Beaverslayer

Good looking work there Urban, and welcome to the forum as well, thanks for sharing with us. Ken

Ed, that's a beautiful looking bag. I see you've got that burnishing down pat now, great job. Ken

Wow, that is beautiful, such detail and depth, and the color is just perfect. Your a very lucky man Tom. Great job Clay, beautiful work. Ken

Myriam, great job there, I see you've got other tutorials as well, very good of you to do this. I like the way it's all layed out with the pictures and instructions in the bigger window. Now I'm going to have to get a dog so I can make him a leash. Ken

Jeff, so far it's looking real good. I like the steer skull on the back. As to a liner, most definately line it, you will thank yourself many times later. One thing you should do also, is the seam running across the top of the shoulder, you should re-inforce it and then stitch it like you have done on the yolk. On my vests, I will always cut this piece from one piece of leather so as not to have that seam on top of the shoulder. Hope to see the finished vest soon, good luck. Ken

Well that looks so much better, much easier to find what your looking for. Now if I could just get rdb and yourself to stop by the house, I got a whole pile of paperwork that needs to be straightened out. Great work the both of you. Ken

Spider, very neat way of doing it, I once used a safety pin to do some fine detail work, very hard on the eyes tho. Ken

Great day spider, I like the bandaid the best. Ken

I just recieved this from a good friend, and thought I'd share it with all of you, kinda brings a tear to the old eyes. Two Choices What would you do? You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice? At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?' The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.' Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.' Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!' Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay' Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay run to third!' As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team. 'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'. Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day! AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces. If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the appropriate' ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.' So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process? A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them. You now have two choices: 1. Delete 2. Forward May your day, be a Shay Day.

I like it Justwakin, the colors of this one are especially nice. So where do you get Anaconda skin? I know they are not native to North Carolina. Ken

Ian, nice looking seat. About the bobber pan, you may have to put a layer of that carbon fibre stuff into it for strength, I'm thinking that just fibreglass may be a bit to flexible and it may break. Ken

rdb, great looking bags you made, the color will look real good beside that Corbin seat. Maybe talk her into redoing the seat some day as well. Ken

Well Ian as much as I would like it to be, it is not. I have never put a zipper in one of my vests, or snaps for that matter, the style I make all have an open front that will flap in the wind while ridin your Harley. You can't imagine just how hard it is to lace a zipper into something. When I make custom Luggage, I sometimes have to put zippers in these, and I'll tell you what, it's not an easy task. They are down there somewhere tho, also in the UK and Wales, so keep your eyes peeled maybe someday. Ken

freak, that is just awesome, great job on getting the joneses out. I love the skulls and the wood detail, the colors all work so good together.Now get unpacking so we can see more.KenSorry freak forgot to tell you, lace...smoke coffee.....lace smoke coffee....lace smoke coffee....nap time.Ken

now that is way cool Jordan, matching key fob......L like this a lot. Sorry about the finger. Ken

Mike, thanks so much for the compliment, I do enjoy being able to share with all of you here. Myriam, the mesh I get fro Fannies Fabric, it is the same stuff they make sport jerseys from. Any fabric shop will know what your talking about if you ask for sport jersey nylon mesh. bob, I hope to do a tutorial on some of the diferent styles of lacing sometime soon. Johanna has asked a few times if I would do a video on it, but me and cameras don't work well together. Linda, I'm sure if you were to just modify the back end of the hat where the adjustment strap is, it would work for a pony tail. Jordan, I know what you mean about the lacing, I tend to do a bit, take a break for coffee and a smoke, then do a bit more. Tend to drink more coffee and smoke more while lacing though. Gibbs, thanks for the compliment, this forum is full of great people that are always willing to share their knowledge, glad your liking it here. Tina, thanks for the compliment as well, your work rocks also, and I hope you take home a blue ribbon this weekend. Curtis, glad you like this one, and as with the vest, can't wait to see the new hat. Just think, you can make it to match the vest. Banwell, always glad to help out where I can Tom. You yourself have been very helpful to a lot of mask makers, thanks for what you've been doing. Jim, thanks. After making my first ball cap from leather, it did not look right on my head, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't my head, cause I've been wearing hats for 40 years or so. That's when I decided to just cut it up a bit and change the shape. Many hats and lots of lace later, this is the style I came up with. You could do the same, just experiment with diferent shapes, and also another tip, use the softest and lightest weight leather you can. Deer works real nice, just don't wear it in the rain. Tom, glad you like the hat. to bad about the vacuum head thingy (gives me funny mental images) also glad to be able to share my knowledge with all of you. Ken

Tom, thanks so much, now can I get you to fix it on my website? or maybe I could get rb with his cut and paste talents to get er done. Ahhhh I'll do it a bit later today, I'm going back to bed, it's VERY cold and snowy here again. Ken

LOL, everyone asks the same thing, but NOBODY has told me how to spell it right. Ken

rdb, WOW, this is great, sure it's only cut and paste, but WOW you did a great job. Thanks so much for taking the time, next time on on the key fob kick I'll whip one up for you. Gibbs, I originally wanted to use a free web hosting for my site, but really thought the ads were distracting. I now use GoDaddy for my hosting, it's only like $50.00 a year, and I have Google Ads of my choosing on the site. The Google ads are now generating enough income that it pays for the domain name registration and also the hosting. I can change the Google ads at any time as well. Ken

I'm thinking of starting a petition to have your name changed from "rookie", very nice looking work. Thanks for sharing. Ken

Jordan your ingenuity with those little scraps is amazing, great work. Ken

Welcome to the forum Chris, good to have you here. Yes I agree with Roo, you have some real nice looking stuff on your website, and a fine looking site as well. Just one question though, what's a "banana bender"? Ken

Welcome to the forum HandyAndy, it's good you found us. This place is full of some of the best leatherworkers in the world, and all are willing to share their knowledge and experience. Don't be afraid to ask, there are no "dumb" questions either. I know how you can make 2000 new friends right off the bat. Design a comfy leather couch, with full refrigeration, built in TV remote and telephone, that has a slide out granite section that is on a turntable, and lots of small compartments for tools. Should work eh guys and gals? Welcome Ken

Azmal, really fine work as always. Checked out your site, that looks real good as well, very nicely done. Like spider, I'd need one made with a bit of a belly overhang, but if I wore that one under a shirt, the girls would go wild. Ken

Spider I just LOVE that. I'll upload those pics tomorrow that I got especially for you. Skulls are sooocool. Ken