JohnD

I like those. Very nice.

I've made a couple of guitar straps for friends and the method I've used was to dye the backside, then I used gum trag and burnished The entire back with canvas or denim ( I use an old pair of Carhart work pants). Then I applied a couple of coats of super sheen, I'm sure any flexible finish will work. I made these a few months ago and have had no reports of bleeding or rub off. I hope this helps and welcome to the forum. John

Dan, Thats a good idea, collecting designs. I usually just wait til I need one and start searching. Made four new ones for him to take to The Smoke Out West. I've been working on the Sidebags for a few days now. My bike must suck, nobody wants it. I thought it was cool. I guess I have no tatste? Naw, must be everyone else. I believe the seat is still there, along with 2 of the 3 I made this summer. There's like a pile of them now. John

Cool Dan, Is that your own design? Very cool. Did that cigar make it hard to center? Nonsymmetric (is that a word?) designs are the bane of my seat making exsistence. Very nice job all around dude. John

Wow, great work. I like it, I like it a lot. I'm the same way with the carving, I think about it a lot but don't do it very often. very nice work though, I just may be inspired. John

Very nice, I'm not sure what to do about the wrinkles. Someone here probably has some insight though. John

Dave, I don't see what's so bad about the art? Very well executed at any rate. Outstanding work as usual. I made a Guitar strap for a friend and he sent a drawing he wanted carved on it, a skull with a mohawk. Now, I'm not the best at drawing either, but this was awful. I asked if I could redraw it, you know so it would fit the strap better, but he said he wanted to use his drawing and to do the best I could with it. I kept putting off making the strap for weeks. My wife finally confronted me about it and said I was only putting it off cause I didnt't want people thinking that I had drawn the skull and that I should stop being a wuss and make the strap, so I did and it really came out great. The skull came out exactly as he had drawn it and he was very happy and my story has no point...sorry John

Thanks Luke, That's what I was hoping (about the measurements). I checked Siegel's website and didn't see what I need. Their brass is laquered and I want these to tarnish. Casting marks would be an added bonus, if I can Find them. Thanks again for the response. John

I have been looking for a decent brass buckle for a 3/4" strap. I came across one that I liked here. http://leatherunltd.com/hardware/buckles/brass.html . But I was wondering if anyone might know if there is a standard way to list the size of the buckle? ie: If it described as a 3/4" buckle, is that the inside dimension or the width of the buckle itself? Also, has anyone done any business with Leather Unlimited? Their sales dept. couldn't answer my question, There was a lot of backround noise on her end and she kept interrupting me to tell me she couldn't hear me and I am definitely not a soft talker,so anyway, she referred me to customer service (a toll number) and it was a recording telling me to leave a message and they would get back to me. This would normally be enough to send me away, but I've been looking for about 3 days for these solid brass buckles and the price is very good. If anyone has an alternative I would appreciate it. It has to be solid brass and if it were cast that would be better. Unpolished and unfinished cast brass would be best. Thanks, John

My Brother-in-law owns a custom bike shop and is starting to manufacture his own frames. These bags are something he wants to start offering for sale so, as the dimensions are for his frame they have to be somewhat universal.....for rigid frames of course.

Timberwolf, Ghost brackets? I'm not sure what they are, but the bag will attach to the frame rails with buckled straps at the top and, I guess, tie on at the bottom . I should actually do a search on saddle bags for ideas, huh? Will do on the pics Beeza, The doubled up 6-7 oz back is pretty stiff. The guy who wants it was asking about stitching some some metal in between, from mounting point to mounting point, but I dont know if it needs it. Those flaps are what I was thinking. I used them on a purse I made for my wife. I think I'm going to go with them here too. Thanks, John

I have the patterns done and cut the pieces out of 6-7oz. The back panel (where the gussets will be ) is actually two pieces if 6-7oz stitched together to create a pocket inside. One thing I'm wondering about... Do you leave a flap on the sides that can fold over to keep stuff in? I might do that. I'm alittle concerned it might look sloppy. 10-12oz sounds good and sturdy, I might try that for future versions. Thanks Beez. John

Nice job! I dig that eagle, nice details. Is that your own design? Cool. John

I've been asked to make a frame mounted saddle bag, or side bag. I have an example of what the guy wants, but was wondering if anyone with some experience with them might have some ideas? Having talked to some folks who've used them I know of some of the shortcomings of some of the designs, things blowing out while riding noise from the flapping and such and was curious if anyone had ideas on how to remedy some of these things. Here's the example he wants duplicated with different dimensions: Any input would be appreciated, Thanks. John

Nice job Dan. Is that for a customer or yourself? My laptop went down and I lost all my junk, So if you get the chance drop me an E so I can put your email address in my book. We still gotta do that beer!

Excellent, Thanks Beeza, For posting that. I'm scared to death to drill the holes during assembly, because the results could be disastrous (sp?), though I do feel that the fit would be much better that way. I've been meaning to pick up a depth stop but keep forgetting. Great post, Beautiful seat and thanks again. John

Thanks for the responses. Yes Carl, That was very helpful and I will return the favor If you hit the enter key at the end of the paragraph, The cursor will drop down to the next line. You can even hit it more than once.... To increase the space between paragraphs. Thanks again for the help, I guess I just need some practice. John

Go2tex, It really only took me about 5-10 minutes and wasn't any trouble because I enjoy that sort of thing. What I'm wondering is: Is there a proper technique for using a lifter? Or is it the way that seems obvious? The way I did it was to stick the tip into the bevel and sort of pry up on the part i wanted to lift. The first time it kind of tore the grain side up from the flesh side? so I eased up a little but it seemed to wrinkle on the grain side as I went and then seemed flimsy. I hope this is the right forum for this should I have put this in the "how do you do that?" section? Thanks for the response, John

So, I finally got around to making one of these and as I was messing around trying to use it, it came to me that I should ask if there is a proper way to use one. I think I have the basic gist, but it looks really sloppy and doesn't seem that it would stand up to any kind of wear. I know pics would be useful here but I use my cell and my dog ate my sd card adapter. Any tips would be very much appreciated. Just in case anyone was wondering: I took an old screw driver and, using a cutoff wheel, cut the tip off at an angle about 3-3.5" from the handle. I then used a belt sander to flatten and clean up the cut and also, soften the back edge of the cut. I cleaned every thing up with a file and hit the buffing wheel a bit. I took the time not to heat it up too much so as not to ruin the hardening ( even though the tool won't see such heavy duty use. ). I have picked out a few different diameter screwdrivers ( torx head, I have a whole drawer full that I've never used. Now I'll need one) so I can make a set if I need different sizes. Thanks for any replies. John

I wouldn't be too worried about it, most drill presses, lathe tail stocks and even smaller mills use the tapered fit without incident.

vey nice, can't wait to see the whole thing. Awesome John

Ed, if the chuck is the type I'm thinking of, it's a tapered fit and should slide into the spindle. A tap should keep it in place, or raise the table up so the chuck will just touch it when lowered all the way down, place a piece of plywood on the table and with the chuck in the splindle (you may have to hold in place) lower the splindle to the wood to press the chuck into the spindle to hold it. I hope this makes sense. If it's the tapered fit chuck it should work. John

Nice work, I dig the Big Daddy Roth stuff and you do it well. I read back through some posts about the razor tube air cushion, Very cool. How that idea come about? Is it just the tube with leather on top or is there some padding or "wadding" to prevent the seat from eventually looking like my wallet in high school? Also, Would you mind if I tried that? John

Thanks for the comments, Alex, I've already been showing this one off quite a bit, so I think you're right about future business, People seem to really be digging it. I may have even sold my bike since I put the seat on (yesterday). William, That's one thing I do forget to do for some reason. I have a paint mixing stick that I rubbed some rouge on and I keep it right next to my slab. When I start carving I keep on top of it, every so often stropping my blade, but after a while I tend to forget and keep plugging away with a dragging blade. John

So much for selling stuff I make.