Ferg

http://www.goodsjapan.jp Simon Bennett is the administrator. He has many, many items for sale. ferg

The problem with trying to find a fault with Bobby's work? I am personally so amazed at his constant attention to detail, perfection of line in the designs, and his obvious abilities otherwise. I do truly enjoy observing and studying this gentleman's work. ferg

Hi Ann, I was sure that completely dry leather was going to be too difficult for the deco punches to handle. I was simply testing how the different amounts of water saturation would effect the design. With the leather fairly wet the design had a tendency to shrink although after the test piece completely dried I do not see that effect at all. Second time was with the leather still too wet to stamp or carve well, I wanted to see if there was any improvement in punching the design. Third was obviously the best time to punch the design. It was still easy to punch the holes with a 16 oz maul plus the design was clean and never appeared to shrink or change shape as I punched all the holes. Personally, I think these punches offer an opportunity to make some really great additions to an overall design of a piece. ferg

Bobby, I follow your procedure for burnishing edges with great results. I seem to have the best luck finishing the piece before I dye the edges. The Neat-Lac seems to help my unsteady hand from messing up the finish side of the piece. I have never used the gum tragacanth since your method works. "Ain't Broke don't fix it."

I understand you had bad luck with your punches. Simon told me the manufacturer of the original punches had gone out of business. The punches I have from him are from a different manufacturer and do not appear to be brittle at all. The first punch I used was in dry leather. I do not believe they should be used without the leather being cased and allowed to dry as I did with my third design. As I stated before, I bought the entire set of three different sizes . Simon gave me a discount and the shipping was free. At this point I am very pleased with the punches and they do as advertised. ferg

Back in November I ordered a complete set of Decorative Punches from Simon at GoodsJapan. Shipping was prepaid from Japan. Total time until I received the punches was somewhere around 3 weeks I believe. Wasn't in that big of a hurry so the time didn't matter. First impression when receiving them was, "How the heck would I get good clear cut-outs with them." Edges do appear to be rather fragile. Simon suggested I lubricate the cutting end with oil. Great idea. I use a craft sponge to apply Neatsfoot oil to leather. The sponge holds oil forever. I tapped the end of the punches on the sponge just enough to put a little coating on the cutting end. I used a piece of 3/4 oz. veg tanned. Cased it as usual. I punched while the leather was still fairly wet, waited about an hour and punched again, then waited until the leather was just right for tooling and punched again. This is only the third time I have used the punches so bear with me a bit. There is some metal shop residue on the edges of the cut-outs, I did not attempt to clean that off. Just experimenting so some rough edges do not matter. Bear in mind that I punched these free hand, they are not perfectly lined up in the design. I have some ideas about layout, just haven't had the time to work on that as yet. BTW: I used the large commercial pounding board Tandy is selling now, under the leather. Doesn't appear to affect the cutting edges on the punches at all but the board is going to have a lot of cuts. Do not know if the surface of the board can be redone or not. They are made in Germany. ferg

You would need a large cylinder. Probably at least a four or five inch diameter. Throw is available as a variable. I have built quite a few of the machines we use in our shop,some are nearly 30 years old and still going strong. I have done a lot of work with the air cylinders. When I have time I will work on the idea and post my findings on the forum. ferg

If you think it is not too good, maybe it isn't. Don't expect folks to fall over themselves to comment on something that has only been posted for a short time. Patience is a virtue. You done okay for a first project. If you keep at it you will likely want to make another that you will like even better. ferg

i think I can understand the frustration of your condition. I would go a step further: In lieu of the C-clamp use an air cylinder from Graingers for instance, Mounted in a bracket with a multitude of fittings that are available plus home made. A small pancake compressor will supply sufficient air to the cylinder as long as you don't get carried away with the diameter and length of "throw". Amount of pressure can be regulated with a pressure regulator. Small cylinders are usually good up to 120 psi. If you wish I would be glad to experiment for you in using the cylinder. That is, if you do not need it quickly ferg

Not everyone agrees but I learned many years ago when building homes and doing many decorative items in wood plus other materials, you never ever let anyone have ownership of a screwed up piece of work. That covers freebies or less than normal price points. My .02 ferg

That would be an acquired taste. ferg

Saddle bags: You may want to study some Sheridan designs closely if you wish to make them more true to the original designs. Potty seat: Nice work Cuff: Very nice. Your wife could market her work. That does not mean you couldn't ferg

I like most of your designs. I believe your stitching needs a little work ferg

Mike, My take on this was not that you shouldn't want the item but if it becomes a luxury of little to no use, the money is not worth it. Not unlike buying antiques ferg

Mike, Let's put it this way. One of the finest swivel knives available is a SK-3 for $135.00 ferg

Two problems I see from your post. Belly leather is stretchy and not well suited for sheath/holster work plus you are not casing your leather. Do a search in the LW site for casing leather, you will get more info than you probably wish to have access to at one sitting. ferg

Nice work. Font doesn't appear to be "Western" though. You may want to include more carved space and not quite so much background. ferg

Lot's of English men and women in this forum/community. Welcome! Peruse the site and learn and contribute. ferg

Linen seems to be a favorite among hand stitchers. ferg

Hi Dink, Personally do not care for the scrolling photos, I suppose I could get used to them We quit using any advertising system of anyone. Our sales increased with an obvious increase in pocket money. Make sure you have the full name of the site/your business in the first line of your front page. Robots love it. ferg

The auto primer could be lacquer based, solvent/water. Either way, I think you have a nice chap painted gray. ferg

Mike, Pricing is quite often decided by your clientele, at least the ones you are aiming at. If you want to get into high end belts I would suggest you practice your work and consider some more expensive/classic hardware. Your selection of hardware design is okay. Understand that Bobby is a top of the hill craftsman. His belts are beautiful, finely detailed, expertly carved and finished. ferg