Peter Ellis

I've some very good friends who are in law enforcement in Australia. Their stories sound very much like the stories I hear from law enforcement people in the US.

mmmm.... interesting. Pics ?

Just to put this back on track.. Lacing holes - that's what this started with - Is the thonging/lacing chisel equivalent to making your holes with an awl ? Preference for whether the lacing hole should be a punched out hole or a pierced through slot ?

chuckle.. with the way they all overlap, he's gotta be busy running around on the weekends :biggrin: More seriously, I would check to see if they're registered anywhere. Not to buy their wedding gift, but to get some idea of what she might like. I would definitely urge making something for them.

Steve, the leather was in the 8-10 oz range. I don't think I would want to go lighter, I would be concerned about it holding shape and not crushing. Luke, it stretched out pretty easily. I can't say how it compares to sand since I've not tried it with sand.

Jim, take a look at this thread http://www.leatherworker.net/forum/index.p...hl=finish++edge It has some good advice on finishing edges, including use of Edge Kote, or gum tragacanth, and methods for burnishing and sealing.

Hi Jim, welcome aboard. Edge finishing - there are a couple of threads on here discussing the use of gum tragacanth, and various other options people have come up with, including just a bit of white glue thinned with water and buffing with a bit of scrap cloth. I'm constantly amazed by just what a difference it makes to buff the barely damp edge with an old denim scrap... from fuzzy unfinished to shiny slick, with nothing more than a bit of friction... Have fun wandering around reading the various discussions on everything from which tools to use to what leather for which purpose

I haven't decided between rolling one in leather and waxing it or carving a wooden one.

I stuffed it full of plastic bags from the grocery store No worries about trying to get every last grain of sand out.

This is my first attempt at a leather bottel. Sealed inside and out with beeswax and then buffed by hand, with a little help from the blowdryer. I haven't measured it's capacity yet.

Funny word, seems it hasn't made it into the dictionary yet. I can see where it comes from, but I'm another who has never seen it before. Neat project, and a reminder that just because that piece of leather looks beat up doesn't mean you can't make something nice from it.

Ken, thanks.. I'll revisit my gusset pattern and take a bit more care cutting... I would have said it was pretty close, if not actually square, but I'll look again. I'm not too upset with the way these came out - but I would rather get it just right, and I really want to understand why these are off... only way to keep it from happening again and again.

Don, are you suggesting eliminating the gusset entirely ? While that's an option, it wouldn't work for this particular project - the piece I've been asked to generally replicate (as to construction - color and decoration will be different) is made with the gusset between front and back panels. I can see where molding a front piece could make overall construction easier.

I've been asked to make a small (about 3 inches side to side, 1 inch front to back and 2-3 inches top to bottom) belt pouch. I've put a couple together and run into the same annoying problem with each of them. Although the pattern pieces are cut to match, when I get it sewn together, the front is twisted relative to the back. I'm not understanding why this is happening. Was hoping more experienced hands might be able to tell me what it is I'm doing that's creating this problem. Here are pictures of the two test runs.

I don't know about it being a good luck symbol in Japan, but it definitely was in ancient Rome.. frequently with wings. Looks like a neat little key case.

I like the meandering border quite a bit. Seems more natural and less like a frame than a straight line would.

Easy to learn ? Depends on how good you are with computers. The laser's following a design from the computer, either canned or one you built. Primary design control, other than the "where" it cuts, is how deep it cuts. I've done a fair bit of research. Looked like about $15 grand for one with a large enough work area and enough power to be useful on more than wallets and coasters... They're amazingly precise. I was quite surprised by the extremely fine detail in the demo pieces that came in response to my inquiries with Epilog.

Hey Kate... My "teacher" says she loves talking to me about what I'm up to because I keep coming up with new ideas for her to try. There are definitely benefits to not being taught the way to do things and figuring out your own. I found it amusing that someone working professionally in the craft was using a technique I had been (somewhat forcefully) steered away from. And the ink on the hands thing... one of those pet peeves, I guess. I've ruined my share of shirts, messed up papers, etc. because I got my hand in the wet ink. And I'm not even a lefty....

There's a fellow on E-bay selling leather armour out of the Ukraine. I had a chance to look at some of his work when a fellow I know showed up at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire wearing a suit of leather armour made in the Ukraine. The maker is doing some pretty wild things with molding and bonding leather, and I wouldn't say I like it much, but it definitely has an appeal to some. The thing is, this guy is in the Ukraine, selling on e-bay and reaching Pennsylvania. If you're geographically removed from your markets, E-bay seems to be a pretty effective avenue for reaching out to them.

Very nice. Midnight Winter fits it well.

Johanna, I think Merimask is not the same person as Tiger. She certainly didn't look like the same person when I met her in Buffalo last winter....

chuckle.. the very first thing she does is something I was taught not to do right at the very beginning of my leatherworking studies (I won't say "career" 'cuz I haven't had one :biggrin: She uses Carbon Paper to transfer her design. Works for her, obviously. And then she's going over it with a ball point pen, and getting ink on her hand in the process. I have that problem when I'm tracing designs, but I really want to avoid it when I'm working with the leather... Again - she's doing well enough to be appearing on TV and the end results certainly look good. Goes to show there's more than one way to do pretty much anything. oh, yeah.. I chuckled when I saw her using that v-gouge. Not exactly what it was intended for by the manufacturer, but a use I've been considering myself :biggrin:

I don't know why you say it has to be a laser printer. I've printed a number of patterns onto transparency sheets using my inkjet printer with quite acceptable results. But... the transparency sheets are expensive compared to pretty much any other option.

Very Hot. Really nice work.

Harbor Freight is something of a crapshoot, no argument there. But the point really wasn't Harbor Freight. If you look at some of the other threads discussing this general topic, I think you'll find that 6 tons isn't anywhere close to what people have found sufficient for the job.