bkingery

I agree with Art, your time should be at least ten dollars an hour. Period. thats what they make at Mcdonalds around here so your time should be at least that. You said they were going to supply the leather but then you said you would be using your dbl shoulders. if your using your own stuff then eight dollars for supplies and ten dollars and hour, If you can make two belts in an hour then that would be 14.00 minimum a piece. And for sure don't let them pay you later, get at least half up front before you even start cutting, even if it is their leather. Let us know how it turns out. Peace Bryan ( i'm working on the paragraph thing haha)

In a word "NOPE" If your doing a piece with multiple layers its really quite easy once you understand the sequence, the hardest part is getting the tension on the last stich right before you cut the tail off and tuck it in. And when you pull the first loop out of the first stitch try not to make it to big or it is hard to tighten. I leave a fairly long tail at the beginning just for that reason. If you go under at least three of the bites of the starting stiches with youor ending tail there is almost no way for it to come undone. I'm still trying to figure out how to do the same thing on single layer so I feel your pain. Go to Kingmere crafts website and he did a couple of really good tutorials on lacing, plus if you dont have it you should get the book Lacing and stitching for leathercraft it has big pictures that are a little easier to follow. I got mine at Tandy for about five bucks. Maybe one day someone will make a good picture or video tutorial on this subject. Hope this helps a little. Peace Bryan

the link is broke ray, try on the critique bryan

Again THANKS all, that's why I love this place. Yes my wife and other friends ALOT of other friends have asked her what she is doing and all she can say is "oh I just did it for the free stuff since I put this on here i have found out that she has done the same thing to a few others here in town and we are all mad at her. I agree that she is probably just trying to get attention but doing it all wrong. Biggun she is married and her husband has a very good job and makes way more than I do and thats one of the reasons she can afford to buy into all of the stuff. When I sit back and think about it from a differant perspective I think I could almost feel sorry for her but I am a true blue Leo and forgivness is hard. Hopefully she'll learn her lesson someday before she destroys all of the friendships she is tyring to make. Peace again Bryan

Thanks for the replies I just needed to vent a little bit. The biggest problem that I have with her is not that she sells the same stuff, it's the fact that she only does it after someone else tells her they are going to do it. I agree that it is a free market but to me I think that there is a limit to what I will and will not do to make a quick buck. We have decided that the misinformation gig is probably going to be the best way to deal with her . That and just try to beat her at her own game but do it in a way that we can look at ourselves in the mirror when it's all said and done. I just hope she starts selling crappy leather stuff and then I can smoke her on quality alone. Peace Bryan

Howdy All, Ok heres my problem, one of mine and my wifes friends makes and sells hair bows, cool, fine with that she has nice bows and she does really well selling them, Then one of our other friends talks about making diaper wreaths to sell at craft shows and within a week geuss who has bows AND diaper wreaths on her facebook, ok passing fad it went the way of the wind so not a big deal any more, THEN another friend was telling us about some bags (31 gifts) that she has bought the dealer kit for and is ready to SELL SELL SELL, she put it on her facebook and yes the friend commented that "wow that is really cool i hope you do really well", SOOOOO ( are ya sensing a theme here yet) OH you guessed it, the very next day geuss who put on facebook that she bought the DISTIBUTOR rights to our area from the exact same person as our other Friend and posted on HER facebook that she was said distibutor and everyone needed to buy from her. NOW she's stepping on my wives toes because my wife makes awesome Handmade jewelry, she doesn't sell it for alot but she has done a few shows and she sells something at every one. Our other good friend was also going to try and sell some jewelry that she found a really good price for, she talked about it with my wife and they decided it would be cool if she sold the kinds of things my wife couldn't so they wouldn't compete with each other because they share a booth at one of the shows that they do. YUP you geussed it, geuss who is selling the EXACT same jewelry at the same freakin show and not just the stuff my wife can't make but all of it. This woman doesn't seem to be able to come up with any of her own ideas and when she does steal them she goes way past what any of us can do or afford at the time but NO ONE will say anything to her. Thats why I'm putting it to you all because I promised my wife I wouldn't kill her with Facebook. I'm so angry I could spit sewing awls. Thanks for the rant Bryan .

Hey All, I inherited an OLD singer model 400-23 sewing machine that used to be used for sewing parachutes back in the ancient days, It has a new motor (not a servo dangit) and all of the pieces seem to be there, I've plugged it in and every thing seems to run smoothly but I have yet to thread it since I really don't know how, My sewing knowledge is very very small, I was thinking about trading it for something else but I may have an opportunity to do a bunch of upholstery work and was thinking it might be good for that. How thick can it sew, can I convert it to a walking foot and is the pulley easy to change or should I just leave it the way it is. Thanks in advance Peace Bryan

Howdy LilRay, Glad you got the kit, don't give up this stuff is hard for most of us without any disabilities. A couple of questions, are you having a hard time with holding the tools because they are too small or could it be because of weakness in your fingers because of the palsey. You might just have to learn to hold the tools a differant way than with your fingertips. I've been working on some ergonomic handles with my physical therapist brother and the sculpy I told you about earlier might be the way to go, you could maybe "build" in the angle that you need. When I can find my camera I'll take some pictures to show you what I mean. Keep on truckin and you'll get the hang of it. Peace Bryan

One thing you might try is to cut the hole in a piece of wood and then with your leather soaking wet push the leather and the ball into the hole past the half way mark and then let the halves dry completely, once they are dry then you can trim off the leftovers a little at a time until you get them to fit on the ball, I've tried doing this with a tennis ball and it takes a lot of trimming and sanding. If you can get a flat cut then you can glue a piece of sandpaper to a board and sand it like a bowl and your cut line should stay straight. Hope this helps. Peace Bryan

GOOD LUCK that is exactly the same set I got when I started back into this crazy hobby. If you watch ebay sometimes you can find a good letter set. Or if you have a freecycle try asking the members if they have anything they could give you. Also some of us on here might have some stuff we would sell for cheap or maybe even free. If you have a hard time holding the stamps I have figured out a way to make them bigger using the sculpy clay wrapped around them, it has a good grip and after its baked its waterproof. best of luck to ya and hope you do well. Peace Bryan

I have two precut benches I bought @ home depot for 65.00 each that I corner into a well, a corner. They are 60 inches long 46 inches high and 24 inches deep with a shelf underneath that I put some plastic drawer units on for my storage. I put peg board on 2x2's screwed to the backs of the benches so I don't put holes in the walls. I'm in the process of moving them or I would take pics. Peace Bryan just Bryan

I've been wondering how to do this also with the stacking and all but wondering what would keep the tools from sinking into the cracks of the layers? Just tightening them down super tight, and how would one make say a 4 lb maul this way?? Peace Bryan

Welcome from Vernal peace bryan

WTH????, what does the man have to do, stake himself to a cross in public and let people throw flaming knives at him. The man does have a BUSINESS to attend to. Why is everyone so quick to Not give him a chance to make ammends. How about putting yourself in his shoes for just a day, he has been nothing but bashed and trashed on this site for the last three months and I think he deserves a break. He has admitted he has had problems with customer service this past year. So how about we give the man a chance and see what happens. Bryan

Ohh Red don't get so down on yourself and NEVER throw your stuff away, everything that you make is a part of you good or bad and you should be proud of the fact that it is something that you made, besides that it is a really cool wallet, why not take a tooth brush and splatter cement all over it and then do the same thing you did trying to get out the other two spots and you would have the first polka dot burnished wallet around. i think it would look cool. Keep your head up and hang in there. Peace and Love Bryan

Al Stohlmans The art of making leather cases volume 1 shows how to make several leather closures plus lots of other good stuff and it's cheap Bryan

Very cool I've been looking for something like this Thanks Ed Bryan

Howdy and welcome to the site and to the most addicting hobby in the world, this site is a plethera (?) of information, as a woodworker also I have found that you can dual purpose quite a bit of your tools and machinery to do leatherwork. Some of the biggest suggestions I can make is find a Tandy, use ebay to find good used tools and books I have bought a lot of stuff on there and have been pretty happy, Al Stohlman books, I don't know what the library is like where you live but you usually can find quite a few books and here I can request books that other libraries have. And of course use this site to it's fullest extent it has helped me immensly. Good luck Peace Bryan

I have always been very open about how I feel about this site and its Admin. I know I am not likely the only one here that uses this site on a daily basis for evrything from general entertainment to very specific and often very precise info. All info is good info whether you choose to use it or not. Bar C I for one am very glad that you posted what you did and you should not feel bad in the least. Maybe Steven has had a bad year and he just needs time to get his stuff together but there are MANY of us that have defended him and I am sure hundreds if not thousands of people have gone to him for "anything leather". I hope he realizes just because of his advertising on this site. Maybe he doesn't need all of us little people and that is his perogitive,. I find it very sad that he chose to flame out Johanna especially after she has been one of his greatest defenders in the past. I know this will all work out for us as a community and am glad to see that there are so many contributing. Peace Bryan

If I remember correctly didn't Steven mention something about selling to Corbin in the "Happy Cow" thread or the one right after when that guy was bashing him about shipping? I can't find em cuz I'm illiterate but i think maybe.

I also have the elite from tandy and if you are going to or are planning on spending any money there it is very much worth it, on the day I got mine I bought 785.00 worth of stuff plus my membership for 437.87 so I spent under half, plus with the elite you get super deals and the sale prices last two months for you and not just one. One other thing to look at is "leathercraft" on ebay, look for good lots and sometimes you can really find some excellent buys, sometimes it's a crapshoot but if you do it right and you watch the shipping prices closely it works out really well. Standing Bears always has good ebay prices and there is another one called Steckstores that usually have some good deals. I have bought new stuff from both of them and have been very pleased with the items, shipping and prices. Like every one say's "just my .02" Peace Bryan