JLSleather

Just another reason why the bald guy is gonna say COMPARE THE ITEMS. The horse must be good, or you wouldn't care about it. So in the end, it becomes a question of what am I paying and what am I getting - and then the decision of if it's worth it or not. Folks round here love to say their time is worth money. But I assume this retailer is the same. It's not "just" shipping. Somebody gets PAID to take it off the shelf and package it, and we should expect that to get added to the cost. So, we won't know how much is markup on the leather, how much goes to their electric bill and security system, web site, or the mail lady. Just how much is the final "to my door" price. For myself, I don't think $16 is a lot for shipping a package. I would likely order multiple hides at a time, see how that affects shipping. If it goes up $16 for each hide, I'm out. If it's like $20 for 2 or $22 for shipping 3, then maybe that's their "incentive" to purchase more at a time, and maybe it is worth it to do that way. Dunno - never been there myself. I can complain about shipping charges with the best of 'em. But, years of postal route walking has given my mail lady INCREDIBLE legs, and she can do about anything she wants as long as she comes by here .. WAIT..DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD .?@! Just trying to lighten it up a bit round here. Got any pics of the horse hide? Or did they irritate you enough you don't want to give them a "plug"?

That basket stamp looks good, and that's a nice color too. But I'm confused about what's teh angle?@!

Looks like yer gittin' the basics down, and certainly a boy kin be learnin' worse things at that age! Now, let's git one them there coasters under that drink before Mom comes round. Better yet, maybe git in the habit of keeping the drink on a different table where it kaint git tipped on the leather

Is that how they're made now? I made a BUNCH of these for the boys who work at the prison -- been a good few years back now. They all wanted them LONGER, so that the keys were over the leather instead of buffing holes in their slacks. But then, those boys (and one girl) carry a LOT of keys ...

Well, maybe not the only fault The wife says "you can't just make what you like". She is wrong, of course - she's been saying that for a long time. But I not only make what I like, I do not make what I don't like. Generally don't even "hang with" people who make what I don't like. I could list some of the things I have not made and will not make, but .. what point? I have known people who actually paid money for a "pet rock". But then I knew other people who bought that same thing simply because other people did. They themselves would likely never admit that the only reason they did is fear of not being "like everybody else". The first one is not being smart - the second is worse. Never did understand that "used car salesman" mentality - you know, somebody saying stuff they know is crap, to somebody else who also knows it's just crap, yet both continue to do it ?@! I still remember that time I was talking to somebody... and they used "hashtag" in a sentence. Don't remember what it was.. something like "hashtag I'm a susceptible idiot" probably ... but anyway I just turned and walked away. Not sure how far I got before it dawned on him that I had left. He was so involved in "everybody" saying "hashtag"-something, that he assumed I was part of the "everybody" and it would be somehow endearing to use that -well - crap. Just walked off and left him standing there ... But Ed was a decent guy. With decent stuff. He clearly liked making them. Told me a story about that "old boy" who taught him how to make leather stuff. If he did the show down this way, I'd be willing to meet him for lunch. But I could do that without doing the shows. Better use of my time to let the folks who do that pass out my card, give em a cut.

Well, it happens every day. Which is why I tell people SKIP the pretty stories and actually LOOK at what it being offered. COMPARE it to others of the same type. If the emporor's clothes aren't REALLY better than some other, then just walk away. Some folks been doing that kind of HUSTLE for so long that they assume everybody ELSE is doing it too. Some folks' mind so polluted they assume everybody is up to the same lame crap that they are. Problem is, SO MANY people get so used to finding out that the stuff with the pretty stories is CRAP that they begin to assume that EVERYTHING is crap, so no sense paying much for any of it. So then there sits Ed.. with his slings ... through no fault of his own.

Fair enough I thought it was "way overboard" to make a video of such a simple idea, but if somebody was helped - good deal. I sometimes forget that people are willing to pay for a drawing of a rectangle if you call it a "leather field notes pattern". Well, no -- I don't forget.. I just don't grasp the concept of people who tout "custom", "hand crafted", and "unique" being willing to pay for a drawing of a rectangle. Just can't make sense of it. But I wasn't actually denigrating the guy; what i said was ...

And then left it in the package. Still, $1000 worth of carving tools "tossed in" with something ELSE you were buying.... tough to beat that

Exactly. Or, better yet -- use your simple and effective solution to try to drum up support and attention for other things you did. Use it as a "reason" to make a video showing your ribbon. And how tall you are getting

OF course he didn't claim the idea. Somebody would show him tool and die manuals written before he was born calling that a SOLID STRIPPER with an integral POSITIVE STOP.

WHAT THE WHAT?@! UH... no -- it's 2 pieces of leather screwed down to the table. Folks, this is pretty much the DEFINITION of hype. This fella may be a decent guy, and may have had no intention other than to help folks out, so not saying it was anything nefarious. But I was looking for the "edging" part or the "machine" part, which didn't happen. Really, what the guy has is a STOP and a sharp edger. It's extreme for the situation. I do the same thing with an 18" ruler on a marble block. Yeah, I know the planet has been dumbed down and somebody is about to ask for a video of that too ITS A RULER. SITTING ON A FLAT STONE. If I'm doing a number of straps at the same time, I toss a quick clamp on the ruler to hold it more solid And like this thing, it's just a STOP. It IS helpful, because it keeps the strap straight. Edger can't bow the strap, so it cuts easier. Course, it's still the edger doing the edging. And when I'm done, the ruler goes in the drawer right under the marble until I need it again. 2 thicknesses of leather screwed down to the table, then other thickness of leather to "shim up" the thinner straps, and a video about all the above -- seems excessive. Tall hat, upward camera angle, ribbons on the backdrop... c'mon folks- it's a commercial. If he takes off the hat, shows a level camera angle, points the camera at what he's actually talking about, then it clearly shows as leather screwed to a table. Same camera stuff that made Tom Cruise look taller than 5'6"...

Carving leather is not nearly as difficult as some would like you to think. Course, if you get thinking it's both easy and fun, then I suppose they sell less patterns and instructions. About 95% of leather carving is getting the moisture content right. That's a made-up, random, off the cuff number .. meaning I just mean that's very important. Percentage means nothing. To carve leather, you need good leather, and the moisture content will come quickly with a little experience. WHAT you carve - at least at first - is IMMATERIAL. I used craftaids and stohlman's belt book patterns simply so I could concentrate on the CARVING. I bought a double shoulder of 9 oz cow and cut it into strips, started making [sort of] belts. When it was not good (i mean seriously not good) i didn't pitch it.. I tossed it off to the side in a box and started another. When I knew it wasn't looking like I wanted, I finished it anyway. By the time I got across that shoulder (I think it was 16 or 18 belts) they didn't look too bad -- AND I had a handle on why the not-so-good parts weren't so good. STOP THERE? Uh..no. I took those "fails" and practiced the COLORING. MUCH of that failed too, some worse than others. But I pitched em right back in that box. Later used the same ones to test different types of finish recommended by the book and the Tandy up the road. I didn't take their classes or groups because I could see that the people in them certainly weren't making ANYTHING REMOTELY LIKE the pics in the books they were using (though that slim gal was CUTE). Seriously, you're an intelligent guy -- get some GOOD leather, bowl o water, set of bevelers (regular and figure bevelers) and have at er. You'll likely destroy some of the leather, but every piece can be lessons gained if you go about it meaning to "get" it.

Just to be CLEAR, another year later, and I still have NOT tired of those girls in the Allman Bros. video. Jus' sayin'...

$30 would be high enough for me to just pass on ordering that. Hermann Oak send me TEN full sides of 8 oz tooling leather, shipping be about $50. So ONE piece of tooling calf (smaller) .. uh.. no. A bit of hardware gets wrapped in bubble wrap and dropped into the center of the hide.. done all the time. North Star is correct about 'free shipping" being the norm these days, but that's more hype and ignorance. A few of us have actualy offered TRULY FREE shipping (usually for short periods) but most just jack the price of the item. If you're buying 1 or 2, might seem like an okay idea. BUT..... consider that "free" shipping on the hide you want. Say the hide is $100. And say they charging $15 for shipping. And that's pretty close to what I would expect ot be ACTUAL shipping cost. So for the first one, you pay $115, really no matter one way or another. On the second one, you pay $230, actual shipping is $19, so you actually paying another $11 for that "free" shipping. Third one, you pay $345, actual cost more like $325. It gets worse the more you buy, basically "free" shipping means you're NOT GETTING the shipping discount. Some about now are saying "that's with a larger item".. but fact is it's worse with a smaller item - from a percentage standpoint. Buy those blue "dummy guns" at $50, with free shipping, or pay $45 and pay actual shipping. AMT FREESHIP ACTUAL SHIP 1 $50 $52 2 $100 $100 3 $150 $145 4 $200 $192 The more you buy, the worse deal you're getting on the "Free" shipping. IN THE END though, only one can say if the price is worth it or not is YOU. What hardware you need? $12 shipping on some rivets sound EXTREME.

I don't know what this part means, but I usually let the second row of stitching (or not) be selected by the width of the welt. 1/4" wide welt only really room for one row -- 1/2" wide welt I might stitch on each edge. But as a rule, I'm the guy who generally recommends not double stitching unless there's a specific reason for it.

I'm not referring to any particular name -- I'm talking about any item where the material and/or the workmanship is not good. I have seen some companies making great products, then get a reputation for great products, then start pumping out 'commercial grade' stuff and relying on that reputation to carry them. Sometimes it worked .. largely owing to some people's fear of not being like everyone else. Yeah, BILLIONS of dollars spent every year on face paint and hair dye. And the vast majority of stores I've been in present women's "stuff" first thing. But not just women. I've been suckered into buying Nike shoes when the New Balance were clearly better. I've gone to movies that were not even close to the quality I was told they would be. And I've downloaded videos that I suspected were going to be just more marketing poo, and often found out I was right. BUT HEY, you don't know what you don't know, right?@! When you buy it a SECOND TIME, then it's certainly on you. First time maybe you didn't know. But at a show, or rodeo, whatever .. you're standing there with it in your hand. Not much excuse for buying poor quality. There WILL be some who want to buy the name just because their friends have that one. They got me with that lame approach. In my defense, I was like 15 ...

Hype and ignorance.

That's a nice color. No pics of the back?@!

Been there. And I don't mean once

If I ordered it straight, and it came not straight, they'd be getting it back. If they expect me to do work on it, they should have sold me a KIT.

Since that other stuff costs more than the embosser, I'm gonna say you did okay

Being north o' the border, your shipping maybe more than many of us in the states. In that case, unless you're in a real hurry - I like Alex' work (his link is below, am-leathercraft).

stamp.pdf

Anybody else see any trouble with selling / banking yesterday? The web site wasn't working, or rather the payments weren't working, so I got checking around. Turns out that banks and ATMs all over weren't working right. I guess that's what -50°F does to electronic stuff?@!

'Bout 10 years now I been thinkin' I should check out those videos everybody goes on about. I haven't done that, but I haven't ruled it out so that counts, eh? Hammer handle does sound like it would work... and a fella could use one end to form a burnishing tool!