Bob Blea

Check out this thread: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=62845 Mike has information on the current Chan Geer class coming up April 22nd and on the other classes he has. You can PM him too.

Hello cinatas, I have a little experience like this. Every once in a while I need to strip off the resist I use when antiquing (because of a mistake in not getting even coverage with the resist) and I use denatured alcohol. My resist in Wyosheen which is a lacquer and is different from what you are using in that it mostly sits on top of the leather. I think your Tan Kote penetrates more. I have to use several applications of the alcohol and quite a bit of patience to get my resist layer off, and I have to be careful not to damage the grain surface of the leather but rubbing too hard. In your case I think it will take a couple of tries too, so you might try stripping it again. Also, you might be able to use plain water as a test for how well you have stripped the surface. After stripping let the seat dry, then try brushing it with a damp sponge and watching how well the seat absorbs the water. If it doesn't seem to be discoloring / penetrating that will tell you the dye will have trouble penetrating too. This might be hard to tell since the seat is mostly black now, but it might give you an idea if your stripping is having any effect. If the dye did penetrate somewhat into all areas, just reapplying might even things out but it would still be hard to get an even tone. Could maybe get it pretty close. It's certainly worth a try rather than tossing it. Not sure if this will help, but it's all I can add to the subject.

How is that belt stitched? It almost looks like it's buckstitched but with thread instead of lace.

I don't blame you, that is a great find! Thanks for posting the pictures.

I don't know myself but you might try posting this in the braiding forum. Someone there can probably point you in the right direction.

I've got a similar set from Harbor Freight here in the US. They work great for punching holes and can't beat the price!

Cheryl, one other thought: If you do find a new finish, make sure to test it on your paints first. It's possible that whatever solvent your new finish has could affect the paints your using and start removing them. Just a warning to be careful and test it out first. Bob

I use Wyoshene which is the same as Clear Lac. It's a laquer based product. Tandy sells Satin Sheen and Super Sheen, both of which are acrylic products (I think) but they take multiple coats and I always had trouble making them work well.

Very cool!

Yeah, I've have to say that isn't the strap I would bring to the Gospel gig. But nice work, glad he likes it.

Hello Glen, So I have a couple of comments after looking over your listing. First, your listing is for a very specific customer. It's a premade western floral leather belt for someone of a specific waist size. So even if I am someone looking for a western floral belt, if I'm not that exact size I have to look elsewhere. A better way to list a belt would be made to order where they specify their waist size and maybe even specify their choice in hardware. Another problem I see is that you only have two items listed and no sales history. That will make some potential buyers hesitant to purchase. Also, it seems to keep you hidden somewhat in Etsy's search listings. I was once given the advice that you don't seem to get much attention on Etsy till you have around 20 listings, and for some reason it seems to be true. You will also need to do some marketing, making sure you have appropriate tags on your listing and promoting it on places like Facebook. It takes work to get your listing to stand out among all the other belts being sold on Etsy. Another thing that might be limiting you is the fact that you will only ship to the US. About half of my Etsy sales have been outside the US. On price, you might be too high for the kind of market Etsy seems to be changing into. There is a lot of dissatisfaction with their recent rules changes regarding what constitutes hand made, and there is a lot of cheap stuff out there that you are competing with. While there are people on Etsy looking for high quality, there are lots of people looking for a good deal on something that is cheap because it's hand made. You can price for the high quality crowd just realize it takes a while for those specific customers to come along. Again, marketing will help to get your product in front of those customers that will pay for a $150 belt versus those just looking for the unusual $50 (or less) belt. You do want to look at what other belts being sold on Etsy are selling for but keep in mind some people are listing belts that really aren't hand made, or that they made by an embosser, and they can and will list for less than your truly hand made product. You can't compete with them on lowest price. Those are just my opinions. Good luck! As with any business, getting to your first customers is always a challenge. Bob

Thank you Tom. I'm just at the point of needing a template like this for a project.

I agree with everyone here. Explain to him his options and make it clear what the charges are (and absolutely you should be charging for all of this extra work) and let him decide if he is willing to pay for the additional work. Even if you provide a guarantee or warranty with your products, there is nothing wrong with the bag as delivered that would warrant replacement or repair.

Hello novaroper, I'm going to assume that you want to antique the piece you have now that it's tooled. You are going to need a product called a resist, either an acrylic (like Resolene or Super Shene) or a lacquer (like Clear Lac or Wyosheen) to cover the areas you don't want to have antique on. Let that coat dry overnight, then test it with a damp sponge. If the leather discolors you need a second coat, and for the acrylics you often need multiple coats. Once that is applied, you can use your antique. The resist will keep the leather in the areas it covers looking more natural though I've found I will still get some slight darkening with the Eco Flo antiques. I don't have experience yet with Fiebings antique paste. Hope this helps, Bob

That is really cool! I like it!

Don't feel bad. Roses are actually one of the harder flowers to carve and for the tools you have, you are doing pretty good. Keep at it!

I found pictures that will show the difference. The first one is a notebook with Tandy Eco Flow Saddle Tan (I believe) with no resist. It's actually a little darker than it appears in this picture. The second is the same antique where it has been resisted with Wyoshene. The second one is considerably lighter overall but got lots of darkening in the tooled areas.

Hello and welcome to the forum! I've had results similar to that using Tandy Eco-Flo gel antiques. With either Saddle Tan or Tan I get colors very similar to that if I don't use a resist while antiquing. If I do use a resist (I use Wyosheen from Sheridan Leather Outfitters, but Clear Lac is the same thing) the leather ends up a lighter color but I'll still get the dark antique settling into the tooling. I think the Saddle Tan without a resist will end up looking close to what you show in your picture there. Hope this helps, Bob

Hello Kari, There are certain parts of a hide that aren't very good for belt making. The belly part is very stretchy and it doesn't make for good belts, and there are areas around where the legs connected to the body and really aren't good for anything. Stretchy leather will slowly grow in length as the user wears it so the belt won't be very effective after a while. I don't think you need to worry about a particular brand of leather unless that leather feels stretchy or if it seems to be hard or brittle because it wasn't tanned very well. If it seems like it might crack if you fold it over for the buckle, then it's probably a bad sign. Applying Neatsfoot oil might help in that case. I can't help much with the question on dyeing because I don't do it much and have no experience with beeswax. When I dye I do apply Neatsfoot oil afterwords to help set the dye. My final coat is usually an acrylic though. Hope this helps, Bob

I use Weldwood and I haven't tried gluing that particular kind of leather, but I have found I need to rough up my leathers with more than just sand paper. I use a small wood rasp and really tear up the grain surface fibers on my pigskin linings. That seems to make it glue with Weldwood very well.

RStevenson, you could grind the profile down on your scratch awl to make it into a diamond shape. You would just need a grinding stone to work the round profile into a diamond shape with flat, equal sides. Then you could use fine grit wet/dry sandpaper to polish the blade for use in leather.

My thought are that your work is awesome considering the size. My hat is off to you.

Are there any bespoke boot makers in your area by chance? They might be willing to consult with you and give you a few pointers? Also, Lisa Sorrell is a boot maker here in the US and an advertiser here. She sells boot making supplies and might be able to provide you some guidance on this.

That's good to know, I hadn't heard of half tan before. So what is 'Re Tan' leather?

Barrel thickness really is a matter of personal preference but I think starting off with a bigger barrel is the better way to go. It probably depends on the size of your hands as much as anything, but a large barrel makes it easier to cut long straight lines or gently flowing curves. A narrow barrel makes it very easy to cut tight curves but harder to cut straight lines because it's more responsive. Regarding the blades, I'm not a big fan of angled blades because if you start with one of them you miss out on learning good technique with a straight blade and that might hold you back later, but there are many on the forum that would disagree with this statement and angle blades work well for them. I actually have a Leather Wranglers 3/8" barrel with a 1/4" straight blade that I use for my carving but I also have a 5/8" barrel Barry King with a 1/2" blade that I use for my decorative cuts and borders. The BK knife is making me wish I had a bigger LW SK-3 barrel, and I might buy one some day. If you are near a Tandy store (there are a couple in the Denver area and one in Colorado Springs) you could try the knives there and get a feel for what size and blade type feels better.