kwelna

Also try RJF Leather great service and leather quality

I recently sent a letter off to Tandy as to my dissatisfaction of the "Bennefits" of being a club member. I received a friendly response from them and i am waiting to see if they change some of their offerings\practices. (The loss of the free tool each month etc.) I also understand that they are in a tight spot. First they are a specialty shop shop so they have a limited audience. While we grouse about their prices and leather quality, they need to keep some of thier prices and costs low so the cost of entry into this hobby is low enough that a noob can afford to try it out and see if they like it. They also have to keep inventory levels high enough to both make the store attractive and to assure that all products are available when you walk in. This is a tremendouse cost to have inventory just stiing there waiting to be purchased. To make up for that loss, they have to charge more. I frequent the Tandy store in Roseville, MN the staff is great, the customer service provided by the staff is awesome and Tom the Mgr is fantastic. So I do cut them some slack on their prices. I go there and spend my money because of these people not the Tandy brand.........Upon second thought, that is not totaly true. I am never afraid to purchase Tandy tooling\products because of the their warrenty. It it breaks or does not perform as expected I can return it for an exchange or get my money back. I have done this on a few occasion and was able to return the item with out hassle. So I guess I mostly (80%) go for the people and customer service. I agree that for the price I would like to see a little bit highter quaity in both the leather and some of the tooling, but I also understand with the internet and having to compete with online sellers with reduced overhead it may not always be possible. As to the complaints about the water based dyes, finished etc. With all the tree huggers and over reactions to petrolium based and "chemical" based products I do believe that tandy is just adjusting to the changing politics of the market place. I have a feeling that they are trying to get ahead of the curve. Has anyone tried contacting coprorate about perceived failing of the water based products and offer possible suggestions to rectify issues or work arounds? I do beleive that in less than 5-10 years it will be impossible to find many of the spriit and oil based products (Remember Zip Strip wood stripper you know the stuff that acrtually worked?) The same thing is coming for our hobby\business' and hopfuly by then these eco friendly products will be better and function in an expected manner. I too spend money with Springfield, RJF and Sherridan (All fo whom have stellar customer service and leather). But I will continue to spend some of my money with Tandy so long as the staff and customer service are superb and Tandy stands behind the products they are selling.

Electrathon, I too would be interested in some of this thread, please let me knnow if you are planning a group purchase

"When you dye the edges after sanding, do you have a problem with the dye soaking onto the top or bottom of the leather" Sorry for the terrible spellingin my last message, No, I do not experience a lot of bleeding into the the face of the leather. I do start with a moderatly "dry" Brush when I stain edges. I think all the fine fuzz sucks up the dye so it never has a chance to get to the rest of the leather. I also do not burnish until the edges are dry, I then hit them with a light film of gum traganth and burnish. It take very little effort to get a good edge this way. I think that the sanding is the big secret...Also I tend to work more with bridal leather which is oilier \ waxier than staight up veg tan. Huh, Maybe it is that I am using good quality leather and not my process....As ar as stitching goes, get a groover and to begin with, a set of diamomd stitching chisels and a SHARP awl (Tandy Awls are not sharp! You will have to sharpen them or buy a sharp awl from somewhere else like the Douglas Awl Blades from Sherridan leather) Do not pound the chisle all the way through all layers of leather only use it to mark where you will make holes with the awl. At most, only just barely go through the first layer of leather. Let the awl make the holes. If it is sharp, it will go though with only light pressure especially when stiching thiner items like a wallet. Use a stitching pony or calmp of some sort to hold the leather. Practice practice practice........I suggest you make a few linned belts with stitching around the outside of the entire belt. It will give you the practice you need on finishing edges and stitching. It is a bit tedouse, OK a lot tedouse, but in the end, you will have gifts to give and get in some practice at the same time. Set up in front of the TV and take your time, do not rush, Stitch exacly the same way with each stitch. Watch how the stitches lay into the grove etc. experiment a bit and definitly watch the video on stitching at fineleatherworking.com Also get a copy of Stohlman's The Art of Hand Stitching Leather. Do it the way he describes with the crossing of the needles there is a reason for this that will become aparent once you start stitching. Never Give Up - Never Surrender!!

You are off to a great start. I would agree with Randy C . Get an edger and cut off those squared deges, then sand with 80 -120 and then again with 220. When I sand with 220, I only sand in one direction, this cust off teh loger strands of fuzz. I usually then sye the edges and once dry put on a this coat of gum traganth adn then burnish. Once the edge is nice and smooth, I let it sit for about 15 -20 minutes the reburnish and the edge will gloss up noice and shiny. Lastly i put coat of nutral satin edge finish and I am done. Go out to fineleatherworking.com and watch teh video on saddle stitching, it will explain a lot. Dwightis also correct, read and study all the leather books you can find (YA gotta love a library, all that knowledge for free!), ask question and wander around this site for additional pearls of wisdom(This is a great site). Look at how others construct their pieces, look at how a comercially made piece is contstruted, all this will give you insight on what to do and what not to do. Finially, keep pushing yourself and keep practicing, you will get there and remember you are your worst critic. Cut yourself some slack!

I buy 14 X 22 poster board sheets from office max, You get 8 sheets in a pac. I think thy run about $.50 - $1 a sheet. works great, I I want permanent templates, I cut them put of 1/8 - 1/4 Plexiglass\polycarbonate clear plastic sheets (Try Home Depot where they sell replacement window glass. A bit spendy, but it cuts great with a band saw and you can finish up rough edges by sanding.

I vote Black River as well. Great templates reasonable prices. Worth every penny

The linee look to be too well defined for it to be not intentional, looks like it will imprtint some kind of tree or bush or brush? Interesting. MIght be home made or a one off ?

I always go for big ticket items when I get a wind fall of cash. So how about a splitter? I just bought one and I have only used it a small amount, but it beats the heck out of skiving by hand. They are $259 at the T store this month. as usual, the quality is OK - Good and the blade needs a bit of work, but out of the box with no sharopening\ tweeking, splitting 1.5" belt ends was a breeze.. NIce and even, clean cuts, not bad.

Bob In many ways I agree with everything you say and and I think your 10% is a great rule of thumb for anyone looking for just any case. But I think you are forgeting the ego\vanity factor. SInce I can achive the same functional results with a peice of PVC tube, I can actually get by with a case for under $5-$10 . It will be ugly and maybe an embarrassment to carry, but functionaly it will work. So anything beyond that becomes a luxury item. So now you need to market to the persons ego \ vanity. Hence the higher priced cue cases. Think of it like a car. A Fiat will get you to work just fine, but a full sized Caddy\Mercedes\BMW etc. will get you there in comfort and "style" Luxury vs. Utility. I am lucky in that I leather work as a hobby not a living. I have tremendouse respect for those of you that are able to make a living at this craft. SInce it is only a hoby for me, I only take on projects that interest me and I change a premium price for my work. It is not that I am a great leather worker, far from it. It is just that if i am going to burn my free time, I want to get compensated to a degree that it makes it worth while and defiently pays for materials and any additional tools. Oddly enough, I actually give away way more than I sell. Especially experiments and prototypes. I like to see the look of appreciation on my friends faces when they get an item and they have no idea why it is not right in my eyes. One other suggestion and something that I do, is the first one that comes out right or great, I keep for myself. Kinda dumb I know and agree, but there you have it, I never said I was the brightest bulb on the tree........

i am sorry Bob, I would have to disagree. You have to get paid for yourtime, and hand stitching is a value added feature whether it is of actual\quantifiable value (Stronget lighter etc. ) or perceived value (nicer, more refined, special, unique). If for no other reason than to give your additional labor a value. Stitching time is the largest part of my pricing, it far exceeds the cost of materals. Leather Newb, you are in a bit of trouble as you did not give tthe buyer an estimate up front, This handicaps your ability to negotiate a final price. I know nothing of the pool cue case market, so I can not offer an opinion on the actual price, but there are a few custom pool cue case makers on this web site, they may be able to give you what they would consider a reasonable pricing structure for this piece of work. It may be a good place to start. NIce job and good luck!

thank you both for your input and ideas. I will try/check them out

I do agree, it is a less than ideal but a viable alternative to get exposure.....that being said youare probably better off going to craft shows and other such events

Alternativly, If you have a good and trusting relationship with the store owner, You can set up a display ( Free of charge) and then replenish as it sells. Basically you are selling on consignment with the owner taking a cut. I will say that this usually tends to end in bad feelings as at some pooint the account becomes "Off". either due to shoplifting, employee theft etc. Then all of a sudden you are replacing items but not getting paid for the missing ones. You need to agree on who is responsible for shortages before you start. This is an alternative, not the best way to go about things, but it can work.

My only piece of advice is to stick to your guns on your price. Delivering a small order to see if they will sell is an excelllent route. Also, you can offer to swing by weekly\monthly and replenish stock. ( Kind of like they do in the bread isle at a store) Then monitor waht is selling, if one style\color seems to not sell well, pull it and replace it with one that does. The owner is looking for the number of "turns" he can get ( Usually per square foot or per display). This means a bit more work on your end, but it is a value added service that will set you apart.

I recently purcahsed a "Slim" Douglas Awl from Sherridan Leather. Let me first say that Sherridan is great to deal with and the awl is SHARP, polished to a mirrror finish and of excelllent quality. When I frist got it, I did not think it was all that sharp, I was expecting a more extended point, I was wrong. It slides through 2-3 layers of 6-8 oz very nicely with light to modeate pressure. I am very happy with both Sheridan and the awl. That being said, it is larger than I was expecting and makes a fairly large hole on the leather. I will definitly use it for all my messngert bags, holsters etc. But there are times when I want a smaller hole, So I am back in the market for a smaller\thinner awl of compairble quality and sharpness right out of the box I would like an awl that will produce a diamond shaped hole that is is at 1/3 - 1/2 the size of the sherridan awl which punches a good 1/8" hole. I have tried to make my own with little success. I would rather pay more the first time for quality that less multiple times for junk. So once again it is time to shell out the $. Any suggetions?

Built my own , it is tall enough so that the base sits on the floor and I can stitch while i watch TV. I made it out of oak trim ~ 3/4" x 3 1/2" from the local Menards \ Home Depot for about $30 including hardware. Stained an finished, it can sit behine by recliner and no one notices it. I started of with the cheap one from Tandy leather, it worked, but is a bit too flexable \ light weight if you are trying to push an awl through 2-3 layers of 6-8 oz leather.

SIck, twisted, disturbing. I question your sanity.............Awesome, I like it!!!

Look on line at some high end breifcases\messenger bags. They go for 600 to a couple thousand dollars easy. Noe if yours is custom made to the buyers requests then 400 - 600 is not unreasonable. If the quality of leather, stitching, hardware and tooling is top notch then 600 is a steal. The worst thing they can say is no. You are out nothing. Plus, you get back your time you would have lost from making a second satchel to play with leather....... I think they call that a Win/Win... At least that is how I look at it. Take a look: I just did a quick search for english leather messenger bags..... http://www.saddlebac...Bags-Briefcases http://www.mrporter....CFQtBQgodnzcA-Q So as you can see if the quality is there that price in not unreasonable.

Check and see if your local school system offers "Comunity Education" classes. If they do contact them and offer your services as a leather working instructor. Depending on the rules, you may be able to charge a nominal price for your time, but you can charge for materials and basic tool sets that the participants will get to keep. (Prices for classes in my area run from $5 to $200 depening on what they teaching and what facilities are being used, if all you need is a class room, these are usually free to the instructor.) Classes can run from 1 to 12 weeks in my area. I am signed up to take a pottery class starting in late january, 8 weeks for $150. This price includes clay, tools, pottery wheel, kiln access as well as glaze. So with a beginnign leather class, maybe $30-$50 per student and include a basic set of tools? Partner up with the Tandy or local leather store or in your area and you may be able to get a discount on tools and scrap leather. You are to be applauded for giving back to your comunity.

Cool I have found the trick to goriilal glue is to clamp the two items tightly and add just a touch of moisture. I have not tried it with leather and glass\stone, but I think I iwlll this weekend. I really like the over all desing and stitiching on your quiver! Simple, functional with just a touch of bling...really make it an elegant piece. .

How did you attach the stone? is it just glued on with the leather helping to hold it in?

Thansk Kings country, I do not sell very much and I tend to give a lot away to my friends as gifts. But when I do sell, I ask a premium price. Why not? The worst they can say is no. And I get to keep what ever i make. I do not do this for a living, I do it for mental health and relaxation and to have a hobby once I retire if I ever get to.....So I can not see undercutting those that are trying to make it as a business it only lowers the value of my work and hurts thiers....

" Had some interest in making more but would have to charge ridiculous money for it to be economical Still all good fun" . If some one asks, quote the price as rediculous as you might think it is, Do not hesitate, just throw it out there as if you have quoted it before. Some will say, "Oh I don't think I can afford that." and thats OK. Some will say why so much or I can get one just like that on the internet for a lot less? And your response should be ; "Because that is what the last one sold for". or "Awesome you should buy that one instead." (Respectivly) Maybe give them a couple of high end leather briefcase makers names that sell a simular product and have them look up what they go for. Do not spend time with these people as they will never buy and only gripe and try to get you to drop you price. Walk away! If you make the mistake of selling these people anything they will constntly come back with complaints. Walk away! Finially, you will run into people that will say. "Huh, not bad do you have any more?" or "Do you have other models?" etc. Here is a possible sale. Spend time with these people. LIfe is too short to sell your wares at a loss or to break even. Set a price and stick to it. Make sure you pay yourself for your time not just the materials.

I have purchased from him only once. his leather is excellent and his customer service is fantastic. He bent over backwards for me when sending some samples he truely went above and beyond. I ended up buying some european bridal leather and drum dyed lether . I should have gotten the drum dyed pasted on the back , I forgot to ask for it. I will definlty use him again when i need leather.