A Serious Question For Leather Carvers.

[A Serious Question For Leather Carvers.]

The Basic 7, swivel knife, seeder, camouflager , beveler, rawhide hammer, backgrounder, and pear shader those are all you really need to do any carving, all the other tools do is make it easier to do.

as for me never enough tools .... never!

[Know What This Is Called?]

looks like it is a locking post page 79 of ohio travel bag link:http://www.ohiotravelbag.com/FlipBook/P212_BOOK_1.indb/index.html#/79/zoomed

[Ok Way Confused, Can You Help]

I think for the leaves a lot depends on what part of the country you are from, here in New England, we sell a lot of Maple leaf designs.

[First Festival]

the "rule of thumb" I use when unsure of how to price a product is cost X 3 = retail. cost x 2 = wholesale. cost breaks down to: cost of materials + cost of labor + 20% overhead.

[How Are Sales This Year So Far?]

our sales are up about 30% with some repeat customers, we use PayAnywhere for our CC processor rates are costing us more as sales increase we are going to be moving to a different processor that is integrated with our e-commerce site.

[Leathercraft Vs Leatherworks]

the way I have seen it in the business world is:

A Leather works is the place where people that work with leather do their craft.

A Leather crafter is a person that works with leather from scratch (cut, pattern, prepare leather for what is being made and finishing).

A Leather worker is a person that works assembling pre-cut leather into a finished pattern.

A Leather Artisan is a person that creates and embellishes what he has made.

[Making A Strop]

Thanks Hellfire. In that case ll make it half flesh and half hair side up and see how I go.

Cheers

Don

I use both, flesh side for stone mark removal, hair side for final polish.

[When Fabric Meets Leather, Kote & Weighty Burnishing]

fold the exposed edge over and glue it down or use seam tape

[What Would You Have Done?]

You should have transferred the "costumer" to the "boss" "Peggy"

[Craftool Strap Cutter In Metal]

I have not been able to find it. it is made by craftool part number 3079-00 the pro strap cutter.

edit

FOUND IT:

http://rowensworld.com/store/Craftool_Pro_Strap_Cutter_3079-00.html

OR

http://www.shopmania.com.br/outros-esportes/p-fieira-craftool-3079-00-2848314

[Halloween Project]

6/7 would work fine for the idea you are trying, and like the idea of 2 4/5 leather glued back to back for a more finished look

[Original Source Of The Leather]

Thanks for the replies, it does help. will go with Handcrafted in the USA

[Original Source Of The Leather]

How do you tell where a "side" of leather came from? in other words what country it originated in. Had a customer ask this this weekend and All I knew was it was from one of three countries that supply my supplier.

That is why I am reluctant to claim "Made in the USA" I know all of the metal parts come from Asia but never sure where the leather comes from.

[Hand Cutting Press]

Ace Steel Rule Dies is the east coast distribter cost is $1699 plus $75 UPS site is http://acesteelruledies.com/diepress.html

[Scottish Thistle Tape Measure]

In My culture (Native American .... Mescellro Apache) we traditionally give the first new project away to friends and or family yes they may not be perfect or all the bugs worked out but it is the first edition and will bring us good returns on our next endeavors. So far it has not lead me astray. I think is a good first attempt at this item. I know some of my first attempts I wanted to burn or shred but followed the teachings and each attempt after that got a little better.

[Leather Selection/grade]

here is a guide to leather ..... http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,24427.0.html

[A Website On Leather Craft]

good site, video subscription is a bit high but a lot of vintage patterns on it for sale..... a few are free .....lots of e-books for sale too

[Sequence Of Tooling]

There seem to be only two steps in tooling leather that are set in stone(maybe).....

1 pattern to the leather (tracing, freehand what ever you method is).

2 cutting in the pattern.

after those two it is personal prefference and what the pattern calls for....

I generally follow

3 beveling

4 back grounding

5 shading

6 decoration

7 decorative cuts.

[Quieter Leatherworking Question]

The key to noise control is to isolate hard to hard surfaces that move or bounce.

what is usually done is vibration pads to break the path from the table legs to the floor, a foam mat like they use at the checkout works, if budget is a concern wash cloths or towels under the legs of the table.

the next thing is mass you need a lot of mass to keep the the vibrations down the marble helps but I would think about a heavier table or a log at table hight to absorb the inertia of th4e hammer blows before it gets to the floor.

as to the punches I use the tandy pro and it works great .

[Camera Strap Stitching]

interesting technique knots are hidden on the inside between the layers and I would not call it stitching more like a lashing. in my opinion that creates a weak point for the strap I would rivet it or saddle stitch it.

[Print Postage Online]

Stamps.com is the third party site for first class postage it is good but can be pricey. For me it is cheaper to send it Priority Mail than fight with stamps.com over monthly fees.

[Sad News! Those Who Knew Drac]

RIP my friend

[What Tool To Use To Shave Leather For Buckles]

I use a sharp round knife, once you have it sharp enough it has sooo many uses.

[New Tandy Catalog]

lots of up grades for their tools, leathers and hardware, including some nice buckles.

[What Online Shopping Sites Do You Use To Market You Products]

What online shopping sites do you use to market your products other than you own website?

I use etsy and google merchant center.