Bob Blea

Those are really cool!

Thanks Rohn and Tom, I have made that design several times as well, so it's getting to where it doesn't take long. I'm looking to do some more complicated knots soon. I want to push myself some on these.

Hi all. I made this as a custom order for a customer who had seen one of my 5x8 notepads and wanted the same design but on a notebook that could hold an 8x11 notepad. This was the result. I wish I had spent the time to get better pictures of it but I was trying to get it out in time to arrive by his birthday! Hope you all have a fantastic day. For some reason my iPad likes to put all my pictures on their sides.

Great work Rohn, the color looks very good and you nailed the basketweave!

Those are very nice edges...

Fantastic workmanship! Very well done!

It looks to me to be some sort of paint that is applied thinly or is partially stripped off later. But I'm not certain.

I think it looks great. Nice job on her initials. I like the way you did the basket stamp border too.

Very impressive!

You've come a long way and its looking good.

Thanks all! Its not hard to do well when you have an instructor like Robert Beard. He really is a great teacher and he absolutely loves to teach. If you ever get a chance to take one of his classes do it! You will not regret it.

I had the pleasure of taking a one day figure carving class with Robert Beard this past Saturday, thanks to the Columbine Leather Guild in Denver. The subject was the Tree of Life, and I'm very pleased with how this turned out though there is plenty I could improve on. Just had to show it off.

I agree with the others, nice purses. You're going to get requests for more of those.

Leather Wranglers makes an awesome filigree blade for their knives.

It's not a fast chemical process, it will probably take a while to show up.

OK, I think I answered my own question a bit. Doing a little research it appears the conchos we all use are primarily made from cast Zinc alloys, also often called 'pot metal'. These are used because they are easy to work with and have low melting points, but they can really be any variety of metals alloyed with Zinc, with a common one being copper. However, Zinc alloys are apparently pretty good an being corrosion resistant to salts but are not good choices when dealing with acidic foods so they are not good for applications that involve cooking or food service unless they have a coating. So, I guess I'm still wondering why we don't see conchos discoloring because of long term contact with veg tan leather. Maybe just having copper in the alloy mix isn't enough to cause the problem if the alloy's chemical properties are good (think the difference between steel and stainless steel). So maybe this means German Silver (aka Nickel Silver) is OK too? Hopefully there are some actual metallurgists or chemists out there that can give a definitive answer?

I'd be worried that over time and use the wallet will flex and run off any protective coating. I thought a lot of conchos were made from Nickel Silver, why don't they react with belts and things over time? Maybe they aren't Nickel Silver?

I think it will be a problem. That waxy green stuff you got is called 'Virdigris' and it forms when copper or copper alloys (like brass) stay in contact with a particular type of acid that is present in vegetable tanned leather. At first I thought you would be fine until I looked up how Nickel silver alloys are made, and it turns out they have copper in their mix as well. In fact German Silver can be as much as 60% copper so I think you may have a problem over a short time. Bob

Sorry I wasn't very clear. Acrylic paints and finishes are designed so that they are in a water base, so you can thin them with water, clean up with water, etc. But the acrylic itself is a polymer and is made from petroleum distillates. So yes it is a man made material for your purposes. Acrylic is basically a form of plastic.

Resolene is an acrylic, so it's petroleum based.

Nice work so far. Just my opinion but I think the size of the handle looks fine compared to the rest of the case.

Nice straps, and thanks for the information too!

Hello Adam, I'm assuming you mean a stitching groover? If so, one thing you could do is place a ruler on top of the leather to hold the edge in place and act like a clamp to hold it against your bench. Place it so it's as close as possible to where you want to run the groover. It should be able to keep the leather in place better and not allow it to stretch as easily. Hope this helps, Bob

That is an amazingly well thought out and organized shop! My hat is off to you for your ingenuity!

Hi efsam, I routinely use Herman Oak leather and I haven't run across the problem you are describing, though it is normal for the leather to dry out after dyeing with alcohol based dyes, and typically you need to oil it afterwards. One question: how are you drying the leather after dyeing? If you are using any sort of heat source that can make the leather harder after drying. Bob