TomG

I honed the Tandy blade, but didn't "sharpen". It's one of the things I need to learn more about. This blade has the main angle and then a more acute angle right at the edge. I'm not sure it I need to just make it a flat angle or what. More research needed <g>

Awww, You could have something like this!!

Nah.. Glue-ons will fall off. Ya gotta use the heat set ones. Want me to send you a few????

Sovran - I can see that. Like I said, I haven't done it, but I know of at least one guy who does this on a regular basis to make long leads for police dog training. He showed me a picture at one time and if remember correctly, he had just made a "squarish" oval and eliminated most of that belly section. The way he cut it, there were no joints and no stitches, just a single very long strap. I'm sure though, that there would be different strengths and stretch factor along the length. But how much? who knows. But, I could be wrong. Won't be the first time <g>

I have not used Barge, but as long as it's the "original" most people here swear by it. I'll probably try it once I run out of the bottle of cement I have now. Like I said, I skive the ends, use contact cement to join them and run 1 to 2 lines of stitching lengthwise from just above to just below the joint.

Yup.. That's exactly what those are. They come in sizes from under 2mm to around 5mm depending on where you shop. It looks really nice. Good job!! Now, all it needs is some Bling!!!!

Depends on the level of "constant stress". We have a customer that insisted on tying her 6 foot Latigo leash to a fence post and hooking her 150 pound Rottweiler to it while she did training on her other dogs. The dog would get excited and lunge against the leash to go play too. She was constantly snapping the leashes. I have spliced Latigo with a fairly long lap skive, and then 1 or 2 lines of stitching in line with and over the splice.Depends on the width. A second method that I have been told about but never tired, is to take a side, round the ends a bit and cut a continuous strap around the outside. Like cutting lace, except you cut the outside instead of the inside. I've been told you can do 30, 40 or 50 foot leads doing this. Good luck

She probably used a heat-set crystal. Craft stores sell what looks like a soldering iron that has a concave tip. You pick up the crystal with the glue side up, wait for the glue to melt and then quick press it on. Yes... very secure, and I'm really not sure how to get it off. We use one in our embroidery/screen printing business, but never had a request to remove them <g>.... All I can thing of is maybe lightly scrape it off with an Exacto knife??? Good luck Tom

Actually, Page 51 is a regular split braid. The Night Latch braid is different. With the split braid, you just cut slits and weave then back and forth between the 2 strands. On a night latch, you have to pull the end of the strap through the slits and make the 2 sides of the slit rotate. Grant's Encyclopedia, Page 27, Photo 4 shows what I'm referring to... You do it once or maybe twice per slit depending what you are doing and then weave them together. I know it's hard to visualize. I couldn't find any photos of step by steps. Tom

Not sure what brand of dye you're using or what shade of Red you are trying to achieve, but I use Fiebings Oil Red. I cut it at least 50/50 with denatured Alcohol. Try that and if possible, use a dip dye technique. You may have to play with the dilution a bit or you can do multiple dips. When I was experimenting, I used strips of leather and did single, double, triple dips etc and let dry. And don't forget, your finish coat is gonna change the final color. FYI, for light pink I actually use Oxblood diluted about 80% - 90%.

Post some pics and ask for critique... Maybe its something as simple as edging that is stopping the finished look

Tandy has a chart for converting old numbers to new. There is also a list out there somewhere that lists a ton of the tools. Here's a link to the chart https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/p-1416-craftool-conversion-chart.aspx

Does anyone have a use for the Monofilament "invisible" thread? I have a huge spool of it that I'm thinking of selling as I can't think of a single thing to use it for.

I use Edge-Coat after all my burnishing is done and everything is dry and set. After that dries, I buff it smooth with a soft rag and apply 2 or 3 very thin coats of 50/50 Resolene, letting them dry between coats. To my knowledge, I haven't had any cracking. Thinking back, I did use Saddle-Lac as a top coat at one time and found that some of the softening products I used on the flesh side made it flake off in chunks if I didn't spray it on at the right time in my sequence - ie: before any oils or softening crèmes to the flesh side.

Not to be a SA or anything, but considering the Bob Parks method DOES produce great results, why change it? I've never used Clear-Lac for edges, but considering it's a pretty hard substance, I'd kind of expect this. If you apply it to a flat, thick surface, like a holster, belt, etc, flexing is spread across the entire width. Here, you are laying down a very, very thin width and flexing it or rubbing it. I can't see it not cracking.

I don't use a lot of this, but have gone through a bottle or 2. The video pretty much has it covered. One key is to keep applying it in that circular motion until you have uniform coverage. One other thing to note, is that in my experience it will be a whole lot darker wet than it will dry. The note in the video block above says t all. Work it in well and let it dry well. It's not a terribly bad product and has a built in finish. However, I still Resolene the final product <g>

There are lots of guides and suggestions here to help you get a handle on this. Practice is the key to stamping. I'll try to give you some highlights of what I've learned. 1 - Most stamp sets made today have a varying amount of casting slag left on the edges. First thing you want to do is carefully file that off. Make your you keep the edges square. Next, look at the bottom edge of the stamp on the top. You will see each stamp has the letter embossed on it. Use a black marker or a dab of bright paint and draw a line from the letter, up the post socket. This helps you avoid getting letters upside down as you stamp. 2 - You can get by with 1 stamp set. Let's say you have the name REESE as an example. 2 issues you need to start out planning for. Centering the word and aligning the bottoms. 3 - Take your "E" and find 2 more UNUSED stamps that are the same width - Letters like "I" are narrower. 4 - Take all of your letters and line them up, sides touching, on the leather and center it where you want them. Use the 2 "unused" letters for the 1st and 3rd "E"'s. 5 - Use a ruler or straight edge on the bottom edge of the letters to align them. Make sure this is all lined up on your leather where you want it and small and very light mark at the center of the middle letter - in this case the 2nd "E". 6 - Without letting anything move, insert your stamp handle into the center letter (2nd "E"), double-check the alignment and smack it once about medium hard.. Carefully left the stamp, make sure it's lined up, replace it and smack it hard enough to leave a nice deep impression, but NOT leave the square edges of the stamp body. 7 - Move the handle to the next stamp - In our case go to the "S" as we still need the "E" for alignment. Make sure all is still lined up and that the previously stamped letter is firmly seated. Snug this next letter up to it and stamp it. Check, replace and finish stamping.. 8 - At this point, leave the "S in place and move that 2nd "E" in place of whatever "unused" letter you used for the spacer for the 3rd "E". Keeping it snug against the "S", stamp it in place as we discussed. 9 - Now, we go the other way. Leave the "S" in place, and use a space letter on top of the previously stamps "2nd E" and butt the real "E" against it to the left. Use your ruler to make sure the bottoms are aligned, and stamp that 1st "E". 10 - Using the same procedure, stamp your "R". Lots of steps on paper, but once you do it a time or 2, it will be easy. A couple of points to watch for. Sometimes the stamps tend to rotate as you stamp them. If you lightly stamp the first one, you can often realign it and stamp harder to cover it up. Sometimes, the stamps will move or bulge the leather if it is too wet. Be sure to case it properly. If you stamp too hard and the corners of the stamp show on the leather, you can use a modeling tool to wet the impression and gently work the impression out. Look on YouTube. You can probably find videos of all this. Good Luck

Look through this thread: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=42794&hl=%2Bcoin+%2Bpurse

There was also an almost identical pattern done some time back by Tony Laier and published by Tandy. Not sure if it was part of a kit, a Doodle Page, pattern kit or book. I've made a few and they are generally loved by folks I've given them to.

Try a belt sander and angle the leather for the taper you want.

Another one is... http://www.wawak.com/

I have a Singer 111W155 That seems to be in good mechanical condition, but certainly isn't as "pretty" as a new machine. Our local commercial machine repair shop went over it last fall, replaced the hook assy and did all the adjustments. Everything seems to work well. I have been kind of thinking about selling this head and getting a Consew 206RB5... mainly for the reverse feature. What do you think a head like mine is worth and what is a fair price for a good used Consew head? Thanks

I have the el cheapo Harbor Freight model and it's actually pretty good. Especially since it's less than 1/2 the price of some others.

Probably the fact that they are real leather and hand crafted. A lot department store belts are made with ground up leather and cardboard. So, they can mark them as "genuine leather" but that's not the same as "real leather".

ohiotravelbag.com. Page 140. But I didn't see 1-1/4". It may be on another page. They sometimes do that.