billymac814

Here's a P-pad I just finished up tonight, I'll get better pics before I ship it. It's made from 10oz leather on the bottom and 6 on top, there is no pan or anything. He didn't want any tooling on it so I tried to keep it nice and simple so it doesn't really distract from the seat I made him. It goes with the seat I made that has straight razors and spider web on it. It's lighter than it appears in the pictures

Well I sold it already. This seat was also an expirement to see how well skulls and iron crosses sells compared to stuff I like. I don't get it, but that stuff is popular I guess. And we are are own worse critic, I'm sure that's how we all get better though.

I know this thread is old, but I just went on that Enco site to look at those slabs, they are 12X18X3 on sale for 25 dollars, the shipping was going to be 37 dollars though which killed that for me, I just searched online and found a promo code (PFSAUG) that gave me free shipping. It seems they have the same code every month PFS+MONTH so if you read this in November it should be PFSNOV. Seems like a pretty good deal, thought I'd share. While I'm on the topic and you've decided your too cheap to spend 25 dollars on a slab, you can do my original thing that has worked just fine to this point. Go to lowes or home depot and get a granite floor tile, It's way to thin right- then walk back to the garden section and get a concrete paver the same size and get some adhesive like liquid nail and glue them together, I you can quit there and be done with it, or you can get a piece of rubber or felt to glue to the bottom so you don't scratch up you table. It works fine and is about 2" thick, It's not quite big enough for me at 12X12 but if it wasnt for this Enco deal I'd just keep using it. I also went to a grave stone place and got a piece, they gave me one after searching a while, it's from a horse I think (HOPE) and it's ok, but the back isn't polished and it's no bigger than my 12x12, I almost didn't take it, but I felt dumb saying it wasn't good enough after he looked for so long for one and he didn't charge me for it. It's also 5" thick so it's to high, If it were bigger I'd build it into my table, but I don't want to go through the hassle for a 12x12 piece. Thought I'd share, since I wouldn't have found it if it werent for this.

That's cool, people have the strangest requests don't they ? I wouldn't have shot it either. Is there any padding in it?

This one was one I tried to make for a show but I didn't get it done in time, but I eventually got around to finishing it, the lacing didn't turn out as planned but since it wasn't for a customer I didn't redo it as that would have required making a new back and I really didn't have leather to spare so I just finished it.

I didn't make really anything last month, I spent it riding my bike, I put about 2500 miles on it (1180 of them in one day). Things are picking up now for some reason, I sold all the display seats I had and got some orders for some more now, I'm making a p-pad to match one of those right now. The guy I made the rat fink seat for is really going out of his way to get me work which is really cool of him. He even offered his stock seat off his other bike to a woman who wants her seat recovered so she doesn't have to go without a seat while I have it. I'll be doing his Raider seat soon so I'll have to really take care of him on that one. The knife is cool, I'm going to make a holster for it as soon as I get some time.

I finished this up a little while ago, I sent progress pictures along the way to the customer, he was originally going to pick it up on a Thursday but must have been to excited because as soon as I told him it was done he came in about an hour (and he lives about 45 min away) He was very cool and suprised me with a knife that he made for me. I had no idea he was making it so it was very cool of him. I didn't have time to take pictures of it because my camera wasn't at my house at the time so he sent me these pics. He is getting another seat for his Raider after riding season is over.

I think the spacing would just be farther apart on the outside. Thats kinda how I do mine, I lay the top on and transfer it too the bottom and make sure it's the same number, since the bottom is much bigger the holes are just spaced slightly farther apart, it's a different style of seat of course but in theory should work out about the same. I messed one up once somehow and had a different number holes on one. My scrap bin is getting big. I'm getting ready to start one very similar to that so Im interested in seeing what others have to say. If I remember right there is a tutorial in the m/c section that covers it pretty good.

Thanks again everyone. After all that the dude probably won't buy it. But I know for the next time and feel a bit more confident about it.

I'm hoping this sounds more complicated than it really is. I'm sure after I do it once or twice it may be a little more clear.

Wow, thanks everyone, although the more info I get the more confused I am. So when are all these other fees paid? Is that on the other end and not when I ship it? I want to make sure I don't have any suprise costs that I have to take care of. Russ, I'm from Altoona too.

Thanks Kevin, I've never bought or sold internationally because of that but if they want to pay the shipping I hate to turn anything away. I'm pretty familiar with the "agent" and similar stories. I get them quite often when I list other things on CL. Do those shipping prices seem accurate? I guess my other concern would be if it was lost or something happens at customs.

I didn't know where else to put this so I figured this is about the best place. I recently had an inquiry about a seat for a guy that lives in Australia. I checked UPS and it said 200 dollars!! USPS said 70 which is more reasonable but still pricey and I'm not sure how accurate that was because it was just to Australia and not the actual address. The box would be about 15X15X7 or so and roughly 7or8 lbs. I know some other seat makers do pretty good selling internationally and Id like to be able to. Do the customers just pony up the shipping charges or is there a better way?

You should be ok with about 6-8oz for a tank bib, I'm sure if you got thinner or thicker it would be fine as well for that. I'm by no means an expert but my suggestions are to buy good leather and lace and the best tools you can afford. Kevin at Springfield leather can get you Kangaroo lace for a fair price, thats the only lace I use. I use #1 grade from Wickett&Craig. It's more expensive but when I break it down to each project the difference in price is minimal and it's much nicer to work with and since it's nearly perfect there is very little waste. The tools you will need depends on what you will be doing. I look at all the stuff I've bought since I've started and it's almost mind boggling. You could get a starter kit with some basic tools and kits to practice on, the tools aren't good and you'll likely replace them but it comes with good directions and little items to practice on and if you buy it on sale it's usually a good deal. You can find those at Tandy. I'm sure some other people will chime in soon.

I wouldn't rule out those hook blades for the utility knives. I've been using them to cut out my seat pieces and can control it quite well compared to a regular blade. Plus I know cut 8-10 in one pass where it used to take 2.

Thanks everyone. The toolbag was a lot of work, I'm wondering what most guys are charging for them. It pretty much took me nearly as long as a seat.

Thanks everyone.

Here's a few of my latest seats and a bag. . .

That looks familiar. Well once again that looks food.

that's a cool idea. My butt and back would probably like it. I've seen you post about doin that for a while and always wondered how it worked. Thanks.

Do you have any pics of the tube on the pan? I can't figure out how it doesn't look show through. Also I would assume you can change the pressure in it, seems like a really cool way to do it and I'm sure it's comfy. Do you fill in around it with foam or is it just the tube? Nice seat by the way.

Thanks guys. I'll check out those places. Springfield only has 1/4 in natural with a finish on it so it can't be dyed. They can get it but it will be 4-6 weeks. How ling does it take when ordering from Australia? I didn't know what all was involved with customs and the long boat ride so I've never really considered that route.

I probably won't do much to her bike, she doesn't really need to go faster and she really doesn't go fast anyway and I really don't have time for another project, I got enough going on. My quams with the bike are the shaft drive and a ton of plastic, other than that it looks cool. I do like that rack for the back but she isn't into it but I think I can talk her into it especially if her fender is scratched up at all from the stock seat. I can probably make one but by the time Id have it chromed it probably wouldn't be much cheaper and probably not worth the effort. Her pipes are the cobra drag pipes, they are a full one piece deal, doesn't do anything for it other than look and sound a bit better, they came with the bike so it's hard to tell if it was jetted at the same time or not, although my school of thought was always if you change the intake you have to change the exhaust but if you change the exhaust it doesn't affect the intake so no need to jet it within reason of course. Probably not the case for short straight open pipes like mine but ones with baffles at least there's still some backpressure there. Is your bike lowered? It looks like the shocks are at a steeper angle then hers are.

That's a pretty cool picture. That is actually what takes me the longest is deciding on a design to put on it but I pretty much had to quit thinking about it so much and since these will be for sale I'm just trying to do something that will appeal to the masses. Keeping 3 going at once really hasn't been that bad other than I have very little time to work on them. . It's much easier to cut out 6 pieces and prep 3 pans and all that stuff at once. It will be easier to dye and finish them to but the lacing might be tough doing 3 back to back since my hands get pretty sore after 1. Do you have any way of making the shadow any quicker? It's goes fast enough on the highway but it doesn't start off to quick. My Vulcan will run circles around it but really it's fine for her. Hers is all stock except the pipes. I got the seat in today and ripped the cover off, I probably won't do much more than that for a while, it is a big seat, I'm going to put it on the bike and see if I can shape it any better, I may get new foam and use that first, did you put plastic back over the foam?

So you did that without wet forming? If so I'm sure your next one will look much better then. I need to buy some thinner leather but Im waiting till I sell another seat or two first. The company I work for is letting me share their booth at thunder in the valley at the the end of June. I have no idea of how many I can sell or if I can sell any so I'm just going to keep making them till then, I have 3 going right now which seems to go a little faster when doing multiples at a time. I'm going to keep hers real close to stock for shape and size I think, unless once I rip the cover off I change my mind. The one I bought only came with the front seat so that's all I'm goingto do. We've been talking about taking the back one off anyway. I may redo her saddlebags at the same time. They are really old cheap ones we got at a swap meet so I may make new lids for them and cut the yoke out and make them a mount. They don't look good now but that's the only way we can take anything since I can't put anything on mine. I call her bike my mule.