phillipsimsleatherwork

Awesome!!! I have been wanting to try to make one and you have inpired me! Phillip

Im a film fan. I took some photography classes in college and reallyprefer it over digital. Yeah yeah I know ,"You can do so much with adigital camera with all the programs and editing...blah blah blah."Using a film camera is just as easy and you can use the SAME programsas you would with a digital. I know for a fact you can get film put ona cd at Walgreens,CVS, and Walmart. Plus I still like having the printsin my hand instead of just seeing it on my pc. At CVS and Walgreens youcan have the film put directly on a cd, if you dont want prints, foronly a few dollars. I have a Nikon FE, a Canon EOS Rebel XSN, and a1957 Zeiss Ikon Contaflex which all take AMAZING pictures and are allfilm cameras AND you can pick one up for under $100. Craigslist is agreat resource for used cameras. I had a nice Minolta digital that Isold to buy the Nikon FE film camera. Just sayin Phillip Sims

Hahahahha! Thanks for the help everyone! I just wanted to see what all the other ways of finishing are but if no one wants to help its no big deal. Thank you Tkleather1 and leatherrookie for your posts. No big deal! hahah! I know where else to look I was just hoping to have a big post for everyone to be able to put in their 2 cents! Phillip Sims

I have heard many different peoples steps in finishing a project. Some swear by this or that and others wont do this before they do that. I think if everyone was to post their own process it would help not only me but MANY people in this forum. So lets start with antiquing. How do you get that "perfect" finish, what products, and what tools(wool,dauber,ect.) Lets hear it. I know some of you old timers have to have some tried and true ways that you will do every time and I would love to hear them!!! I want detailed descriptions so that they will be easy to follow for me and others. Thanks alot and I hope this will help everyone!!!!! Phillip Sims

Will do! Thanks again! Phillip Sims

I found this posting wil looking through craigslist. I thought someone else might be interested. It seems like a really good deal! Hope it helps!!! Phillip Sims just cop and paste in the address bar http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/tls/1373521838.html

Thanks alot everybody for the advice! Im going to start the Neatlac today. Pictures up soon!!! Thanks again! Phillip Sims

Well what if I have Neatlac in a spray can??? Should I still work it in with some wool? I will wait to see what you say! Thanks Rawhide! Phillip Sims

Hey everybody! Here are a couple things ive made in the last ....while. The guitar strap was for myself, the floral was a tandy pattern and the letters were from the internet somehwere. Its unfinished in the picture because I over oiled it when I was finishing it and it turnedout pretty dark. The knife and sheath are both handmade. I made the knife out of a horseshoe, heated with a torch and straightened and the sharpened. I have made a few other ones that turned out with better blades but this is the only one I have a picture of. The sheath is rawhide that was matched with a rawhide keeper on the belt. It is a horizontal sheath and looked pretty cool on the belt. Anyway! Phillip Sims

Thats awesome! Ive got an old aluminum fly rod case that I have a 3 piece in and ive wanted to cover it like the one you did. Great inspiration!!! Phillip Sims

Looks real good. Ive been wanting to make a rifle scabbard for a while and have been putting it off cuz it looks like ALOT of work!hahah! Good job man! Phillip Sims

Too cool man! You should make some kind of "shadow box" kind of frame and put all the papers and stuff in and hang that stuff on the wall!!!! USE THE TOOLS!!!!!! Phillip Sims

Hey thanks everybody. Those airbrush rigs are pretty cool! Anyway, I oiled a few things last night that have been ready to finish for a couple of months actually, I just havent got around to it. It was a couple pair of spur straps,a couple of wallets and junk like that. I applied the oil with a piece of wool like always just to see if it would happen again and THEY ALL TURNED OUT GREAT!!!!! I have always had a problem with not taking my time and get real anxious to see what the final product will look like, so I have ruined a few things by not letting them dry properly. BUT since these were tooled about 2 months ago and have been drying ever since they were COMPLETELY dry. Im going to neat lac them today and see what happens. YES I STILL HAVE SOME NEATLAC woohoo! Thanks for all the suggestions and everything everyone!!!! I would like to try out that airbrush thing one day.Ill put some pictures up here when they are all finished!!! Thanks again!!!!! Phillip Sims

WOW! That is really really nice! Great job!!!!!!!!! Phillip Sims

You dont need alot of tools to do nice work! Ive seen some guys do amazing things with only five tools where I would have needed 500!hahaha! Looks awesome man! Phillip Sims

Those guys at Douglas Tools have some really awesome tools and are really helpful. I saw them at the Wichita Falls roundup and they have so many nice tools and really helped me alot in a few areas. Phillip Sims

I am doing the finish on a few things right now. I am going to antique them all and im having problems!!!!! I have read many diferent ways of doing this from many different people. The problem comes when applying the oil at the VERY FIRST!!!!!! I apply a light coat of Bee natural saddle oil and it always turns out WAAAAAYYYYYY too dark. I try to do it lighter on something else and it still doesnt work out right. I dont know if im using the wrong oil or.......I dont know. Ive watched a video of Chan Geer do it about a million times and I dont know what im doing wrong. I RUINED the crap out of a guitar strap I tooled. Took hours to tool and blah blah blah and then "added a light coat of oil" and then adklfhoauefhouiehoqhe!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help,suggestions,constructive criticism,destructive criticism or whatever is welcome!hahah I want to do this right. Thanks in advance, Phillip Sims

Yeah it was a great show. I was a little disappointed with the customer service in a few booths too. I feel like I wasn't taken seriously because i'm only 25. They kinda looked past me to the older men there. Kind of annoying. I wanted to buy a few things at a couple of booths and no one would help...so I went and got it from another booth.hahah. Oh well. Otherwise and AWESOME show!!!!! Ive never been to one and that one was a great experience! Good job to those who organized the event and congrats to the winners of the boot and saddle contest!!!!!

I just got back from the show. It was AWESOME!!!! I have been wanting to go to that one for a couple years now but never was able to. I was real nice to be around so many people that enjoy the same things you do. The vendors were really great and had more custom tools than you can imagine. The boot and saddle contest entries were amazing as well. The floral masters class saddles were beautiful. I got to meet Jesse Smith and talk to him for a while. What a nice guy. I watched some engraving at the GRS booth. The people at the Herman Oak booth were real nice and helpful. Wayne Jueschke had some real nice mauls and a lot of nice stamps. I got some GREAT advice from the guys over at Douglas Tools!!! I got my first edition of Shop Talk which i was very surprised I had no idea existed!!!!!!! Great magazine! Got to see Greg Carmack and talk to him for a while. Hes from my hometown so it was nice to see him again. Just a great time overall!!!!!!! Did anyone else go???

Hey, I was just looking at all the awesome contests and the PIF thing. Its all really neat and I wanted to see if we could get a summer contest or something going. I havent really seen much "summer" events,shows,or contests. So I thought....LETS DO ONE ON LEATHERWORKER!!! Got any ideas??? Phillip Sims

Really good looking work!!! I wish I could find someone who wants one of those so I can make one!haha Take it easy, Phillip Sims

AWESOME!!! I'd love to try to do a seat. Just dont have one to cover. Great work!!! Phillip Sims

I have played guitar for about 12 years,piano and sang since about 4 yrs old,mandolin,fiddle,harmonica and drums. I play mostly bluegrass due to the fact that my hometown (Glen Rose, Tx.) is a huge bluegrass town. They have festivals there every year. I have played in a few rock bands and am trying to get together a full bluegrass band now. blah blah blah... MUSICIAN/LEATHERWORKER TIP I have seen leather pickguards for electric guitars on the internet but had never seen one for an acoustic. I did one for a "cheapie" acoustic I have with a sheridan pattern on it and it turned out amazing. I have had alot of people interested. Just giving you an idea. Phillip Sims