Sylvia

Wayland. CasCity is fhere I read about the black walnut based brown dye. Thank you for the other link as well, because I do quite a bit of tie dying in the summer and am interested in natural dyes for that purpose as well.

Hi Tom: I think you are referring to the self centering doweling jig. That would work however... the problem again is the different sizes of straps. I am getting better at centering and spacing as I said before the templates have helped immensely. Thank God for the good people at Black River Laser. Their well made but inexpensive templates have done wonders for me. Its much easier for me to lay out the holes or slots and all I have to do now is scribe, aline and punch. I still have that idea for a tool I want to develop.... but I'll need to wait until BRL has the time to prototype it for me. Thanks everyone for your efforts to find me a solution. I am OK with belt holes as it is now. Like anything they can improve but I am much better and more accurate now.

There are some free designs and pdf downloads you can buy @ http://www.leathercraftlibrary.com

Can you post a picture of existing brown hardware??

LOL I had forgotten about this thread.

Welcome Wayland! I love your fire kit. I stared at it baffled for a minute trying to figure out what the metal piece was then it dawned on me. lol I'm sure you CAN teach us something. Some of us are interested in many of the old ways of doing things. So feel free to share anything you think we may find interesting. I read somewhere about using the fleshy husks of black walnuts to make a deep brown dye. Any thing like that would be interesting and helpful to know. Sylvia

I keep mine in a little plastic baggy. But recently I bought some small plastic food storage containers that are rectangles. The fit in my drawer nicely and have a snap on lit. I was thinking about your little box with dividers. If you have a piece of leather or material thin enough cut it to fit the inside of the lid and glue it in place. It will take up the space and help solver your problem.

I use the eco flo shenes. But if water resistance is important to you I would talk to the saddlers and the holster makers. I know Katass uses a floor product called Mop-n-glo mixed 50/50 with water. I've not tried Wyosheen or Resolene mostly because I've not bothered to buy any yet. I know that some of the holster makers are hot waxing their things to make them hard and water proof.

That's the marketing person and online college student in me. The art you need to search is typically "Line art." or "clip art" or "coloring pages" Those searches will bring up more black and white images. So when googling.... type in the subject and add line art or clip art or coloring page In fact... here's a better set by googling "wild turkey coloring page" https://www.google.com/search?q=wild+turkey+coloring+page&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=wbB&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_ZWkT7XdNYfmiALl8YHNAg&ved=0CHkQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=639

Just got an email from Tandy... they now have the bowling ball bag pattern on leathercraftlibrary.com here's the link https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/wishlist.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fp-1711-bowling-ball-bag-pattern-4429.aspx

OUCH!! I can't say I have actually figured out the cost. But I feel for you... nothing worse than finding out you've paid someone to take your things.

you have the largest library to art in the world right in front of you. https://www.google.com/search?q=Wild+Turkey+line+art&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Tm6&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=fE2kT5SIOKaZiALJ9_m_Ag&ved=0CJABELAE&biw=1280&bih=639 You can use your monitor as a light box and are only limited by the size and resolution of the image. Tape your tracing paper to the monitor... use a felt tip pen and trace. Also if your computer is a lap top, protect your screen by placing a layer of plastic between the paper and the screen... and don't press too hard. Hope that helps.

I'm wondering if the terminology is hosing you up. Like this image linked from RJF leather image Shows that they call the "hind end" of the hide as a "single bend"

Package arrived safely... both tools were perfect. Thank you!!

YW on the link. You'll need a small compressor and an inline water trap with regulator. Harbor freight has those on sale now for cheap. Then you'll need an adapter to you can go from regular size air hose to the size on the air brush hose. (all fairly cheap... if you already have the compressor) Yes I use deglazer on new unfinished leather. (so I comply with the guarantee requirements) I've done both dying without the deglazer and dying with deglazing. I personally don't see a difference.... except the deglazer makes the surface wet. It does make sense that you use some sort of cleaner like Fiebings Dye prep (which is mostly water, clear high alchohol booze, and Sudsing ammonia) to remove oils from your hands etc.

A deglazer is used to take any oils, waxes, and finish products, etc., from the leather before before it is dyed. In fact, my angelus spirit dye is guaranteed to penetrate... but the guarantee is only good if the leather is deglazed with the Angelus deglazer first. One word to the wise though... I've still had troubles with penetrating even after deglazing and you can be certain that I went after that guarantee and got my money back. (black is the worst!!) I know Katsass likes his $7 airbrush for spraying dye. But if you ever plan to do fine detail painting I recommend you spend the money and get a decent dual action air brush. I got a Paasche from a company on ebay because it was 1. A brand I knew 2. Dual action 3. was the cheapest I found for that model. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Paasche-VLS-SET-Airbrush-Double-Dual-Action-Paint-Hobby-/390414312910?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae681a5ce

I am sure you were having a moment with you asked if you could mix OIL dye with WATER.... I'm sure you know that oil and water don't mix . In fact oil dye is actually a spirit dye so you would have better luck looking up the safety data sheet for the brand of oil dye you intend to use and see what solvent the dye is made with then using the appropriate thinner or reducer. I spray oil dyes after using a dye prep and a deglazer and I use a reducer to thin I sponge on or dauber on acrylic dyes in a VERY SMALL circular motion. And like the other poster wipe it off with a folded piece of towel immediately. Just an FYI.. acrylic dyes and paints are the only ones you can thin with water. Keep in mind that chemicals in the water can in some cases change the color of the dye....

At first I thought it was something that I was doing too. The first strap was cut with a straight edge and utility knife and it curved. Subsequent cuts have been with the strap cutter and a draw gauge. Then I thought it might be because of tooling but it doesn't seem to matter whether or not it is tooled heavily. The only thing I mould is guitar pick pouches....and the leather I use is the off cuts and fringe cuts that would not be nice for a strap. They are often very stretchy and flexible. I imagine that is the reason some exclusively buy the bellies but truthfully I wouldn't know much about that.

Very cool, Cheryl.

Miss V: You are always welcome and encouraged to play along. Chancy just indicated HIS favorites since he is sort of "host" these things at the moment. (Which we all just take with a grain of salt.... since we know he is just bonkers anyway. ) The May challenge is less restrictive on the tools... so begin your dragon hunt....I can't wait to see what you offer up.

https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/p-1658-standing-buffalo-video-tracing-and-photocarve.aspx?

Fair enough. I resisted facebook for years and was flabbergasted that all my favorite "coupon" sites forced me to "like" in order go get a dang coupon for something I needed. Then we had grandkids in Alaska... and I realize I was missing out on some of the smallest things... like pictures... talent show videos... kooky things little kids do. So I reluctantly joined.

Hi Jayjay: It's a challenge, not a contest... and yes show your carving by May 31. Remember this is for fun and to get you to stretch your skills and break out of what you would normally do. Have fun! Syl

lol good one.

Another "gait" is pacing in this case the horse move both right legs forward and then both left legs. It's unusual but a very comfortable ride.