Mike Craw

Geez, twelve hours at the tooling bench or banging on a saddle tree I can see, but twelve hours on a COMPUTER? I'd rather have root canal! Mike

Welcome Gray! Ask all the questions you want. I can promise that somebody here not only knows the answer, but will probably attach some pictures of the ones they've done so you can see how to do it! I stumbled in here a couple of months ago, and I'm amazed every day by something someone has done. You won't find a more helpful bunch of people. Mike

Randy, My copy of the Journal just came in the mail. Tell Riley - Nice Job! I can see the "Corner" turning into longer features before too long. Mike

Wow, Fantastic Beez! Congratulations on a great looking seat and a fine looking cover. I hope they put something in the article about the seatmaker, and that it brings a whole lot of new customers your way! Mike

Thank God, I thought it was something that I did! I have that effect on these things, youi know...

Bruce, The guy you were asking about is Charlie Dean. He runs C. Dean Saddles and Rapairs, 101 N. U.S. Highway 1, Oak Hill, Florida, 32759-9697. Phone is (386) 345-0808. Mike

Bruce, I think you're talking about the guy who works for NASA at the Cape? Carlos got business cards from EVERYBODY and I'm going down to the shop tomorrow. I'll check his card file and try to find it. Mike

Great carving job! Can't wait to see it with the finish on it. Add my vote for the braiding tutorial! I thought I was the only one who didn't know how to do that. Mike

Oh Kate, Why did you post those sites? Why did I watch all those videos? Now there's another fascinating aspect of leatherwork that I was blissfully unaware of... I'm never going to live long enough to try all the incredible things this group of ours can do. You were right, Kate...Great Stuff! Mike

I've never heard of "pounding in stitches". Rubbing or pounding lace to make it lay flat, yes, but never stitches. Stolhman shows using the wheel marker over the stitches to make the whole line of stitches look "dressier", so that's what I do. I usually glue all my seams on combat holsters that guys are going to use on the street BEFORE I sew them, and I pound that glued (Barge) seam, but I never heard of pounding them afterwords. That's why I check this site every day. I always find something new. Mike

It seems to me that you used to be able to view the thumbnails without signing in, at least that's my recollection. While signing in isn't the most strenuous thing most of us will do in a day, I think it may be preventing non-members or first time visitors from getting a sense of what the contributors to this site can do. It may actually serve to get more people to sign up, but it may also drive folks who are not real computer-friendly away. This isn't a rant, just an observation... Mike P.S. When I click on spell-check, I get a message that says, "iespell not detected. Click OK to download page." Naturally, when I click OK nothing happens except the box goes away. Now I'm sure I was born 100 years too late! Bruce, if you've got an extra aluminum foil hat, I think maybe I need one.

Wow, that is great looking work! I really like the braiding. It gives the work a signature style that I've never seen before. Can that style of lacing, using lighter weight lace, be used on projects like purses? I also went to your site. It's all outstanding work, Dave! Mike

Since we could only choose one, I chose "Books" but I think fair credit would require that I say Al Stohlman...

Thanks Suze!

Hey Peter! Very nice work. Do you guys actually get into combat with this stuff? I'm sure there must be rules and limits. I've never been exposed to historical re-enactment of this period before. During our six year stay in Northern Virginia we saw plenty of Civil War period re-enactments, but nothing like this. Very cool! Mike

Randy, Very nice looking rig! Is the shark backed by any other leather? I've never worked with anything but cowhide, so I have no idea how shark forms or molds. Are there any retention devices on the holster? My agency never required them, and I always figured that anybody who got close enough to put a hand on my gun was close enough to work with, but some of the agencies of guys I made holsters for required them. If you would, I'd like to see some other views of your work, and also learn more about working with sharkskin. Mike

I like Don's suggestions! The only thing I would add, when you test your mixture on "scrap" try to make it scrap from whatever you are working on. Scrap from a different hunk of hide might give you a different shade than what you're going to get on your project piece. Mike

Add my vote for the cell phone cases...must be a guy thing! Mike

Welcome Chuck! I think you'll find that if you need some information, everybody here is more than willing to share their experience. Nice to have you with us. Mike

Welcome Cindi! Those are nice looking straps. Do you guys make them yourselves, or import them? Mike

Clay, Not only is that a great looking leaf, but the background is outstanding. Is that a Beard stamp? Mike

It was too good to pass up...

I've also found some marring when I use them. I usually try to get all my lifting done before I background. The backgrounders will cover most of the tool marks around the lifted areas. Also be really careful that the point of the tool doesn't cam out and the point skips across the work. It will ruin your day...and your work!

Very creative! And, thanks for not showing everybody else... Mike

Hey Ed! It doesn't look like anybody is going to respond to your question. I held off because, even though I've burned through a lot of leather, I'm no kind of expert on how it's processed. My understanding is that latigo is tanned using alum, which I understand is a form of aluminum salts. This supposedly imparts a higher tensile strength to the leather, which is why it is useful for cinch straps and the like. I don't think it's any good for tooling because of the processing it goes through. That's my two cents worth... Mike