making sheaths like this? I’m hoping to start on it this week. Still putting finishing touches to the blade and gotta attach handles still. Gonna try and put stone sheep horn grips on it from a sheep I shot a few years back.

Edit: Actually I got things a bit mixed up when I wrote my post. The back panel of the sheath is also the outer shell of the skirt, if I’m not completely mistaken. At least that the way it’s done in Joe Keeslar’s book the sheath back panel is also part of the outer shell of the skirt. In which case using 5/6oz for it and 8/9oz front panel just wouldn’t look proper, or would it? So I’m thinking using 8/9oz for both and the 7/6 for the welt after all. Would that make it look to bulky in the end? It would be 8/9oz front panel, 7/6oz welt and 8/9oz skirt lined with 3/4 ounce. That sounds pretty bulky to me. I saw one video on YT but that guy, Victor George I think was his name, built a traditional half skirt bounce loop style with sheath being completely separate from the skirt and just slid into the loops. Very cool too. Would anyone know of any more tutorials for Mexican loop sheaths?

Hi folks, So I’m planning to make me my first Mexican loop style sheath. This is going to be my first sheath in that style and only my 5th sheath in total. The worst I can do is screw it up and learn from it for the next time. I’m looking forward to the challenge. This is for an 8” “Bowie” style blade. I have a side and a half of W&C russet skirting split down to 8/9 ounce and would love to use it for the complete build (save the loop strap) but I fear it’ll get too bulky by the time it’s done, since I’d like to line the skirt, albeit just with 3/4oz. Maybe someone who’s built some could chime in on that. Of course I have other weights of leathers but they’re not all the same kind. My idea so far is to use the 8/9 ounce W&C for the sheath including welt. The welt would be about the same thickness as the blade. For the skirt I was thinking of using some 5/6 ounce natural Italian with a 3/4 ounce natural Italian liner This would mean I’m using different leathers though. How big of a concern should that be? Looks wise I think I could pull that of since I think it might look alright to have the skirt in a different colour or shade than the sheath. I’m not sure how much it would show through on the edges though, even after dying them with dark brown pro dye. On my last sheath builds that had a welt I tried to use a slightly thinner leather after reading somewhere about an approximate 70% of the blade rule. I could use some 7/8 ounce natural shoulder I still have flying around but I don’t like working with it and it’s an even lighter natural shade than the other Italian stuff I have. I will say that I’ve done that on my last build where the front and back were the same W&C Russet skirting and the welt was good quality 6/7 ounce natural shoulder and I actually didn’t mind the look. It reminded me a bit of the stacked heels on my boots lol. But on this one I’d rather limit to just 2 different leathers. The 5/6 and 3/4 ounce skirting are the same kind from the same tannery. But than again even worse would be if the blade would sit super loosely especially since I haven’t really planned for a retaining strap (or should I?) Am I too picky and overthinking this? Or maybe using just the 8/9 ounce W&C for everything except the skirt liner wouldn’t look too bulky after all, with a larger blade like this? I’m not sure if this helps but I’m basing my build a bit on one of Joe Keeslar’s Loop sheaths. I have his Book. Maybe simplifying it a bit here or there, but very similar. Obviously it won’t turn out to look like his but that goes without saying I would be really grateful for any advise or ideas anyone could add.

Yes, Sir. That it is for sure. Mistakes can happen to the very best of them. It’s how they then deal with it what makes a great business, in my opinion.

I just wanted to give an update on the supplier and how it all turned out. I’d been meaning to do this a lot sooner. I’m dealing with health issues and have been in and out a bunch lately. Apologies for the delay. So, the supplier is buyleatheronline.com and they took great care of me. They replied to my complaint in a timely fashion and after they made sure that my hide was a one off situation and that no more hides got contaminated, they right away sent me out a new piece of beautiful natural double butts. It really is excellent quality. No scars, blemishes or overly loose grain. Flessh side very nice as well. Of course completely free of charge and they let me keep the original one as well. I’ll definitely order more from them. Since I’m very happy with their service and their handling of this I’d like to leave them feedback here. Is that something that’s done on here and, if so, where should one best place it on here?

Perfect. Thank you kindly @ScottWolf. Polysorbate 20 should work well enough as an emulsifier, I’d think.

I bought and downloaded a couple of his books. Thanks for the advice.

Apologies for replying to an older thread. I’m trying out options for a casing solution that I can add to water. I read that a lot of people add some Lexol conditioner to their casing solution, but from what I read Lexol changed their recipe some. Would your recipe dissolve and mix with water? If I added an emulsifier like polysorbate 20, for example? At first my main goal was to make a diy version of bee natural pro carve since it supposedly contains anti fungal ingredients. I’m in a fairly humid region at the moment. While browsing online about this I read that some folks add a bit of a leather conditioner to their casing solution. Since oil alone won’t mix with water I figured it would have to contain some type of emulsifier. So an option would be to make my own lexol with water, NFO, emulsifier and then add something like Listerin, tea tree oil or lemon juice, to have some anti fungal properties. That said, if I added an emulsifier, would you happen to know if one of your recipes could an option, as well? I apologize if my question is a bit of a “no brainer”. I’m still just figuring this stuff out lol. Thank ya kindly!

Right on. Thanks. Gotta check those out. Apologies for the late response.

Right on. I should get some more books. All I got so far is a sheath making book by Joe Keeslar. Apologies for the late reply again. Going through some health issues at the moment and I’m in the hospital sometimes.