Gawdzilla

I'll keep that in mind. Full day at the wolf sanctuary so it will be tomorrow before I get the test strips done on the Goo Gone.

Is that "spot cleaning" or should I do the whole piece to keep it even?

Try using duct tape instead of gluing it to cardboard. Works for me. One layer then another at right angles keeps things tight.

First test: It removed dried rubber cement cleanly. Next test is to do strips of untouched leather alternating with treated leather to see if dyes are affected.

Do you have a specialty candle shop near you? If they don't have what you need they probably know who does.

If all else fails, send me a PM.

Thanks. I'll report back.

Well, the legendary Tandy 2062 Pattern Pak is rare as hen's teeth. You have to know somebody that has one and see if they'll make you a copy.

One more note on this. The top of my head is a mere fraction of an inch from the top when it set properly on my head. This is a factor when you decide how short to make it, you don't want somebody's hat looking like a dixie cup on an beer bottle.

That's 3-4 oz. throughout. I've used a mix, 2-3 for the top and both brims and 3-4 for the crown. I did one that was camo'd and I used camo cloth for the top. A nice way to ventilate and save weight at the same time. The next one will have horns.

That one is a doozy. A certain photo interpretation school that I never went to used it on day one to show students they can't trust their own brains.

Okay, here's the picts. I'm posting URLs because their about 5 meg apiece. ibiblio.org/pha/LWF/DSCN4168.JPG ibiblio.org/pha/LWF/DSCN4169.JPG I put the second one up because of the old curved line optical illusion. The top and bottom lines are exactly the same length on each pattern.

I'm going to Michael's and see what they have for that hat. Those are from the necklace section, you can get whole strings of tiger's eye and such for a reasonable price there. That band in the picture is a swap out band I wear when the cobra skin band isn't appropriate. I'll get a picture of it with the original crown pattern in the same picture for comparison. Give me a couple of hours. The brim is really firm. You have to follow the pattern and use two layers of leather. I think from now on I won't glue them together until I have the brim attached to the crown, it's a lot easier to lace up that way.

A round pizza cutter makes nice straight "scribed" lines when teamed with a metal ruler. Filing notches out at regular intervals leaves a clearly defined spot for punching as well.

When I have a very long line of holes to mark I put nails appropriately spaced into a block of wood and put a strip of bar stock on top of that. Then I screw the bar stock to the wood. Then all I have to do is rap the bar stock to mark the holes. This had worked for up to twenty holes, never needed to take beyond that. It gives straight lines too. You should make sure your nails are all the same length by turning them upside down in a line and putting a level on them. (Stagger them slightly to support the level and look for any light between the nail and the level.) These can be made permanent for "popular" patterns, but don't be like me, write what they're for on the wood.

My late wife was a librarian and she used "Goo Gone" to remove tape residue from books. I was wondering if anybody had ever used it on leather?

With a temporary band. The final one will be smaller, of course.

I cheat happily when given the chance. For example, I find that Sharpie Extra-Fine Point markers can fix small errors in dyeing nicely. I think I have every color they make now, plus some from similar markers by other companies. Obviously not useful for large areas, but they can fill in when I'm dreading getting too close to another color. What's your favorite cheater?

Okay, that worked. Here's the shortened version of the Aristocrat pattern.

Okay, I admit it. I sometimes cheat and use Sharpie extra fine point markers to fill in tiny spots. I found that they are just dye in a tube anyway, so they work for me.

Problem with that is there's a dog-leg in the sides when you do it that way. I fought it out this afternoon and got it to work. I made a copy of the crown pattern and counted down 7 holes (out of 20). I put the old pattern on the new one at that point, making sure the overlap on each side was equal (1/2 inch in this case on each side.) Then I marked the new top of the pattern. All I had to do then was link the top line with the bottom one and transfer the holes from the old pattern. Fits just fine. Caveat: Those measurements are for the large Aristocrat, medium and small will have less overlap, I think. If I do it again I'll go with 10 holes rather than 12. There's not enough difference between a full-scale crown and this shorter one for me. Again, your mileage may vary.

I let the leather dry completely if I want a smooth "edge-to-edge" finish. If I want "texture" I push the process. It's best to experiment on an unwanted scrap from the same hide before doing that with your work. I learned myself that the hard way.

I have a request to make a Tandy Top Hat from the 2062 pack that has a crown 3/4-2/3 as tall. I know that just dropping the edge down and tracing a new line will not properly transfer the holes. My only thought at this time is to draw many radius lines and disperse the holes proportionally. Anybody got a better idea on how to do that? Photo of the pattern can be uploaded if you want to see the crown, btw.

Anybody tried filing/grinding the sides of the stamps to correct the alignment?

You can also corral it with quarter round to keep it in place.