dragonspit

Hi Ray, Im a noob, but Im gettin the hang of it. I am assuming when you say chisel, you mean awl. a stitching awl, and a lacing awl are a little bit different. a stitching awl looks more round and pointy. from what I understand, a diamond one is a better quality. I have the standard tandy one, its done me fine so far, but thats only been a few pieces. yes a stitch groover although not necessary will give a more proffessional look as it will let the thread lie down inside the groove. unless you plan on doing a heck of a lot of measuring, you would use an overstitch wheel. you can also get that at tandy or most places. its a tool that has a handle, and a wheel with little points on it, that you run down your groove that marks where the holes will be. it keeps the measurement consistent. there are different wheels depending on the look you want, and the thread size you plan on using. and after your done, you use the over stitch wheel to run over your stitching to get it to set into the groove. of course you need some needles and thread. you will hear folks say it again and again on here, even if you do it on line, get the Al Stohman stitching hand book. its invaluable. it was to me, it would be to anyone starting. and pay attention, at the beginning he tells you read it and pay attention, dont just over read it. he was right......again.....still. hope that helps some. Bob

Love love love the color. I bought some mahogany gel stain for my project and its not quite the color I wanted, what you have is more the color I wanted. will have to note this for another time. Like the lacing as well.

Extremely nice. love the design and colors and the lacing. working on my first myself and could only hope to have it look half as nice. Bob

Chris, thanks for taking the time to respond. great answer and you cant see it at all. I plan to make some bike excessories, when I get a chance to replace my last two....hopefully this year. and a bib was one. but that question had been lingering in my head as I saw quite a few bibs done. right now Im just learning stuff and havent laced anything yet. besides, still paying off bills first, those pesky little elusive bills are keeping me from buying in the state of things. but its coming. thanks again. Bob

Very nice bibs Spinner. the color of the Cricket caught me off guard, but when you see it on the bike it looks perfect. I think I liked the edge lacing on the last one the most. then I got to thinking, wont the lacing wear on the paint pretty hard? I mean I have had bibs on sport bikes with simply felt on the bottom and just stitching on t he sides, and that scuffed the paint after only a year. and an inline 4 aint nothin like a twin v when it comes to vibration. just curious, id still do it, they look to nice. bob

looks nice to me. I havent tried any lacing yet, but its coming onthe project at hand. I can see the gaps in the corners your talking about, how do you keep that from happening?

I like the color ont he portfolio. subdued just enough. I still find it interesting the idea to buy that beat up old leather and make it useful. Hey, I just notice, so do you skive the flap part of the sketchbook journal? it looks thinner. Bob

I wouldnt worry about the scratches either. the color finished nice. looks like a good solid seat.

you always seem to have such interesting subjects, and the work itself well done to.

as usual your work and your designs are a joy to review.

Cant help with the sore hands issue, but the bags look very very nice.

thanks for the help folks. Im takin it all in then will practice before doing. I just got all my materials so I have some work to do before I get there. bob

Well I guess 6' and dry splice it is. think I will practice that onced or twiced prior to project. btw Aaron, we had lived in Beaverton for almost 20years. just left last summer to return to family and stuff on the east coast. its a beautiful area out there. Thanks so much for the help folks. now where did I put that practice piece with some holes in it.

This is a rockin idea in my opinion. probably cause im new and dont know anything, lol. if you did this well enough, could we put it together as money maker for the site and sell it. if anything else just a major area of understaning. I had tons of questions, went searching in the dye and stain forum. it could be endless, but the simple things arent pinned and could be like: when you use dye, or stain. how to thin or not. examples. I really think this is a good idea. it might even take some time to do correctly but would be worth it to the general public I think. my 2 cents.

I was asked to make a Bible cover for a friend which I am going to do. everyone understanding im fairly new to the game and well, ya get what I can do. The few things I have done, I sewed, but I want to lace the edges on this, and not just a single loop, maybe like a double loop. So I havve my cute little how-to book I bought when I was recently at Tandy and its got all the info you should need, but there was one thing (other than a bit o practice) I didnt understand. When you are at the start, the book shows how to begin, am I to understand that as your making your loops and and doing your work, your pulling the entire length of the lace through each of the phases of work? you just leave enough at the beginning to tie into after you come all the way around but if that is so, you would have to pull, the 7-9 time x length, through every single stitch. am I understanding that correctly? thanks in advance for any help. Bob

some great ideas here, Im gonna have to use some of this somehow.

Dave, as usual not only nice work, but creatively thought out. When I see things like this I realize how streamline my thinking is and need to open my mind. that being said, as new as I am, I have my hands full with just doing stuff, lol.

very nicely detailed work. wish I could see it in real life.

agree

LOL its funny you said that. My brother is a long time base player. I am planning to make him a strap as my skills get better. I went to my first guitar center in years, just yesterday looking at straps and comparing just for fun. I dont know, just caught me funny you said that. yeah, yours def some steps up from that.

Flaws? what flaws? that is a thing of beauty. nice, very very nice.

Still, a pertty darn nice belt. looks very clean and a nice design.

Did you try over at the motorcycle gear threads. There some guys over there that have done some really nice work on seats, maybe someone there could help? Bob

In addition and to add what Joet said, this site has more information than you can read, and will get mutlitple answers most likely for any question asked. there is even a thread called , Paul Burnett school of Leather ornamentation, if you have not read that, its extremely helpful. I would order a Tandy catalogue, they are free, and in there, will be some great books. Standard is the AL STohman (it was the very first one I bought as well). I have only been at it a few months, but its helped me greatly. it was all of $7 us at my local Tandy store. good luck and hope to see some images from you in time.