Studio-N

The new catalog is available this week as the stores get their orders. Get ready to pay more.

nice work. Is there anything special you needed to do to clean the carbon after it is burned?

Springfield Leather is offering some biker wallet insides already assembled. You just add the outer piece which gives you the opportunity to tool it and put it together rather quickly.

I finally get to go!

To further show how little they care for thier business customers, the new FO Baird reprint books are on sale. Wholesale members and businesses are being offered $0.01 off thier regular price.

Well I'm lucky in that I work the local flea market on the weekend. My buddy and I are the only leather guys there, so they usually find us and are willing to sell them cheap. I'm not getting rich on it for sure at $2 resale. But it helps that Tandy is down the block selling them for $10 each.

I buy them for $1 and resell them at the flea market for $2 each.

The idea behind the corn starch is that it gives dirt and dust something to cling to and then you can brush it out. Since it is a rug, you can treat it as such and throwing it on a line and beating the dirt out of it like the old days.

AGREED! They will also be combining the 3 Stolhman saddle books into one volume and discontinue the individual books. I'm sure it won't be cheap either and now they force you to buy all 3. Greed reins supreme at the evil empire.

that and they don't really care if their employees and managers even know leatherwork. Only that they sell and up-sell you. That's why they have replaced the majority of the older 'expensive' managers. It's amazing how many past customers still come to me for advice vs. the store.

The bunkhouse rolls are generally have a larger diameter than the tandy and tippman rolls. There are some that will fit, but most will not. I've gotten a couple where i didn't read the whole post and they are too large for the tandy embosser I have. As long as it is within 1/2" diameter of the tandy size you should be ok. I love many of the rolls they offer. I just wish I could use them. -Nick

The new plan to try to mask their high pricing for the 2014 catalog is to convert all the leathers from being sold by the sq. foot to selling it by single price. So a double shoulder like their 9052-02 will be like $133 (retail). Problem is their sizes are so inconsistent, you might get a 12 foot shoulder for the $133 ($11.08 sq.ft) or an 11 foot shoulder for that same $90 ($12). They are really counting on their customers not doing the math. They have already started selling them by the piece as 'specials'. and they no longer list an 'average' square footage. Corporate greed reins supreme at the evil empire.

by their nature, anything that has dye stuff in it will never be bright. One missing component is that there is no 'white' component to the dyes/stains. Covas are paint so you can mix them to create a color and are brighter than any dye/stain will ever be. I don't think you'll have a good solution to this one. It also sounds like you didn't get to the finishing part. Some of the brightness will come from the light reflection you get from a hard finish like super sheen (acrlyic) or a lacquer (neatlac). Take one of your failed pieces and add a finish and see the difference.

FIrst off, you're not having a problem with the dye coming off, else you'd get bald spots on the leather. What you're dealing with is loose residue. Buffing it before applying the finish is the first thing to remember. There is nothing wrong with the leather getting wet else you couldn't case the leather. If you really have a problem with residue, it is simply ok to wash the leather. Just run it under water in the sink. It will get a lot of stuff out. This obviously works on the individual pieces, but since you have it put together it's more problematic but it is still possible. Good luck.

use a small stamp to make an impression somewhere you will punch a hole. It if the impression takes, it is veg. then punch the hole to get rid of the impression.

Most of the clearance items here are out. That's usually the case on their clearance sales, just something to help the stores get rid of the discontinued stuff.

welcome to the forum. Good stuff on the website. I wish you success. Nick

Very nicely done.

Not a smart move for a manager of the evil empire to talk down about their products. They have a very paranoid management structure, and if what you say is true and it was repeated here on this public forum, they will probably replace him for it.

I put my vote in for Leather Balm. It is mostly Carnuba wax and a little acid to help clean the leather.

It will char them. but because it does, it hardens them too. I generally have to wash the leather to get rid of all the loose residue.Some people don't wash them because they directly dip dye the leather, but you sure can't leave it natural because of all the smoke residue.On the cheaper lasers, one of the reasons they are cheaper is generally less power available, but more importantly you have to providean outside chiller to keep the tube cool, so you can expect some extra cost. Hello. wish I could but mine is a 2001 model laser. They didn't offer the multi-freq then. I'd love to have one,but this one has served me well.

Hello. I've cut 8 oz. It took 2+ passes at 45 watts. So more is better, but the price goes up a lot. -Nick

I just ordered 3 quarts of ClearLac from SLC. While Tandy is busy being green and not carrying NeatLac anymore, SLC knows enough to carry what we actually want versus trying to shove that eco-foo-foo stuff down our throats. Thanks guys!

I have a dust collector which is connected to my laser and vented to the outside world. During the winter or rain day when I could not spray lacquer, I basically take a large box in which I cut a hole and insert the nozzle into so that any overspray goes out. Works in a pinch.

yeah and they are trying to put a stop to that. They have mandated all stores except the Springfield store NOT to sell tho SLC. So if some store has some leftovers they are trying to get rid of, they cannot sell it to SLC, they have to eat it first. And they damn sure can't sell to SLC at any type of discount. Somehow in thier warped mind, they think they are going to put SLC out of business if they don't carry thier crap.