TomG

Need some suggestions. I have always used Fiebings Antique Paste to highlight my stamped letters. I apply Atom Wax with Leather Balm to the dyed leather, let it dry, buff and then use a dauber to apply heavily. I let it sit for a few minutes and then use a pad made from a clean, folded rag to wipe off the surface.. sort of like a reverse block dye. This get the paste off the surface and leaves in in the grooves. With the dog collars,. I know that over time, it may flake out., but I also know that a dog scratching a flea on his neck will scratch and gouge the leather as well. It's sort of to be expected. But I have recently been trying to figure out a better way. Since I am not real good at painting in the lines, a brush and paint is not a good solution. I discovered that Sharpie makes some extra fine tipped, oil-based paint markers. Black and white paint. Super.. These do a great job, except they seem to get a bit plugged up by the leather fibers at the bottom of the letter grooves. They then seem to like to stop flowing and the paint then forms a drip ball at the top of the stylus. The other issue is that the tip size seems great for 1/2" letters. But the 3/4" and 1" need a bigger tip and the standard fine point sharpie is too large. I bought some Copic refillable Multiliner SP pens today, but they seem to get clogged by the fibers as well. I'd like the refillable pen, but need tip sizes of .1, .3 and .7 or so. Any suggestions?

That sounds like the copper rivets we were discussing. http://www.nrsworld.com/prodimages/7730-DEFAULT-l.jpg

Yeah.. Big Lew is right. You can't always trust places - especially Amazon - for price guides. Many time I've seen items that are available from 6 vendors for $10 and then 1 vendor has it for $326.23, So who knows. But., I'll third it.. Do your research.... Price accordingly

Rivets can fail if either too long and are bent when setting, or too short and don't flare properly. Recommended height of the post is 1/16 inch above the pieces you're joining. But Bob is right. For max strength, use copper rivets with the washer Tom

You'll probably make more from them by selling individually. But it's a lot more work. You may want to sell individually, and after a few weeks or so, off whatever is left as a package... USPS has a large variety of shipping methods available, including a book rate for the manuals and DVDs. Their Priority service has up to a 70 pound rate. I see nothing you have that could not be mailed. If you have a PayPal account, they have a Multiorder shipping tool that will let you mail all of this stuff from your house. You can create and pay for your labels and postage from your PC - including 1st class postage - and your carrier will pick it up like your regular mail. You should be able to even have the post office deliver Priority boxes and envelopes to your door at no charge. You'll have to provide your own 1st class packaging. I'd be surprised if you don't get quite a few responses here. You have a nice collection.

Yeah Oldhat.. There's the rub.... I get orders for red, green, pink (hate it), brown black and blue (hate that one too, if they want very light blue.. never have succeeded at that one.)

Haha... that's why I left myself an out .... I'd like to hear the testing results if you ever do it!.. I make a lot of dog collars and some are for water dogs, and the owners like them as waterproof as possible.... As for testing, maybe take 2 identical pieces of leather and coat all over with the product. Weight them. Soak in water for 5 minutes and then weight. That would tell you how much water is absorbed. Maybe do some rub-off tests on white fabric? I'm just thinking out loud here. If I had the others, I'd be glad to help.... All I've got for waterproofing right now is the Snow Proof and some Mink Oil Paste.

Tandy has Fiebings Snow Proof... I've used it successfully on some dog collars. I've been told it is about the same as the Sno Seal, but have no proof one way or the other. http://www.tandyleather.com/en-usd/home/department/liquids-n/conditioners-n/2345-00.aspx

Same. 50/50 resolene most of the time. I've also used Mink OIl Paste, Aussie Leather Conditioner or Saddle Lac depending on the purpose and use.

Hi King, Not sure what you mean? How does that test it? I can only assume you are saying to use that instead? Not familiar with it.

I've been using 50/50 Resolene for a long time now as a finish. I'm getting low, and my local Tandy is totally out for who knows how long. So I looked for some Mop N Glow as described here, All I can find is the lemon scented cleaner/polish, which I read was not exactly what I wanted. I also saw some posts about Pledge Finish and other generic acrylic floor waxes instead. So.. I picked up some acrylic floor finish from Home Depot today and did some coats of straight and 50/50 mix on some scrap. also coated a scrap with 50/50 re and 100% res as a comparison. The question is, how do I test it against resolene? Water drops? I did put a drop of water on each piece, watched it bead up a bit, and it did absorb slightly on both the resolenes and the substitute. Did some flex tests and got no cracks or flaking... Both polish up to about the same gloss. What else can I do to test before I use it on customer's items? Thanks

Yeah... Ya gotta have fun with some of these posts !! The Devil made me do it. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it....

I make tons of straps with buckles. From 1/2" wide for small collars, to 2+" for belts. The wider the strap, the longer the tab end that is skived. Like Chief, I have a set of templates that I use for each size strap that I can mark the rivet holes and the tang slot. 1-1/4" wide, I skive about 5-1/4. 1-1/2" wide, 5-1/2". If you are going to be using a keeper, I also tend to skive it down to about 1/2 the thickness of the strap. So, a 10oz strap gets down to about 5/6 oz. It's not critical. Wide straps might get skived down to 3/4 the thickness and so on. If you are using a very wide keeper, you might go a tad longer.

JLS -- Hilarious!!!! Halitech - I would think that the amount of pressure and force needed to mold to a set of DD's would be pretty high. Will expanding foam hold up to a lot of pressure??? But if it will, just buy a cheap bra at Walmart and will that with the foam. Of course, you lose out on the fun of wrapping her.... If you have a lathe, or a friend with one, I'd turn some forms and size them to her bra. Then form the leather over that. And you have a permanent souvenir as well!

Hi Alex, Latigo is oils and wax already, so I doubt that you'll hurt it. I used to use mink oil paste all the time on vegtan and it made the leather extremely pliable and water resistant as well. Try a piece of scrap, rub it in and let it sit overnight. Rub it and see how it looks. Let us know.

When skiving along and edge to do - say a fold - do you do the cut on the granite slab or a cutting mat or board? My knife is sharp, but it grabs and drags. But I would think the slab would dull the knife tip quickly. Suggestions?

Maybe I'm doing it wrong. But I don't let it dry totally. I wait until its a little tacky (about 10 minutes or so), and then press together and clamp overnight. That being said, if I have really porous or "fluffy" leather, I have been known to apply the cement as a sealer, let it dry for an hour or so, and then apply a second coat and then join when tacky.

I've used Weldwood for some time now. If you apply it properly, it will "pull apart", but that is actually the fibers of the leather ripping out, in my experience. If it's much thicker than Karo syrup, something is wrong. Old... been frozen.. something. As for thinning. a couple of long-time woodworkers told me to thin contact cement with the same brand of thinner as the cement. Something about the solvents used between different brands. I've heard others thinning with Acetone, but never tried it.

Mustangman. It's also called resist. Used to block dye from penetrating the leather. It works in varying degrees depending on the color, how the dye is applied, how many coats of blockout, what blockout you use, etc. People have used Super Sheen, Satin Sheen, Resolene (favorite), liquid latex and lord knows what else.

Use full strength Resolene. 2 or 3 coats. Works great for most color dyes.

First, don't use newspaper if you can help it. I've had the ink lift off the paper and stain my wet leather. I'm not sure how you are applying it, but I use a sponge and apply in a circular motion. this evens out the dye. You can also spray with an airbrush or dip dye. I've found that on dip dying straps, I sometimes get that darker dye on the edges when wet, but as it dries, it evens out. Try the sponge and see if it helps

Didn't know it was hand stitched. Yes, I was referring to machine. I'd still tape it.

Should help. It looks like your bottom feed dog is pushing the tape up and the top is not feeding as much. Double sided tape.... Better than glue

Haha. I usually just add about 5mm to the spacing for the 45mm wide watches.

Hi Eemo, I was referring to the problem of if you put the watch pin in on one end and then put the strap on, buckling it onto your wrist, the curve of your wrist will cause the other pin holder to move away from the watch. This is for 1-piece watch bands.