Cyberthrasher

That's pretty much what I do. I have my doubts that red dye would ever cover USMC or any other black dye. Usually I just spray the entire piece the color of the lettering (red in this case) and then brush the black around the letters. I just ordered some liquid latex to try using that as a mask so I can color the letters and then run over everything with black using my airbrush. But, you will definitely want to buff that thing until your arm feels like it's going to fall off. Usually I do my belts with a natural back, but the customer wanted all black on this one, so that had me worried the hole time knowing that he wears khakis. Needless to say, I buffed and buffed and buffed and buffed and then made sure it was sealed really well with Resolene and buffed some more to make sure there wasn't one bit of pigment coming through.

a little oil will help pull the dye in as well, and the leather really likes it after repeated wet/dry cycles from tooling. But, I also condition after it's all finished and sealed too. I see it as possibly the last time the piece will ever get oiled (although I hope my customers will care for their custom orders).

Best investment: Barry King Swivel knife, airbrush, and Springfield Wholesale membership. $35 a year gets me all the same prices as Tandy's Elite membership. Worst investment: Haven't had much bad luck. I did buy a side of craftsman grade HO that showed up not so happy for tooling. The previous craftsman grade side I bought was beautiful, so I thought I'd get lucky again. I lost that round of roulette, but I knew the chance was there when I bought "Craftsman" grade.

That's a good plan, but if you're putting out production, the time spent sharpening that tandy blade can add up to lots of money. The $50 for a Barry King is well worth it. I used to have to hit the stone at least once a week with my tandy blade. I've had my BK for about 6 or 7 months now and it's never seen a stone. Just keep it stropped and it's done real well. But, I know the time's coming where I'll need to hit the stone with it.

I knew you couldn't hold out!! Not that I really need to tell you this Bro, but I always say the second I have to worry about competition is the second I better figure out what's wrong with my own processes . You've always been a great help though, and I'm not gonna be putting out a bunch of WillieG skulls (not my style or those I associate with). Now, if they have some Shovelhead snaps then we might be getting somewhere. I'm just always on the lookout for good hardware.

honestly, I've never tested the image tags here, so.... You'll need to put angle brackets around it, but it's as follows (linking to one of my gallery images) img src="http://leatherworker.net/forum/uploads/gallery/album_1228/gallery_22094_1228_54667.jpg" data-cke-saved-src="http://leatherworker.net/forum/uploads/gallery/album_1228/gallery_22094_1228_54667.jpg" style="width: 635px; height: 960px;" alt=""

When I looked, the prices on the knives weren't much better than Barry's, so I'd say stick to his unless you're a swivel knife addict (assuming they're made in China to the same standards we're used to). I don't really know what they're like though, so I think I'd just stick to a known product. I am however always on the lookout for various bevelers since that's about 90% of what I do. Made me go look at Barry's again though

Does that include the stamping tools or were you just referring to the knives?

That's where my hourly rate comes in handy, but at some point you get to a price that's just hard for people to pay.

That's the primary reason I started using antique. I did a lot of work that way when I first started until I realized how bad it was killing my time.

Cool!! I forgot that i was going to do one up for my bike Are you going to tell us the site, or is it a Spinner Secret?????

The tool farthest to the right in that springfield post is a rivet setter, works great for pounding down the leather around your snap posts. That said, the snap posts are only just over 1/4" long, so you're likely going to have to skive your leather (shave the flesh side) at the end in order for them to work for a 1/2" thick belt. Not sure if this is going to open up a whole new can of worms for you or not though.

Glad you figured it out I won't confuse you with the html coding for it then.

I can still oil/condition after resolene. You just have to let it sit so it soaks through. I always tell my customers to put the conditioner on at night and then come back in the morning to buff off anything left.

Just checked Fiebing's site and they clearly say that Tan-Kote is used to thin antique, but no mention of that in Bag Kote. That's all I have, sorry. Do you have enough antique to run a test piece? Just because it's not common enough for them to mention it doesn't mean it can't be done.

Unless the belts are unfinished veg-tan, that's not going to serve you well. Since you're going to Tandy anyway, grab some bags of scrap while you're there. It's cheap and it will last you a while for small projects and practice work.

Peter Main went into quite a bit of inverted carving in his books and he just beveled it down then mixed colors for textures. I think you'll be able to get it pretty nice with the airbrush.

There are 2 links in the very first post of this thread. One of them starts with the words "brokenlink"...don't use that one. There is a working link directly below that.

Now it looks like they're all trying to call it an "undercut modeling tool"

That's looking a lot better with less matting. I was wrong about the petal lifter. I thought I had two, but it turns out it's one with two different sized ends on it. The one I have is an Osborne similar to this http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/search/searchresults/8039-05.aspx

I wouldn't worry about it scratching the camera at all. A keyring there wouldn't really be able to touch the screen and the bodies are pretty hardy composite material. But, I think the leather would look better. You could start working on your strap and then, if you want to use either of these methods, attach it later with the clips.

I just double checked my Nikon and it has square tabs similar to the chrome one's shown on this camera, except vertical. So, you could rig up something like this for it. You could also make a small strip that attaches just like the nylon then fold it over into a loop and rivet it back on itself. That would keep the little keyring out of the mix. http://www.etsy.com/listing/115839973/wanderlust-leather-camera-strap

They have a couple of "Basic" kits that will get you started. Comes with 6 stamps, swivel knife, a few projects with dvd instructions, and dye (water based - not so good stuff, but they'll get your feet wet). There are a couple of different levels of the kit. I think the basic kit is pretty standard and the deluxe kit will get you some better tools (both of these are from Tandy). But, keep in mind that the tools and leather available in them are sub-par, but they'll get you started. If nothing else, you can look at what's there and build your own set. I will say that the deluxe kit comes with a poly mallet vs. the wooden one in the basic kit. But, those will get you going and you can build up from there. We get a lot of people here who want to just go buy everything they'll even need right from the beginning and that's just really unnecessary. Get started and then get what you need as you realize you need it. I'll bet you that half the people on this forum started with some form of one of these kits. Looks like the basic starter kit is on sale for $40 right now, deluxe is currently $80

when I started I was using a dead ball-point pen - until the day it decided that even with no ink it was going to put ink on my transfer sheet. The thought of marking the leather scared me so I ended up with a comfy "stylus" that has a pointed end and a ball point end. I prefer the pointed end so it marks thinner lines. You can really use anything that will act like a stylus here. I was using some knitting needles for a couple days when the ink started flowing until I could get something better ordered.