Mijo

Thanks for the heads up, my initial order with weaver was close to 2 years ago. I might go with them for bridle as I favor theirs over what I've seen at the Hidehouse. I like Bruce's suggestion on buying different types of leathers from multiple vendors rather than trying to get all your sides from one source.

I've bought leather from weaver I've bought from them directly and I was happy with the bridle and latigo they sent me. After my initial order they told me the minimum on my future orders is $500, which is more leather than I have room for. I'd order from them again if I could meet their minimum...

Looks good, I like the hardware you chose (fancier than just a plain snap).

Welcome Unknown Maker, from another SF resident.

Awhile back another forum member that I know, who owns a local dog collar business, started making martingale collars with Herm Sprenger hardware. If you check Herm Sprenger's website you can find one of their distributors (US), there aren't that many, or potentially order directly from them.

I don't have a muzzle pattern per se but Dean and Tyler makes muzzles, http://www.dtdogcollars.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=114 . I've seen their leather muzzles in person, two years ago at Superzoo, and they are really nice. I was thinking about scaling down their "Guardian" muzzle so that it would fit a small dog but I couldn't justify paying for one just to tear it apart in order to scale it down. San Francisco's public transit allows for dogs that are either muzzled or in a carrier, if the dog isn't a service animal, and I was thinking that there might be a market for small dog muzzles in my area. Then I noticed that most people that bring their small dogs on the bus have their dogs in carriers so I never pursued the idea any further.

I do the same thing but I use a saddle chisel instead of a diamond chisel. I use this method when hand stitching multiple layers of leather where any one layer is over 10oz. The problem with a diamond chisel is when you punch two layers that will be lined up flesh side to flesh side and sewn together, the diamond patterns are opposite of each other. This causes the stitching to look a little less uniform. Since the saddle chisel is rectangular or slot like in shape, the hole pattern is the same on both sides. I normally don't punch the leather all the way through with the chisel but it's punched deep enough so that it doesn't take that much force to get the needle through the rest of the way. I still need to use pliers to pull the first needle through though. For thinner layers of leather I use an awl, but I still mark the leather using the same chisel.

Welcome, I like the design of your body harness.

If I had the workspace / storage space I would buy leather in various thicknesses and forgo the need to split leather. As it is I purchase leather in 9-12oz sides and then split sections when I need thinner leather.

Looks good and well constructed. I make a similar style harness for small dogs, mine has a couple of additional points for adjustment.

Jbabler - Give Rite On Screw a call, http://www.riteonscrew.com/index.html. They machine button studs right here in CA. They revamped their website last year so their button studs and chicago screws are no longer listed but they still make them, I ordered about 100 button studs from them late last year. When I placed my order they only made solid brass (not antique), zinc plated solid brass and black. They only make the screw back kind, but offer several different sizes. Junior, the guy I've dealt with, will also send you samples if you ask. The price breaks are pretty low, in terms of quantities, as well.

Looks too nice to be used for sweaty gym clothes and running shoes.

Check the Hide House in Napa (CA). They carry designer / unussual dyed latigo leather. I was there a couple of months back and I remember seeing brown sides of latigo when I was there. I don't think chocolate brown would be considered a "designer" color.

Welcome, from another Bay Area resident!

Welcome Ben! I would suggest picking up some of the Al Stohlman's books on leather crafts, particularly the volumes that have projects that you want to make yourself, and purchasing tools based on what you need for those projects. If your not going to be stamping or tooling your projects, than those tools that are part of the linked starter set are not going to be utilized.

I switched from craftool's diamond chisel to Osborne's saddle chisel and have been very satisfied. I think the saddle chisel is about 7spi, but they also make a chisel for gloves (which I've never seen in person). I've also ordered / used the waxed linen from Royalwood that I'm pretty happy with. I have a 1 lb spool of Barbours linen thread that I'll start using once I run out of the natural waxed linen from Royalwood. One thing I noticed is the barbours doesn't look as thick as the Royalwood (even though they have the same number of cords). That slight difference in apparent thickness might be due to the fact that the Royalwood linen is waxed. If you order from Royalwood make sure you can meet their minimum so that you can get the discounted rate, otherwise you end up paying a lot more.

I thought about making leather business cards awhile back as a way to use up some belly sections of sides that I couldn't otherwise use (for dog collars and leashes). In fact I was planning on having a stamp made so that I could stamp our company info on dog shaped book marks and pass those out as business cards. Ultimately what killed off that idea was the amount of work that was going to be involved. I had already procured all the necessary equipment to make the books marks (i.e. dog shaped die and wooden book press). Since I was going to incorporate book marks as business cards, I needed to split the leather (a 9-12 oz book mark is too thick and the same thing can be said about business card of the same thickness). Once the leather has been split to an appropriate thickness then I cut out the shape of the book mark using the die. After that's done then I stamp the book mark (with the eyes and nose of the dog and the our company info) and also punch the mouth of the dog which holds the actual page. Once that's done I had to soak the book marks in water then put them into a book press to dry over several days, in order to give the book marks some stiffness. That's a lot of work for something I'm just going to give away. My dog shaped book marks tanked on their own so I had no interest in incorporating the business card aspect of it. IMO, there's actually more work involved with making leather business cards (that I would be okay with representing our company) than I'm willing to spend. My leather business cards would need to reflect the type of craftsmanship that I'm cable of (as limited as it is) which would mean splitting the leather, pressing them and finishing the edges.

The dog poop bag holders have been the best way to utilize the bellies, for me anyways. people were asking about them anyway so it just happened to work out well. The other uses for bellies (i.e. liners and embellishments) that I mentioned don't really use up that much leather, in comparison to bag holders. It's funny that King X should mention product tags b/c I've been thinking about using the bellies for that as well, as soon as I have a maker stamp made. I was also thinking of using the bellies to make price tags, but I'd need to have a dollar sign stamp made as well. I'm always trying to find uses for scrap leather and bellies, even if it isn't for something that I can actually sell. Good luck with your bellies and post back with your poop bag holders, I'd be interested in what you came up with. My poop bag holders look very similar (in design) to the tool bags that Brooks Saddles make that hang off the back of their bike seats / saddles.

I buy sides of latigo and bridle and also end up with lots of bellies as well. I use the belly sections for strap keepers, liners (for collars and leash handles), embellishments (bows, dog tags) and just general experimentation. I started making dog shaped book marks but found most people uninterested in them. More recently I've been using the bellies for making dog bag holders that are affixed to the leash. I had some much belly sections saved up that I was able to make an entire set of camera lens cases, which I posted pictures of in a separate post.

Trox, I have an 86 splitter but it's blade is only 6" and not 8". Is the 8" blade from an older version of the 86? I'm just curious...

Looks really good. How did you affix the circular pieces that make up the top and bottom? I was thinking maybe you hand stitched it like a mitter joint but I don't see any stitch line.

I'm not familiar w/ ranger belts but your explanation makes perfect sense and is what I was envisioning. Thanks for taking the time to explain it.

Unique design and hardware. Is the billet only affixed to the body where's its stitched / riveted? Does prong of the buckle go through both the billet and body or just the billet? Your construction and finish look solid. Thank you for sharing

the attached pictures are of a prototype rolled leather leash I made over a year ago. what roo4u listed in their post pretty much summarizes what I did. I used handle #18 & #20 from the Art of Making Leather Cases V2 as a guide to make this. I started with 10-11 oz latigo and split it so that it was thin enough to roll, however the sections attached to the hardware and the handle itself have not been split. There's a core of scrap latigo running down the length of each section, I made a previous prototype w/o the core and it lost the rounded shape over time. without the core the leash would fold over onto itself like a kinked garden hose. I love the design of this leash and the way it feels in hand. the only problem is that the leash is way too heavy for small dogs, which is who my clients are and my own dogs. Consequently I never bothered to make a matching collar. I hope the pictures help you out.

welcome, the hoods look really good. another forum member posted a link for a hood pattern and how to make one but your hoods look like their on a completely different level.