Northmount

Leather and Wood vol 2 has a magazine rack that might give you some ideas. Is available as an ebook from Tandy. CTG

A really great piece of work. I'll never be that good, but I appreciate the beautiful work that you and others here do. I shouldn't have shown my wife the lizard. She loves lizards, so guess what? Now have to learn to make nice looking lizards! CTG

Nice bit of research. Now "line" makes a little more sense to me. I've always had a selection of snaps, so just grabbed the one that looked the best for the article I was fixing or making. There are some other posts in the last couple months about setting snaps and how long the post should be so it doesn't bend over and collapse, making a crooked mess. Do a search, should be easy to find if you limit the search to a couple months. CTG

On many machines, raising the foot releases the top tension, so raise it just enough to allow you to turn the leather following your curve. Raising too far will mess up the stitch appearance and position of the lock. CTG

There are several photos in this thread. Edge guides CTG

You can make a leather strop very easily when you want. There are posts here with instructions and how to use. Some people use cardboard, poster board, and even newspaper to strop knives. Probably takes a little longer than when using jewellers rouge. But the main idea is to polish the blade so all those little rough stirations are gone. CTG

Needle in right? Top thread not threaded correctly, can't pull thread through so needle cuts thread as it goes down? Rats nest under plate? Follow the thread path to make sure nothing is hanging up. CTG

Try Bob Kova,Toledo Industrial Sewing Machine Sales Ltd. 419-380-8540. He is another LW supporter. Provides bonded pre-lubricated thread in black, white, straw, light brown and dark brown. Thread (and good prices) CTG

Try a heated box, hair dryer, heat lamp, just don't burn it to a crisp. Kitchen range ovens may not be able to set the temperature low enough. Do some searching here for how people are drying their projects. I have seen lots of posts. CTG

There is a set of 3 booklets by Al Stohlman - "The Art of Making Leather Cases". They are available in print from a Tandy store books, or as ebook downloads at eBooks. There is also a booklet on Handsewing Leather by Al Stohlman. sewing leather And as mentioned, there is loads of info here. Use the advanced search feature at the top right of the page here. I suspect you are not interested in tooling yet, so these books are a good place to start learning what tools and techniques are needed, and some simple to advanced projects. When you are doing searches here, search for "wet forming" as well. Enjoy CTG

Try Wikipedia, they have a good article. CTG

There are some liners that are basically 3 pieces, the two ends, and a central piece that floats in slots in the end pieces. The central section is not glued or sewen to the wallet back. There is a pattern posted here that I noticed a while ago that could be adapted to the style of interior you want. Then it can open flat and fold without bunching up. You will need to search for it. I would say it came up within tha past month or 2. Try wallet pattern. CTG Edited: found it. Pattern

There are lots of posts on vinegaroon under several spellings. Search for vinegar and you will be more successful. Lots of comments, lots of examples, lots of testing has been done by several posters here. CTG

I'm not sewing biothane, but 2 different machines, if I get a rats nest on the bottom, I have to increase the top tension so it pulls the loop back up through the material. Works for me on leather and on canvass. CTG

Sometimes hard to really tell where the knot actually is on thin stuff. Use white thread on one side and black thread on the other side. Then you can tell for sure. If your needle size is too large, the leather doesn't grab onto the thread, so makes it harder to adjust tension. CTG

You can buy one, use it as a pattern to make more. If you still have the one that is too small, use it as a base pattern for the idea and arrangement, and modify to fit what you want. Note that for folded wallets, the liner is typically 3/8 to 1/2" shorter than the back so it can fold without bunching up. Don't sew or lace the interior to the back across the fold so there is room for it to move. Make some paper or light cardboard mockups, staple the pieces together to see if they fit the way you want them to. Staples are easy to pull out and redo parts that don't fit or meet your satisfaction. The interiors can be sewn on a home sewing machine since they are quite light weight. A leather point needle will help with stitch line and appearance. Keep the good side (exposed side) up when sewing. CTG

Looks pretty fair. Top right test is scorched a little, so just need to turn the darkness down a little and I think you are on the right track. Should fill a niche where people want a design of some sort, but don't want to pay for the time it takes to carve and tool the leather. It is also a quick way to do logos for company promotional gifts and awards. Good luck. CTG

The acid probably needs to be neutralized. A baking soda solution should work for that. After treating it with baking soda, I would rinse it off a couple times. Too much bs in the leather damages the leather. There are threads about using vinegaroon here followed by bs to get rid of the smell of the vinegar. One or two of the threads made that comment. Good to hear all the blood came out. CTG

Tandy is in the business of selling their patterns. If you distribute their patterns on the web, you are infringing on their rights. If you make duplicates of their patterns and sell the duplicate patterns, you are infringing on their rights. "For the most part" if you copy a logo at a customer's request, the customer is responsible. But be cautious. I am familiar with a case several years ago where a welding shop made milk barn stanchions that were a copy of the dairy's existing stanchions that were patented. The patent owner sent a representative out to the welding shop (since they didn't get the sale). When they found that the welding shop was not selling stanchions, but making them under the customer's direction, the patent owner backed off and just said "Don't make any for sale". The patent owner did not go after the dairy and I don't know what they were told, but they didn't come asking for anymore to be built. It is really best to stay clear of the problem. The big companies have a lot deeper pockets than you do. Ask or have your client ask for permission, stating what it will be used for and how many will be made. Keep a copy of the permission statement. Even making a logo that looks similar and could easily be confused with a deep-pockets logo (or any copyrighted / patented item) for sale to someone else could take you down a road you don't want to go. CTG

Strap cutter and mallet are quite cheap at Tandy. See what they have for scraps too. Hopefully there is one in your area. CTG

Most motors with a knob for speed control have a potentiometer under the knob. That is a wire wound resistor with a metal wiper that rubs against the resistor wire, giving you a variable resistor. The speed control arm adjusts another potentiometer. All analog electronics, no digital stuff. No optical sensors. Usually good heavy duty stuff. CTG

An additional piece of info, denatured alcohol is dry, no oils added. Rubbing alcohol has oils added. So for leather, the bit of oil shouldn't be a problem since we need to add some back after dying. For some other applications, oil is a problem so they say to use denatured alcohol. Methal hydrate can be used too. From Wikipedia Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH (often abbreviated MeOH). It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol (drinking alcohol).[4] At room temperature, it is a polar liquid, and is used as an antifreeze, solvent, fuel, and as a denaturant for ethanol. Also from wikipedia Denatured alcohol or methylated spirits is ethanol that has additives to make it undrinkable (poisonous), to prevent human consumption. In some cases it is also dyed. Denatured alcohol is used as a solvent and as fuel for spirit burners and camping stoves. Because of the diversity of industrial uses for denatured alcohol, hundreds of additives and denaturing methods have been used. The main additive has traditionally been 10% methanol, giving rise to the term "methylated spirit." Other typical additives include isopropyl alcohol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone,methyl isobutyl ketone, and denatonium.[1] CTG

Slightly warm water softens blood stains better than cold. Think about your body temperature. I'd moisten it with a spray mister, blot and repeat to get the worst out, then follow up with peroxide and oxalic acid. And of course, always the sooner the better. I've had a lot of practice, used to have lots of nose bleeds, and the occasional cut! CTG

It is a very nice job regardless of a couple little gotchas. And you will know for any other purses - any type - that you may do in the future. Great job. Kepp it up. CTG

Or stick it on with an old fashioned 8" long hat pin Seriously, though, very nice hat. Just don't get caught in the dark with some dogs chasing you! Carry super-soaker with some nasty stuff in it. CTG