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Bob Blea

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Everything posted by Bob Blea

  1. Thanks for sharing Chancey, I wouldn't have thought of this either! More resources to play with! Bob
  2. LOL! Yes, she is not to happy with us right now.... Bob
  3. Hello srbonner, You are dealing with a common problem. Push beaders can't do a square corner very well. Typically people deal with it by using a seeder in the corner to fill that space, so the beader lines don't have to meet. Otherwise, if you need the lines to meet and form a nice corner, you need to use regular bevelers to bevel the corner and make it blend in with the beaded border. Hope this helps, Bob
  4. Yes, thank you for this. I may be making one of these sooner than I thought. My dog just had an 'accident' tonight on my wife's notebook she uses for her school board meetings. I think I need to make something nice to replace it. Bob
  5. Thank you Northmount, this is great info for those of us that want to try making one of these. I can see I had a lot to learn in making this and you've saved me some trial and error. One question: when skiving the covers to the spine piece, and you trying to make that a feathered edge so from the inside, it's smooth like one piece of leather? Bob
  6. Hello Hectron, Nobody else is answering so I''ll give it a try. I would think using the resolene with enough coats will give you that shiny look. I've used a couple of acrylic finishes and I've found that too much gives the leather a shiny look. Bob
  7. Hello cbulld, I've made one of these but it was a single piece of leather. After lining it the three ring part attached by rivets through two holes built into it. I have seen several of the three piece types you are looking to make, and I want to make one someday too. The three ring part would attach to the spine the same way, though on the nice ones I've seen on this site they use screw back conchos to lock the metal binder part in place. I like that look a lot and will probably do that when I make one. I will hand sew the covers to the spine when I do mine because I don't have a sewing machine. I believe that you would need to sew the spine to the front and back covers, then sew your lining in around the edges. There is probably a lot more to this I haven't thought of since I haven't tried it yet. It's a project I want to take on this year though. Bob
  8. Hello Curious One, It's not just you! I have had the same problem and I think lots of people do. I recently asked the same question because my vine work often has that problem. Part of the reason is how the beveler is made. Because of the sloped face, when you strike the tool it will actually slide forward, toward the cut a bit. This causes your vine work to shrink a bit and the background areas to grow a bit. The recommendation I got was to either adjust for this when you draw your pattern (if you draw your patterns, which I don't yet) OR when you cut the pattern, carve slightly outside the line to allow for this. Since I got this advice, I actually haven't had the opportunity to put it into practice. I haven't done a floral carving since that time but I'm about to start one. Seems to me that it will take a bit of thought to know when I should cut outside the line and when I don't need to. I might start working on this tonight. One other thing I've noticed that may help: I am not the worlds greatest beveler, so I sometimes had to go over an area with a beveler to make sure it was smooth. I am pretty sure that each time I went over it, the vine work got shrunk a little more. I have recently been trying to improve my beveler walking ability, and I think that because I am getting a smoother bevel in one pass, the shrinkage is less noticeable. Also, I am casing following Bob Park's techniques in the topic pinned in this thread, and it seems to make my leather behave in (good) ways that I've never achieved before. So I can't rule out that proper casing helps too. I think it makes my beveling easier, and thus less shrinkage. Hope this helps, Bob
  9. Wow, that looks spectacular!
  10. Capnmeow, I have often been discouraged lately, not just with leather but with lots of things. Some of it is just a product of the times we are in now. If I am tired or have been at it for a long time I can get to feeling this way and it usually means it is time for a break. Usually sleep and some other activities so I can return to what I'm working on a little refreshed. Whatever you do, take you time deciding. Leather, like anything in your life, can seem very frustrating when you are focused on nothing but it. When you take a step back and get some perspective it doesn't seem quite so big a problem. Hope this helps, Bob
  11. I'm probably with Sylvia on this one. To me, a 'leather crafter' would be a craftsman, someone who practices their craft with great skill. But I can certainly see the hobby 'craft' meaning in that too. I really think it depends on your background and your mind set. You may be used to thinking of 'crafts' as the art class that your young kids go to at school. Or, you might work in a union environment where the trade skills (plumbing, electrical, etc.) are organized into trade 'craft' unions, and those people are the ones trained and most skilled at those particular 'crafts'. Same for the term 'worker'. There are probably plenty of people that will automatically associate 'leather worker' with 'worker bee' or 'day laborer', someone who is low paid or doing a job that anyone could do. I think most of the perception on each term will depend on the person who hears it and their background. Everyone probably has some preconcieved notion of what 'craft' or 'worker' means based on their own experiences. It is up to us, when dealing with that person as a potential customer, to help them understand what makes us skillful at what we do, and what makes our particular product unique and extraordinary. Bob
  12. Looks nice! I saw that article too and I've thought about making it. Just been too busy with other things to give it a try. Your looks good. Bob
  13. Realy nice belt! That looks fantastic. You are going to be so proud wearing that on gameday, and you will have the only one in the world. Bob
  14. I saw someone using one of these is Sheridan this year. She had just got it so she was still getting used to it, but she was pretty sure she liked it. She said it takes some getting used to because the mind set is different while using it and you have to think differently than you would with a standard swivel knife. I didn't try it myself, probably should have. To me it looked odd and that I would have trouble with controlling it, but that's just me. I like my normal swivel knife. But I could see where it might be a great knife for someone like McJeep. I hadn't thought about that aspect of it. Bob
  15. Thank you for posting this. Bob
  16. Bob Blea

    Groovers

    Hi Chavez, I swear that last year or so, Tandy came out with an improved design of the groover, and someone on this site reviewed it and really liked what they did with it. But I just tried searching for that review and couldn't find it. I personally just use the Tandy one and it works, though I'm not a pro and I don't do a lot of hand stitching, so I'm no expert. Bob
  17. OK, I had another brian storm thanks to Sylvia mentioning the tubing. There is a special type of tubing used in electronics called heat shrink tubing. It does just what the name implies. When it gets hot it shrinks to form tightly around cable bundles to seal up or insulate the ends. It usually is shrunk using a heat gun, though I've done it with the tip of a soldering iron or even a candle flame. It comes in all sorts of sizes and you can get it at Radio Shack. You would slide it over the tool handle then shrink it down with heat, and the material has a no slip feel to it. It would actually work great in this application, and it's not expensive. Bob
  18. To answer your question about the round knife, it does have some advantages over using a utility knife. For instance, you push the round knife away from you where with a utility knife you usually need to pull it toward you. Also, you can get your whole body behind the round knife when pushing it forward through the leather, making thick leather easier to cut. Also, leather will wear down the edge on the utility knife blades fairly quickly, but they are cheap and easy to replace. However, you can't beat the price of a utility knife and there are lots of people on this forum that get by with them. Hope this helps, Bob
  19. I have seen some people wrap their stamp handles with electrical tape. I always thought it was their means of identifying their tools, like I put little bands of nail polish on mine. But now it occurs to me that their tape might help with their grip too. Just running with that thought, I've heard of people here suggesting those rubber pencil grips you can get in office supply stores to make a cushioned and non-slip grip for swivel knife barrels. I think they make them small enough you could get some for most stamp tools too. Just a thought. I might have to look into this more. Thanks for the tip Ken. I've always had really dry hands, so things slipping can be a problem for me too. Bob
  20. I don't think you need think leather. As Oldtimer said, 1.5mm will probably work fine. The weakness in the sack will come from the quality of the sewing job on the seams. You will probably want to take a good look at the sewing forum here on the site for information about sewing leather. I'm certainly not an expert on it. If you plan on hand sewing this, try to get a copy of the book Hand Sewing Leather by Al Stohlman. I think you can purchase an electronic copy from the Tandy website. Bob
  21. Hello Dhiwangkara The weak point for your rucksack won't be the leather, it will be the sewing or lacing holding the seams together. If the sack is going to see heavy duty you will want to use a pretty thick thread to keep it all together. Bob
  22. CW, As far as I can tell Bob is just selling it himself right now, but he's a member here and you could PM him about it. I got the book from him in Sheridan and I'm still going through it, but I think it's excellent. He explains things very well and I am really understanding his approach to design, and I finally feel like I'm ready to design patterns that will be worth looking at. I recommend it highly. Bob
  23. Hey Jon, Just to throw in a couple of other historical interests that are close by: Yellowstone is just a few hours west of Sheridan and the Black Hills (Mt. Rushmore, etc.) a few hours to the east. Yellowstone usually has just opened the east entrance by the time of the Sheridan show, but a lot depends on the amount of snow they received the previous winter. Just an FYI. Bob
  24. I really like these, especially the first one. I've wanted to make one of these but I run into the same problems Jayjay runs into. Yours look great. Bob
  25. I saw the Don King tools too. I'm not a collector, though it would be cool to have a tool made by him I just can't justify that price. However, I did buy a few figure carving tools from Robert Beard at the show. I have a specific use for them and I can justify that price, though they weren't as much as the Don King ones. I got a couple of Wayne Jeuschke geometric stamps too, and he does make some big baskets and geometrics that sell in the $120+ price range new. They are all great tools and if you have a good use for them and can justify the price, it doesn't seem like so much to pay. It's all in how you look at it. Bob
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