GlenH

I made a knife sheith a while ago, and I used a dremel tool mounted in a press. It did the trick and was a LOT quicker than doing it by hand). Just be sure to place your piece on some other leather for the drill bit to drill in to, otherwise you'll have ragged holes on the back side. As JustKate said above, sharpen your awl. You might also want to stick it into some beeswax before trying to punch holes in leather (that works for the needles too). Glen

Try Black River Laser (blackriverlaser.com). I had them make me some templates for ID badges, and they threw in some clear plastic for me that was already cut to size and had the stitching holes. The plastic is a lot thicker than what I'd been using (that is, it's stiffer) so the oval hole in the middle shouldn't need that little reinforcing ring.

Have you tried Ohio Travel Bag? ohiotravelbag.com Glen

I'm working on a cover for my wife's nook. I also bought a cheap cover from Barnes & Noble, but that was just to get the plastic part that holds the nook in place. The rest of it will be like a regular notebook cover, using three pieces (front, back, middle).

They call it Goof Proof on their site. It's at the bottom of their stains page: http://springfieldleather.com/category//123/Stains/

Just take it back and they'll replace it. No need to get the HQ involved. It's a good tool and it does what it's supposed to do.

Go to Springfield Leather's video page (http://springfieldleather.com/content/321/Videos%2525252525253A-Helpful-Hints/) and look for the one called staining leather. He shows you how he gets that look.

I think the instructions on the sprayer say you need to thin whatever you're spraying. So maybe try thinning it with water and see what happens. But Tandy sells it in a spray bottle, so maybe you should get a spray bottle and try that?

I have no idea what chat incident you're talking about. If you're making leather crafts for sale, the only thing matters is if the customer likes it. If you think it has to be perfect before you can sell it, then you'll never sell anything. I've sold stuff to people who said my work was really good, and all I could see was where I'd messed up a decorative cut or gotten sloppy with the coloring. But they paid me, and that's what counts. What you need to figure out is, THEY (the customer) don't know where you messed up. Now am I saying you should put out junk? No. If you get the video from Springfield Leather about making wallets, Kevin says something on it that makes a lot of sense: it just has to be good enough. I've seen a lot of incredible pieces here on the forum, stuff I could never do in a million years. Some of it is so nice it looks like a machine did it. And that's the bad part too. We're making HAND crafted items, not machine made. Sure we may use machines to help (maybe a sewing machine or a clicker press), but the end result is a one of a kind piece, no matter how many wallets of the same pattern you make. And one of the interesting aspects of this craft is "camouflauging" your mistakes. One time I was making a luggage tag that had oak leaf stamps. I was doing the stamp on the left and stamp bounced when I hit it and I got a double image. After I said a few bad words and had all but decided to scrap it, I figured I'd go ahead and stamp the leaf on the right side. But this time I intentionally moved the stamp to replicate the mistake on the other side. It ended up looking like one leaf was laying on top of another, and the customer loved it. I just subscribed to the Leathercraft Library from Tandy (yeah, I know; Tandy is an evil word here to some people on the forum). I've watched a couple of hours of George Hurst (an Al Stohlman award winner) showing how to do everything from custom basket weave to basic carving. And you know what? He's not perfect. His swivel knife veers from the pattern; he misses the basket weave stamp occasionally; he gets a drop of color on a spot it shouldn't be. It's interesting to watch and say to yourself "Say, I've made that same mistake". So quit beating yourself up over what some idiots say on this forum. I've found that there are a LOT of snobs here (mention Tandy in a post and they'll come out of the woodwork). If you're not a member of a local guild, join one if you can. The guilds WANT to help people with leatherwork (some of the folks here seem to want to go back to the time where you never passed the craft on to other people). If you can't, then the $25 for the Leathercraft Library is a great investment. Now, go have a Merry Christmas! Glen

Do you just glue the leather to a regular pick guard then attach that with screws somehow?

Ha. I was watching one of your videos and you commented that you'd made this from an idea by George Hurst (got to meet him at the IFoLG show a few weeks ago; really nice guy). I had a side of 9-10 oz leather that had some non-usable places and I figured I'd try that, but it was WAY too thick. I'll give it another go with the thinner leather and see what happens. Thanks again.

What weight of leather did you use? Been wanting to make one myself, but I wasn't sure how.

For us non-machinist types, some pictures of what you're talking about would be very helpful. Also are you all just talking about using the 3D stamps or regular stamping tools? That is, what all do you use on the press?

Tandy has had to reformulate or drop a lot of their chemical based products due to government regulations. They're not just doing this for no reason.

Mike, I've been looking for that beveler, but I can't seem to find it on Sheridan Leather Outfitter's web site. Do you have a link for it?

Very interesting. I struck out three times myself; I just can't understand what the judges are looking for. One comment I got was that a small bag I did needed a liner. I intentionally left it unlined, so that seems a little too subjective for me.

For those folks who weren't there or for those who were but didn't get a chance to take all the pictures they wanted, our guild is offering a CD of photos from the show for $20, wihch includes shipping. You can order them here: http://southcentralleathercraftersguild.com/sclg-2012-ifolg-show/2012-ifolg-show-photo-cd/ Glen

I use this: http://www.misterart.com/scrapbooking/tools/trimming-tracing-tools/fiskars-circle-cutter.html Glen

The catalog says they're going to be out in 2013.

Well, since my guild is hosting it, I'll be there, so I look forward to meeting you. Glen

www.springfieldleather.com has some great stuff.

http://southcentralleathercraftersguild.com/sclg-2012-ifolg-show/ is the start page for the conference. It's in Nashville (Tennessee). The pages I posted above have the prices or links to the prices for the classes.

All online registrations for classes, show, and banquet for the 46th Annual IFoLG show will close on October 1. After that day, you will have to register at the show. The deadline for mail-in competition entries is also October 1st. If you miss the mail-in deadline, you can register your entry at the show on Friday, October 20. Hope to see everyone there. Glen

Springfield has it for $6.25.

Wow. You should enter some in the competition at the IFoLG show here in Nashville in October. Glen