lthrman

I had an antique restoration company contact me recently about putting a new strap on a 200 yr. old leather firemans bucket. I don't have an issue replacing the strap but the new strap needs to look 200 yrs. old. Other than wetting the leather and breaking it in along with a bad dye job to make it stained and used I not sure how to make it look that old. Any suggestions welcome. Mark

When you tool it it might stretch a little and could cuase more wrinkles. Just food for thought. Mark (finger slipped and added an "i" to the last post)

I'm guessing that you're not tooling the seat. I would have glued (Super 77 or High Strength 90) the seat area of the leather to the foam so I could press all the wrinkles out. Then stapled to the seat pan. Marki

I believe Seigels sells patent leather or if you have a a business you can buy from Hide House and Weavers. I think the latter 2 sell it in different colors.

Thanks for the pics. Ya' learn something new every day.

I've built some pretty cool forms for the cases I use to make a lot of. It's not too time consuming and I always got consistency with the formed pieces. 1. Cut a wood piece the same size as the object your making it for. 2. I had flat back pieces on my cases so I cut a piece of plywood the same width as the finished product. The edge of the plywood gives you a a line to reference the finished size to when it's dry. 3. Cut a piece of heavy smooth plastic (like an old cutting board) or masonite (although masonite won't hold up to repeatedly getting wet) the same size as the piece you cut in step 1 + the thickness of the leather on each side. 4. Mount step 1 to step 2. I just screwed them together from the back. 5. Once the forms are made I would stretch the leather over the top and clamp it with spring clamps and start working bottom corners. When those started to take shape I would clamp the "horse shoe" as I called it, from step 3, at the top only and finish working the bottom corners with a bone folder getting out as many wrinkles as possible. 6. Next I make sure that the "horse shoe" is all the way up to the bottom and clamp the bottom corners. Let it dry, remove the clamps and you have a formed piece with a pre marked line on the back for lining up top piece to bottom. I had 3 forms with blocks on each end of my plywood piece and would stretch 6 pieces at a time. I've made similar forms for pocket watches and small civil war era cases. It worked for me and hopefully can work for you or anyone else reading this. Mark

That's a new one on me. Must create a lot of pressure to squish a piece of skirting into a 6oz strap. Did you case the leather first? How much wider did the strap become? Just wondering. I've thought about using a pasta cutter to make small straps but didn't want to spend the money on an experment.

I've made several purse/bag handles and I've found that folding the leather around a core and handstitching works best for me. If I need a round handle I use a piece of braided rope (or cord depending on the size of handle needed). I've used a leather core before but more for a squared or rectangular look. Cut big and trim later. I usually cut the excess about 1/16" from my stitch, sand with a dremel, slick and edge kote. Hope it helps. Mark

I've done a couple of pieces with just neat-lac no oil or dye and have come up with the same look. Neat-lac darkens the leather slightly and brings out the tooling. You do, as the others have said, need to start with a good piece of leather.

The Leathersmith Supply Co. in Overland Park, KS has just finished moving to there new location at 9411 W. 87th St. in Overland Park. We are still in The Louisburg Square but we have moved to a new space on the far west end of the building. Hope to see all my regulars and some new folks soon.

It's been striped down to the tree. The only pieces that probably not salvageable are the fenders. The grain is worn off on the seat but it's still in good shape and the tooling is good. It's not rough out but it's starting to look that way.

I have an F.A. Meanea saddle that i bought as a project. Tha lady I bought it from took off all the leathers and used them for patterns to rebuild and decided she couldn't do it. All the leather is in good condition exept for the fenders which have been cut down probably for a kid I was told. Anyway I was just wondering what this thing is worth in it's current condition and is it worth restoring? I've looked around on the net and only found 1 model 14P picture no other info. If it's worth something I want to do it right. Any info is helpfull.

Robert, awesome material. I've certian types of leather "dry" tattood with no ink and thats pretty cool. I've done a few bike seats and would be interested in working on something with you. Let me know if you have any other projects. Mark

I have the Pro Crafter large barb wire in the 4 barb and 2 barb and the curved wire. The straight wire has been on back order. As far as veg tan I carry 8/9 and 6/7 in double shoulders and 6/7 in single shoulders. I quit carrying sides because nobody wanted that much. They are imports but I use them regulary with good results.

Hey all, My name is Mark and I run The Leathersmith Supply Co. in O.P. ks. Fiebing dyes and finishes, C. S. Osborne tools (though not all of them), Pro Crafter stamps, patterns and hardware. I try to carry the most basic supplies and some things that you can't find elsewhere. I do special orders as well. Give me a call (913-901-0105) or shoot me an email at leathersmithsupply@sbcglobal.net. I have a small website with basics of what I carry. www.leathersmithsupply.com