yaklady

Hey Freak! Have you ever tried using a hand stitching punch for making your holes? C.S. Osborne makes them. I got mine from Hide Crafters. Cut your stitching groove deep, make the holes with the punch, and as long as you pull the stitches the same direction each time, it's fool proof. They don't have a single punch, though, so I use a little scewdriver the same width when I need one. I have a terrible time with the awl, and was beginning to really dislike hand stitching. George Hurst put me onto this other method. It works for me, maybe it'll work for you. Yak steaks for dinner tonight! Kathy

Hi Clay, That purse reminds me of some leather stuff I saw from a lady I know in New Zealand. To get the effect she had, she used real leaves to "stamp" into the leather. She uses a press to do it. The leaves come out looking like the real thing. Pretty neat. Kathy

Kate, just for you, I shall attempt to put a picture of the whole bike on here. If I flub up like I usually do, I'm sure that Johanna will come to my rescue! Someday I will learn to use this computer! Kathy Okay, my computer does not want to cooperate. I will enlist the help of Johanna, who works wonders with a computer. Either I'm dislexic or my computer is!

My boss wanted to put as much leather on his Indian as possible to attract attention and hopefully get orders. Here's what I did to it. The seat, running boards, panel with pockets on the front crash bars, panels on the back crash bars, and get this, a leather mud flap! What else could you possibly put on a bike! Enjoy! Kathy

I get my linen thread from Beiler's Manufacturing and Supply, 3025 Irishtown Road, Ronks, PA 17572, Phone, 717-768-0174. I use it on my gun belts and holsters, and it sure looks nice! Maybe it won't last as long as nylon, but it's still my preference. Kathy

Hi Clay, How are things in South Dakota? I won't be going to Sturgis, my horse isn't noisey enough! But my bos will be there. You should go up and check out all the leather I put on his Indian. I bet no one else has as much leather on their bike as he does! Kathy

Hi Harlan, Are you aware that the 2007 International Federation of Leather Guilds Show is in Texas? Fort Worth, October 18 - 21. It has promise of an excellent show, and you can meet a lot of us there. Hopefully, that won't scare you off! Kathy

G'Day, Scott! My farrier is from Melbourne, and he says Melbourne is the most beautiful city in Australia. I intend to check that out someday. I have covered a few books/notebooks/photo albums. Perhaps I could help you out with that. Do you perfer to have a removeable cover over a hard bound book, or do you want to make it a permanent type of cover, glued to a cardboard stiffener? If you are new, the removeable one might be a better choice for now. Give me an idea of what you have in mind, and I'll do what I cn to help. Welcome aboard! Join us in the chat room Saurday night. I guess for you it's Sunday afternoon! Kathy

Hey Freak, I got a new camera, too! I think I'll make a case for it like you did. Looks to me like you got the basket weave down real well. That's interesting lacing. I like it. Want to see the picture of the mountin lion den I found today? Kathy

Buenos Dias, Candyman! Como esta? I use veg-tanned cowhide, like the Major said, for my strop. It's best to use the grain side, the firm leather won't round the edges of your tools. Glue that to a piece of hard wood for best results. I have never oiled my strop, but that's only because I never thought of it. I just use rouge on it, and reapply it often. The size does depend on the tools you want to strop. The thought of horse hide scares me, as horses are my favorite animals. When you go to Fort Worth next fall, be sure to go to Tandy's headquarters and go into the office area. They have a hair-on horse hide hanging there. I'll take a yak hide over that any day! Adios, Amigo! Kathy

You really out did yourself, Clay! Remember when we were talking about your other bear, and how neat it would be to have a tongue in there? Now you have one, and it looks great! I'm impressed. Kathy

Here's something that works on saddles, so why not a motorcycle seat? Mix Tan Kote with a little paste antique. The less antique, the lighter the color. That seals the leather and colors it at the same time, accenting your carving. When you want to add oil, wash it with saddle soap to remove the Tan Kote, ad oil, then replace the Tan Kote. The color should not be changed. This doesn't work on yaks. Kathy

There are 2 leather cleaners that I use, and neither one changes the color of the leather. They both work about the same, and neither one comes from the leather store. One is Oxalic Acid. I found it at a hardware store, and they called it wood bleach. It comes in a granular form. Mix a tablespoon in a quart of water. I store it in a glass jar, because I'm sure it would eat plastic. It is poisonous, so use rubber gloves when applying it. Simply wipe it on with a rag or sponge (your sponge will disintegrate after a while), wipe it with a clean damp sponge to remove any residue, and let it dry. The other cleaner is lemon juice. It's not poisonous. Didn't know that, did you? Just put some on your sponge, and wipe down the leather, wiping off any residue with a clean damp sponge. Both these remove a lot of stuff, but not yak slobber. Hope this helps! Kathy

Bruce, be glad that Clay isn't close enough to sing to you! For that matter, be glad none of us are close enough to sing to you. A yakky birthday to you! Kathy

A guy came walking into the store the other day with snake skin boots on. All the scales on the boots were sticking out, and would no longer lie down like they did when the boots were new. He has new snake skin boots at home, and does not want them to end up looking like that. Is there a conditioner or something to put on snake skin to keep it looking nice? Yaks don't need conditioners.

Hi SmilinJim, When I do the inside of a holster, I lightly dampen the leather and rub it with glycerine saddle soap, the bar kind. Then I rub that with a cocobolo stick to make it smooth and shiny. If you are going to dye the inside, do that first. I recommend oil dye. Kathy

Hi Ken, Thank you for the kind words. I'm happy to be here. The yak hit man cost me about $200, and I got back a freezer full of meat, an ugly yak head, and a beautiful hide. Yak tastes a lot like good beef, not that Safeway junk. There's very little fat, and it's oh so tender. Why are you the beaver slayer? Kathy the yak killer

I've been carving with some of the same tools I bought 37 years ago when I started leather work. Sure, I love Bob and Barry's tools, but the old Tandy's tools sometimes can't be beat. When I'm trying to get good depth on a project, I start with about 8 oz. leather of good quality. I use heavy illustration board for backing, and case it properly (put it in a plastic bag overnight). Deep cuts and good beveling is a must, as has been mentioned already. The part that counts the most for me is the backgrounding and matting. Tony Laier taught me to start in the center of the area to be backgrounded. I use an A104 that I've had forever. Don't hit it too hard at this point. When it's pretty well covered, go over it a second time, hitting it much harder than the first. Walk your tool over and over the area. Make each hit consistant with the last, to get it even. Tony says you should be able to shine a light across the background and not see any bumps. LOL! I go over it about a million times until it's as perfect as I can possibly get it. Once this is accomplished, notice the depth you have now. You will have square edges on you subject now, so round them out with your modeling spoon. I go over everything with the spoon when i finish akk the stamping. Hope this helps! Kathy Flanagan

--> QUOTE(Oscar B @ Jun 2 2007, 02:44 PM) This will be a note book when done. Should I neat lac, and sun or what? --> QUOTE(Oscar B @ Jun 2 2007, 02:44 PM) This will be a note book when done. Should I neat lac, and sun or what? Hi Oscar, One thing I like to do when coloring something like this, is after the Neat Lac, mix some Tan Kote and paste antique, about 50/50 and put that on the way you would put on antique. As long as you have good coverage with the Neat Lac, the mixture will high light all your fine carving. It is a fool proof way of adding color. Kathy

Hi. I'm trying to figure all this out, and messed up, what can I say? Please pretend I didn't post the last message! I just wanted to add my two cents to Clay's introduction of me. Clay put in what sounds like a challenge to me, to tell you all how we met. At the IFoLG show in Denver, the restrooms have two doors each. Clay went past the first Ladies' room door, and went into the second without reading the little sign. In North Dakota, they just use co-ed trees, so he's not used to sofisitcated hotels. Clay found me washing my hands, and stood against the door with a sheepish smile on his face. Seeing the little sign over his shoulder, I knew that I was not in error. He was wondering what on earth I was doing in the men's room. Even though I refused to let him live the experience down, Clay still talks to me. He even did a fine job of introducing me here on the forum. I look forward to getting to know everyone on leatherworker.net. Kathy, the yaklady PS, That murdered yak was a bull that had one thing on his mind: to murder me! My pasture wasn't big enough for the two of us, he had to go! I didn't do it myself, I hired a hit man.