TonyV

As they say in the military, "Never volunteer for anything".

Great recommendation. Joan at J.H. Leather sews an impeccable stitch has instructional vids on her traditional sewing technique and has a few great vids on making dog collars and leashes. As always, Stohlman is an authority on leatherwork.

Nice holster Jake! The thumb break stiffener is available from Tandy via Ebay or Amazon. I've also seen them made with hardened leather or plastic.

Tallow is just fat/oil. A cleaning with saddle soap might do wonders. It never hurts, and usually helps, to clean before dyeing, anyway. Try it on some scrap and judge the results.

very nice! Your customer will love it, I'm sure. I'm the proud owner of a genuine B-3 bomber jacket. It's not often cold enough in my area to need it, but when it does get that cold, I'm happy to have it.

Most of the time I sand by hand. Don't usually need much to even things up after a knife trim. On occasion though, the stars just don't align any better than my eyes. In that case, I use a small drum sander on my drill press. The most economical edge treatment is a little bit of water and vigorous slicking with a bit of canvas or white denim. Ain't fancy, but you can make it shine.

very interesting. Hand sewing technique is one of my curiosities. I need to look into this as I have a couple projects in mind which could benefit from something like this.. Thanks Fred

That will work out great. I think of leather work is 99% precise guessing, so a little bit of an offset line only means it's hand made with love. I prefer starting (after the backstitch) from the back needle first. I'm right handed, so that's the left hand needle. AFIK that's the traditional way. But like most all things in leather work, 10 people will give you at least 12 different answers.

This. Don't be nervous about sewing the fabric back to the leather. Sewing fabric to leather is really not much different to sewing leather to leather, plus you have the option of using pins to hold the fabric in place while sewing, without leaving a mark. The Weaver blue band chisels are spaced at 5mm. I think 4mm spacing (yellow band) would work well on this project. But you don't have to buy a new set! Just use the spacing you have on existing stitches to make a small template to mark the spacing, then you can use the single-point chisel that you likely already have to make your holes one at a time. Yes, that's slow, so it gives you a good excuse to buy a new set of chisels As for not having the matching leather, you might find a belt or purse at a Goodwill store that fills the bill for a buck or 2.

And if all the above methods don't work, remember that some leathers come with some sort of topcoat or even grease and dirt. It wouldn't hurt to give it a gentle cleaning with saddle soap and or denatured alcohol before beginning the dye procedure. Clean leather dyes better.

"genuine leather" can be anything from the very thinnest split they can manage, bonded to whatever fabric and plastic they can buy the cheapest (your brother's belt), to leather scraps and sanding dust ground up and glued together to make it, sort of like particle board is to wood. As long as it has some portion of leather, they can call it "genuine, solid, or "real" leather are deceptive terms used to market trash.. Even "top grain" can be deceiving. The "full grain" term is a bit more honest, but not always. The industry needs a tune-up.

The tiny ones from small punches and rotary punches are used to fall and roll into tiny crevices and remain there until the house is renovated by the next owners, who will invariably scratch their heads and wonder WTH they are and why were they put there, giving a great laugh to our ghosts. The bigger ones can be used to make spacers, decorative scallops etc. And game pieces, as mentioned above.

some people ask how to be certain those patterns don't show up in the finished product. Take some samples of the pattern and experiment a little bit with different finishes. Neatsfoot oil should still allow it to still be visible. I would expect that sunlight would affect the leather equally wherever it's exposed, so the stripes should still remain, light patches getting a bit darker and the dark patches getting a bit darker still. Sunlight darkening is a natural contributor to the patina of leather that people find beautiful. Light-colored dyes would be your best bet in keeping the patterns visible. You won't see the pattern under a black or dark blue dye Try light brown etc. and apply it lightly.

Of that don't sweeten her milk, nothing will. NiceA

A couple different ways I know of, both involve getting the strap wet. Not soggy of course, just slowly draw a strap through a basin of water as if you were casing it, shake off the excess, then... 1- stretch it out between 2 clamps across your bench or a table and let it dry. Then do your magic. 2- My preference. Use your glass slicker in one direction only. Repeat as much as necessary to get it stretched. this way might even make it a bit thinner so you don't have to skive as much. Let it dry then do your magic. As with everything in leather craft, YMMV there are many ways of doing things. I'm looking forward to see what other methods there are.

Fred has the answer. I cut and straighten lace that way, too. Bonus hint, pull the strap through a round hole while it's damp to make it round.

Have you tried buffing it when dry? alternatively; Have you tried leaving off the Angelus 600 to see if that helps?

What vegetation and minerals in your area have been used in traditional dyes? Red ochre combined with a seed oil or NFO, maybe combined with coffee or black tea?. Is there some traditional crafts people in your area with whom you can share ideas? You might be able to find black walnut shells for sale online. Some people have good success on leather with wood stain.

other ingredients include soy lecithin and dimethyl silicone. YMMV. These ingredients make the oil rather sticky. I don't use cooking spray on my cast iron for just that reason. Just plain old avocado oil. Don't care to try spray on my leather projects.

Personally, I'm more inclined to be thinking of "How do I go about reupholstering?" I don't know of any adequate fillers, although there used to be (might still be) an As Seen On TV vinyl and leather "repair" kit available, which I think was just vinyl paste of different colors. I might use that stuff on naugahyde, but not real leather. You might be able to artfully patch the holes and cracks, giving it a little different character by gluing and/or over-sewing matching patterns of new leather. There are people here much more knowledgeable of furniture than I.

Tape and adhesives have a habit of sticking to stuff. It's their job. Even the 3M Command hooks can damage walls, despite the adverts. I know this because I used them in my RV to hang things. Every place I used them came they came loose after about 18 months and tore the wallpaper along with them. Ugly patches I have to repair somehow. You might try something like Command hooks, mounting tape or masking tape on a piece test of leather and see how well they hold, what damage they cause, and see what residue they leave behind. To remove tape residue I would try denatured alcohol first.

I don't see any issues with your stitching (yeah, I went there ). That's some good stitching. Time to pick up where you left off 8 months ago, IMO, and I'm looking forward to more of your work. My family has a history of retinal detachment and other eye issues, so I empathize with you. It may be only a matter of time before I join that club.

a desktop arbor press should work. or my ex could stand on it

Next project is in the wood shop, making nickels.

Dawn dish detergent works on most any organic oil, but try it in an inconspicuous spot first. It might be rough on the dye. But can it be much worse than a big, greasy bird dog?