Cyberthrasher

Oh yeah, and don't drag and drop them - who knows if something there might be causing an issue. Just hit "attach file" and browse to it.

Wet it with a sponge and slick it up with my nine folder. I have a glass slicker on the way. After that,dye then finish with Resolene to keep the black off the clothes. If the piece is too fleshy I'll shave and sand it first. You will NEVER see me use Gum Trag to simply glue the fibers down. Aside from the fact that it can wear off and let your fibers pop back up, its also abrasive and shouldn't be used anywhere that might slide. Its also just a cheap way out of doing a few more minutes of work to get it done right. I'm on my phone and it decided bone folder should read "nine" folder. Sorry about that.

No need for pictures if you can't get it figured out. This pretty much says exactly what you're looking for. There's confusion because we also worry about rounding the edge of our leather too. Most of these replies are accidentally explaining that. I was trying to find a good write up I found on it once, but can't seem to find it yet. I think it may be in a paid book actually. That's something I'm not comfortable copying to post here. But, if I have to I can try to take pictures of the process for you. It's such an important technique and I really wish more people would do it - so I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen!!

I'm just south of you. So, Scott, which end of the state are you in?

Figured I should put something up down here for once instead of just leaving it to my gallery This one is fixed length with holes punched for Schaller/Fender strap locks. The gold is acrylic. Black is Fiebing's Pro Oil, and the whole thing is covered with Resolene and finished off with Montana Pitch Blend. I had been wanting to get some more backgrounding worked into my designs and got the chance here. The customer originally came to me with a tribal cross, then changed his mind to this skull (kind of). While waiting for his turn on the list, I started thinking and decided I'd combine the two and put this frame job in there. We struggled with the back design a little bit until we decided to go back to a cross and came down to the ones you see here. Also, you may notice that the tribal design on front somewhat resembles a snake with it's mouth open. The customer's been on a rampage lately killing snakes around their Southern California ranch, so I used that for some inspiration - including the diamonds down the back.

light light. It's always going to go on darker where you first put it down, so you have to make sure there's not that much there to begin with. I use either a sheeps wool scrap or a blue shop paper towel. Either one, I put over my bottle and do a quick splash up onto it. Then, the important part, wipe it off on the rim and follow it up by blotting it off on paper or something. Then you can use light pressure to try to evenly move it around on the leather. If you're doing dark colors, don't worry too much about discoloring the front. In fact, as mentioned, sometimes you WANT it on the front to aid in your coloring (the oil before dye will also help pull color in better). I oil the flesh if I'm going natural or I have a lot of color variation and I don't want to move color around (if it needs some oil after dying). This is where experience and trial and error are your best method. But, it sounds like you're not afraid of doing that

I don't know about Aussie, but for MPB, the directions on the jar tell you what to do Just put small glob of it in your palm and rub it into the leather with your fingers - a little goes a LONG way. The heat from your hand melts it, followed by the heat from rubbing it into the leather with your fingers.

What's you pink color? If it's paint, then you can go over the black. If it's dye, you may have to paint it anyway. Other than that, you're correct. The key to block dying is to make sure it's light dye on your block and use VERY LIGHT pressure. If you're getting it on too light, you can go back over, but as you can see, too much and there's no going back.

Hey, it's Saturday morning - I'll give you a pass

Well, that would give him 6" of adjustment if my math is right. So, now lay that out on some poster board and try it out remember to add some extra length to that buckle strap though, to account for the fold over on the buckle.

Ah, black is a whole different game!! You'll find that within the same bottle and the same piece of leather you'll get different results every time. For black, if I get that faded look, I find that rubbing the dye with a light touch of oil will liven it back up. Don't expect a leather dog collar to last through lots of swimming - regardless of how you finish it.

He Hey Mike, I think he was referring to the edges of our tooling. If you just cut a line and bevel it, you're often left with a 90 deg edge on your artwork. There are a couple of ways to take care of that. One is to make a second pass and tilt the beveler back and hope it does what you need - I'm not a fan of that one. My preferred method is to use a modeling spoon. I go over my line once at a 45deg angle to knock off the corner, and then run it over the top real quick to knock back that ridge that was just made, and then sometimes I'll need to go one more along the side (near the cut) to get a nice rounded profile. Once you figure out how to hold the modeler it's just a couple quick swipes.

2 of the best tanneries out there are Hermann Oak and Wickett & Craig. I get most of my HO from Springfield leather company. Are you tooling at all? If you're not tooling, they have some Craftsman grade stuff from HO that may suit your needs. Just tell them what you're going to use it on and see if they can get you a good piece. Wickett & Craig is available direct. The only thing you have to remember is that "Cheap" and "good" rarely go together when buying leather. I do have some import I get from Springfield too that's not what I would call high-quality, but it's pretty white and tools nicely.

Resolene is both water and UV resistant. It's among the BEST choices for outdoor use like that. Just remember the difference between resistant and proof . After that, it all comes down to aftercare and how much the customer cherishes the item.

I FOUND IT!!! So, the fact that I spray my resolene more often than not is probably why I had never seen this. I wasn't aware that there were all those other colors in the browns (makes sense though considering how you make brown.....DUH). I want to say it's a few minutes in where Rusty mentions it here.

If it's fuzzy, sand it, apply water with sponge, burnish with slicker (bone folder or glass) and then apply finish coat if you desire (especially if you're dying the back of something to be worn)

I use Fiebing's bar and just rub it over my edge without water then go over it with my dremel burnisher. I'm not sure about the preferred speed on the drill press model. I set mine to about 15, sometimes 10 if it's already pretty smooth. The key is that you should have a fairly smooth edge already. Sometimes I need to take some 400 grit sand paper to it to smooth it out. If I'm working with a really fleshy piece, I've been known to go over it with some 220 first, followed by 400. It may seem like extra work, but it's really not that long. The last couple guitar straps I did only required a light run down with 400 grit (5 minutes tops) followed by burnishing with the saddle soap. Have a look here and see if this answers any questions about the use of the burnishers. https://web.archive.org/web/20160404033410/http://leatherburnishers.com/BurnisherFAQ.html try to maintain a single direction since you're laying the fibers down, preferably following the grain pattern if you can spot it. That said, I do go back and forth in short bursts (about 6 inch lengths) at first and then follow through with one more full length run in the same direction. But, if things are getting rough or just not laying down right, it's time to make sure to only go in one direction.

Just checking in before I get to work, so I don't have a lot of time to answer the questions. BUT, I've had several posts recently explaining the process of conditioning and using acrylic as well as finishing. I know a lot of that has been in conversation with Harag - perhaps he can pull some links for you and post them here. I will say that I have no experience with the Tandy pro water crap. Anybody who told you that neatsfoot oil and water dyes wont' work has never done it and doesn't know anything about leather. LEATHER HAS OIL IN IT - PERIOD. The neatsfoot oil simply replenishes those oils. When you oil your leather, it soaks in. This isn't like painting a car or something. Disregard any neatsfoot oil that says "Prime" or "Compound" - ONLY use pure. The others are neatsfoot oil with "other" stuff mixed in (no standard) to extend it - a lot of times including minerals which could have a bad reaction with the chemicals used for tanning.

Get rid of the Gum Trag man - it's just a glue. Glycerin Saddle Soap is all you need and you'll have a hard edge that's actually smooth and not just glued down to look like it.

Cool!! I recently made one for that same knife!! Do you happen to know how old it is? I made mine for a coworker's son and he was curious about the age.

Nobody needs to send anybody the patterns!!! The link to download them is on the FIRST post of this thread. There are 2 links there. The first one starts with the words "broken link" - it's broken and does not work. The second link works just fine. For those who can't find it - it's right here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-4Qszr7V8BTZ285RFVEQVdxNVU/edit

now just make yourself some covers to protect the leather. I made mine removable so I can still use the vise for other stuff. I like the idea of mounting to a board like that though. I have another one I may do that with.

That one hit pretty close to home considering I deal with that technology and EMC daily. Interesting to see what they went through on that. Though, some portions of that are technically wrong - but that's a discussion for a different group.

Yeah, I would love to know where that came from!! If I can tell that you ripped me off and just changed it a little bit to make it yours, I'm still coming after you. How would that work with any other kind of theft? Can I steal your car and give it a new paint job and tires, therefore making it "mine". NO, and the same goes for artwork/design. Stealing it is stealing it regardless of how much you change. Come up with your own thoughts. Now, that little rant had nothing to do with the overall issue here. We all know that this shotgun concho design wasn't stolen.

Along these same lines, I was reading an article the other day that was extremely similar and I thought of you immediately as I was reading it. A successful boot maker who was just doing small numbers was contacted by a major retailer to start carrying his items. When asked how they discovered him, they said they were looking around on Etsy for "American Made" craftsmen. Since then he's become quite successful. So, some real good can come from this if both parties are in it for success.