Peter Ellis

Thanks Michael. You've a point about the straps.. I have found that when I do that, I don't get them even..then they look worse than if I did nothing, so I try again... I should take the time to make myself a guide/pattern/jig to correct that.

What's the rating on the Weaver press ? Harbour Freight has a 12 ton "shop press" - bottle jack in a frame set up, at $115. You have to come up with your own plates, but that's not very difficult and should be doable for well under $78. I know there have been a couple of threads here discussing exactly this issue, and at least one person on the forum is using such a press for their die cutting. I was doing some internet price checking earlier today on just this subject. I have a Harbor Freight pretty near by. between them having good prices to start with and avoiding the shipping charges on what are pretty heavy items, they look to be beating the pants off other possible suppliers. Northern tool, for example, has an equivalent press at about twenty bucks less. But the shipping from them is almost the price of the press again.... Now what did I do with that Weaver catalogue.....

Very pretty, both of them.

The smaller straps are suspenders... yep, it's the classic belt and suspenders combo :biggrin:

This piece was done on commission for a pretty big fellow (54 inch waist, the whole piece is 60 inches long, not counting straps). The carving is inspired by Norse mythology. At the front are Hugin and Munin, the ravens who fly around the world and report back to Odin. On the back are mirrored images of Odin riding his eight legged horse, Sleippnir. The ravens are interpreted from a pair of earrings from about the 6th century, and the image of Odin from a stone carving, age uncertain.

Doesn't attach to the saddle, the archer wears it hanging from a belt. It keeps the arrows where they're easy to draw while riding. Here's a link to a picture showing someone using one on foot. http://www.intlhorsearchery.org/festival_p.../Group-shot.jpg and some more: http://www.polishhussarsupply.com/HorseArchery.html Can't seem to find any pictures online with a good view of the quiver when mounted - seems most of the photographers prefer the other side....

I've had these pieces sitting around for awhile now. They're inspired by quivers found in Turkey and Eastern Europe all the way up to Poland from about the twelfth century or so up to the present. The one with full surface stamping scared the heck out of me part way through the process. I had no idea just how much that amount of stamping would stretch a piece of leather, and when I matched up the stamped side with the unstamped side it was almost an inch bigger all the way around. Fortunately for me, the unstamped side stretched pretty much the same way when it was stamped and they matched up again. One of them has a partial welt along the top seam that increases the number of arrows the quiver holds from 6 to 12. I'm going to take a friend's recommendation and make one with about a one inch wide gusset running along the top side, narrowing away to nothing as it reaches the curve at the bottom end. That should greatly increase capacity and, according to his experience, make the overall quiver very rigid.

Thank you Clay. That was a tremendously helpful tutorial. Every now and then it's a good thing for me to learn from others instead of trying to figure it all out on my own

I've had the same problem, and if you look at many pictures on this forum, you can tell the difference between the people who are Really Good at carving and the ones who are working at it but not *there* yet in part by the appearance of those beveling marks. Clay mentioned the same teaching that I've had, a sort of bounce technique to move the bevel along in small steps. Oddly, I've found that I have my best success doing something almost the opposite. If I hold the tool down against the leather and as I tap with my maul I pull against the tool, sliding it along the leather rather than picking it up between strikes, this gives me better looking results. The leather has to be just right (moisture, surface texture) or the tool hangs up and then it winds up being pretty much back to lift and strike because it won't slide... Also, I use a pretty heavy maul and I let the head just bounce on the tool. If the leather is cased properly and of a good temper I don't generally need to hit the bevel, the weight of the maul dropping a couple of inches is enough. This makes for lots of small hits and small steps in the beveling. And no, I'm not *there* yet

There are threads made for sewing that are made out of nylon. These are a better choice for sewing leather than the nylon fishing line. The fishing line will tend to cut the leather and pull right through. The nylon thread meant for sewing is less likely to do that. Artificial sinew works, but so do all of the threads - polyester, nylon, cotton, linen. Which one to use depends on how you want the piece to look, how it will be used, and what it is made for. Some people like the way sinew looks, some prefer thread. Some don't care if the thread is linen, or nylon. Some are making historic recreation pieces and will insist on the linen thread. Some are making pieces for hard use in hard conditions and they will insist on the nylon thread. It's good to learn to work with all of the materials. Each has its own character and there are tricks to working with each.

I'll recommend another source for rivets, RJ Leahy. They carry a wide selection of fasteners, more focused on industrial than craft, but good prices on copper rivets and burrs, and quite a selection of solid metal rivets. Brass is much harder than copper. Harder to cut, harder to pein. Piening brass rivets is not much easier than piening stainless steel ones. I'm not sure that anyone is making rivet sets I would recommend using on brass or stainless. A set for those would need to be a good hardened steel. They're best set with a hammer (either a ball pien or a cross pien) and some skill, imo. Also, if you have contacts with a machinist, you can get your rivet set made with something more than just a dome. A flower pattern, for example, so when you set your copper rivet the head comes out not as a dome, but a dome with petals. This sort of decorative rivet work is found in lots of medieval armour. The guys reproducing it today are getting into it now as well. Something else is that the burrs themselves don't have to be simple washers. They too can be dressed up. One can file the edges (lots of time and effort), or make a stamp and punch shapes. There are also some small scale commercial sources for rosettes meant as decorative rivet add-ons. They've a hole in the center for the rivet, and you can either put them on the head side and pien normally on the shank, or you can put the rosette over the shank and then pien very carefully - don't want to mess up the rosette. Anyway, there are lots of areas for spicing things up where rivets are concerned.

There's a tool called a "centering ruler" that has Zero at the center and counts out from there in both directions. Something like that might be useful for showing you how well your curves match. Mark the centerline of your piece, move the ruler's zero mark along the center line and watch the sides to see if they're matching up as the ruler moves...

I very much like the design of the bird on the bracer. Very dramatic, simple and evocative. For mask inspiration, I recommend http://www.merimask.com/ The lady does amazing stuff. My mentor in leatherwork got her started years back, and she just took off. I've just about had to put on the bib when looking at her stuff in person... and I *really* wanted a magnifying glass to try and see some of the details in her coloring... Masks are on my list of things to try, but I'm not there yet

Ed, You can set the copper rivets a couple of ways. They sell a rivet set that you put over the shaft and smack with a hammer, but you don't need it to set the rivets. Instead, you can use the ball side of a ball pien hammer and with a series of firm taps work the shaft of the rivet into a nice domed head. The rivet set is probably faster, but to me it's one more thing to misplace/lose, and I'm used to setting rivets with a hammer. and with the copper rivets, don't forget the burrs. I don't know why it is, but whenever I start running short, it's always the burrs that run out first....

Hi Suze, I'm an Easterner, Barony of Carrillion (central New Jersey)

Yes, Mike, we get into unscripted, competitive "combat". Many years ago Blackbelt Magazine did an article on us, said we were the only genuine full contact martial art. Our group doesn't use steel weapons, instead we use rattan (like is used in furniture) to make simulated weapons. One of the cool little details is that our predecessors in history did something similar. They would have tournaments where instead of using real weapons, they would fight with wooden "batons". We play hard enough that the armour is needed for safety.

ow. But it was a well executed face-plant.

I've just finished these up today, a pair of cuisses (thigh protection) and bazubands (forearm and elbow protection). On the left cuisse there are two stainless steel panels riveted in, on the right cuisse there are no reinforcements, but the rivets are there to balance the appearance. All the pieces are 13-15 oz saddle skirting, hardened by soaking in a weak solution of Titebond III and then baking at about 180 F. After that they get dyed, painted, and sealed by dipping in acrylic floor polish

Frosted plexi is the right choice for the top. You want even lighting coming up through your paper and the frosted finish is much better for producing that than a clear piece. Two light sources placed on opposite sides will also help insure even lighting, but really, for most needs wouldn't be necessary. If you only use one light source, you want it centered in the box. The round flourescent fixture would be a very good choice as a single light source. Dimensional lumber shouldn't warp much, certainly not in this kind of application. With flourescents you won't have a heat problem. With incandescents in that same space, you could hatch eggs You will probably want to tilt your drawing surface a bit, it will be much more comfortable for sitting at and tracing if it tilts toward you some. If you'll always be working standing and leaning over it, then flat's ok.

The thing about doing a business plan is that it guides you in terms of the questions you need to answer, it doesn't have any of the answers for you. Pat's questions are the kind that one finds in business plan models. The trick is where to find answers to these kinds of questions. One way is to do exactly what has been done here, ask others in the industry about their experience. I'm way too much of a beginner myself to have any really useful insights, but part of what I'm doing is looking within a niche market for gaps that are not being adequately filled. If I can step into the gaps, I've got a chance to pull some money without having to compete as hard as if I step up with products that are already being commonly produced. From that base, I hope to bootstrap into somewhat larger markets, while continuing to build my skills and watching for product opportunities.

You'll want to be careful about heating zinc. Nasty toxic fumes. I would probably try some white vinegar.

Whether the vodka is best used for drinking or diluting dye may depend on your opinion of vodka :angel_not: More to the point, on that bracelet, if you were to texture the background, the space between your leaf pattern and your border, with one of the background tools, it would help make the leaves pop. As to gold leaf on leather it can be done, I haven't done it yet but it's on my list, and I don't know what can be done in terms of improving its durability. I generally think of gold leaf as a delicate covering material, not meant for serious wear situations. OTOH, one can get some pretty good looking metallic finish effects by using gold or silver acrylic paint, burnishing the paint and then sealing with Resolene or one of the other acrylic finishes.

mmmm. I've seen those scrapbooking gizmos in the craft stores and wondered if they might work on leather. The leaf effects you and Kate got are very nice, and I'm going to have to try some of that myself

These are hardened leather "cuisses" or thigh armour. Worn by people doing European historic martial arts, SCA, LARPs. None are quite finished yet, but coming along. I've had a productive weekend.

So it's really two pieces put together. Jargon is a funny thing. I hadn't thought of "doubled" in the sense of double layer, because I see that all the time. I thought "doubled" as in doubled over... didn't realize that I've seen probably hundreds of examples of "doubled and stitched" but didn't know the term. Thanks for clearing that up for me Greg.