Bob Blea

Personally I would dye before applying the Neatsfoot oil. Dyes often stiffen leather and the oiling helps return natural oils to the leather. Also, if you are tooling or carving, I would do that between steps one and two.

One thing I would recommend is using a checker matter or a backgrounder in the eye sockets. That will make them darker and make them recede from the face, giving your carving more depth.

I share your pain! I'm interested in attaching fabric linings to wallets and I'm having similar problems. I use Weldwood contact cement to assemble my items and I've run across several people here that use it to attach fabric to leather successfully, but I've always had the problem of the glue solvent soaking through the fabric and showing up on the visible side. I've tried using very thin coats but then I have trouble getting good adhesion. One problem is the thickness of your fabric. It sounds like many who use Weldwood for this are using thicker fabric, like canvas, which is harder to soak the glue through. I've recently bought (but have not yet tried) 3M - 90 Spray Adhesive as an alternative to see if it will work with thin fabric better. There are apparently lots of tricks to making this work, I just haven't figured them out yet. Bob

I saw someone on FB recently that took a small eyeglass screwdriver, the kind with the handle end that spins freely, and they sharpened the screwdriver tip and used it as a swivel knife for exactly this purpose.

I can add that Tan Kote will cut Feibings Antique Paste and it will remove some of the dried antique from a project. I've seen it used to remove antique streaks on leather and even out the finish on a completed project.

Hi Paris, You've got some good information here but one thing I would recommend differently on is the use of the bar grounder. The way you are using it is the way it is traditionally used. You stamp rows of neat little dots next to each other, and yes it is difficult and takes lots of practice (and good eyesight). The leather also needs to be drier than yours is to help eliminate the unevenness you are seeing. Striking to tool with consistent force is important too. What Acorn Biter said is more how you would use a backgrounder when matting down the background. A backgrounder has a wider face, is usually tear drop shaped and it has a checkered face. It's much easier to use and you do rotate it as you use it to eliminate a pattern from showing up. If I tried to rotate my bar grounders on each strike I think I'd go crazy trying to get it even because it's so narrow. And there is nothing wrong with using a backgrounder instead of a bar grounder, just 'traditionally' in the Sheridan style they always use bar grounders. As JLS said, you can develop your own style so play around and see what effect you like best. Good luck and keep practicing! You will see improvement fast! Bob

For me the difference is very basic. With a utility knife I have to pull it towards me and with the round/head knife I push it away from me. Seems much safer.

Hello and welcome to the forum! No rule of thumb that I'm aware of. I would recommend printing off your pattern and test fitting it together to see how much you want to take it in. Adjust that gusset piece till it's how you like it, then that becomes your new pattern piece. Also keep in mind that the lambskin is very soft leather so it will easily compress and fold in on itself. Your gusset as you've drawn it will probably taper itself to fit the flap the contents of the clutch unless your front and back pieces have a stiffener to make them hold their shape. Bob

I think I get what your asking and for a bag I would prefer a pouch that the pen slides into (the full length pen holder I think you are describing) rather than just a pen loop made with a strip. If the tip of the pen is covered it won't be catching on things in the bag, which might lead to the pen getting twisted around and breaking the pen loop strap as stuff shifts in the bag. 25b has good points too about why not to use the pen loop.

I think they look like excellent work!

Kody, I've seen where some of the pro's use Tan Kote as a final finish over Fiebings Antique. It does rub off some of the antique, changing your color a bit, because Tan Kote can be used to thin the Fiebings antique paste. When applied after antiquing, it evens out the antique and can even remove streaks or darkened areas. If you didn't have a coating of Resolene over that chipped area I'd suspect it could clean that up and even it out. It still might be worth a try.

Have you tried contacting Barry King Tools? He doesn't list one on his web site but I know he has a lot more designs that just what shows up on his site, and I'm pretty sure I've seen a version of that in his display at a show. Bob

Looks interesting. I currently have an Etsy shop and Etsy doesn't seem to be very effective right now. First time I've heard of this site but looking them over they look like they are worth researching. I would be interested in anyone's experience with them as well. Bob

I'v never had to do anything on an edge to make the ink stay, however in my case it's going to be covered mostly by lacing. I have used Sharpies to color letters and found that when a wiped on Wyosheen (same as Clear Lac or Neat Lac) it did take a little of the ink off. That's the only time I've had a problem with the ink coming off. And after a thin coat of Wyosheen the ink seemed very sealed. I put thin coats of this on all my notebooks and it doesn't have any problems flexing, as long as you keep the coat thin. Hope this helps, Bob

I think you did a great job. That rustic style is very popular with many people out there, so for a first project I think you did good.

Nice work, thank you for sharing!

I really like your work. Keep sharing it here please!

Here's a tip that will probably help: On a piece of scrap leather draw a straight line and then stamp a couple of rows of the basket stamp you want to use neatly along that line. Make sure the line of stamps is long enough to stretch across your logo. Let that dry and then cut it out, making it into a small ruler. Use that to help you line up spacing of the stamps across the logo. Also use a ruler to keep you lines on the project straight like Wild Bill said. And try practicing it on scrap a couple of times before taking on the project. Hope this helps, Bob

I think it looks great. Very clean.

Someone once pointed out that Xacto makes a very similar knife that swivels the same way a Tangleboss does. Before going to the trouble to track one down, you might want to find one of the Xacto knives. I think they called it a Craft Swivel Knife.

Ow, that makes me cringe all over hearing that story. Usually I'm more careful with the knife too when I put it down, but I clearly need to be MORE careful.

I had an incident like this last week. My Leather Wranglers round knife was sitting on top of a box on my cutting table. I accidentally shifted the box and the knife started sliding off the box and onto the floor. I 'instinctively' reached out to try and stop it but fortunately my reflexes were slow and I only caught one corner of the knife as it fell. It cut my finger with a very shallow cut but I did manage to move my foot out of the way and the knife landed on carpeting, so the blade wasn't damaged. Lessons Learned: Think about where you set your knife down when not in use and never try to catch a falling knife....

I'm certainly no expert and I don't use drum dyed leather, but from what I've seen that doesn't look like drum dyed leather. Drum Dyed I've seen the color penetrates all the way through. That looks more like it had a dye sprayed onto it and that it has some sort of coating on the backside that is peeling off.

Hi Tallbald, I use Weldwood too and I may be in group that doesn't use it quite right, but I sometimes use two coats when I install pigskin liners in my notebooks. I put it on thinly (I don't thin the Weldwood at all, just thin application) and I do see my leather darken a bit at first. That quickly goes away and yes the leather can soak up the solvent. I find that occasionally I don't get a good bond in places and I need to do a second coat, but as I said I'm probably doing it wrong. And I might be putting it on too thin. Bob

Toney it is a good start, but I do notice one thing right off the bat: You're leather is too wet. Let the leather come back to it's natural color before you even put the swivel knife to it. Your tooling will come out much crisper and cleaner.