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I have bought quite a few vintage Craftools from Pro Leather Carvers Supply. He also has a website you can order from. Most of the tools I have from them are pre 1968 Craftool, but I also have a couple of his James Linnell stamps. I have never been dissatisfied with their products. I am also a big fan of Barry King tools, and highly recommend them.

Get the book Figure Carving Finesse by Al Stohlman.

Pictorial Carving Finesse by Al Stohlman is a great resource with lots of instruction for carving.

The corners can be tricky. I start my first stamp dead center on the inside border line and stamp out to the corners, I stop just shy of the end of the line then switch and stamp the outside border line in the same manner stopping a few stamps shy of the corner. After I do all 4 sides I come back and stamp into the corners. This makes it easier to adjust and cheat to make it work out.

It is not a sunburst, and it is not in the Craftool index. they are old and hard to find. There is one on E-bay right now the auction ends in 10 hours. The sellers name is Trim6456 and the price is 42.95. he will relist it if it doesen't sell. search vintage leather stamping tools.

Very nice. I would be proud to ride that, if I wasn't so old and fat!

Sheilajeanne , thanks, It is one piece of leather, 18x13. The border was done with a Barry King Crown Serpentine, and a Craftool # 307 was used between the serpentine stamps to give it the zig zag

My latest figure carving. The pattern came from F.O. Baird. The finish is a combination of Fiebings Pro Dye, Eco-Flo water stain, acrylic paint and Eco-Flo antique gel

Get your leather good and wet, find a rough section of concrete or pavement place some cellophane down place your leather face down on the cellophane, weight it down and leave it for a little while. A piece with a lot of cracks makes a really interesting pattern

I found the Flexcut brand SlipStrop a while back while looking at wood carving tools. It is a small strop board with lots of different profiles, flat, round, triangle, convex and concave. I have found it to be great for all my leather tools especially edgers.

Scotch brand Heavy Duty Shipping Tape. I slicker it down tight to the back. I have done this for years and have never had a problem with stretching. Let the leather dry completely before you peel it off and it will come off clean. Other brands of tape don't work as well as Scotch Heavy Duty.

very nice

Duane Watts DWleatherworks on Etsy. I recently bought one they work great.

Look into Back Bevelers. I made my own to do exactly what you are wanting to do. I know Barry King sells them.

I purchased a Cobra Class4 a few months ago, It is the first sewing machine I have ever used although I owned a Boss stitcher for a few years. I love the Cobra . It does a great job it is easy to use and easy to learn. watch the videos on the Leather machine co. website, the video with Chris Andre will show you just about everything you need to know. I only had one issue with bobbin tension and was able to speak to someone immediately when I called and the issue was resolved. I think the Cowboy is basically the same machine, I also considered it when I was looking. I chose the Cobra because I met a holster maker in town who has one and I was able to look it over and see it in action.

The undercuts are used to raise areas such as flower pedals and turnbacks on leaves. I replaced my Craftool bevelers with a set of 15 degree bevelers from Barry King. The difference is amazing. I sold my craftools so I can't give you a comparison on the angles but I believe they are close.

I haven't bought leather from W&C yet so I can't speak from experience, but I was complaining about H.O. quality recently. I had a PM conversation with another member on here about W/C and was told to buy their Tooling leather for belts and flat goods and to buy the skirting for holsters and sheaths. I will take that advice based on the examples of this members work that I have seen.

Those are Barry King tools. He still makes most if not all of them. I recently bought the shell border and the box burst w/dot.

Get the book Figure Carving by Al Stohlman. It shows the tools and techniques for the fine details . Tandy has the book.

Chief31794 that sounds like my experience exactly from multiple suppliers. I think on my next order I will try Wickett & Craig. I am normally brand loyal and I like to stick with the same products because I know how they react to dye and paint and the finishes I use but I think it is time for a change.

I considered ordering one of those "Premium Belt Bends" about a month ago, until I contacted them to see what premium meant in this case. I found out it doesn't mean the leather is a premium grade, it's because the bend is cut from the premium part of the hide. So the" Premium belt bend" is just the premium cut of the hide which may or may not be trash. For those of us who don't live close to a supplier to hand pick our own leather, or to buy 10 hides at a time from H.O. it comes down to the luck of the draw.

Great Idea

First off let me say that I'm no expert, but I have been working with leather off and on for 40 years. I carve, I make sheaths ,holsters, belts etc. I discovered H.O. about 8 years ago and loved it. In the last year I have bought 6 sides and 2 bends of various weights and from a couple of different suppliers. It has all been crap. I am not buying the low grades but what I am getting is not as good as Tandys Craftsman Oak. I am paying a premium price for Scars, blemishes, wrinkles and holes. Every one of these sides is so filthy it looks like they drug it to my house behind the truck and some of it is so tough I can't push a very sharp head knife through it. I figure I am loosing about 35 % per hide to waste. I have to drive 2 hours to buy from Tandy but that is what it is coming to. Is anyone else having this problem with H.O.?

I have used pig skin for a lot of lining. It's thin it is tough and it dies well

I use clear heavy duty shipping tape on the back, works great.