Domino

Maybe this was a clever April Fools joke and it was really two more days?

An alternative to Tandy in the UK is Le Prevo, I've got tools from them, and am just ordering some leather. Probably worth dropping them an email with your requirements..

I probably shouldn't mention it... But I now can't get the idea of this cowboy being so tough he can have dainty jeans pockets outta my head...

If it's just the how to you need, here's the info: http://community.invisionpower.com/resources/documentation/index.html/_/documentation/administrator-control-panel/forums-tab/post-attachments-attachment-types-r394 Extensions: svg svgz Mime type: image/svg+xml Best Wishes, Mark

I voted too.. For 3 tools and not trees (sorry Sylvia)

Prices here go up with the weight (though it's priced per square foot, so maybe the same if buying by weight).. For 3 1/2 - 4 mm (which I'm guessing is around the 8-9oz mark) the price is pretty much double. I'm looking at this shoulder as being as cheap as offcuts, so gives me plenty to practice on and perhaps tackle something bigger like a bowls case..

And vice versa of course Yeah it's the shipping that kills it.. I've not found a decent supply for offcuts in the UK.. Tandy prices are silly.. I'm probably going to get a traditional fatty veg tan italian shoulder (whatever that means!) within a few weeks - a 12 square foot one 4-5oz will set me back about $50 (the 2.2lbs of offcuts were nearly $20 - and that was cheapest I'd seen any)..

I got some 3mm offcuts (with backs died brown!) off ebay, and have half a dozen bits left.. 4 of those are suitable for making something with. One of the others I plan to use to finalise the design for the belt that came in my starter kit.. So just one practice bit left really.. I do plan on getting more leather soon, but there's a few tools calling for my money a little louder first

Well if you insist.. I don't have a lot of spare leather with just getting started, so I doubt I'd do a tree challenge with 7 tools.. I'd need to experiment too much to get a feel for what was possible first. So I'd vote for something else entirely.. Say like a jolly roger, either classic skull and cross bones/swords or for more creativity in the design, a personal one - something like that could be done in 3 tools.. Does the free stylus include the spoon end or just the point?

Wish I knew that.. I just bought some dividers.. Speaking of which how sharp should the points be for leather work? The ebay seller sharpened them before sending and they are scratching a bit deep to my eyes.. Am I being to heavy handed or should I blunt the tips?

The picture was just posed later, it's not while I was working.. I did have noticable dampness while working, I'd already read the thread here on using it like that Just to test, I went back later and redamped the piece and went over the bevels again with this angle, it was definately easier and gave better edges than my first attempt. I also did a few test cuts on some clean leather, and the difference there was pretty remarkable - the leather was less than normal tooling dampness, just a quick wet with a sponge, and I got 1mm depth bevel with burnishing easy as anything.. By leaning the flat on the blade slightly into the edge, I was getting a ramp in the open field of about 2mm with that depth.. It also worked with moving the saddle back into the nook of my finger so I could get a similar angle with pushing the tool, though I had less fine control that way. There's a sweet spot on the angle, too much and it starts trying to push the leather sideways, too little and it needs more downwards pressure, but when I hit the spot it just eats along the edge with similar pressure to cutting.. Only disadvantage I noticed was I tended to feed and rotate the leather to the knife more this way..

I look forward to the day when I have a comfort zone It's a bit hard to tell the exact modification from your picture, but it looks like you made the bevel steeper? It's not leaning into and out of the bevel edge that made the difference, but leaning along it. So there I would be bevelling towards the bike, pulling the blade along the edge rather than trying to push down into it.. There was a noticable point where the work shifted from my finger to my wrist when leaning the blade over like that..It literally felt like I'd been fighting the tool and suddenly found how to let it do the work.

Well. 6 hours learning braiding and nightmare figuring out new tools.. I was most challenged so do I win?

Dang! I gotta get better at leatherwork... That did not go well... I'd pretty much finished before I figured out how to use the bevelling blade.. It seems to work better leant a lot further over than I did the majority with. It didn't start behaving until it was about 45 degrees to the leather.. Then suddenly it was bevelling smoothly with less pressure and I had more control over it.. If only I'd started with the small stuff! Not much of a competition entry, but I certainly needed the practice

Glad you like my little entry My swivel bevel blade turned up in the post this morning, so along with the hollow ground blade I got earlier in the week, I figured doing another entry for the challenge would be good practice in using them.. I dug through my offcuts looking for a sacrificial piece of leather and choose a long piece that's almost triangular. I knocked up a design to fit it in inkscape and am waiting for the printer ink to dry while the leather is casing.. Here's what I plan on doing..

Is it possible to get the svg file type added to the supported attachments? It's a great vector graphics format for sharing patterns.

This was my first attempt at braiding. It's one continous piece of thonging and I got the nice grey shades by doing it wrong and unpicking numerous times.. I really should have practiced with simpler stuff first! I bought the thonging, so I've not used any tools.. Though I guess we should count the thong cutter and scissors, so I guess it's two

Thanks for the tips everyone, that and this thread http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=34118 have given me a lot of options to consider. I've not heard back from the paper mill..

I read something similar to 4) in one of the old leatherworking books off internet archive a couple of days ago. They suggested using it to put behind modelling done with lifted cuts (flower petals I think was the example) to help reinforce and protect them..

I guess gsm must not be as prevalent a measure in the USA - over here in Europe it's only children's paper that doesn't mention it. It's used as the standard for matching the paper handling capability of printers to paper as well as for choosing appropriate paper. We aren't on the same page about overhead projector sheets - I thought you meant Tandy's transfer sheets, thanks for clarifying

I'm just getting started, and with so many tools on my shopping list, it's hard to justify spending so much on six sheets when I can get 50 for a third of the price. Plus I was surprised that there wasn't already a discussion on the various merits of different types of tracing paper here. So if instead of taking advantage of others knowledge, I end up having to find my own answers to share, that's ok. At least there'll be a search result for gsm (grams per square meter) next time someone has similar questions I've dug into it a little deeper and found one of the paper mills has a technical support department, so I've emailed them explaining what I want to use the paper for. I probably won't get a reply until tomorrow now though.

Yeah, I'm leaning towards getting a 100gsm A4 pack.. That'll go through my printer so I might be able to skip the pencil tracing step - though waiting for the ink to dry on vellum might take longer than tracing it would

I thought the better quality tracing papers ie vellum were waterproof? My problem is that it's available in a range of weights from 100gsm to 200gsm, and being in sealed boxes I can't judge by feel

I'm just getting started and the tracing paper that came with my Tandy kit is running out. I need to get some more and there's a variety of gsm values to choose from. Is there a particular weight range that's recommended?