JohnD

Nice job on the seat. I noticed it on the JJ also. Not to go OT, But Where can we check out some pics of the nova? Is that the latest in your avatar? John

I'm no expert with antiquing at all, but I know that, without a resist, the antique will color the leather. It comes out as dark splotches and is very hard to get any consistency or evenness in it. So, I would think, it is best to dye the leather with the color you want, then apply a resist to seal that and use the antique gel to fill in and darken only the recesses of the areas you tooled to act as a hi-liter for your tooling. In my opinion, using antique gel without a resist to dye leather looks like crap. I don't do much in the way of antiquing, but this has been my experience with it so far. If I'm wrong someone will, hopefully, set us straight. hope this helps. John

Welcome, You probably already noticed, This site is loaded with great people and great information. I'm from the lakes region myself. John

When I was looking for a slab for tooling, the lady at the granite counter place directed me to their junk pile so I ended up with a couple of decent sized (about 2'x3') pieces. I use one of those to dye on with a few pieces of the local free paper. Like with the glass, any dye that gets on it just wipes off with some acetone or alcohol. And the best part is, it cost me nothing. John

Good luck with the surgery, Enjoy the meds. Did you go to the hospital when the injury happened? Usually, if you even hint that the injury happened at work the hospital starts the paperwork as if it's a comp case.Maybe they have a record that could be used to hold the managers responsible for their inaction. I had arthroscopic surgery on my elbow back in October and as I was recovering from that I ended up herniating a disk in my neck so I havent done much leather work since October. I've been doodling a lot of ideas though and planning my new shop. Again, good luck and a speedy recovery. John

Like Josh said, "not (too)old, just used rough". I think like most folks responding to this thread, my mind says "go for it" but my body says "who're you talkin' too?" I'm only 39 but,They call me the old guy in my MMA class. John

It did take some searching but I found this: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=826 . It should help with some ideas. I've been planning on building a workshop myself, but my boys want a weightroom, so I'm planning to try to fit both in a 10'x29' space.

I found this online when I had the same questions a few weeks ago. It's an article from the Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal by Wayne Zurl, that should answer it for you. Hope this helps. John

I have a full set of the new Tandy modeling tools. They are fairly comfortable with the rubber grip, but the chrome tends to flake off during use, so I dont use them much until I can get around to cleaning them up a bit. John

Thank you, Steve. John

I picked the machine up today. It's like a whole work station with a table, lamp, foot pedal and knee controls. This thing seems very heavy duty, it's got an oil reservoir with a pump. It also came with a box of parts...steel bobbins, a bunch of feet, nylon, wide, narrow. I didn't see any roller feet. a bunch of needles, bobbin covers and shuttles. Plus an extra thread tensioner. I plugged it in and it seems to run perfect. The belt is pretty much fried and it needs some cleaning, but I think this may be a pretty good score, especially for free. Thanks again for the replies. John

Thanks again, Steve. John

Thanks for the reply Steve. So, is it any more heavy duty than the 66 I already have? John

I have been offered a singer 241-13 for free. It is in good working condition. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with these and might be able to give me some insight as to how useful it might be for leather. I haven't seen the machine yet, but will probably be picking it up tomorrow. I found a manual for it through google but couldn't find any info on it's usefulness for sewing leather. I appreciate any input. Thanks John

very cool, reminds me of Darth Vader. John

I saw this on another website and thought I'd post it here to help bet the word out. If anyone knows someone with a side car, it seems like a simple request. John "From Patriot Guard forum posts and emails - ------------------------------------------------------------------ I know this is not within the PGR mission statement, but I feel we could make this happen. If you are up for it, send me an email and we will set it up. We are looking for a trike or side car bike. Location is Seminole/Largo, Florida . "My name is Gary J. Coddington, and I am a member of Patriot Guard Riders. My motorcycle is a 1 seater, and my daughter's "Bucket List" wish is to take a short ride on a motorcycle. Her name is Temple (Tammy) Lindeman, and she is presently residing with my wife and myself and her son, while she fights Bone Marrow Cancer. The doctors have told her they have no miracles and in 1 to 2 months, we will have hospice in our home to help take care of her. Her life expectancy is short, and we were told she won't see the middle of September. At this point, she is ambulatory, and alert, but it will go fast. Tammy volunteered over 1,000 hours to the VA in Liberty Corner, NJ for 2 years in a row before she got married and had children. She was an active member of the American Legion Post 293 in Warren, NJ for 35 years, and served as President, and attended numerous Ward Parties. She also handed out Poppies before Memorial Day since she was 3 years old. Please help my wife and I grant this wish for her. I would be proud to ride next to anyone who would give this "wish" to her. We realize this is not the same as honoring a Veteran, but hope someone will come by and do this for her. God Bless, Harleymom " ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Although I couldn't find the original thread, Here is a link to the website: PGR forum thread here - http://www.patriotguard.org/ALLForum...5/Default.aspx If you need more contact info let me know. John

Marlon, I'd also be careful about sandblasting that blade for the fact that when you sandblast steel it has a tendency to flash rust very quickly. John

Nice job. I need to get around to making one of those myself. Thanks for posting the pics, I always like to see the tools people make for themselves. John

Bigorange, check out this thread : http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=560 . If you sign up for Paul's free lessons at His website http://www.paintingcow.com/ he has an excellent lesson on using a modelling spoon. I would recommend taking a look at anything this man has to offer. Hope this helps. John Also: Tina, who would you recommend makes a good modelling spoon?

This makes it so you can just run your stitching along the top and bottom of you loops, or just stitch everything when you sew your lining. I thought this might be a nice clean way to get your cartridge loops in without any extra fastening. Just wanted to share with anyone who might be interested. Sorry about the crappy pics, this is why I don't post much in the way of work I've done. And Thanks Jbird for starting the thread. The people on this site are the reason I can feel comfortable trying new things with leather. John I case anyone is curious: my slot spacing on the belt was 7/8" ( 3/4" would probably be a little tighter though). The loop length was 2-11/16" and is a nice snug fit to the shell. I plan on using 2/3 oz leather for the loops, unless someone thinks it's a bad idea? The customer was worried about it being too bulky. And the loops will be a bit deeper when I do the real one.

Sorry to revive an old thread, But, I was asked to make a shotshell holder for a 12ga. I did a search and found this thread. As I was working out my measurements with some scrap, I came up with this, which I thought some folks might be interested in if you didn't want to use rivets. I plan on using Badger's method of one slot per loop.. I cut my loop material the same width as the belt. Then I trimmed the areas for the loops. Then I pushed the trimmed areas through the slots and checked the fit of the shells.

Badger, Just saw this thread and wanted to wish you well and a speedy recovery too. John

Denise, I saw a TV show about "superhuman" abilities and they did a segment on a woman who could see and taste sounds. They called it synesthesia (they spelled it out on the screen too). You also mentioned books , I have no interest at all in novels, but I read how-to books and manuals pretty regularly. My brother in law, who was the one who asked me if my bike came out the way I envisioned it, said that he can picture a detailed 3d image that he can turn and see from any angle. He also said he can add or remove parts to see how they look. He builds motorcycles for a living and uses this method too build each one from start to finish. He did admit that sometimes he has issues with the scale of some components and doesn't realize until he is building the bike and has to make some adjustments. I have to admit that I am jealous of that ability. John

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I feel better knowing some other folks go about it the same way. I thought maybe something was wrong with me. Although I can't picture specific designs in my head, I do spell words in my head, sometimes, even as I'm talking. ( not that I spell them correctly) I also don't have a problem thinking mechanically. I can figure out how things work pretty well. And when I'm planning a project I am able to figure the different joints and methods of putting things together fairly well in my head. It's just when it comes to the overall designing and coming up with the artistic parts that my vision becomes blurry and I need a piece of paper, a pencil and a few days of staring at them before things work themselves out. I really appreciate all the different points of view (point of views?). I think its interesting to see. Thanks again. John Also, I hope I didn't come off like my wife was criticizing me. It's a well known fact around here that I take a long time with most of my projects. Some things I bang out pretty quick, when the designing is done by someone else. It's when you say "just do something cool" or "surprise me" that things tend to drag on. staring takes time. Pondering, I guess you could call it.

Recently, I was asked if something I had made had turned out how I had envisioned it. I responded that I never have a complete vision of exactly how the finished product will look, just an idea. This lead to a discussion of how this person has a detailed idea of exactly how his projects will turn out. I thought how nice that must be to have such a gift. When I got home I revisited the topic with my wife, who claims to have no artistic abilities herself, She agrees that when she starts a project she has a detailed idea of the finished product. This actually started to disturb me me a little. I feel, to be honest, that I have some artistic talent. I like to draw, paint, play guitar, I've built furniture, motorcycles and I do leather work. I feel I have the ability to get a project from idea to reality with some degree of competence. My problem is that I have never had a complete vision of something I was making. Most things i do start with the notion of what is needed and end up what they are by putting the necessary components together. I never see the detailed version of the finished product until I,m holding it in my hand. I can visualize an object, but no details or specifics. When i draw things, say, a floral tooling pattern, I start with the space I need to fill and start drawing lines and curves. If it looks right I go with it, if not I erase it. I don't see a specific pattern of flowers and leaves until they are on the paper. I spend a lot of time looking at blank pieces of paper and I waste a bit of leather cutting out things that don't look right after all. My wife say that she believes most people have a pretty specific idea of what their finished projects will look like and that its no wonder it takes me so long to finish things. I basically stumble through things, making it up as I go along. I apologize for being long winded, but This has me kind of bothered and I wanted to see how the creative process works in other folks who work ideas out to physical things. So , if any of you don't mind sharing, I would be interested in hearing how it happens for you. Thanks for any responses John