Merlin2

Thanks for visiting my Bio:

Married 26 years, father of 2 boys 18 and 20 years old and a proud owner of a miniature long haired dachshund named Coco. I have been in Industrial Structural Engineering by main trade for the last 32 years, but my passion has always been leather working. The bug bit me when I was 10 years old when I walked into my first Tandy Leather store. The smell of leather has been intoxicating to me ever since. I started hunting with my family when I was 9 years old and my father had given me a very nice skinning knife, but it had no sheath. He took me to our local Tandy store and we bought a knife sheath kit with lacing on the edges and that was my first leather project. It didn’t fit my knife very well, but it did protect it and I carried it in the woods for years after that. When I reached 13, I wasn’t satisfied with my first sheath and so my real passion for creating custom leather goods started.

As time went on, my skills grew along with lots of tools and supplies. I obtained a business license and started my own leather shop and ran it full time for many years. Along with a very busy career in engineering, everything finally caught up with me and a bad case of burn out took hold. I honestly thought I would never do leather working again. I am just now returning from a self imposed break, and am hoping to re-kindle my old passion for this wonderful craft. After visiting this web site and seeing the talent and enthusiasm from all the members, I do believe it will help me.

Thanks again for stopping by.

John