Northmount

Try cleaning with Fiebings liquid saddle soap, evenly across the whole hide. Then bleach with oxalic acid. And of course get some oil back into it. You can test on a smaller piece first so you have a good idea how it will turn out. Have salvaged some old, and some bad smelling leather using this process. Tom

Great job. Very interesting project. Tom

The type of light seems to make a difference as to what happens. I have seen a veg tanned binder that sits in a bright mostly south facing (hot) window. The portion that is exposed to the light has bleached substantially. So that would say that infrared light seems to bleach, since UV is mostly blocked by the glass. But that doesn't adequately explain why leather darkens inside your workshop, since it is most likely protected from UV unless you have lots of fluorescent lamps that produce UV. Maybe it's just the heat that bleached the exposed parts of the binder. More questions than answers! Tom

Try bleaching with oxalic acid. Has worked for me. Test on a scrap piece first. Tom

Fantastic! More ideas to try. Thanks for posting these. Tom

Lots of good information and some new techniques. Thanks Tom

Wetting the leather enough to form it will destroy much of your tooling. Others have posted, best to tool after forming. Tom

Fonzarellis, thanks for your comments. It is easy to get under someone's skin, even when talking face to face, let alone via text. We don't have those visual cues to help interpret a person's feelings or expressions. There are so many different areas of leatherworking that could be considered. Maybe one thing to do would be to look at the forum titles and use that as a guide to split the roadmap into useable sections, making a roadmap for each section that could then be pinned. As people's work load and interests change, the amount that someone contributes will ebb and flow. So this idea could take a long time to complete, but I think it could be very helpful. Maybe the topic could be stored in each section of the forum as a beginners guide to xxxxx. What do longtime members think of this idea? Let's as a group of LWs see what we can do with this idea/project. We can edit a thread (or put the map/guide into a PDF) if needed to make it more useful once we have the content. And newbs probably need to help with this, since they are the ones that will ask many of the right questions for others with more experience to fill in the gaps with their knowledge. Tom

This site does quite well at replying to people's queries, even when the same question is asked and answered many times over. So the "pros" in some cases are getting tired. Since you have lots of time to surf this site, perhaps you could take it upon yourself to put together a list with links of all the topics that a new person would be interested in. I added links to your previous post to aid any others that might be following this thread or come across it later, whether they are of interest to you or not. I think it is good form for posters to link to other posts instead of just making a list, especially when the poster already knows where the answers are located. The search function works well too. Hope you are interested in helping others find their way around this site. You may expand this thread, and we can pin this or a new thread if it turns out to provide a roadmap that will be helpful to many others. Don't restrict it to just tooling and carving. Tom

General Knife Sharpening Instructions Items 4 and 5 from above post are combined (along with other steps) in a couple pinned topics here and here.

If the top thread is laying on the top, and loose, not pulled down into the leather, then the bottom tension needs to be increased. But first check that there is nothing wrong with the bobbin spring, nothing jammed under the spring, clean etc. It doesn't take much to increase the bobbin tension, so go slow! Tom

Rubber cement from your local stationery store. Needs to be something you can easily peel off after. Some cement it to a sheet of Mylar, others to card stock, shelf paper, etc. There are numerous threads here if you do a search, should be able to find other suggestions too. Tom

Nice! You are having way too much fun! Tom

How about using 2 pieces of leather strap, one end of each has the mating stud and button. The opposite end is punched with a double row of holes (with extra holes for adjustment) then laced together for the length to fit. For smaller wrists, it may limit the amount of decoration, but would be nice just as a plain band, dyed and finished. Tom

post the link and maybe someone here will be able to help further with defining it or a better translation. Tom

Once you get the right thread, needle and foot pressure combination, the backside will look a lot better. You can also tap the back side with a flat faced hammer to help smooth it out. Sometimes a little moisture before tapping the back helps. The backside never looks as good as the top side. Tom Also look at http://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html thread/needle chart suggestions.

Very interesting. Are you interested in sharing a few patterns for dummies like me? Tom

See post #29 in this thread!

Where's the like button? Eating pi is the best! Tom

Just tested it again. IT WORKS.Are you following the instructions in post 2, or just clicking on the link? In either case, there is no need to keep posting that it doesn't work when it does for most. If it is not working on your computer, tablet or smart phone, you need to get your browser fixed, or see if your provider or your software is blocking that domain/ IP address. Tom

Works for me! Tom

You are half way there. C = Pi * D or C = Pi * 2 * r I think where estimates for strand widths for braiding are concerned, the 4.5 rule of thumb is likely a better estimate since the strands are not running parallel to the axis, but rather cross the axis on a diagonal. Tom

Definition of an expert: X is an unknown quantity, and spurt is a drip under pressure. Another definition is anyone more than 25 miles from home. Tom

Post 3 says hand stitched. But for machine stitching on a domestic type machine, bottom feed dogs only, you are right. So is something for. Those using domestic or industrial tailoring machines, this is something to beware of. Tom

Very nice job Ken. Tom