electrathon

I like the style, shape and the way the inlay looks. Your stitching is a little out of line. Aaron

How big? Generally, take a pipe, sharpen the end on a grinder, wet the leather, pound on the pipe till you have a hole. Aaron

I glue almost everything I carve down. I generally glue to corion, but sometimes I do to plexiglass too. I glue the piece down by applying rubber cement to both the leather and the corion. Let it dry. Put it togeather. After tooling you gently pull it off, being carefull not to stretch it durring removal. You will not get the glue off. When you line it simply apply contact cement (I use Barge) to both your leatehr carcing and the liner. Assemble. I have never had one come apart. Aaron

I have to agree with this. It eems like the issues LW had being forced to leave the pervious server were the best thing that could have happened. LW has been one of the slowesty sights I know of, it is a lot better now with the new server. I know this issue got brought up a lot, but it seems this this has fixed things. Aaron

I gave it to the guy, he was very excited. The knife is damascus. I did not take a pic of it pulled out of the sheath. It was a blank that he bought and then installed the handles on. I am hoping he cleans up the edges of the handle a little more. Aaron

If you want your thread to stand out, dying it first is a good idea anyways. You might try using non-waxed thread, just wax it yourself. You will have far less wax to deal with getting all over the place. Aaron

I made this sheath for a friend. The knife was his, not one I made. The inlay is ratle snake, dyes with medium brown Fiebings, sealed with Aussie wax. I wanted it to come out looking nice but a little used/rugged. Did not want a showpiece he was afraid to wear and scratch.

I think you answered your own question here. If you want it to last, use solvent bassed products. Aaron

I have sent a lot of things overseas. Generally, USPS is always the cheapest choice. All you really need to do is walk up to the post office counter like any other package you ship. They will hand you an aditional form, takes about 30 seconds to fill out. Mark it as a gift or the guy on the other end may have to pay import customs fees. Undervalue it on the form as much as you feel comfortable doing. If possible mark it as used part. To the best of my knowledge everything I have sent (about 40 itms, but not leather) has made it. sometimes it can take a while. It used to be a lot faster (by weeks) to ship to Europe than to Canada.

I have to recomend the fantastic edge burnisher too. I have one and it is great. Aaron

Barge (or most contact cement will hold it) but I would be very worried about the ability to properly wash it. Aaron

I lace most of the work I do. I have found a few tricks. First, use slots. Round holes are for round lace, flat holes are for flat lace. Keep your slots very close to the edge (1/8" max). Use this tool: http://www.hidecrafter.com/hci/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=519&category_id=94&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=35 Hands down the best lacing punch I have ever used (and I have many). There are a couple sizes of them. Use the correct sized one or the one that is too small, never use too big of a punch. Use Kangeroo lace, this is very important for long term durability and it always looks best. Lube the lace with parafin. I use a candle. Double lace even when you want only one color, just use 2 laces like you are using two colors. It "fills" the spaces better. Be carefull not to pull it too tight. You will get the feel after a while, but it is rarely too loose, often too tight. Below are a couple pics of lacing, the female wallet is standard calf lace, the mens wallet and checkbook are Kangeroo. The last one was before I learned to properly space the slots and used a Tandy lacing punch. Aaron

I have a singer 17-23 that I am looking to find needles (the biggest the machine can run) and the biggest thread it will run. Any advise or information would be appreciated. Aaron

For dying mix 1/3 Fiebings dye and 2/3 isopropyl alchohol in a pan. Drop in your holster and slosh it around. Remove it and pat it with a towel. Let it dry. This will not soften up the overall stiffness. Do not use water based dye (or worse yet paints) if you want the color to last. Aaron

I have looked at this a few times. I think I am going to try making one.

That is more than Chan geer gets for classes.

Don't throw any of them away. Set them aside and in a year or so look back at them and see how far you have progressed.

I really like the design/style. Good workmanship too. Now if I just carried a purse... Aaron

My recomendation: Use Fiebings oil dye. Get an old metal pan, dump in the 4 oz bottle of dye. Put in twice as much 100% isoprople alcohol. Drop in your holster and roll it around in the dye mix. Remove the holster and blot it dry. Let it dry. Your holster will be permanantly dyed the color. Personally I like British tan.

I brought a pic over for you so it is easier to see. I like the design.

What I can see of the picture it is not cut, like you would do with a swivel knife. It liiks more likek it is creased with a stylus. I would figure out the pattern and mark the corners. Use a straight edge for the main lines. Use a lid, can or something to guide you on the curves. If you try to freehand it then likely you will be wavy far mor ethan you want. Practice on scrap before you do the real thing. Aaron

There are a lot of little tricks to get depth, but the first and one of the most basic is to work half way through the leather thickness you have. Start by cutting half way through with the swivel knife. Then bevel, shade, background, etc. down to that depth. Aaron

Circular saw blades are usually very soft. Not sure if it can be properly tempered or not. I always use hand saw blades.

Unless you want to get really carried away... Pull the cover back and glue a patch on the back with good/high end contact cement. Gently glue and close the cut, then cover the back with a patch a few inches larger on all sides. The proper way will be to replace the damaged panel. I doubt you will ever match the leather. Aaron

Here is one of the ones I made. Cut from a hand saw blade with a plasme cutter. Youwill need to sharpen past the color on the edge where the plasma cutter heated the edge. I did not retemper, just relied on the origional. Aaron