Tree Reaper

Thanks Sylvia; I should have increased the border on this but you can see how the lettering follows the stitching all the way around, very even and that's what I was trying to accomplish. The mini slab works great for stamping and tooling small areas. Kevin.

Thanks, not very difficult to do. I had a picture of him that I traced, carved, blocked out the body area except the nose because he's a yellow lab, gel saddle tan for the finish and the eyes were done with gel mahogany painted on. Finished with clear coat. With the two together I can see where I can improve on the next carving. The mouth on the left extends too far and should drop straight down and I need to darken the area under the nose a little, always room for improvement.

Rabbit is hair (hare) you might consider something like muskrat fur.

Hey Mark; Not criticizing but my sewing book warns against sewing across the end of the strap because it creates a weak spot in the leather.

The only formula I know of is adding 3/4" between the tracing line on the trigger guard and end of barrel to outside of leather. When my pattern was complete I would insert the gun to double check it.

Tried my hand at carving my lab on leather.

You would fold and glue with something like contact cement.

To quote Al Stohlman, " Welts are used where two pieces of material join. This strengthens the seams and adds to the general pleasing appearance ".

Here's an idea for stamping letters on a curve without putting a hole in the leather. The distance is adjustable and accurate. Just keep turning the leather to index.

I found that a modeling spoon will take the mark out but it leaves a matted finish on the leather and in order to hide that I had to spoon the entire work piece.

Here's a freshly tanned beaver tail in a key fob finished today.

Go to a taxidermy site like Van Dyke's http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/Product-Instructions-C2414.aspx You can order a free catalog.

I have tanned hair on and off, it is a different process. I have a few beaver tails in a bath right now, they sit in a salt, pickling crystal bath for a few days then tannium is added for a few more days, that's where I'm at now. Next will be neutralizing the bath to stop the tanning process, removing them then tacking them on a board, applying oil as they dry then breaking them over a steel plate to soften them. What I did originally was order the kit, measured the amounts in the kit then ordered bulk. When tanning just a few tails I reduced the amounts by an even amount in order to make just a couple of gallons of solution.

I just trace around the gun.

The instructions will tell you when to apply it. I use a chrome tan and the tan is applied while the hides are soaking in the pickle bath.

I was watching Tommy Mac doing a segment on veneer. He used a water/glue mixture to spray the wood, put it between newspaper with weight on it and changed the paper until the veneer was dry. It came out very flexible. Something else to try! Here's some information on softening ... http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/flattening.htm

Hi Dave; I glued the bark to the leather, the back of the bark is glued to suede and then stitched. I wouldn't want to bend or crumple it too much but I'm using it for my camp keys which will stay in the truck so I'm hoping it will hold up to that. The suede on the back makes it somewhat flexible. Kevin.

Testing some birch bark in a key fob inlay today.

After giving it some thought I came up with an idea to clamp small pieces of leather down to a small granite slab and using a thin piece of plywood not only for the clamp but also a fence to line the tools up on. This works great for stamping letters and other designs. Kevin.

I assembled one a while back. Did you get the instructions?

Most hardware stores have those boxes with the lift lids that have a pretty large selection of set screws and the clerks sometimes forget about them. Chances are they have them.

Brass escutcheon pins is what they sometimes use to install name plates.

A regular bolt will get you by until you can get a set screw. The regular bolt won't be any softer than the brass screw he had but it will have a head on it which can interfere.

Ask your hardware guy for a #8 32tpi set screw, 1/8" long. If he doesn't have that you can get a 8-32 bolt and cut it to length, but you will want to buy a nut for it so you can remove it from the bolt after you cut it, this will help clean the threads so you don't bugger up the knife. http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=INSRAR2&PMAKA=431-0058&PMPXNO=2622085

No "S " here.