Steff

Those are so cool!!! How do you do that? I have been carving for a few years now and will only carve roses for my wife (her middle name is Rose). If I could make roses like the ones you make she would probably want to put up with me for another hundred years!

Wow, that is cool! I wish I could finish like that! Keep up the great work Steff

I think it's cool that you want to make your own tooling patterns! I can make decent construction patterns and can carve and stamp well enough but the people that can draw a tooling pattern to fit their project are the real artists in my mind. Keep trying, Keep learning and Keep up the good work! Steff

Thanks, guys. And no . you didn't rain on my parade but rather confirmed something I suspected. It's still a cool machine and now I know what not to expect out of it. Thanks again, Steff

My wife is a top notch seamstress and years ago she picked up a Singer 96 80 (1936 vintage) mostly because it is cool, all there and she got it for a song. I am trying to get it up and running to save me from hand stitching everything that I don't want to lace. Are any of you guys familiar with this machine and to what extent is it useful in leathercraft? It seems to be quite powerful but at this time I am having trouble with the thread breaking at the needle far to often to trust it with even a small project. I have a rifle case I am working on and not looking forward to stitching nearly 60" of seam by hand. Thanks in advance for sharing your experience with us all. Steff

thanks Guys! Biggundoctor, Dwight, TwinOaks & katsass, your answers cover the gamut of leatherworking and I understand that it all depends on how well it's done and what level of quality is expected and paid for. It seems to me that unless you have some very high paying customers, its hard to make money at leathercraft. How many of us are selling the stuff we make just to afford to buy more leather to make more cool stuff just cause we love to make things that few others can do? Thanks again, I hope to meet you guys some day Steff

Hi guys, Steff here. Most of my projects I have laced together usually with the double or triple loop and the occasional mexican round braid becase I like the look of it. Of course I have made some kits that came pre punched and stiched with waxed thread. On smaller projects the waxed thread looks too corse for the job so I am planning on starting to hand stitch some of my stuff. I'm also getting into a few projects (bowling ball bag & rifle case) that have long zippers. Not looking forward to hand stitching a 30" zipper! My lovely wife has been a seamstress for many years and long ago picked up an industrial Singer sewing machine (1936 vintage) that still works great. The thing weighs a ton and I am ususlly the poor slob that has to move it, untill recently I hated the thing! But now all of a sudden it looks like it could be usefull to me. My question is: How many of you guys hand sew everything or if you have a machine how much do you use it versus hand stitching? Is machine work looked down upon? Or is it a case of how well it is done weather hand or machine sewn? Thanks in advance for your imput and advice. Steff

Thanks for the feedback! You have saved me from overthinking and experimenting with this. Now I know that I don't have to wait for the Tandy stuff to go on sale and I can just pick up Weldwood at the local hardware store when I'm buying stuff for around the house.

Which contact cement do you guys (and gals) use? Is there anything special about Tandy (expensive) contact cement or is it the same as Weldwood Contact cement available at the hardware store? I know that I could experiment with every cc I can find and really appreciate you all sharing your experience with me. Thanks in advance, Steff.

I'm not sure what PM sent means, and I have not gotten an email from you. Can you bring me up to speed on this one? thanks, Steff.

Hi Bob. Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, I have been having trouble with my e-mail. YES ! I am interested in the pattern! Of course it is too big to scan and email so if you could contact me by email I can give you my mailing address. If you mal it to me I will treat it like gold, make a copy of it and mail it right back to you reimbursing you for your postage and your trouble. This is going to be soo cool! My email is; hdsport74@sbcglobal.net Thanks again Steff

Thanks PLAC for a first project it looks like you did a fine job! Does the bag hold a ball and a pair of shoes? If it does I would be interested in the pattern. The carving pattern is the western folral style that I like. Steff

I'm looking for both construction and tooling patterns. I love the vintage tandy stuff so an old kit pattern would probably be cool. I have thought about finding a cheap used bag that I could use to reverse engineer my own pattern. While I can carve and tool quite nicely my weakpoint is creating a tooling pattern to fit a construction pattern of my own. I'm just not quite that artisticlly creative. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I have been working with leather on and off for about 35 years now, mostly belts, holsters wallets and motorcycle stuff. Just joined a bowling league and can't stand the thought of buying a bowling ball bag that is just like everyone else's, Does anyone have a pattern for a classic bag maybe something from the '50s or '60s? I have "The art of making cases but think the one in there is kind of lame. Thanks.

I have been working with leather on and off for many years. Mostly belts, holsters and wallets plus the Al Stholman Home study course. So far my finishing has been no more complex than dying, or using resist and hi-liter, time for me to move up to adding color with dies. On my last large project , finished w/ resist and hi-liter, the finish turned out so blotchy that I did not even assemble the darm thing ( a purse, the last project in the home study course) I suspected dirty or sweaty fingerprints to be the main problem. I wash my hands well each time before working. Now I have a diplomats pouch (from Making Leather cases vol 2) carved with my first attempt at roses. Roses are such a pain that I will only carve them for my wife but I am not too embarrassed by my carving. HOWEVER, now it is time to begin finishing, background dying, followed by shades of red on the roses and shades of green on the stems and leaves followed by a light brown overall and spray on supersheen. But after caseing and working the leather numorous times I noticed it was getting blotchy and would not even take on moisture evenly while caseing. I tried deglaser and am having a terrible time with it. It seems the more I try to clean the leather, the worse it gets. Some areas look bleached nearly white while others have a grayish hue and still others are dark. The leather will not case evenly at all now and I am sure that even if I apply a light coat of neetsfoot oil before dying, ti will still look like crap. What am I doing wrong and how can I fix this so that the finished project wont be embarrassing? Thanks, Steff