Bob Blea

I would go with something acrylic on the back to seal it, like Resolene. That would lock in your pigment but also help prevent sweat and oils from the wearer from getting into the leather.

Welcome to the forum Lena! For your first question, I don't do anything to my leather prior to casing except to keep it out of the light as much as possible. Veg tan will darken in direct sunlight but even indoor lighting will 'tan' it over time. After casing and tooling I will then sometimes clean it with a weak Oxalic acid solution if there is something on it. Many people do this step automatically on every project to remove any oils or dirt their hands have transferred to the leather but I haven't had it be much of a problem in my work space, so I don't do it every time. The first time some sort of finger print ruins my antique I will probably make cleaning a standard step! For your second question, I don't have a good answer. I know some of the members of this forum do provide recommendation to the long term care of their products but it does probably depend on the finish and what the item is used for. Hope this helps a little, Bob

Some pictures would definitely help. Are there any spots where the grain has worn away?

If your flex shaft tool has variable speeds start off at the low end. It's easy to over burnish the edge giving it a ragged or burnt look. As always practice on some scraps. Same with all those tools. Sounds like you are getting a nice collection.

Not bad, your rose could use some work with a pear shader on the petals to give them more depth, but overall a really nice start.

Chief, those are really impressive. You give me something to aspire to right there. Nice work!

Nice work!

After you use the Oxalic acid give the belt time to dry before doing anything else. I've noticed that sometimes marks take a while to disappear. They dont' go away instantly.

I do it differently. I run the burnisher or slicker over the piece after it's cased and before I cut and tool anything. I do it after my leather has cased for a while and just after I've attached the tape or shelf lining paper to the back of the piece to keep it from stretching, so it's also pressing the leather onto that backing really well. I was taught to use a glass burnisher or slicker before cutting with the swivel knife because it compresses the leather fibers so any softer areas will be denser and easier to cut.

If you have lemon juice handy that MIGHT help but I think the Barkeepers Friend is going to be your best bet. And if that doesn't work, there is always dyeing.

Hi Splinters, I think this may be pretty easy to fix. Try dipping the whole belt in water and letting it dry completely. That might blend the water mark out enough to not be noticeable. You could also try cleaning it with Oxalic acid (wood bleach or called Barkeepers Friend in many hardware stores) once you get the whole thing wet. That can clean a lot of stains out of the leather. And you don't need to soak the leather in water that long. Just a brief dip would usually do it.

You will find most leather workers rarely go to the effort to arrange the spacing evenly with the exception of a meander stamp. Usually you start stamping the border tool near the corners of the design (assuming it's something kind of rectangular) and work towards the center from each direction. Then when the two sides start getting close to each other and you only have a few stamps to go, you check your spacing with the tool and see how close to even they are coming out. If you need to make some adjustments on the last stamps you spread them out or crowd them as the case may be. You try to make this adjustment along the middle of the border area as opposed to the corners because the adjustments don't stand out as much in the middle as they do at the corner. If you are using a meander stamp or you really want all the stamps to be equal, do like Ferg said. There is a tutorial here somewhere on using a meander border and getting the spacing nice and even, but you'll have to search a bit for it. I can't remember which exact forum it is in. Hope this helps, Bob

Mathijs050, looking closely at the red bracelet picture I can see a very faint line where the stingray wraps around the cord and meets. It does look like it's just wrapped around a glued to the cord but it's skillfully done. I doubt I could make that edge as good as they did. I think it would take very precise cutting to do that on a material that isn't easy to cut. I've seen stingray used in bracelets but as an inlay, not used like this. It's pretty impressive. Bob

I use them and I think a lot of people do. Mine is a leather bag filled with BB's. Lead shot works better and I have seen people take an actual block of lead and wrap it in leather. Usually it's just something you make from scrap.

Add me to the list of admirers. That is excellent work.

We'll I have Robert Beard figure bevellers that would get into those spots (I think) but assuming you don't have some of those laying around.... Tandy did make some small figure bevellers but you would need the older ones, not the modern tools. Even then I'm not sure how well those would work. I normally would be bargrounding the insides of letters like that, or using some other small backgrounding tool. In your case I don't think that would look right though. Your best solution may be to custom make a matting tool for this. I would take a nail and file the sharp point off a bit till it was around the size of the insides of the E or A. That will become the face of the tool. Then round all the edges around the face so there are no sharp edges hitting the leather. Finally you will need a way to polish the face as smooth as possible. Now you have a custom made small area matting tool, and if you have the tools (probably only need a file and a dremel tool) you could make something that works really well. I've seen some carvers doing amazingly small work (Google Britt Nantz if you can) and they primarily use modeling spoons and purpose made tools for this sort of work.

Barry King makes a very good swivel knife. That is a good one to start with and you can upgrade later if you decide you need something fancy. thanks for the compliment on my work too!

Tooling small letters like that takes very gentle tapping of the tool when you are using a small beveller. I get that sometimes but usually I'm matting or backgrounding around them so it's not too hard to fix / cover up. In your case I'm assuming that you want to leave the leather looking natural around the letters? In short your not going to background or texture the areas around the letters? If that is the case, I would start by using a smooth matting tool to matte out the beveling halo around the letters. A good figure beveller works wonders for this but there are also smooth matting tools that work for this too. That will eliminate the tool tracks like you are doing with your modeling spoon, just a lot quicker. Hope this helps, Bob

A lot of people have good luck going to kitchen and bathroom countertop dealers and getting their broken counters or cutouts, often for free. Also, any company that makes monuments or headstones will likely have some mistakes they will be willing to part with for cheap.

Welcome back splinters. You are right there are a lot of options to choose from. I started off with a rawhide mallet but once I went to a poly head maul I never looked back. I have Barry King ones and I would recommend starting off with something in the 12-14 oz. range if your just going to be doing standard tooling. If you are interested in large geometrics like saddle sized box stamps then you are going to need something heavier to get a good impression, like 20 oz. or larger depending on the size of your stamp. I find the maul is much easier on my wrist and arm that the mallet. Also, my mauls are straight sided, not tapered. I was once advised that the tapered mauls made it too easy to rest your arm on the bench and cause you to be sloppy, so I've always just stuck with the straight sided mauls. A lot of people use the tapered ones and do good work, so there may not be much to that claim. Just my 2 cents, Bob

Looks very nice. Good work!

Hello Kiteuk, and welcome to the forum! There are lots of experts in the sewing machine area and they can certainly help you pick the right machine. I don't know much about machines but what I have learned came from the resources there.

I've gotten similar results using Tandy Eco-Flo antiques. If you don't use a resist and apply the antique directly you will get quite a bit of darkening and it will look somewhat uneven. Normally I would work it in until I have a really even coloring, but it would be easy to get the more uneven look. Try experimenting on scraps of your leather first to make sure it comes out how you want it.

I think it looks cool and I like what you did on the inside with the decorative stamping. Nice!

Hello and welcome to the forum! Tandy Leather does have stores or outlets in the UK and they do sell belt blanks. They are also available via eBay and Etsy. If you can find a vendor on there that is in the UK that would save you on shipping. Good luck! Bob