Mike516

@ Biggun...not sure why you named me because your points have mostly nothing to do with what I said. But I have to say, no offense, but I think you picked two items out of thin air, cars and shotguns, to compare this issue to. Cars are priced based on assembly line efficiency, which they spend tons of money on, quality of materials and a whole bunch of other stuff. You can't compare craftsman who make handmade original items to a car manufacturer. I don't see the connection. Lamborghini competing with Kia isn't the same as two guys who make hand carved leather wallets, one charging the cost of materials and one charging by the hour. To a lesser extent, the shotgun analogy is flawed but for the same reason. Sorry dude, don't want to start an argument but I don't think your comparison is valid. That said, I specifically said I don't make the same things Chief does, but I can understand the argument that he's too cheap. My beef is with people who copy other people's design's then run them out of business by charging like $1 an hour for their work. Maybe it's not exactly on topic here but some of the comments made me think of that.

Very nice work. My first thought before I even saw any other posts was the same as J Allen. I don't sell wallets and stuff like you have, but I can see his point. One of the things I do sell is bookmarks, and I had asked some people on another chat board what they thought of my Etsy store and not a week later someone from that board posted their "new" Etsy store and they were selling exact copies of the bookmarks I make. I know a lot of people don't have any imagination and are too lazy to come up with their own ideas, but the thing that aggravated me was they are selling them at a loss and there's no way I can compete with someone like that. I don't know what the quality of their leather is and they just stamp everything, but they do A LOT of painting on them so it has to take a good amount of time and 4 bucks is just ridiculous. Like JA said, you can do what you want, but I do agree with him you're selling yourself short and lowering the bar so low, no one making what you do will be able to compete. Someone even told me once they've heard there are people who will buy handmade stuff that's cheap like yours, and resell it.

In case my girlscout cookie reference looked out of place because some of you didn't bother reading everyone's posts

First of all, I buy girl scout cookies from my neighbors kids because I'm friendly with everyone on my block and their children are good kids so I don't mind. That and I don't want anyone to think I'm a cheap pr*&$ and they're goooood with coffee! Second, I'm not worried about anyone stealing my customers. I'm just getting started myself, but I let my stuff speak for itself. People will buy it or they won't. If they like someone else's product more than mine, that's their choice and I don't let that kind of thing bother me. Lastly, I never heard of kickstarter and agree with the camp that won't be mailing any checks. Sorry, but I didn't ask for help starting my small business because I feel it's necessary for me to always earn my own way with no handou...err sorry, what are we calling what she's asking for...permanent loans? Just stating my opinion, to each his own...send her money or don't, that's up to you...but that's my opinion and that's all I have to say about that.

My wife and I followed the instructions here: http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent It's good to start with, but because it is cardboard, it won't last forever. We wound up buying one that's made really well, but I wouldn't get the "special" lights they sell. It only takes their bulbs and they charge a fortune for replacements. You can use regular lamps with it using daylight bulbs. I would also recommend a tripod since some of your pics are a little blurry. It is super important on Etsy that your pictures look good because the stuff is hand made. If the pictures aren't good, people think you don't pay attention to detail, and when you're trying to sell hand-mades, that's the kiss of death.

No offense, but the pictures are terrible. But you sold 2 things in your first couple of weeks, so what do I know

I found at an estate sale what looks like an edge beveler, but from what I could find out, it looks like this company made tools, but not leather working ones. Is anyone familiar with Goodell-Pratt and did they actually make leather working tools? If they did, were they any good?

Good idea to use paracord. Anyone know of somewhere to get a lot of this cheap for practice only. Could be the cheapest quality too, doesn't matter.

Sounds good, thanks!

Thanks for the reply BearMan. How much would something like that cost? Maybe I should just look into getting a dremel tool and make life easier all around.

Excellent! Glad I asked. I think this is going to come in pretty handy.

Thanks guys. Now that I have the scalpel Cheryl, I can put away my scissors and run around with this. I just need a blade for it

Ah ha! I can see that, thanks.

Holy crap! That's really good.

I found these tools at an estate sale today. Not a ton of tools, but most of them are vintage and in ok shape, so I couldn't pass them up for 20 bucks. The thing is, and this is probably a noob question (but I'm a noob so it's ok), but can anyone tell me what the Bard Parker tool is please? Something for stitching I'm guessing, but I'm just starting to dabble in stitching now so I'm not familiar with this tool. Sorry if it's obvious, but I been looking for a picture of it and I can't find one. Is it even a leather working tool? Thanks.

These are really really nice burnishers. I actually just got a vintage NOS light duty craftsman bench grinder at an estate sale and was wondering if anyone knows if there are burnishers made for bench grinders. Seems like it would work pretty good if anyone makes these that could be fit on one.

There's a very nice woman I met in Nassau County Long Island that has several pieces of very nice marble she's looking to give away for her neighbor who's husband was in the marble business and has passed away. One piece is 42" X 42" square and the rest are irregular shaped smaller pieces. If anyone needs a piece of marble for their shop out here, let me know and I'll get you together with her. I can even meet you there and help you load it if you want. Try and let me know soon because she has several people coming to look to use them for table tops, and they're pretty nice so probably won't be there for long. Post here or pm me.

I was having fits setting snaps with the hand tools also. I like this hand press so much for snaps, I broke down and bought the rivet dies. None of the Tandy dies work for any other snaps or rivets I have other than the Tandy ones. But the sockets in the press can accommodate a lot of the dies other manufacturers make for their own snaps and rivets.

I love this site. Great job HH.

Oh boy...I'm off to the vintage sewing machine site!

I think maybe I'll stick with hand stitching for now. I don't know very much about sewing machines, apparently I even know less than I thought I did after reading your post Wiz. I thank you for all the info though, it's just a bit over my head. Matter of fact, I'll look into its value and maybe sell it along with the others I have.

That's disappointing. I really thought this would be good for more than just light weight stuff. Thanks for the info.

@ capnmeow - how long have you been at it?

It's on the oval tag...I knew that Ok it's a Model 95-10. Will it sew leather?

I picked up this machine at an estate sale at the end of the day pretty cheap. I really like these old machines and save them from the landfills when I can. From its size (it's pretty big compared to other old machines I've bought and sold), the size of the motor, and the fact that there's no decals on it, I am guessing it's industrial grade, but I can't be sure. So can anyone tell what model it is and do you think I could sew leather with it? It's kind of stuck behind my workbench right now, so these are the best pics I could get without making a disaster area of my shop. Thanks.