BIGGUNDOCTOR

Look in the plumbing section for faucet washers, or in the electrical/automotive section for rubber grommets. Or, just use a hole punch, and make you own out of sheet rubber. Lots of ways to do this besides cutting hose.

Casing with a sponge will be fine, that is all we did while I taught LW merit badge classes at summer camp. Attention spans will be real short, so keep everything simple as possible. Case, set stamp, whack! ,color with some Sharpies, wipe it with some Carnuba, done. At that age doing anything will be more fun than listening. Make sure you have enough stamps, mallets, etc so more than one can be working at the same time. I have a suitcase with 28 mallets, boards, etc that I use for things like this.

Kwelna, as to synthetic diamond, and ruby gemstones. There is one woman whose company makes rubies for lasers, and she has been asked to leave out the marker she puts into them. Seems there are some who want the perfect rubies she makes for gemstones. She won't do it, as they are so perfect without the marker that they could easily be passed off for huge money to unsuspecting jewelery customers. As to tanning toxicity. You may want to look up some info on tanning. Some even see a problem with veg, as it consumes large amounts of trees for the tannins. Course there is always the brain tanning method, but then you have to keep an eye out for zombies....... The one product that I have yet to find a substitute even remotely close is wood. A really nice piece of walnut in a gunstock has no competition for beauty, or feel.

I made a comment on the article, and so can you. Just add your comment at the bottom of the page. They approved mine. As to "character marks" on hides. I see a lot of posts here complaining about them , and where to get unmarked hides-mainly for high end items. There will be a market if they pull it off. Why wouldn't it smell like leather? Even if it is grown in a lad, and tanned as other leather is, it should smell like leather. They are using cells from cows to reproduce the same skin the cow has. This could also possibly control prices since this leather isn't dependent on meat market fluctuations, droughts, disease, etc that can vary the amount of natural hides on the market.

Weight will depend on the type of welding/activity being done. It will also need to be flexible. When doing overhead welding with stick you want a heavy leather between you, and the splatter/slag that will be coming down on you. My Tillman jacket is fairly heavy, and it has saved me from several burns over the years.

My reply got posted which explained that leather is a byproduct of meat production. Why is this lined out???

Yep, you got a whole lot of rubbin' goin on with that braid. How is it finished? I have desqueeked shoes with talcum powder, but that wouldn't be so good on a belt that will be seen. A good wax might get rid of the noise.

They are growing human skin in labs for burn victims, and even ears for cosmetic reasons, so why not leather? Imagine if they get it perfected. You could possibly get perfect hides in sizes, and weights that are impossible now. No stretchy belly parts, no wasted edges, just sheets of genetically perfect leather.Why wouldn't it be "real leather" it is grown from the same cells cows use to make their own hides from. Posted a comment on the site, we'll see if it gets approved.

Welcome from a former Kalifornian (Fairfield was my hometown). Used to go to the gun shows up your way all the time.

With the new color combos I can't read the secondary writing under the main post title. The gray just blends in with the brown, it needs more contrast.

High cost of leather is why my Mom quit leatherworking --- in the late 70's. Prices are all relative. I doubt that every hide goes to tanners, as I have seen trucks full of hides heading to rendering plants. The drought has many ranchers selling off their herds because they cannot afford to feed them, and the pastures are bone dry. With that being the case I could see a price drop-- IF the tanners have an over supply. The price increas may just be due to bad news, and they have the opportunity to jump on it. Kinda like the Chevron refinery fire recently, even in areas that that refinery didn't supply prices jumped overnight. Hmmmm , what was it that Obama's minions said "Don't let a crisis go to waste." Then again it may be because of something totally different like other rising costs of business in general.

Any way to determine how many of the site visitors are just LW memebers checking out your site? I was going to also suggest contacting a local school for web, and photography help. Check your local Meetup.com for photography groups, there are several in the Las Vegas area. One of your local members may help you out. Shoot, contact a local camera store, if there is one around-they may know someone. Now for marketing, check out Dave Ramsey's website. Dave is a financial guru, and also has the EntreLeadership program for businesses; book,programs, seminars,,, He has lots of good advice. Do you have a Facebook page for your leather items? I have a friend who is killing it with her jewelery sales, and she moves a lot with FB. I also know an artist that has sold several paintings off FB. You need to up your site hits. 200-300 a month is only around 10 a day. To make some sales you want to see more like 100 a day. Now, how do you do that you ask? You need to start developing a network of customers. My jeweler friend gets emails instead of handing out business cards. Every time she is going to be selling at a local event she sends everyone an email, and posts on FB the night before, and the day of the event. Too soon, like a week before, and everyone forgets by the weekend. She now has regular customers that contact her asking where she will be selling next. The main thing is just getting your name out there, and that will take a lot of work in the begenning to get that initial base built up. On the guitar straps, start hitting up music stores, contact bands , and any other place where musicians may be. On the horse related items, have you tried a local feed & tack store? Contact all of the local riding facilities, arenas, and again-any other place where horse folks hang out. You need diversification in where you sell as well as in what you sell. A constsnt change of inventory on the site wll give people a reason to keep coming back to it. If they see the same items every time they look, they quit looking. If something doesn't sell, pull it down, and put something new in its place. Then post on FB every time you make a new item. Some of my artist friends post progress pics of paintings on FB, and have them sold when completed. You need to find ways to engage with the customers, to keep them interested in Double C, because after all is said and done Double C is actually what you are selling here. ALL of this, is to build up the brand Double C.

Can't remember the exact name at the moment, but there was acouple that made gun storage socks out of a gray feltish like material. It was treated to prevent rust, and was soft enough for collector guns. They have one customer who is a doctor who was out duck hunting when he got an emergency call. He tossed his wet shotgun into the sock, and went to the hospital. With all that was going on he forgot about the wet shotgun until months later. Nervously he pulled the shotgun out of the sock, and was amazed that there was no rusting at all. They would sell the material for do it yourself projects like this. I used to see them at all of the local gun shows back home outside the Bay area of N.CA A lot will depend on if they plan on storing the gun in the case, or just use it for transporting. Moisture, and dirt will need to be delt with in either case.

TV---I haven't turned my TV on in almost 5 years now. Don't really miss it much.

Great job on the bag. Th ecoloring really makes this for me. I have a couple of these kits that I picked up from someone who was getting out of leatherworking. Been trying to figure out what to do with them, now I have some inspiration. Any details on the type of dyes used. This is seriously a very nice bag, you should send pictures to Tandy, or someone here may do it for you.

Depending on how many boxes,and what size, you may try to see if there is a company that generates a steady supply of boxes that you could get for free. Where I work we toss tons of boxes from small to large every week. My friend who had a motorcycle shop did the same, and he also had gobs of packing peanuts, and bubble wrap that accumulated like tribbles at his place.

Welcome it LW. You might want to get a little more specific with your location to get better help. I live in NV, and I am werkin in LaVerkin UT.

Instead of oiling , I would maybe use a car wax-less mess and transfer. Here in the very dry desert we generally don't have to worry about rust.

Looks like Gary nailed it.

Smooth-On has various expanding foams, and other molding products.

Well, no one said it was going to be easy. First you need to figure out where your items best fit. What do you make? If you make guitar straps, you don't want to market to non-guitar players. Are you making a product line, or are you only doing custom orders? How many items can you handle? You don't want to get an order for 100 by the end of the month when you can only make 10 a year. Do you specialize, or will you do whatever someone wants? You need to know your market, and your customer base. Where do they look for the items you make? Can you get your items into a retail location? Wholesale like Bluesman possibly? I would not do consignment, as it can cause issues. If they want to sell your item, have them buy it up front, and be done with it. What price level are you shooting for? People interested in $$$$ items usually don't shop for them at craf fairs, fleamarkets, or other discount places. If you are wanting to get $$$$ you need to project $$$$ in you attitude, business, and your product. Watch the movie Con Artist (netflix), it will give you a different perspective on art marketing which can apply to other mediums. There is a lot to running a small business, more than just hanging a shingle out, and waiting for orders. You may want to look into the new Dave Ramsey book Entre-leadership it is written for small businesses. Breaks over, gotta get back to work........

Is chrome tanned still a problem with causing rust on steel items, or have they cured that? I had heard to always use Veg tan for holsters, sheaths, etc so no rust from the tanning process.

Yep, lots of cool stuff pops up on my blacksmithing forum.

Having some computer issues at work, and trying an experiment. http://www.iforgeiron.com/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/29033-amazing-belt-driven-shop/

Grew up on a Garland rawhide mallet, and it feels right to me.