footrat

That's pretty awesome. There are a couple people out there that make leather helmets. One is a reproduction old-school lid that really only looks right with a high-eagle and a 1930's open-top pumper. There's another that makes a non-NFPA leather shell that mates with a Cairns 1010 impact cap.

It's quite probable that these custom shield makers use graphic design software to lay out their scroll work at the top and bottom. This would give them FAR more flexibility with fonts and spacing, as well as consistency across the curves. They then print it on tracing sheets, and carve like you would anything else. The name at the bottom is usually a standard Tandy-available font. The scroll work looks like a non-standard font, but it is definitely depressed lower than the surface. Whether or not you could do that with a laser engraving, I know not. It looks too crisp and even in depth to be carved lettering, though, so I don't know. The maker, by the way, is Fireline Shields.

I've had this same issue, ESPECIALLY when working with double or triple layers of 13/15 oz. skirting. The trick, as others have said, is to start the peening with the round ball of a ball peen hammer. The issues I have with this, when I have issues, are that the heavy leather is usually folded around a ring or buckle, and it wants to spring back up while hammering. This pushes the burr off the rivet, and/or drives the rivet through the burr. The way to avoid this is to make SURE the flat part of your rivet is solidly on your impact surface (marble/granite slab, anvil, steel, whatever), try to hold or clamp the leather layers together, and use the peening process to push the burr back down. As you roll the top edges of the rivet over, they will push the burr back down tightly against the leather. If you do this, and don't try to peen it down in three hits, you'll have no problems making pretty rivets. I use the ball peen hammer to pretty much dome the rivet all the way down, then I use the peening tool to clean it up and make it pretty. I come back with a smooth-faced claw hammer and give the rivet one or two good smacks on top to flatten the top of the dome a bit. I don't smash the whole thing flat like the picture above. If you smash it flat, sometimes the leather gives too much, and the rivet ends up with a dome in the middle of a concave, sunken burr. And about green rivets- I have some that have already tarnished underneath, where the rivet contacts the leather. There's a green fringe around the edge. This has only happened on a couple rivets that are on some very hard-use items that have been used for firefighting.

I have never seen the need for a #9 rivet. I use long and short #12's on everything I make, from belts to firefighter suspenders.

This is happening with everything I cut from a side of Tandy heavy saddle skirting. I also use Fiebing's Oil dyes. I've concluded that it's kind of like when your skin gets dry and ashy. A little neatsfoot oil clears it up. If you dye really heavily, like I do, it might take a lot of neatsfoot oil. Since I dye black and dark brown, heavy coats of neatsfoot aren't a problem. That, and my products get used in very hot, dry conditions, so extra oil is a plus. I finish with two heavy coats of Aussie Leather Conditioner to hold it in and waterproof it.

If you're doing large batches of this, Hobby Lobby and other stores have slabs of beeswax and parafin wax. They also have jars for storage.

Another option, and this may be too late, would be to finish the dyed piece before lacing. In that case, the finish would help seal the dye into the surface AND down in the lace holes where any dye might've penetrated further into the leather.

I work my belts from end to end, front and back, after dye, but before finish. It wrinkles the leather on the grain side, and makes a much more interesting and rugged looking piece. The size and character of the wrinkles depends entirely upon the leather. I use saddle skirting for a lot of my work, and I've found that the thickness of the leather has little to do with the wrinkles. Because it's the grain that's wrinkling, it'll do it no matter how much flesh is behind it. I've also found that in the same piece of leather, you'll have different wrinkling properties along a strap. Just a property of leather- a hide is different at different points on the animal's body.

Saddle Lac makes a great resist if applied in a couple of light coats. I've not used antique paste, which everyone says works better, but the Eco Flo gels wipe right off the uncut or unstamped surface. It is easy, however, to also remove some of the gel from larger recessed areas like the ones pictured above. Paste might stay in impressions a bit better.

Fiebing's Saddle Lac applied in a few light coats works well as a resist to antique, at least to the Eco Flo gels. I don't know about the pastes. I use black antique gel over dark brown oil dye, with Saddle Lac in between the two as the resist. It works well.

I use whatever fits the size of the piece. Small straps, I use a dauber, and squeeze most of the oil back out first, then use t-shirt scraps to buff the excess off. Same procedure for larger pieces, but I might use something larger like t-shirt or underwear scraps, or a wool scrap. Again, buffing off the excess. In this manner, I can apply just a little at a time, wait for it to soak in, and see if it needs more. Recently, I had some straps that were so dry after dying that they were ashy in patches. I gobbed the oil on with a dauber, let it soak in, and repeated until the straps wouldn't soak in the oil very quickly. At at that point, I buffed them and let them sit until the surface was dry, then finished with Saddle Lac.

The new stuff at Tandy, their imported alternative to Eco-Flo, has a pretty good red. It's a waterstain, but it's pretty darn red.

With Saddle Lac, spray it from further away, and in much lighter coats. Almost like you're misting it. It will leave more texture than a thicker coat, and that texture breaks up light more, resulting in less shine. And make darn sure you keep that spray nozzle clean, because once it gets gummed up, it'll start spitting large drops of product, which will almost instantly discolor Fiebing's oil dye, permanently.

I use Fiebing's oil dye, and while I don't dip my products, I dye them HEAVILY, and on both sides. My last couple sets of suspenders were cut from the 13 oz. end of a skirting side. After dying, they were dry as all get out. Both the dark brown and the black were ashy-looking. It took several heavy coats of neatsfoot oil to get the straps back to normal. Had they been dyed a lighter color, I'd have probably looked for a product that doesn't darken the color as much. Anyways, once the oil soaks in, I break in the straps by wearing Nitrile glove (for grip, not because of rub-off) and rolling the straps over and over, all up and down the length, front and back. I finish with Fiebing's Saddle Lac, which can be a bit glossy. Once the Saddle Lac is dry, I rub Eco Flo black antique gel into the dark brown straps, and buff it off right away. It slightly darkens the appearance of the straps, because the finish either holds some of the gel, or it just dries on the surface a bit. Either way, I like the effect. I have made the mistake of rolling the straps AFTER Saddle Lac, and it's not good. The finish breaks up and wrinkles really finely, enough to let a lot of antique gel settle all over it. It makes the piece much darker when using black antique over dark brown dye. Here's how it looks when I do it correctly.

The problem you're going to have with once piece of heavy leather is stretching. I carry with a belt that's made from a single piece of 8/9, and it's a bit floppy. It has stretched lengthwise by a little bit, too. If it weren't a gun belt, it'd be fine, and in fact, when I can't carry, it is fine. When I get a chance, I'm going to try either a piece of 13 oz. or a two-layer belt.

Thanks, guys. I wouldn't have ever thought to look in that direction. That is a clever use of that hardware, though.

http://www.etsy.com/...ther-cuff-wrap? I've searched all the interwebs I can, and I've found swirl clasps, but none like this. Wife wants me to make her a bracelet with this clasp or something extremely close. Any ideas?

You don't have a sporting goods store? Look in the baseball glove section.