reddevil76

Looking for a good one with spare blades if possible. If the seller is kind enough to find out the shipping to Singapore, my postal code is Singapore 600124. If not, I do have an account with a forwarding service located in Portland, Oregon.

I thought a certificate was all I was going to get after being phased into the reserves. Then a few days ago, I received a letter to collect a medal and a watch for my service in the army. Thought it was just going to be another mass produced gift watch.. Surprise, surprise!.. It was a Hamilton watch! Not too bad looking.. going to make a strap for it soon.

Hi JK, i punch straight through all layers after gluing them together with contact cement.

Hi Leatherj, it's hard to approx how much "give" to leave at the border, especially when I haven't worked with kangaroo before. I don't have a tried and tested method for measuring "give" at the borders. Till today, I am still very much on trial and error basis. The amount of space also depends on how far you want to stitch from the edge. Assuming you are going to stitch 3mm from the edge, a total of 10mm should be more than enough. I would even go to 8mm. But you would have to be very accurate with your stitching. If you are going to insert the pages of the passport into the cover as well, then I will measure the thickness, divide it by 2, and add it to the 8mm. One more thing, when we apply contact cement, it will definitely "exceed" the stitching area, so after stitching, I would go into the pockets with a bone folder, or wooden ruler, and free up these cemented areas. These will help the first time you try to push in the passport. It helps for card slots in bifolds too. The pic below illustrates the cemented area and how they go beyond the stitching.

No, of course I don't mind. Cheers!

Hi, before this, i was using paper, pencil and a french curve set. Later on, a colleague gave me a 1995 version of MS Visio, which is what you saw. But I found that it is a very obscure software, and when I sent it to template makers, they are unable to use it. I would go with John's advise instead. Searching Corel now!

Hi Chavez, still haven't done a template. But I hate to disappoint, so I did these pictures on the fly. Its suppose to just give you an idea, but for sizing/spacing, you gotta figure that out on your end. I suggest you cut them out on art paper or something cheap before you commit them on leather. Good luck!

Hi John, thanks for the tip! I've been to this site so often yet never noticed they have a category for classes. If I didn't read incorrectly, it seems students must provide their own tools, so I might have to order more before signing up. Timing-wise, I've got 2 photoshoots booked in July, so maybe I'll look out for future ones. Nevertheless, thank you and I'll be sure to keep checking back.

I recently ordered a 6/7 oz Hermann Oak back with moss flesh from Goliger Leather out of curiosity. I was told the moss flesh is that the tannery applies a liquid to the flesh side to make it smooth. The back I received was very nice. The flesh side is very nice and "soft" to feel on the surface (the leather is just as firm as any Hermann Oak. It does not have a prickly feel like the flesh side of any leather that has been split. I would imagine that it would be applicable for projects where you don't intend to line it. I have seen people make envelope style covers for Ipads, and they don't line it as a style. But the split fibres of a firm tannage like HO might be just enough to finely scratch the contents of these covers. Moss flesh might be better for such projects. But if you intend to do any carving or stamping, I think it might be just a waste of money, because most likely you will glue it to some backing, and the moss flesh will be lost after you have removing the backing. Contact Goliger Leather, they will send you cuttings upon request.

Mr. Li, if you ever consider taking in a student for a week or so, please do keep me in mind. I would love to fly over to Taiwan to learn sheridan carving. I have sent a facebook friend request to you. I am a Singaporean chinese, so I can converse very well in mandarin, I just cannot type or write in it. So if lessons are conducted in mandarin, it will be ok for me. Best Regards, Dylan

Hi Kevin, I have bought 2 sides of Royal Meadow before. While I was still a elite member, at 6.80/sq ft. The leather feels and smells nice. It burnishes very nicely too. It is indeed softer than most, but I wouldn't say it is close to garment leather at all. It still has enough body for making wallets and bags. One thing though, which Chris (Spinner), has experienced before too. Looking at the leather, it looks almost 100% blemish free. But the moment you wet it/ dye it/ oil it, or apply any form of liquid to it, you start to see little spots appearing here and there. These spots aren't many, but it is frustating if it appeared right in the middle of a cut piece. For my remaining Royal Meadow, nowadays I spray a little water on it, give the spots a chance to appear, before I choose where to cut. I am thinking these spots are actually insect bites which have been buffed out, thus not visible when dry, but appearing when wet. This is just a guess. In any case, with the current prices, i suppose you are better off with W&C. You can buy W&C's standard grade with that price, and I've heard W&C is relatively softer as well. I can't be sure as so far all my W&C leather has been plated at my request prior to shipping. Rgds, Dylan

Here's another good example of one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-GASKET-WAD-WASHER-LEATHER-HOLLOW-HOLE-PUNCH-PUNCHER-SET-/290719581839?pt=AU_Hand_Tools&hash=item43b03cc68f

It is a pointed spring loaded shaft in the middle of the handle. Once you position the point of the shaft on your marked hole, your hole punch is automatically centered. Here is a Sailrite video showing one. (wonder why they use that creepy music in the video) The video says it is for fabric. But it looks like any set sold by the hardware stores. Most of the people who buys these use them to make gaskets for automotive purposes. Don't try to buy those cheap china made ones. I have tried one out, it doesn't even go through a piece of 3-4oz. My local store has a set of UK origin. It punches through the piece of 4-5 oz I brought along cleanly. But it costs US$100 for a 10 piece set. I am still considering.

Hi Joe, I have a template made and it had a hole marking which is for me to punch a hole for fixing on a screw-on type concho. I contemplated making the template hole as large as the chicago screw, but later on decided if I switch to different conchos, that large may be too large or too small. As concho makers varies the chicago screws they use. In the end, I decided a very small marking hole is still the best. And from there, I can use a self centering hole punch. Using this combi, I can punch any size holes, and it will always be centered. Hope I don't sound confusing..

When assembled, it should look like this Remember to stitch the dotted lines before putting on the bottom piece. I use either 3-4 oz or 4-5 oz all around. And 2-3 oz for these card areas.

Hi Chavez, I would love to post more pics, but unfortunately the wallet has already been delivered to the customer quite some time ago. I made up this part as I went along. When I have time to put out some templates, I'll post pics of it.

This video isn't me, but it gives a good idea how to use the stitch punches from Goodsjapan. After the stitching holes are punched, the saddle stitching is as per the traditional method (lots of threads and tutorials on saddle stitching on the net) It takes some practise to make sure you are holding the iron straight while punching through. If you are using the smaller sized irons or thicker thread, you might need a round awl to push/enlarge the holes before going in with your needle. I use a size 5 with 1mm diameter thread and it works fine as it is. http://www.goodsjapan.jp/servlet/the-6573/Seiwa-Diamond-Hole-Punch%2C/Detail Buy a 6 prong for straight lines, and a 2 prong or 1 prong to go around corners.

Thank you everyone for the kind comments. craftsman - I hand stitch. But not the awl method, but using punch style pricking irons from Goodsjapan. It seems the card compartments is of interest to some here, so I will attach a pic to illustrate it. Hopefully, it is self-explanatory. The top image is an inner layer, while the bottom image overlaps it. If you need to put in more cards, just add more layers of the top image. If there is sufficient interest, one day i hope to do a video tutorial on these biker wallets. Hopefully, we can use the tutorial as a sort of mini-fundraiser for leatherworker.net as well.

Hi Eve, looking at your facebook pics, it appears that you are leaning towards designer bag looks. In that case, you might wanna avoid veg tan leathers. Once they "age", they will appear "dirty" to ladies who are used to fashion leather bags. Chris is right, chrome tan leathers might suit your needs better. However, some Japanese companies did succeed in making fashionable items while drumming in the beauty of aging leather. See this link for some inspiration (they hand sew portions of the bags, though not entirely) If you are inspired after this video, and would like to continue experimenting with veg tan leather, I would suggest 2-3 oz goat veg tan. It is soft enough to manipulate, and yet has enough body to look good when made into a bag. Regards, Dylan

Thank you all. Charlie - I didn't colour the veg tan leather. I bought it drum dyed. No credits to me on that aspect Jay - At the edge, wherever the pieces overlap, cut away the overlap area. This way, from the side, it is only one layer.

Recent works by customer request

Here's my take on my experience with BRL. Previously, I only knew Grey Ghost does acrylic templates. A couple of months back, I had Jeff do a set of pattern transfers for me, plus buying a couple of lifters. The corner of my pattern wasn't entirely square, and he actually took note of it and notified me prior to beginning the job. It was a very pleasant experience and I was ready to do business with him again. I did my 28 templates in MS Visio, and then realised that it is a very uncommon software. Jeff tried to work on it but apparently didn't have much success. I tried saving it in another format and sending it to him. After some time, I sent a reminder email, and he replied that he is kinda busy, and will get back when he can. I waited for a couple of weeks before I stumbled upon BRL here. Same problem, Joyce didn't have Visio software. But she patiently worked with me (I'm a computer idiot) and through a combination of saving my files as .dwg extensions, plus sending screen grabs of each file with a grid behind, she managed to work out and verify the sizing of each template. She was extremely patient with me working on my makers stamp too. And when the package arrived, I was pleasantly surprised that not only the templates were accurately made, she engraved the filenames of each template on the pieces itself. This certainly would make it easy for me to store and retrieve them. Thumbs up for her patience and customer service!

Thank you..

I did ask before buying. In fact, I asked several, and most replies goes along the same line ".. what we have currently are very nice indeed and pretty.. we will hand pick the leather for you, etc" After I receive the leather, I usually don't bother. Because of my distance, even if the company accepts returns, it's not worth paying $60 returning a $100 side. Hi Clair, were these the Hermann Oak belt bends they are listing on their site?

Love the pictures I've seen here. Someday, I might move to a neighbouring country where an average man can own a house, and I might have my own dungeon. For now, I have to work within my apartment, and the balcony is the place where I work. In the day, it is a sweltering 32 degree celcius. Humidity is high, so all tools prone to corrosion have to be oiled after use, and de-oiled before use. Here's my desk, with my supplies like thread, lace, hardware, liquids, all underneath. My splitter is there too. I put it away after every use as I don't like the idea of a sharp bench tool exposed to other family members. Its a small table, so I have to shift all the stuff to the floor when I wanna open a hide to cut parts. Thus I normally try to cut pieces for a few projects at one go. As I limit myself to small size projects, it works for now. The only plus I have is that I live on the second floor, so there are no neighbours below to annoy with my pounding.