JLSleather

I've peened 'em in the past, just can't tell from the pic if that's the same material. Ones i had were soft enough, piece of leather on the bench, upside down, tap with rivet setter. The 'extra' you're taliin about spreads, an yer done.

No, I aint 'sure' cuz I'm lookin at a photo. But, I'd smack it.

You should be able to peen the end of the post, don't need anything else

Those are nice - young fella is gonna love it.

I gotta give you some credit -- my first project went in the trash before anyone got to see it (and the second). But, that leather looks pretty rough, and probably accounts for some of the 'drag' with the knife. A good firm piece of cow will likely cure that in a hurry. Ordinarily, I'd say it looks like it was tooled too wet, but with that chunk it's hard to say. That said, here's a couple simple things that will likely git ya runin in a hurry. Red arrows, ya wanna lose the 'ridge'. You can either lean your beveler out a bit, or bevel vertically and then smooth it out. Blue arrows, I think you'll find this design looks more natural if you bevel these the other side of the line. Blue oval ... combination of the two. Once the line is beveled the other way, you'll have that ridge right there. Knockin this ridge down will create a "pocket" on the short stem which wil add considerable depth to your carving with almost no effort, giving the illusin that the pod is "inside" the folds, like this ...

Bridle leather is not veg tanned leather. You should be able to cut, stamp, or crease that leather, but not tool it. As one other member stated, it does look a bit dry. But, bridle leather is more about strength than other issues. On the other hand, most bridle leather is quite nice all by itself, ,just a crease down each side and ya got a nice lookin belt. Add some decorative stitchin', what else... OH, yeah, .157 is roughly 5/32", or likely what we might call 10 ounce leather. Welcome!

Yeah, that's formed. I'd like to know about this too.

Thanks for the instruction. But aren't you left handed? Sheesh! I hand stitch, but I wonder if those watching are grasping how difficult it it to 'switch hit' with an awl (in fact, for those reading this, try it!). Very USEFUL information -- thanks AGAIN.

Sadly, this is the trend. Used to be, you got a tool that was already sharp. Burns my backside that so often you need to sharpen a brand new tool. The awl should glide through the leather with almost no force at all. When you sharpen it, use a fairly hard stone, and keep the flat sides of the awl flat on the stone (dont 'rock" it). I think your kit has some information on how to hold it. Check the book that came with that kit.

The Fiebing's dye is pretty good, lots of folks around here using it. The airbrush is a quality tool. It will work for small projects,but if you think you'll be doing larger projects in the future, you might consider a siphon feed model. The gravity feed will not hold much dye, and you may find yourself filling it more than you wanted to. Whichever way you decide to go, consider a strainer for the fiebing's dye -- you can spray without one, but it'll save you some headaches in the long run.

Paul, short answer, NO.

Welcome to the craft! It sounds like you have a plan; gather information and then use it! This is always a good approach in anything you might want to do. As with about anything else, you already know that there are some things you learn from asking/researching/reading, and some things you 'learn' by putting your hands in it and doing. Leather craft is not 'hard', and being a perfectionist is a good thing - if you want to get good at it, you likely will!

Oh, perhaps my last post wasn't helpful. My intent was to help you weed through some of the weeds that sometimes grow up around a thread Often enough, it's meant well but stated badly. That said, here's a couple clear thoughts... I will say this much about this "effect" and various airbrushes. If you can turn a screw and push a button, you can do this look. First time. I don't konw how old your son is, but I'd wager I can have him painting this 'effect' in less than a minute. Kids learn fast, mostly becuase they haven't been too long hearing some "pro" lying to them about how hard it is. My recommendation for an airbrush you're welcome to, but not included here. FOr now it's enough to say that a single-action, siphon feed airbrush will do this quite well. In fact, the first time I was actualy there and saw this done was in 1984 with a guy using a Paasche Model H airbrush. He did this to everything. It seemed after a while that was all he knew how to do with it (tho that may not be the case). This gun is still made, and you can get them - the entire set with hose, etc - for $50. This is not the gun I use, but I have seen some amazing art done with one of them. Interesting, that brush comes with a little booklet of lessons. The 'effect' here is like lesson #2 (the fist one is spraying a dot). So, here's what I do recommend. Do not 'take someones word for it", including mine. Maybe someone on here is from down yer way adn can show you this "technique" . Meanwhile, you could see a video of this kid painting a guitar with this "effect" ...

Not sure what kind of leather you bought, but a utility knife should go right through 5/6 ounce. I'd try swappin out the blade, cuz that shouldn't happen.

That kit (and others) may not include the tools listed on the individual projects in the box. Keep in mind, also, that the tools listed for stamping are 'suggested', you can use something else.

Zachary - With something this light-weight, it's probably easier to use a pair of shears. Cut the sides straight, then fold the leather in half (line up the sides) and cut the resulting "half pattern". The other side will match.

This is the 'sunburst' effect made popular by Gibson guitars - about 60-65 years ago. Quite easy to do, which is no doubt why it's been done to no end.

This one says comes with 4 designs, were you looking for a different one? https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/p-1183-market-place-handbag-kit-pattern.aspx

Yep, you don't need to run the awl clear up to the haft. Just far enough to clear the needles. Using 6 tpi, a #2 awl blade should work just fine. Make sure you are angling the awl blade correctly and the holes will be fine.

About any hardware supplier should be able to get those to you, including many leather stores. You're looking for a "conway" buckle.

What leather did you purchase? I saw some shoulders at a Tandy couple weeks ago that had a paste applied to the back, may be what you're referring to. I'm sure there is some marketing blahblah to it, but the bottom line is they treated the back of the leather because it was so 'fuzzy'. I didn't buy any.