Chavez

Thanks! When I have some free time I'll get some violin rosin and try to melt it down together with some beeswax in a pan in the kitchen. Just hope that it all doesn't go up in flames and that mrs doesn't catch me messing with her kitchen =)

Hi! Sorry to bring up such an old post, but how do I get such nice brown colour as on these notebook covers? Thanks! Chavez.

Hi! I hope that gurus will correct me if I'm wrong From what I've read here, many people oil the leather after carving and after dyeing. I only oil it after carving but I use extra virgin olive oil which I believe is supposed to have a smaller darkening effect than neatsfoot. Having said that, its rather easy to over-oil the leather so the carved parts get too dark (at least for my liking). When you oil the leather, the oil gets absorbed into it so there is no oil on the surface. I've got a little bottle of eco-flo all-in-one (fell for Tandy adverts) which I used once and it seems to have next to 0 penetration of leather, so oil will not get in your way. Not sure bout this one, but if your project is multicoloured, oiling after dyeing might blur your painted image... Let's see what others say. PS I've got a 4oz shoulder from Tandy and its stiff as hell. I recently got some 7-8oz belt blanks from a local supplier and they are more flexible than the shoulder. I can oil the hell out of the shoulder, but its not going to be as good as the 7-8oz blank =/

Hello from another newbie;) Suicide, from my very limited experience with leather (only tooled about 6-8 small projects so far), there is the "perfect time" for stamping leather which, in my case, only lasts for about an hour at most unless I cover parts of leather with cling film. If the leather is too dry, you would need to strike the tools real hard to get the impressions, so you loose control over the accuracy of your stamping. If the leather's too wet (but is still okish for carving), you can leave an impression by just slightly pressing the tool into it. If the leather is even wetter, it will try to deform back into its original state, making your impressions very shallow and blurry. Try to experiment and see what you get. Case a strip of scrap leather and stamp it a couple of times every 20-30 minutes while it dries up. However, if you are using 2-3mm leather, then you won't get very deep impressions... PS getting the casign right is probably one of the most difficul parts of stamping. I keep getting the timing wrong =(

Do you think violin rosin will do the job? As far as I'm aware its just some cleaned up pitch... What is the purpose of adding pine tar by the way? I alway get very excited about trying various "secret" homemade recipes, so I forget that the main purpose of all this is to make things work better =) Thanks!

Thanks for the replies! I haven't stitched my round knife sheath together yet, so I'll try to add a welt to it first.

And how do you mix them? Isn't pine pitch highly combustible when heated?

Thanks for the link sylvia. How does this iron method compare to the Al Stohlman's way described in "Hand stitching" book? (i.e. just feed the thread through a piece of wax.)

Thanks Art. I've wrapped the handle with insulating tape as soon as I got the knife, so I guess I'll just add a bit of tape as a stopper and then make a sheath. I was running out of my budget for tools and had to go for a cheaper option for the pairing knife, so I don't care how it looks as long as it does its job. Perhaps a new handle would be a good braiding project when I'm ready to start braiding=)

Hi! Got myself some nice linen thread which needs to be waxed. The thread was usung before was already waxed when I got it, so here's my question: Do you wax your thread right before sewing, or do you just wax a spool or two in advance on a dark&cold winter evening and then use it when you need it? Is there any difference if the thread has been waxed recently or a few months ago? Thanks!

Thanks! are there any guides on how to make such a handle?

Hi! Just got my new tools delivered today (hurray!). While sheaths for my new round knife and a v-race are already in WIP, I'm finding it hard ot think of a good sheath for my pairing knife. The knife is just a 10" x 1 1/2" strip of steel (i.e. there's no handle), so I'm trying to think of the best sheath for it. I recon if I just make a sleve with a snap to hold the knife in, chances are that the sharp end of the knife will cut through the stitching and stick out. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Hi Snowgoose! I'm a newbie here and I haven't made any belts yet, but I'll be making them from 2 pieces stitched flesh-to-sflesh when I do. This does not only let you forget about the flesh side, but it also makes your belt more waterproof, especially if you resolene the back. When you're buying gum trag, make sure you get the liquid "leather" version. I was stupid enough to buy it in powder and its a pain to dilute. It does slick the flesh side but I seem to get a much better result if i slick the back with a cloth empregnated with beeswax after the gum trag dries up. Gum trag might help you slick the flesh side, but it will turn into complete mess the next time you are caught in heavy rain and the belt gets wet. I'll also suggest Leprevo leathers for all your future supplies. The guys are very helpful and charge a bit less than tandy.

I meant the one you get in a beginner's set. Don't think that's linen. Well, I've done some googling and it looks like linen 18/3 is what I need...

Thanks for the conversion chart! Does anyone know what size the standard tandy thread is?

Thanks for your replies! The dog is not mine, so safety is definitely the main priority. I'm now thinking of a 2-ply, 1" or 1-1/4" wide collar, outer layer being 3mm (that's 7-8oz, right?) tooled veg tan and inner layer being 4oz veg tan. I'll stick to resolene as a sealer as theat's the only acryllic sealer I have at the moment (unless there are some strong reasons not to go for it), but what should I cover the edges with? I've got some edge kote but I've got a feeling that its going to run when the collar gets wet. I don't think that resolene does a good job on the edges, does it? What do you think of backing the stitching up with some chicago screws? Should I use normal rivets instead? As I'm new to leathercraft, I only have a couple of spools of tandy waxed thread. What exactly is 138 thread? The place I get my supplies from shows thread size as 18/3, 18/4, etc. Fittings wise I'll stick to good quality solid brass ones if brass as long as its ok for dogs. When fixing the rings, should I only fix them around the outer, 7-8oz layer, or do I need to fix them around both layers? Thanks for the skiving advice - I was thinkign of skiving those places a little bit, but now I won't do it (though if fittings only fixed to outer layer, I guess I can skive the inner layer a wee bit).

Hi! I would like to make a dog collar for a german shepherd and I'm wondering if there are any special considerations to take into account when making a dog collar. I'm thinking of either using 1 layer of 3mm leather or 2 layers of 2mm stitched together flesh-to-flesh. What's the best option? How should I finish the flesh side if I'm using 1 layer only? Would gum trag do or will it go bad when the collar gets wet? Resolene the flesh side? I guess there's nothing wrong with sealing the collar with resolene on the grain side? How do I preserve the collar from going hard, deforming and losing the carving when it gets wet? Any materials that I need to stay away from as they may be harmul for dogs, etc? Are brass fittings ok? Thank you for your help!

Thanks! I'm cutting resolene 50-50 with water, but I'll try a different mix, say 1-2 or 1-3.

Hi nbatter. I've started leathercraft a couple of months ago and this forum is a great place to learn! I'll add a few things I picked up here that may help you learn faster. I hope the more experienced members will correct me if I'm wrong. I got a basic stitching kit from tandy when I started (did not want to outlay a few hundred £ before I even knew I liked leathercraft) and then some stamps from a local-ish vendor and to be honest, I'd try to stay away from tandy tools in future and better invest into higher quality tools. There are, however some modifications you might want to make: Awl: Make sure the blade's not too wide (craftool "4-in-1" blades are very wide - I've reduced the width of mine to nearly half of the original size) Make sure it's properly sharpened and stropped. The blade should glide through the leather like a hot knife through butter, otherwise your stabbing is going to be very jerky and you'll have little control over the holes you make. (same applies to all tools by the way - they all must be sharpened and stropped like a good straight razor). If, like me, you have the craftool 4-in-1 awl, you can put some hard rubber (I used a heat shrink) on the base of the blade before you put the blade into the handle - that stops it from falling out and getting stuck in leather (yes, my awl was that bad). You can also put a stopper on the blade to restrict the length of its working surface to ensure the holes are not too big. Once again, I used 2 heat shrinks so I have only about 1cm of the blade open. You might want to cut a bit of the handle off to fit your palm better. Cut/file a mark on the handle where your thumb goes to make finding the right blade angle easier. I just filed a bit of the handle flat so that the mark is parallel to the blade. Stitching horse: I got the cheapest, most basic stitching pony. If yours has got a regulat nut and bolt, change it to a quick-release one (I bought a quick-release for a bicycle seat for £1 =). That will save you a lot of time when stitching=) Once you have the basic tools, start making coasters. I use 2 parts of 4oz leather flesh-to-flesh. Its great practice for cutting leather, stamping, finishing, stitching & edges and you don't use too much leather on them. And they make good presents too =) Best of luck with your new hobby and I hope these little tricks help!

Hello again! Thanks to all your advice on this forum, I'm now getting better at leatherwork and, as I'm about to make a big order of leather tools, I would be very grateful if you could give me some advice about leather finishes. So far I have been using evoo to oil the leather up, resolene to seal it and clear kiwi shoe polish to buff. I am now considering using non-acryllic finishes to improve the look of my leather items and any advice on the following would be great: 1) Finishes: Carnauba cream vs leather sheen. What is the difference between these two? Do I understand correctly that I just need to apply them to my leather items to seal the leather and then re-apply in a few months? I.e. they are substitute for resolene but they have a tendency to wear off? 2)I am considering following options for aftercare: Mink oil liquid Mink oil paste Saddle soap in liquid glycerine form Saddle soap in cans (i presume that's hard form) Is my understanding correct that these go over carnauba/leathersheen and need to be regularly applied to the leather goods? What are the differences between these products? I am planning to make some wallets, belts, dog collars & watch bands with my next few hides. Thank you again for all the advice! Chavez.

Hi! Could somebody please tell me if it is ok to use acryllic paint together with fiebing's oil-based paint? I am thinking of dyeing the leather piece with fiebing's saddle tan and then dyeing some parts of the pattern with red acryllic paint cut with water. I then plan to finish it all with resolene (hopefully not smudging the acryllic paint all over the pattern. Does this sound like it may work or should I not try to combine different bases? Thanks!

Well, tooled a bookmarker and a coaster today and the 3m tape helped a lot. I only got about 1-1.5mm stretch instead of 2-3 so thank you all for the advice!! Chavez

Thanks! For some reason i thought that I had to groove before tooling. I'll try my first coaster this week. Any advice on keeping the parallel lines parallel? Especially on items like dog collars or watch bands?

Hi! Could somebody please give me a few tips on the best way to cut two matching pieces of leather and then stitch them together (flesh to flesh)? Whenever I try to cut leather, I get +-2-3mm errors on the sides (from transferring the paper pattern to leather, then cutting leather, sanding sides, tooling etc.). Therefore I cannot groove the sides before tooling as the grooves won't match when it comes to stitching. I can groove after I've glued the pieces together and sanded the edges, but I don't think this is right. In addition, if I want to stitch two squares (e.g. for a coaster), the sides of the squares are not likely to be parallel after all the sanding. Are there any tricks for getting the cuts right first time or is it just a matter of experience? Thank you!

Thank you all for the replies! I've got some brown tape but it seems to leave glue marks on the surface it's stuck to. Is this the 3m tape yveryone is talking about? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clear-Packing-Packaging-Tape-Scotch-3M-6-Rolls-66m-/280319358507?pt=UK_Packaging_Materials&hash=item414455f62b Thanks again!!!