lightningad

do you need to case the flesh side of the leather? I found that gluing down onto stiff card, then using a sponge to case the top side of the leather was all i needed. I didn't think the leather had to be wet all the way through. I have found the impressions to be better if its not totally wet, adam

now that looks useful for a newbie like me! and all those great old paper textures as well - fantastic for my day job!

not implying, just speaking of personal experience! each to their own.

for me, i'd rather spend my time learning and running the software i need to do my work, instead of mucking about trying to keep the OS happy. I have never seen a piece of software yet that has made me wish i could run windows! Everything i need to create broadcast quality video, 3d animation, music and sound mixes are available on the mac and at the same price they are on the pc. OK the mac costs a bit more, but for me its a work tool, not a hobby. I want to switch it on, work all day without problems, then repeat daily for several years. In the time i keep and run a mac, someone in the office here has usually gone through two or three pc's, and had endless hours of tech support . Initial outlay may be higher, but i reckon over its lifetime it works out cheaper. Oh yeah, I don't buy a car with the intention of changing its engine - i buy the right one to start with!

FCP-X is just very different to any other video editing app. My own personal dislike of it is down to having tried it, and not liking it. Premiere is very similar to the older FCP, only it will run in 64bit. As for Apples claim that its a pro application....they would claim that. But i don't know of anyone using it for professional broadcast work. That may change over time, but i'm sceptical in the short term. I'm sure you could buy a big screen for a pc and get as large a resolution as the iMac. But don't let the screen resolution be your deciding factor. You need to keep in mind where the finished video is going to be seen. If you are putting them on a dvd or on Youtube, or broadcast tv, in fact, any place other than your own room, then the resolution of the screen you use to edit is completely irrelevant. The quality of the screen will have no bearing on the quality of the video you create. It'll just look nicer while you are working on it. Great as the iMac is, its upgradeability is limited to what you can plug into its external ports. I would imagine that for most tasks its perfectly acceptable but if you play a lot of games, then its probably not quite up to that level of graphics. I know a pro photographer who swears by his 27"iMac. I use various flavours of mac, including MacPro's and a MacbookPro - which i have edited tv commercials on whilst sitting in an airport lounge! I doubt i could have done that on a pc.

It all depends on what you want to do with video editing. If like me, you were a professional video editor, then you would be in a strange place right now. Apples introduction of FCP-X was actually a kick in the teeth to many pro editors. They decided that the professional user was no longer that important to Apple so decided to re-invent video editing for the consumer user, and brought out FCP-X at the same time as discontinuing FCP - which many thousands relied upon for their living. This allowed Avid and Adobe to regain ground they had been consistently loosing for the past decade, and a lot of Editors have dropped FCP altogether. Many have stated they are considering PCs for the first time in years. Personally, I don't like editing FCP-X - feels too gimmicky to me. It does some things very well, but not enough to make me want to relearn everything. When i need to upgrade, there are plenty of other options to consider. Personally, I love the Mac, although a lot less than i did a year ago. The two major OS (mac and windows) seem to be getting closer and closer to each other, and the various edit applications that are available for both systems are said to run the same regardless of the OS in use. I can't say whether or not you should go for the mac or the pc. That choice is yours alone. My own experience is that Macs work a lot more reliably than PC's. They also seem to last longer. They are not infallible, but then nothing in life ever is. adam

If everyone used a Mac, then who would us Mac users have to feel superior to?

I have seen plenty of tutorials showing different ways to braid, but the one thing that always seems to be missing is showing how to tie off the braid to stop it unraveling. What kind of knots should be used? Or are there better ways to complete a braid? I know it will all depend on how i wish to use the braid, but i'm hoping somebody can give me a few pointers to help me in the right direction! Just for starters, i recently have tried some 4 strand round braid, 3 and 4 strand plaits and i have been unable to figure out an acceptable way of finishing them off. please help - i'm starting to feel like an idiot! adam

if you want to see the completed pouch, its on the critique forum ... here

i had, but after watching Tandys online video i decided not to bother! The video shows the leather being rubbed but it doesnt appear to make any difference to the colour. I guessed that the glass was too smooth, like the steel on my jewellers burnishers, and that there needs to be some friction to create the burnish. The walnut (and the tool handle) are smooth to the touch but have more resistance when rubbed on the leather. I think if you want smooth and shiny without a colour change, then stick to steel or glass. if you want to see some burn, then you need friction. but then i could be completely wrong!

Thanks - i had read it, and it was that site that gave me the idea to use the walnut (its the only hardwood i have in the garage at the moment!)...only i had forgotten what the site was so had not been back to re-read it for a while. I'm intrigued by his mention of "burnishing compounds" - i thought it was all down to the oils in the leather and the use of water as a wetting agent. I wonder what effects it might have if i use a beeswax polish on the walnut?

i might have a go this weekend - we bought a lathe last saturday so it seems like an ideal project! I'll just have to glue up some walnut pieces to make a thick enough lump to turn.

right - done some tests with quite interesting results. firstly - here's the pouch i'm working on. The colour and shine is purely the result of burnishing the leather with the wooden handle from one of my tools. Looks great but takes a heck of a lot of rubbing and looks rather uneven due to the small contact area of the tool handle. to try improve on this i have made two new burnishers today - one is made of soapstone and the other is american black walnut. Both have been sanded to a very smooth finish. Here they are with the two veg-tan scraps wetted ready for rubbing! following some frantic rubbing i discovered the soapstone seems to give a deeper browning but probably because of poor polishing of the stone, its scratching the leather and looks quite uneven (difficult to tell in the picture) The walnut gives a very glossy and much smoother burnish, although it takes a lot more rubbing and pressure than the soapstone, and the colour seems more even. Considering there is no other finish or oil or treatment of any kind, i'm amazed how rich the leather is starting to look. I might try some of the dremels buffing attachments to see if they do anything interesting.

Hi, i sent a message over a week ago but have yet to have any kind of response. I have seen other forum members mentioning a forum dedicated to more adult leatherworking topics, and its something i am interested in. Please can i request access to this forum? or could you tell me what i need to do to be allowed access? thanks my site username is lightningad adam taylor Name: adam taylor UserName: lightningad IP Address: 87.113.63.240 Email Address: adam@moose.co.uk

i'll do some photos tomorrow of the piece so far. Basically, i decided to try burnish the leather instead of stamping and carving. Its got this lovely deep glossy brown from the burnishing, but because of the shape of the tool, its difficult to get an even burnish - theres streaks visible because such a small area of the wooden handle is in contact at any one time. I'm also going to try an experiment with soapstone - its a very soft rock that can polish up nicely, so i'm going to flatten a profile, smooth it off and see how that works as a burnishing tool. The very quick test i did this evening certainly looked promising.

already been doing the wet stuff, thanks. Thats what has puzzled me - wet with the steel - not much colour change, wet with wood - much darker. I'm more interested to know how the burnishing is achieved on large flat areas, rather than edges. adam

I've been struggling for a week to get a decent looking burnish on a pouch i'm making. I'm using a fancy highly polished steel jewellers burnisher which is making the veg-tan nice and smooth but not really giving that nice burnished colour. However, I have discovered that if i turn the tool around and use the wooden handle it works a treat!. This then prompted me to try burnish the flesh of the leather as well, and stone me...it works fantastically too! My pouch is gonna have a smooth inside and outside. The big problem with this method is it takes a long time and an awful lot of elbow grease. So my question is... are there any mechanical methods for burnishing larger areas of leather? I've got a dremel if thats any use? I know i can get dremel / drill mounted edge burnishers, but i'm more interested in burnishing the whole item being made. thanks Adam

Hi, I've been on the forum for a couple of months now, and my leatherwork is advancing nicely. I've noticed there are some Adult forums that are restricted access. Being over 40, i think i now class as adult, so please can i be allowed in to those forums? my log-in name is lightningad. thanks Adam Name: adam taylor UserName: lightningad IP Address: 87.113.63.240 Email Address: adam@moose.co.uk

I don't have any books, just an idea! As for tools - these forms were made with very basic woodwork tools - rulers, saws, a screwdriver, sandpaper and a few clamps. Nothing more!

I'm in the middle of a very similar project myself, and although its only my second pouch, its working out really well. I created a two part plywood mould - the first has the inner plug glued to a baseboard and sanded smooth. The second is a plywood board with a hole cut out to fit over the plug with enough extra space to allow it to be pressed down without scratching the leather. Again all edges and sides are sanded smooth. I soaked my leather in lukewarm water for around 15-20 mins, then placed it onto the mould then carefully pressed it down manually first, then used the second part of the mould to press it down all the way. Once happy that it was moulding correctly, i attached a couple of spring loaded clamps to hold it all secure. The following day i released the clamps to check it was okay, ad found that one side was more curved than i wanted, so because the leather was still quite damp, i was able to manipulate the plywood and the leather to tighten up the side that needed it. Then back on with the clamps and left to dry for another couple of days. I was so taken with this method, that once the leather was dry I was able to trim it to the size i wanted and then draw around the entry profile on to a template from which i made another set of moulds for creating a cupped lid. The two work together really well. And it worked so much more easily than i expected. Cant wait to finish it properly Pouch body being formed in mould Lid being formed - this needs to fit snuggly over the body pouch so has a curved front edge, and i left the back as a long flat piece so it can be shaped and creased to form the rear panel Not shown is the third flat piece i used to make the lid top flat. This picture shows i quite curved, so i placed a sheet of plasticard over the wet leather and then a sheet of plywood on top of that which was weighted down to give the flat top seen in the next image. The plasticard was to prevent any wood grain from being impressed into the leather the two halves side by side awaiting stitching and finishing - but the idea is pretty clear. adam

thanks for clarifying that Azrider - thats what i thought you meant, just wasn't sure! Good point about about following up on the customer service Capgun....i suppose you have to watch your timing though if they're wandering being cowboys! adam

Hey Syd, i'm new to this whole thing too - and got into it with the Tandy starter kit. I found it to be a great way to learn some basics, and within a few days i had ordered some more stuff from Tandy. What i would recommend doing is looking through the Tandy website for "Veg-bellies...special purchase" - I bought two of these at under £7 each (I have just noticed they are now £18 each) but its a large piece of leather - mine are around 3 mm thick, and both are long enough to get a few belts out of plus have plenty left over to make some knife pouches etc, and its probably the cheapest way to get loads of practice leather. Its not a wide piece but then its a fraction of the cost of decent hide, its cheap and its still very useful! Cutting with the swivel knife is the thing i found most difficult, but a few practice goes - most importantly taking my time and concentrating on each cut, its amazing how quickly your ability will improve. good luck adam

Thanks Azrider, could you be a little more specific? when folding over the stone would you fold so the flesh side was against the stone or would you reverse the leather so the smooth was on the stone. I ask because the quote about then making the groove with an edger seemed odd, unless you either removed it from the stone or had folded the leather flesh side out, and then grooved along the crease. regards Adam

thanks Dwight - if i had a v cutter thats exactly what i would do. I have just done the fold, and apart from cutting a groove, i found by stamping a groove in the wetted leather with the bevel stamp, then using a ball model tool to compress it even more, wet the outside of the fold and just worked it a bit manually, its pretty close to what i needed. regards Adam

I'm making a wet moulded pouch with a wet moulded lid that fits snuggly over the top. The lid has enough flat material still attached so that when its trimmed it will also form the back panel of the pouch. My question is how do i put a fold or crease into the thick veg-tan leather (approx 3mm) to allow the lid to sit correctly, and to behave as the hinge point when opening ? My one previous attempt at a pouch had a flap type lid which curves too much and i want to avoid that on this one. I have tried carving a v-groove on the rough side, but the result is poor at best. I also tried casing the leather and then lightly scoring a line on the rough side, then using a bevel stamp hammer along the line then turn the leather around and go back along the opposite side of the line. This seems to work okay, but i'm convinced there must be a better and more effective method. I'd appreciate any advice about how best to add this detail thanks Adam