builderofstuff

Wow. Beautiful work.

I really like this a lot! Very well done. I think the color is perfect for this, in fact if it were me I'm not sure I'd do anything but oil it. Great job. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

You know I'm glad you posted those pictures. I can't help identify it, but I love making my own tools, and making a leather splitter is a future project. I've been looking at different blades to use and for some reason it never dawned on me until I saw this to just make the blade myself. hahaha So thank you for spurring my creativity. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

I really appreciate the info folks. I've seen Bernie's videos online and I've been wanting to get them, just haven't yet. Chris

I appreciate the offer but I don't have any use for round acrylic at the moment. You can definately machine some cool parts from it, but I really can't think of anything I'd use it for. The only acrylic I've used in the last couple of years was the rectangle pieces that I make harmonica combs from. But I do appreciate the offer. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Very cool! I've been thinking about making a watch strap. Was it difficult working on something that size? What ounce leather did you use? Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Awesome work Daniel! Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Thank you folks for the replies. I'm going to look into getting a copy of that book and I've been reading through the tutorial on the website listed. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

I really enjoy braiding leather, and I really enjoy making lace from scraps. The next logical step would seem to be learning to make whips. I'm wondering how to get started and what kinds of things I should make for practice. In most areas you usually don't start off making the most complicated project you can, I would assume making whips would be the same. So if anyone has suggestions I would appreciate the help. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

I think this week I might order up some materials to make up a batch of these lace cutters. I've redesigned it a bit to incorporate the second little tool that I cam up with for actually cutting the lace. The bearing will slide to the other end of the tool and allow you to cut the lace from a piece of scrap. Anyway I'm trying to decide how much of the materials I should order up so if you're interested in one of these lace cutting tools pm me and give me a heads up. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

hahaha Not sure what kind of tubing that was. All I know is it's steel. I also made a simple clicker die from a piece of bandsaw blade today. hahaha It wasn't good for more than a couple tests, but I wanted to see if it would work. I was surprised that it did. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Very nice! I really like those. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Thanks for the tip. I appreciate the info. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

I just wanted to see if I could do it, so I tried making a quickie test slot cutter. I just took a piece of steel tubing, stuck it in my lathe and put a tapered edge on it. While it was spinning in the lathe I used a hard Arkansas stone to put an edge on it and then stropped it while it was spinning. Then I started to smash the end down with my arbor press, once it got to a point where it was wide enough I put a small piece of 1/8" steel inside of it and finished smashing it down. It actually worked pretty well. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Keep up the good work. For a first project you did really really well. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Very nice!! You do great work. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Here's a project I just wrapped up a few minutes ago. My fiance wanted a case to keep her little mp3 player and headphones in when she was packing it around in her purse. This is what I came up with. As I was looking at the pictures the stitching on the front where the pocket is I noticed it looks terrible. Amazing what the pictures bring out. After cementing the pieces together I ran the stitching awl through the leather from the outside in. What I should have done was use the stitching wheel to lay it out on the outside of the flap, used the awl to put the two holes in at the edge of the pocket, then using those for reference run the stitching wheel on the face of the pocket and run the awl through from that direction. I think the thread would have laid a lot better, not to mention looking a heck of a lot better. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

I wish I had made a pattern but I didn't. I just made it up as I went along. The way I made it was to take my phone and put it in a ziplock bag, which I kind of folded up so it was the size of the phone, I guess you wouldn't have to do that. Then I took the piece of leather I was going to use and soaked just the part that was going to form the front of the case. I laid the wrapped up phone on the leather, folded the soaked side over it, then started molding it around the phone with my fingers. When it was dry I contact cemented the molded section to the back and then trimmed it up nice and even. I then extended that line up the leather so that the flap would be the same width as the rest of the case. I folded over the flap, figured out how far down I wanted it, and then cut it off there. It would be easier however to make it from two pieces, one for molding, the other to form the back. I just did it this way to see if I could. I used velcro on it for the closure. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Very cool! Thank you for sharing. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Very cool!! I really like this. You did an excellent job on it. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

I made it from some scrap veg tanned 4 to 6 oz leather I got from a friend. He gets it already died, so I only had to die the edges. Thanks for the compliment. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Thank you for the kind words. Chris

Very cool. I like this a lot. Chris

Making a vest is something I'd really like to try. Thank you for sharing. Chris

I actually joined the Honourable Cordwainers forum the other day. Lots of good information there. I also looked at the sandal making book on the shoemakingbook.com site. But $101 for a book on making sandals seems to be a bit steep, at least for me it is. Chris I've watched a number of them, but seems like most of the sandal making videos I've come across are for making string and rubber mat type sandals. I did come across a couple videos on making sandals from old tires. But I really haven't seen anything on there about making leather sandals. If I'm missing something there let me know. Chris