rickmoo

Hi Old Toby, i use a heavy leather stitching machine. { cobra 4 } it will sew pretty thin leather... i've practiced on suede and other thin stuff. i use frabi-tac glue and it's wonderful. it's clear, dries quickly, and holds well. it became a good alternative to contact cement on small items. i'm making custom leather pen sleeves for a pen making site and i use frabri-tac exclusively. it can be had at frabric stores, wal-mart, etc. hope this helps.... rickymoo

the leather machine co. recommends to change one every 12 hrs of sewing........

you can try brettuns village.com........ they have leather , punches, rivets,etc.

i have a supplier for the pen making materials i use that want me to do a legal pad holder with a pen holder or three. can anyone give me info and or suggest patterns to use for one. i'm new at this and would like to make him a nice product and also get some work out there. thanks in advance...... richmoo

there are a couple of sites that have a good selection of ostrich hides and legs. they are: ostrichmarket.com and exotichides.com ostrich is very expensive. the legs are not bad. i just bought several stingray and an ostrich leg from ostrich market. between these two sites there are a lot of different hides and skins. python.... yeah,yeah,yeah! my son noah tells me---- you're really wierd dad

cord, i purchased several stingray skins from ostrich market today. they have nile croc. tail , but i want some a little wider than 3", nice and long though. they do have gator. before you buy, look at exotic hides.com . there is a very good selection of croc. tail pretty wide and alligator pieces. also a lot of snake , lizard , frog, etc. i will be getting a croc. tail at some point and maybe a python skin. i have good ideas for use with the cobra 4. need to make the mula back i spent on it. r.moo

i haven't tattooed leather, but i have used pyrography ( burning ) with the detailmaster system... looks similar to tattooing especially when coloring the design with acrylics . rickmoo

i came across a leather work site a good while ago called leatherunltd.com- they advertise A and B grades of tooling leather and have the best prices iv'e seen on any site. does anyone have experience with them... their leathers?

i received my cobra class 4 machine last week - 8/27/09. haven't mounted the head on the stand yet, but very excited about punching leather. thanks steve for everything you do to help all of us. hope to pay for it doing nice leatherwork.

i posted this on leather pros, would like to get more opinions. i'm thinking of making a table for leatherwork. my thoughts are to make a frame with two by fours and a thick plywood top... fill the 3 1/2" with concrete, then put a bottom under the concrete. - add suitable locking casters. would it bo solid enough for tooling leather work? i don't have any granite, sooooo what do you think? richardmoo

i am a self taught pyrographer ... practiced hundreds of hours - more difficult than i thought. i use a detailmaster excalibur system. i've learned to do fine line detail on leather, wood, and gourds. this system will burn about anything feasible. woodcarvers supply carries an eagle burner system that will take any maker's handpiece... good price and high wattage. pyrography is awesome. after i get my cobra class 4, i'm making a rifle case with tooling and buffalo leather for my new shiloh sharps. have a design in my head of a locomotive and buffalo on the western plains. i have a wallet (tandy kit) about 20 yrs. old... burned an eagle on it ... still looks good. pyrography just adds another way of customizing leather. rickmoo