Bob Blea

Hadn't thought of that. I have some tamper proof Torx bits. They have the center drilled out because the bolt has a raised bump in the center to prevent anyone without the special tool (as if regular Torx bits weren't special enough) from loosening the bolt. That might make an unusual seeder for flower centers. Bob

Sounds reasonable to me. I certainly don't see a better way to do it. I do really like the idea... Bob

I like the idea of having a referral network like this, and I now realize I need to set up my own entry in the directory. Thanks all! One big question that comes to mind though is how do I convince the rest of you (as my potential referal sources) that I am a quality maker? It seems pretty subjective, and even if I have lots of postings showing nice looking work, it's hard to know what my quality really is like or how good of customer service I provide without some sort of feedback. I do think this is work pursuing. I don't make holsters but I know people who do good work that I would refer a customer to if someone asked me to make one. But in these case these are people I know personally and I know their work first hand. Bob

I love the closure. That is a very clever way of making it part of the front cover carving! Bob

You are doing really well for your first attempts! It is very clear you already have some artistic skills and you are making good use of your tools already. Keep it up. Bob

I think it looks great. Bob

Good morning, Your time is going to be your biggest investment in your work. There is nothing fast about leather crafting, especially when you are carving. Cyberthrasher's advice about keeping track of your time is perfect, but you do need to look at the cost of your materials. It is important to know how much the materials that are going into your project cost. A small, simple wet molded case might not cost much in materials but start adding fancy hardware like buckles and conchos and the cost can go up quickly. For me, I lace the edges of all my notebooks, and I found out my largest material expense is in the lace itself. It's also one of my biggest time expenses because I'm not that fast at lacing! That's where Cyberthrasher's recommendation about looking at the time it takes to do things helps: I'm trying to get faster at my lacing to cut down on that itme. Another thing you will need to consider is your market. If you sell your items at the local farmer's market you will not be able to list the same price you would if you were selling at Nieman Marcus. They each have different customers that have different ideas about what they are willing to pay. There is also a different perception about what your work is worth at each venue, like it or not. If you end up selling to people in your area, you will want to look for comparable items that are sold locally, judge how your quality compares to theirs, decide if there is anything you offer they don't, and then price appropriately. One thing to keep in mind though: Unless there are others in your area doing similar custom leatherwork, you are offering something that goes above and beyond what anyone else is offering. You can make something specific to what your customer is looking for, taylored to their wants and needs. There should always be a premium for that kind of customer specific work. Hope this helps. Unfortunately there are not any simple answers to this question. Bob

Hello, and welcome to the forum. Those are really nice looking straps. You're lacing looks great. What is the lining material on these? Bob

Paul is a great guy and has always been very helpful to me. I too have a few Craftool figure bevelers that were passed down to me from my wife's family. They are mainly the really large sizes so I had trouble finding good uses for them aside from matting. I have a few old foliage tools too. I tend to gravitate towards small stuff, so having the little Beard bevelers has helped. But yes, if you can get the classis Craftool figure carving tools, those do work well and you can learn a lot from them. If you can find a good deal you can get a pretty good setup for the price of a couple of Beard bevelers LOL

I've got two of the bevelers (B1 and B3.5) and I know what you mean. I've got a BF5 (same as your BM series except smooth, I think) too and as I work with them I keep finding more places to use them. They've been great buys and have let me start really exploring figure carving without getting too discouraged.

Guys, I couldn't agree more. It is cool when you are dealing with the artisan or craftsman who makes the item directly. I've recently realized the same thing happens with us a leather crafters. I have done several custom orders through my Etsy shop, and I spend a lot of time discussing exactly what the customer is looking for and giving them options on how it could look. I've gotten that same sense that the customer is really thrilled to be working with someone that is taking the time to make something just as they want it. I think the world of Barry King and I really believe he's got some of the best tools and a fantastic customer service attitude that makes me want to buy everything from him. AND, I don't think it really takes much effort on our part to make our customers feel the same way, especially in the age of Wally world. Bob

I got a LetherWrangler's round knife last year. It was a huge step up from my Tandy round knife, and I discovered how much I was having to fight my old knife that I thought was sharp. It along with my LW SK-3 swivel knife and my Barry King tools have been the best investments I have made in leather craft. I've also started buying Robert Beard figure bevelers as I'm trying to learn to do figure carving well, but I'm finding I'm using the figure bevelers all over the place, so they have been great too. Haven't had too many bad experiences, though I have many Tandy tools that have been replaced (like a stitching awl) that were never really used or didn't work well. The modern day figure carving tools from Tandy were particularly disappointing.... Bob

Really, really nice. I'll bet he will love them. Bob

Hi Paul, I'm really impressed. I've been trying to learn this stuff for several years now and I'm not to the point where I would try something like this. It looks really nice and you should be proud. Bob

Hi Chancey, I think the second try looks a lot better. And I agree with Northmount that it looks good with the colors you used. Bob

Hi Chancey, Overall I think it looks really good. Just my opinion, but I don't like the checkering across the leaf. If it were me, I would use a leaf liner or beveler with diagonal lines on it along the stem lines, both the main stem and the ones that radiate off it. I think it gives the leaf a more 3D look and would leave the rest of the leaf surface smooth. I wish I had a picture showing what I mean but I don't have access to my pics from where I'm at. However, I do think your leaf looks good and I like the color. Bob

I'd be curious about how to do this too. I'm having a hard time visualizing what your describing. Bob

Hello Miss Reining, This is usually done by dyeing the background very carefully. I believe the technique is described in some of the Al Stohlman books, though I'm not sure which ones. It might be in 'Coloring Leather'. Also trying searching this forum under the term background dyeing, that might help. In short, you use a small brush dipped in the dye you want your background to be. You add small amounts of dye to the background areas, being careful to NOT add it right next to your tooling. The leather will wick the dye away from where you add it, and if you get too close to the tooling it might get pulled up into the tooling and ruin your work. With a little practice you will get a feel for how much dye to add and how much wicking you will get. As with anything, try it on some scrap first to get a feel for it. Hope this helps, Bob

Hello Jake, and welcome to the forum! I don't have any experience dyeing with tea or coffee, though I've heard of people doing both. So I can't tell you much there except to give it a try. On using the sun, that does work and the oiling isn't needed. Sunlight will cause leather to darken just by itself. Oiling with some oils, like Neatsfoot, will also darken leather. Some others (mainly Extra Virgin Olive Oil) dont' darken leather, or at least don't darken it much. I haven't intentionally 'suntanned' leather to get a darker color, though I've had scraps that have been darkened because they have been in exposed to indirect sunlight. From what I understand, just hanging a belt in the sun here in Colorado (where UV is usually pretty strong due to our altitude) for a half hour can darken leather quite a bit. Hope this helps, Bob

Hello, If you want to stick with Fiebings products, many people here use Acrylic Resolene as a top coat. I use a spray on product made to seal chalk artwork, but it's still an acrylic and it will block UV so sunlight won't be as prone to discoloring your product. However, there are a lot of other options. Try browsing through the dyes and finishes forum and you will get lots of ideas that are more in line with the kind of products you make. What you are going to put the finish on is important to what kind of finish you need. What you need for a carved notebook like I make will be different than what a set of motorcycle saddle bags will need. Hope this helps, Bob

Hi all, From my cooking background I was always taught/told never to use a knife on a hard surface like glass (like a plate, corning ware or pyrex) because it would roll the fine cutting edge over and quickly dull the knife. It would seem to me that trying to cut with a round knife on glass would dull your blade pretty quick. Just my 2 cents. Bob

Welcome back, glad to hear you are feeling better! I think the belt looks good too. Bob

Hello Don, I haven't tried to clean an oil spot off of leather I was working on, but I can make some suggestions. First, I've had problems where the leather became stained from an accidental ink pen mark or from metal causing discoloration on wet leather. In those cases using a little bit of lemon juice did wonders to reduce or eliminate the mark. I don't know how well that trick would work with oil however. Second, I've had a time where my resist didn't resist very much and let my antique bleed through and discolor the leather unevenly. For this I used denatured alcohol to clean and strip the neatlac layer. It worked very well to clean the leather surface and allow me to reapply the antique and make the effected parts more uniformily the same color. It is a powerful cleaner, though it will dry out the leather and maybe make it a bit harder. Third (and I've never tried this) but many people use Oxalic Acid to clean their leather after carving, before finishing. You can find Oxalic Acid at your local big box hardware store (often sold under the name 'barkeepers friend') but it does have some toxic effects if not handled properly. I have little kids so I decided I didn't want to mess with it. One question though: what kind of oil is it? If it's neatsfoot oil, I normally would apply a coating of neatsfoot to a project when I'm done, so I'm wondering if a light coating of oil might not make everything look even and there wouldn't be a spot visible any longer? Hope this helps, Bob

Thanks all for the nice comments. I like the design and it got lots of attention on the Etsy shop, so I'm going to need to make something similar to replace it quickly. I've noticed a lot of web searches for celtic designs that were finding it, and it even inspired one custom order for a larger notebook. Aaron, you are absolutely right of course. I fully agree it should end up being exactly what the customer wants. I just want to make sure she doesn't ruin it in the process. Thanks all for pointing out that they will need to apply a finish over the lettering, I will pass that along to her. I've already promised to get this shipped today (it's going to Canada and I want to make sure it gets their before Christmas) but for the future I should probably track down a local engraving shop that could do laser engraving, in case this request comes up again. This probably won't be the last time I could use this sort of service. Thanks again all for the help! Bob