tomknox

Thanks guys, i'll send them a pic and see waht they have to say! Every row of bottles has a color swatch under them so i know i didnt pick up the wrong color. David Theobald said that he's bought dye and antique paste from fiebing's in the past that were mis-labeled and pretty much said that it's the norm with them. Have any of you guys had this happen to you?

the leather is from zack white, veg-tanned shoulder. the brown has not changed on the scrap, it was dyed a week ago and the picture was taken today! where do i pick up the alchohol mix? thanks!! tyler

i got the spirit dye in Tan but it looks medium/dark brown, it's darker than the color chart. let me know what you think, heres the pic.

Thanks dave! Here's a pic of the scrap leather.

Dave looks great like normal, quick question for you, I bought Fiebing's Tan dye(spirit base) and the tan is more like dark brown. It's nothing like the color swatch, should I reduce this dye to get the lighter color? If I reducer, will i get a consistant color or will it be splotchey unless i use an airbrush? Thanks Dave!!

Unless your very familiar with the airbrush then you need to just stick to the brushing by hand. With an airbrush, you have to be able to have a steady hand but you also have to be good with the trigger too.

Thanks for the compliments guys! Ken, you will love the iwata, it sprays like butter and you can tell its fine craftsmanship just by holding it in your hand! As far as the backgrounding tool, i'm not the best person to give advise but i can tell you this, i have two backgrounders. The first was in a starter set from hobby lobby, not sure of the make but it has u.s. stamps on it. The other (good) one i purchased from zack white and it's a craftool A888. It is sharper and the grooves are deeper, this just shows the difference between the cheap tools and the more expensive ones. The crapy one has a finer grid patteren and i'll probably never use it again!! The craftool one is the smallest that they have i believe, so if your backgrounding a larger area then you'll need a bigger one. Hope that helps! Also, i use a 17 gallon compressor and i have to crank it up every hour so you'll have plenty of air, and for the moisture traps, i use the iwata (small) trap that hooks to the bottom of your airbrush, they are pricey but well worth it!

Heres some more, sorry for the delay! I'm still in the lacing stage, both of my needles broke so i'm stuck now until i get some more. I've learned a few thing and made some mistakes, mainly the problem has been that i cut the pieces a little small. Since i'm using the wrong lace it's made it difficult and i'm glad that i made the holes larger for this lace to get through twice. Also, i used too much length on the lace and it wore it down quickly and made freyed edges, i know now to use smaller lengths while lacing instead of a real long piece. I also need to step it up on the bevel tool, my beveling could use some help i think!

sorry about the delay on the pics guys! i have started lacing the seat and i'll have some pics up later!!!

Thanks Dave, that helps alot! I bought the buckstitch book by Stohlman but it did'nt talk much about different laces. Thanks!

Dave the seat looks great ofcourse!! 1.) Could you let use new guys in on how the glass slicker works, what the benefits are and such? 2.) could you say a little something about the color edge lace? i've looked around for a few different laces and was just wondering about the lace your using, it seems to be thicker. are there any other laces that you use or would be ok to use on a seat? 3.) I've noticed that many people are doing the tooling like you have around your name on the bottom, is there a name for that technique and is it done with different sized seeders or what? Thanks Dave!!!!!!!!!

yeah you'll have to just clean it with water for water-based dye and solvent for the spirit dyes. definayly DO NOT buy a 15 dollor one on ebay!

thanks dave, also very sad what happened to chris henry. i think he was a top 10 wr in the league hands down, such a terrible thing, just when he was getting on the right track. he was the same age as me and it happened here in north carolina, kinda hit home. its just very sad.

Dave, if you did'nt have the pattern/template or a seat you've never done before, then how do you go about marking the holes? Thanks!

Thanks dave, that means alot coming from you!! Thanks also for answering my noobie questions when you didnt have to!! The hole's are a little big and probably spaced too far apart, i tried a test piece and the holes were smaller and i could'n get the lace through twice. Question- dave, i know you use hole templets with seats that you have made before but my question is this, if i mark the back for the holes spacing, and all i have is a rotory punch, i obviously can't punch through the back because it leaves an unwanted impession on the front, how do i transfer the holes to top accurately? Am i worrying about this too much?? Also, i dont have to do the basketweave, is there another weave that would work well and maybe hide the holes being too big? This thing doesnt have to be perfect, just want to see if i could generate any intrests here locally since i paint alot of bikes. Thanks for looking guys!!! Tyler

thanks shay! i've done a little more tooling but im not ready for pics yet....hopefully more tomorrow.

thanks rdb!! chatham county? im here in burlington, probably close but i cant think of where chatham is off the top. i do believe its close though! Zack White is 30 miles but its about a 45 minute drive. I'm not sure if i posted this in the right section or if it should be in the motorcycle stuff. hopefully ill have more pics soon to show you gays and gals! rdb, if you or your buddys ever need any airbrushing or pinstriping just let me know. all of my work is right here: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=98371993 thanks again!

thanks leatheroo!

Ken, as for the airbrush, I ONLY use Iwata because I believe that they are the best. DO NOT buy a cheap airbrush, i stress this. You need to buy the Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS, it's a bottle feed so it can hold alot of dye, it's easy to clean, and it sprays a very nice round pattern(will cover very well). I use the gravity feed (HP-CS) but it does'nt hold alot of paint/dye. I will post my airbrush work below just to show that i'm a decent artist and I think it helps me pick up new things a little easier than most. It's my art, just a sketch really, kinda something that you'll find in the airbrush world, and i do alot of pinstriping so there's an influence in there aswell too. ALSO, if you have a local hobby lobby then you can print the 40% coupon and buy the airbrush on discount, if not go to www.coastairbrush.com they are usually cheaper than ebay. Thanks for the comments!!!

Sorry for the double post, it won't let me edit it for some reason.... another... closer.... a wetter pic....

Hello, i'm npretty new here and I wanted to share my seat with you guys and gals. i'm an airbrush artist who wanted to try a hand at tooling leather. I live 30 mile from Zack White tannery and have made a few trips to get me started. I'm on a very limited budget right now which makes this very hard! I only have 1/8th latigo lace and the tannery does'nt carry any 1/4th and I can't afford the kangaroo lace right now. They also have been out of the "how to lace" book, if anyone out there has one they can part with for a newbie's christmas just let me know! I made the holes closer together hoping that it will allow the 1/8th lace to be tighter. Here's some pics of what I have so far, any comments/question/tips/or critiques are welcome to share!! Also, I would like to personally thank David Theobald for his help, without him I would'nt be this far along. This is only my second time tooling so please bare with me! I'm really more concerned with the laceing and dyeing. Hello, i'm npretty new here and I wanted to share my seat with you guys and gals. i'm an airbrush artist who wanted to try a hand at tooling leather. I live 30 mile from Zack White tannery and have made a few trips to get me started. I'm on a very limited budget right now which makes this very hard! I only have 1/8th latigo lace and the tannery does'nt carry any 1/4th and I can't afford the kangaroo lace right now. They also have been out of the "how to lace" book, if anyone out there has one they can part with for a newbie's christmas just let me know! I made the holes closer together hoping that it will allow the 1/8th lace to be tighter. Here's some pics of what I have so far, any comments/question/tips/or critiques are welcome to share!! Also, I would like to personally thank David Theobald for his help, without him I would'nt be this far along. This is only my second time tooling so please bare with me! I'm really more concerned with the laceing and dyeing.

first off great seat dave!! few questions: 1) i thought that you were supossed to dye before lacing, do you normally dye after its complete? 2) i looked up those seat pans, do you get the F-T-W seat pan type? their website is a little confusing! 3) also, could you speak a little on your dye methods, products, and the final buff etc...? thanks soooo much! this has been really helpful!

im sure you can but jus want to be on the safe side, can i dye tan latigo lace darker so that i dont have to buy a new roll? thanks!!