Saffo

How wide are the straps that you're splitting? I've got a lace splitter that I made from an old spice rack and a trapezoid blade in about fifteen minutes, and it handles straps just fine, so long as they're not much over an inch wide.

I don't think the landlady would be too happy about me converting my apartment to wood heat, if her reaction to my drop-forging lead shot off the balcony is anything to go by, but I'll definitely keep that in mind. You sayin' I'm short? *fistshake* Solution: Bring a skinning knife.

Yep, you should just go ahead and send those to me. I'll send you half of all my profits until they're paid off.

There you go, then. Step one: Sell your services as a couch de-upholsterer in West Virginia. Step two: Use the couch hides for leathercraft. Step three: ??? Step four: Profit. Seriously, though -- nothing wrong with skinning couches from Craigslist. I did that quite a bit when I was just starting out and was just dying for any old scrap of leather I could get my hands on to practice with. I'd also hit the Salvation Army type stores in town when I had time just to nab the leather coats (leather longcoats/dusters in the summer are the best -- real cheap, and they yield lots of material), belts, chairs, purses, whatever. Everyone here knows that leatherwork is an expensive hobby, but not everyone here knows what it's like to poor but inspired. It doesn't help any when you try to learn how to do something, and the answer is "Throw away that $15 tool [that you skipped eating for two days to afford] from Tandy and buy this $140 benchtop machine [for a bench you don't have] and each of the $60 accessories that go with it." Or "Don't even bother using anything but the very best leather." But screw 'em. I made a lot of my own tools from the cheap wood and metal frames on those couches, and made enough money to buy better leather off the sundries I made from the material. Gotta start somewhere. Also, whoever said that foam padding ain't cheap, they were right. You can cut that padding into squares and sell that on Craigslist.

I know nothing about working croc, but I actually bought a pair of glass crocodile eyes from Tohickon for a less-wholesome leather project, and they were absolutely gorgeous. I'd love to see the sheath if you make it.

Me too, please. I actually found LW.net from a link from Fetlife, and have just been too distracted by all the wonderful traditional leatherwork to even care about access to the kinky section until now.

This is actually a pattern for a folded papercraft replica of a Kelly bag. It might work in leather, but the actual bags are constructed a little differently. Below is an exploded view of the Hermes bag, dissembled by some fashion writer with too much of a budget (it's a $38,000 bag... I wonder if he put it back together).

That's amazing! And I would *love* a copy of that pattern, if you're still willing to share it.

[Edit: Didn't realize how old this post was. Sorry.]

Interested in buying the lot. Please shoot me a PM when you get around to it. Thanks! ~Saf