whiteeugene

Thanks Joel I'm testing it now I'm not sure how well it will hold up it it doesn't work as a nose strap it will make a nice picture frame.

Thanks we have a lot of riding clubs around here, thought it was a way for the parents to show off there kids.

This is a prototype for a bronc halter I glued a clear plastic cover on the inside of the top piece of leather stitched and glued the back on. I left a small slot in the bottom to slip a picture in, it’s held in place with the small star concho. The design looks OK still need to work on the center hole where the picture is. I have a friend that is going to put it on a horse for a couple of days to see how bad the plastic buckles and to see if the picture discolors. Thanks for looking Doug

This is a prototype for a bronc halter I glued a clear plastic cover on the inside of the top piece of leather stitched and glued the back on. I left a small slot in the bottom to slip a picture in, it’s held in place with the small star concho. Doug

This is the second pair of spur straps I have made I used the design is one of Will Ghormley's. Thanks Doug

Band saw work setup I can cut 3 or 4 like items out at once using the freezer and band saw. Here I’m going to cut to cut out 3 bronc halters, all I do is cut 3 strips of leather just a little wider and longer than I need using a utility knife strait cuts don’t bather my wrist to bad. Wet them real good and stack them one on top of the other. I use a template on the top one to trace my design. Put them in a bag and place them on the freezer rack with something heavy to keep them flat a couple of roasts or chicken will work. For the spur straps I cut two pieces of leather just a little bit larger than the outside strap, using a template I trace the outside strap pattern on one. I trace the inside strap pattern on any free space I usually make a few extra not wanting to waste material. I wet both pieces and place the flesh sides together that will give you the right and left sides. Put them in a bag and place them on the freezer rack with something heavy to keep them flat. For multiple layered items I leave them in the freezer for an hour, single items a half an hour seems to work ok they don’t need to be rock hard just stiff if you are doing multiple layered items you can test them to see if they are ready by trying to pry them apart if they are frozen together good then they are ready if not leave them in a little longer. I use a 1/8 inch scroll blade in my band saw and it seems to work well, the nice thing with it being frozen is it keeps the dust down.

It seems that the blade does not bite the leather as much when its frozen kinda like cutting jerky from steaks its easier to control when it's stiff. When i cut spur straps with it I wet the leather and put the flesh sides against each other put it in the freezer with a block on them when I take them out they are frozen together I cut the right and left strap at the same time.

Anyone ever used a band saw to cut 8\9 oz leather; my hands have been hurting so I gave this a try. I cut some leather small enough to fit in a Ziploc bag, cased the leather then put it in the Ziploc bag and then into the freezer for an hour until it was stiff. I put a scroll blade on my band saw and cut my patterns out. With the leather stiff the scroll blade easily cut through the leather, I was able to make sharp turns with little effort. My question is does freezing the leather hurt it ? Please comment. Doug

No she didn't want it lined just a basic shell I glued some skived strips over the rivets.

I made this for a friend's daughter she drew a youth cow elk tag for the Snake River area, it's a 19 mile ride in. Thanks for looking Doug

I like the design are the letters burnt in or did you have to carve them?

I like them

Looks good practice practice practice

Looks very nice good color, what do you do on the inside?

Looks cool I cant tell did you put a welt in it.

Looks nice what weight leather did you use. Sorry to here about you friends I think this year is going to be bad for fires.

They said they had seen before but not as bad, A lot of color came off when I buffed it even on the new piece.

This is what it looked like after I buffed it with the leather balm, nice black. I made a new one it came out a little better still not what I wanted. looks like I will have to experiment some more.

I went by Oregon Leather this morning and they tried some leather balm it took most of the gold off but left the leather a dark purple or black with purple high lights. Tried it on a new piece with the same results, at least it doesn't look bronze any more. Thanks for all of your suggestions

I tried several combinations today and got the same result 1 coat or 3 still gold with dry leather or damp leather maybe its went bad it's only a month old. I may just pick up another bottle. I did a belt with this bottle a few week back and it was fine the only difference was the type of leather and the water I used. I had a similar with black one time had to dye the item with cordova and then black not sure why but the black never seamed to dry. Read a post about black made a new item dyed it cordova first then black came out fine same hide. Maybe I'll switch brands. Thanks for your help Doug