electrathon

I really like it, and in general I do not like animal pictures. It looks great. One improvement I would suggest is when you are lacing, lace around to the starting point and then unlace the first couple stitches, they always are at the wrong angle at the starting point. Then when you join the lacing into the starting point it will be flawless and not have the seam show so visably.

I have to agree with this. I would like to see an area of the forum that was not for posting comments but was for tutorials. ClayB has done some great ones, and over time they move out of public site. Others here are incredibly tallented too. If there was a section that tutorials were stored, cataloged and were easily downloadable, like in a monthly page format then there would likely be more intrest to write these up. These pages could be free, the information belonging to leatherworker.net for copywrite purposes and we could suggest that if people felt there was helpfull info there then to send in a couple dollars to keep the system running. Aaron Go here for all the galleries and tutorials: http://leatherworker.net ~~Johanna

I have had very good luck gluing to a piece of corrion.

Absolutly NOT! They all use a dedicated vent pipe, most draw air in the same pipe as it uses for an exaust. They also use outside air for combustion, not inside air, which is a very good thing. Closer to the faucets is very good, even ideal. Generally you can mount it on an outside wall and drill through above the foundation above the sill plate. Watch for clearances to opening windows, the ground etc. The specs will be in with the individual unit. I am installing mine on Saturday. I am excited to see how it works. I went with quality over cost and bought a Renai.

I have been looking into these for the last few weeks and I am getting ready to buy one. Most of the trouble that happens is from improper instalation. Usually not enough gas supply. They take 180,000 BTU on start up and at full output. That is more than the capacity of many meters out there. You likely will need to replace the meter and the gas supply line intp the heater. The vent also must be installer properly. Generally you must use the manufactures vent piping. FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS EXACTLY! Also you are better if you replace all of the large diamiter piping in the house with smaller pipe to each room, supplied by a manifold right off the heater. The cold water in the pipe will purge faster that way. Depending on your location too you will get a lot less water out of them than you think. The GPM are based on inlet temp. Most areas of the country will get about half of the GPM that the big numbers show. Also it is easy to overdraw their output if filling a tub, they work better for showers. Do a lot of research before you decide on a brand. Most of the units sold by the chain stores are inferior.

I like it! I would like to see the inside/side views too.

Very nice, your workmanship looks excellant! One thing that I tend to do when I am lacing oposing sides of something is I lace the second side lefthanded. Then your lace will all tip the same direction instead of one side forward and one side rerward.

The best advise I can give you on this is to do a handfull of small practice projects. Save the bigger, tougher ones for later when you are back into it. Barge cement, it is a rubber cement that really holds (Tandy has it). Herman Oakes seems to be the best leather of choice. Some of Tandy's leather really stinks by comparason. Hidecrafters and others sell it.

The best thing I did to learn in the beginning (I am still a beginner) was to do the same pattern over and over a few times. I did the little rounder pattern (it is in some of the books you will find at Tandy). You will look back at the progression and it is amazing how fast you will learn. I had tools but a starter kit is a good way to get going. One thing that can not be stressed enough is keep stroping your swivel knife. You will not be doing it too often. Aaron

Of course every store is different, but in general places get tired of getting calls looking for stuff like this so they just blow you off over the phone. Try going in and talking to the people working there. Even better if you can get to the guys in the back and avoid the front counter person. A lot of the times the front sales people consider a sale for $20 a waste of time, while a guy in the back is happy to hand a piece to you. When their scrap pile gets full they have to pay for a dumpster to dispose of it and then pay tonnage when it is dumped. Aaron

I appologize for complaining last night. I was tired and every time to come on the board I feel the frustration building. If nothing else I guess I found out why the threads are disapearing. I guess from the posts above that even the regulars can't muddle through it all and are just using the "recent posts" link to eliminate all catagories and group everything into one. I have done this sometimes but have found that for some reason I tend to miss some of the posts. That process definatly does not work when searching for an answer. As in my example above, I would have to read through many forums to try to figure out where something was posted. Should the saddle be posted in the saddle section or in the sewing section? What about the coloring section, the finish appears to be the culprit. Then again, it is an old saddle, so maybe I should look in the restoration section. When there are so many overlap areas it becomes necessary to read all sections since the info is valid in all of them. Personally, I would prefer to navigate one section rather than five. Even if I do look through five sections I likely will still not look into the catagory it is filed in. This is not my board and I do not meen to imply that I have all the answers. I would like to see a few more people chime in. I have only been on a few other forums, and by far the best functioning ones are the ones that have the fewest numbers of catagories and let the pages move faster than having dead sections linger. If a section gets little to no posting it will get no readership. If no one reads it then it is a bad place to post, and so on. Aaron

I want to start by first saying that this forum is one of my favorite places on the internet. There is an incredible amount of talent here. There is just this one item that is driving me crazy. Please do not make any more categories! The most frustrating thing about this forum is there is a category for everything. So many in fact, that depending on what you are posting it could go into any one of about 5 categories. I come here often. I should be able to open a few categories and look quickly through and scan through everything. But, there are 41 categories that all have to be opened to see if there is something new that catches my eye. This forum could easily cover all categories with about 5 topics. I just spent over 5 minutes trying to figure out why my post was removed. I was rather irked about it in fact. After looking and looking I found it was moved to a section that receives little attention. Moving it to this category effectively stopped people from viewing it. (admin, check the logs, the hits virtually stopped after it was moved). I came here tonight to post another pic. I didn't post it feeling it will be moved to a lethargic area. An example of what I am talking about. Say I am posting about how to repair a carved saddle, the stitching seems to have reacted with the staining/sealing process that was used a long time ago. So my choices are to post it in: How Do I Do That? Leatherwork Conversation. Sewing Leather. Floral & Sheridan Carving. Dyes and Finishes. Saddle Identification, Restoration & Repair. General Saddlery Discussion. All about Leather. The most appropriate area to get the most hits and likely an answer would be to post in the sewing section. This way the vast majority of sewing answers would happen. But it could be posted into any of many other categories too. If I am looking for an answer in the history of the forum I would have to read all of the above categories and likely others just to look for an answer. It is a slow and time consuming process. To me, simple is almost always better than complicated. Having to look through 41 sections when surfing or trying to decide where to post out of the 41 (or just not posting if it is going to be moved into a seldom read category) is not simple. If I am :deadhorse: then give me the and I will in silence. Aaron PS: After sitting here thinking about it, here is the pic I came here to post. I was going to put it in the "Show Off" section because I am proud of the outcome. My last post was moved from there to "Purses, Wallets, Belts and Miscellaneous Pocket Items".

I recently posted a pic of the wallet I made myself (in the new members area) and now I have made a "matching" one for my girlfriend. She wanted something small to carry ID and a couple cards in her pocket without having to carry a purse. I made her a card holder and it seems to be the perfect size. I reduced the pattern I carved on mine and did hers the same. Now she and I "match", but she is prettier :hug: Aaron

The best way I know of to prevent that is to have the oldest cut it into equil sized portions, then the others select thier peices first. You will never find more equally devided pieces.

It is Kangaroo lace from Tandy. It is a lot thinner than most laces and a lot softer too.

The carving that you framed is one of may favorite patterns, I have an address book cover that I have been working on and off on that uses it. You did great on it. I see on the clutch purse that it looks like you started the lacing near the bend. I usually try to stay away from there on a start/ stop point to discourage it from unraveling. I was having trouble with the "joining" of the beginning and end too, with the starting lace not sitting at the proper angle too. I found if I unravel the first two stiches the lace will lay at the proper angle through the joint (did that make since?) Aaron

Thanks to all for the kind words. I am currently working on a "matching" card wallet for my girlfriend. She generally just carries her ID and a few dollars so it needs to be a lot smaller and streamlined. I bought a card holder kit at Tandy but the holes were punched so crooked that it was not usable. I cut a new front out of some 3-4 oz leather (to keep the thickness down, I did the same on the above wallet too). The issue now is I keep looking at the round punched holes and am not sure if I want to use the insides either. I may have to go in and get some thin leather for lining and redo that part too. I will post a pic of it when I get it done. I am resizing the pattern I used on mine so it will fit hers.

I am new here (finally get to post, WaHoo!) I have not been doing leather work for very long. My dad has been doing it off and on for about 50 years and I decided that it was about time I got the hang of it. Here is a pic of a wallet that I just made. At this time is is some of my best work, I am learning fast and practicing a lot ) Aaron