Radthalan

What a great idea. It's larger and most likely softer than a regular D4. And if my wife got mad at me it be easier to see as she throws is at my head. DJole that is an awesome cup. You could sell those at any comic shop for a killing

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try

Hey Dirtclod, is there a certain brand of shelf paper you use? I have been thinking of using shelf paper to try it out. And now I have a large project to do in the future and I might run out of tape if I use it as backing.

I don't know if this is what the pros do, but this way has worked out for me. I run water on the grain side and let it case over night in a bag. Sometimes I put a few drops of alcohol to prevent mildew. Pull it out of the bag and let the leather return to its origanial color. When it is done I use my slicker on the grain side. Then I put my tape on the flesh side, use the slicker to help stick the tape on. Then start tooling. Best advice is try different methods and see what happens. I have noticed that thicker leather doesn't need to taped or thinner leather if I'm not tooling too much. I almost always have to tape if I'm using my backgrounder or basket weave a lot. If you get those Tandy bellies, then you need to slick the grain side a lot and then let them shrink down a bit before putting tape on. This is what I found out in my limited experience.

To me it looks like you didn't cut a stitching groove on the back. So your stitches are sitting on top of the grain, rather inside a channel. Try tapping, rolling, or rubbing the back stitches flat and going over it with a over-stitch wheel. That might help with the appearance.

The underside looks just like the top side. There is no blade or sharp edge to speak of. At first thought it was edge tool too, or a tool that would hold a very small overstitch wheel, or a means for marking spacing on leather like a wing divider. While cleaning up the tools I did find a mfg name on it. But its really worn out and hard to read. Thank you everyone for all your input and ideas.

Hi everyone. Last week I was given a bag of scraps, from my mom's cousin. Inside the bag was three tools. I was told that this bag was in storage for 20 or more years, so I appreciate how old these are. Now I know I have a lacing chisel, (still very sharp), an embossing tool with an angled scribe, and what looks like a petal lifter. But I don't know what is on the other end of the petal lifter. I looked around but could not find anything. Has anyone ever seen a leather tool like this one? Thanks in advance

Wow it is like looking into a post that I would make. I see all the great stuff here and say to my self why can't I do that yet. Sometimes i feel discouraged too. I like to take a step back and realize that I am not that artist/leathercrafter. I need to work harder to get to that level. I try to do leather crafting or something for my leather crafting least a hour a day. Even if it is to practice drawing so I can make my own tooling designs. If I'm sick of swivel knife practice I move to stamping or pattern making for future projects or designing a tool cabinet I want to store all my tools in. Leather working is such a broad craft, you don't have to get stuck in one area and get frustrated or bored. Remember why you enjoyed the craft and you should feel all the doubt and negativity lift away.

If your awl is very sharp you will be surprised how easy it to push through thicker leather and into your own hand. I have done this many times. just remember strop the blade after sharpening and keep a box of band aids near by. LOL

Wow! I would be afraid to open it up for fear of being bitten. Those eyes look great. Real enough to prevent anybody from pickpocketing you wallet.

I was unhappy with the way it looked with the thread in the very large holes. So I pulled the thread out and used lace instead. The lace did a better job filling in the holes and covering the edge since the lining didn't burnish with the back of the wallet. I bought the same Deluxe kit last year and my back grounding tool broke shortly after. I did get it replaced. That was about the worst experience I've had with this kit. The best thing was, that it fueled my addiction.

To tell what color I'm grabbing I put a smear of color on the cap it self. For the dyes that have a black cap, I put a white label on the cap and put a smear of color on that. That way I don't care about the name on the bottle, just the shade of color I'm useing