ClayB

Hey Freak, I am glad you had a good time at the show. I dont believe you about my pictures though. I am pretty sure that both Kathy and Johanna would have fought you for my pictures, and if they were both there at the same time, you didn't stand a chance. But if I dont see them in the mail in a week or two, and have to come looking, your place will be my second stop! Forgot to mention, one of those pictures is supposed to be on it's way to Kate in Kansas, and another one is already in my will, to go to Charley if I ever fall off a roof at work, so if I have to come looking, I'll be bringing friends! Clay

I am with Ken and Alex. You dont need to be worried about your work being competetive. It looks awfully nice.

Thank you very much for the pictures. It makes missing the show a little less dissapointing. Thanks also for the congrats. I would like to say congratulations to Kathy and Dave. There is a picture on page 7, #190140 and one on page 8, 190167 that look a lot like they could be done by Art and Vera. Any idea if they were? I am also wondering if anyone has any idea who won the Open to the World competition? Thanks again for the pictures. Keep 'em coming. Clay

Nice job on the checkbook and the description of how you colored it. Isn't it great when Peter Main gives you help like that? I can see some of his influence in your checkbook. Welcome to leatherworker.net. Hope to see more of your work here. Clay

I would sure be interested!

I'd use it. I dont think you are going to wear it out. Who made it?

Thanks for sending pics already Freak. I see Dave and Cheryl made it from ND with Robb's pictures. The painted pony is one of my favorite pictures Robb did. PLEASE take LOTS more pictures. I would tell you to have a great time, but that's pretty much a given. Clay

I think Pete Gorrell was using them when I attended the 1st Saddle Week. Maybe he might have some, or know where you could get some?

I think everyone is having the same problem. Sometimes it works, more often it doesn't. Even when the forum comes up, most of the buttons dont work. Guess that's what happens when the boss goes on vacation. Hopefully she is having a good time, and I am sure things will get fixed as quickly as possible.

Hey everyone, thanks for the sympathy, but I am ok. Done with the doctors (hopefully for a long time) Now why doesn't everyone go pick on Rundi for starting this all, or better yet, make her join the forum and defend herself.

Tony, Welcome to leatherworker and thanks for sharing the pictures of your work. You can get kangaroo lace in a lot of colors, even metalics. I have gotten some from Jim Downey in Arizona. I am not how durable the lace would be. I tried and you can scrape the metalic off, but it takes some doing. Under the metalic, the lace looks black. You can contant him at Jim Downey for more information. Jim is a really nice guy. Clay

Hi Luke and Christine and welcome to leatherworker. Your work is really nice. I agree with Alex. I would love to see how you do your work, and see the tools you use. No pressure, but if you are interested, you have an audience. Clay

Why is everybody picking on me????? Rundi started this by using the dang stamp wrong!!! I think she is gonna owe me a drink in Sheridan nest year. The rest of you need to leave me alone, I have had a traumatic week already. A trip to the emergence room, next day the hospital, and 2 visits with a urologist. And if that last visit to the urologist wasn't demoralizing enough, he told me I need to give up cafiene, chocolate, and salt! That should be enough for anyone, but on top of that I DONT get to go to Fort Worth. Don't you think I deserve an extra doughnut??? Heck, I think I deserve that drink right now!!!!

Clay??? What did I do???? Blame Bruce and Rundi this time

You can get the Lumiere brand paints here in the USA too. My wife uses them on some of her paper craft projects and I have used them on a couple leather projects. They give some neat effects. Here is a notebook I did for a freind in Norway several years ago using the Lumiere paints with a brush.

I have always been a fan of wood grain on leather too. You did a REALLY nice job of it. Along with all the other touches you added to this, it is an awesome project!

Hey Freak, That is cool! People will know its you from whatever direction you are going. But it is lacking something. I think you should do another of those ambisol thingys of the Leatherworker.net logo on the top, or bottom, or anywhere you like. Well, you only got a few days before the show, but keep that in mind for next year. Really Freak, you are doing neat stuff. I like your style! Clay

Hi Linda, I have a hide like you are talking about too. I asked about it here on the forum awhile ago and here is what I got for a response from The Major. "Kangaroo's biggest use is predominantly the whip and lace industry. The greased hides have been pre-treated with a dressing, or tallow to preserve the leather, and when you plait your whip you put additional tallow between the plaited layers. This keeps the leather hydrated. And since you don't tool the thongs, it doesn't matter that they are greased. Also using a greased thong, prevents your lace from wearing out when doing laced edges. And the only main difference is the tallow added to the hide. Most of the time the hides are either bark tanned or veg tanned. " That isn't going to help you with your problem, but at least it lets us know that we need to specify what we want when we are getting kangaroo hide.

Micah, No wonder you are pleased with the first one. That is really looking good. The color is really rich looking. I bet you will be making a lot more of these once people start seeing them. Clay

Hey David, Those look great. The coloring and lacing always compliment the designs so well. Thanks for the pics. Clay

I think this is a really good discussion and a lot of you have made good points on both sides of it. I have mentioned custom tool makers in several of my posts, but I never intended for anyone to get the idea that I think you have to have custom made tools in order to do good work. I think Tandy tries to keep Craftool brand tools as reasonalby priced as possible so that people can afford to buy them and learn to do leatherwork. I also know they are working on making them more consistant and trying to make sure they are shaped correctly to do the intended jobs. If and when you need custom tools is a choice every carver needs to make for themselves. Could you tell if I did the same pattern with Craftools and then with custom made tools? Good question. Probably not. But there are some effects that would take a lot longer to achieve with the Craftools. Use the tools you can afford, practice as much as you can, and have fun. That's why I do leathercraft.

My dad sent me this link from the Wall Street Journal that might be of some help to someone. http://online.wsj.com/small-business/mini-...p;affiliate=wsj

I always wondered that when we used to butcher too. We could usually sell the hide to a fur buyer for $10 to $20 bucks so we didn't just throw them away, but it sure didn't seem like much when you considered what it would cost to buy back the 2 sides of leather they got made into. I really doubt a big tannery would be interested in trying to keep track of any one persons cow hide as they ran them through the process of tanning, or that you would get the leather back any cheaper. Just the cost of transporting a fresh hide to a tannery would be fairly expensive. I think you would have to find someone that did it small time and I dont know if there are any places that do that.

If you do a search for casing, you will find that there are probably as many differences of opinion on that subject as there are on stropping. A lot depends on the leather you are using, weight (thickness), where it was tanned, the humidity where you live, etc. You really dont want to let your leather dry out and re-wet repeatedly. Each time it dries out, it will get harder to carve. As you re-wet the dry leather, it will swell and you will lose some of the depth of your stamped impressions. I feel it is better to try and keep the leather damp once it is ready to work with. I will add more moisture with a damp sponge or spray bottle as the leather is drying out. If you have to leave you piece and come back later, cover it with plastic or put it in a plastic bag to keep the moisture in. If you have to leave it for a long period of time, but the plastic bag in the refrigerator. One of the good things about the forum is it allows everyone to give thier opinons on what they do, and why, not saying any one way is the only way it can be done. You can try different ideas that work for others and find out what works best for you. We will be looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

I recieved a letter in the mail yesterday from George Hurst, founder of Hide Crafter. In the letter, it stated that on August 22nd, a group of investors, HideCo, LLC assumed ownership of Hide Crafter. The letter states that "this is good news- it means that we will be able to keep the company open. It also means that we have new resources to bring you more and better deals on leather and leathercraft supplies." The letter also says that you will be seeing changes over the next several months. Some product lines will change, and all the pricing needs to be reviewed since it has been almost two years since they have published a price list. With the dramatic inflation in the price of hides, metals and frieght, some increases are to be expected, but they will try to make it as painless as possible. They are also working on a new catalog and improvements to thier website to make it easier to use Hide Crafter as a leathercraft supplier. Just wanted to pass that info on for those of you that didn't get the letter.