Tzalabak

There are punches out there that can do specific shapes but that only helps, of course, if the shape you need is one of them. You might have some success using wood chisels of different sizes and shapes to kind of punch out the bits yourself. If you go that route, make sure the chisels are really well sharpened and honed, to get clean cuts. Bear in mind that I haven't tried it myself that way yet. So it's all just theory at this point. Hopefully someone with more experience can chime in and give you a better answer.

Brief aside: Tina, that piece is gorgeous!

I've never really had much in the way of happy results with any of the Tandy dyes other than the pro waterstains. The drying time is a pretty reasonable excuse for some of the problems. For dyes, in most cases, you usually want at least overnight. Sometimes at least 24 hours. You might also want to try buffing the original color after it dries, to pull up some of the excess pigment before trying to add more color or antique. For the resist itself, I find that, if I park the item in front of a fan after I apply my resist, a few hours is sufficient time for drying. Could probably get away with less. Not really sure how long I'd let it dry without a fan. Maybe still just a couple of hours. *shrug*

I've recently been doing stuff with resisting and antiquing. If you are using the Tandy antique, I have found that resolene tends to works as a pretty decent resist. Ironically, it works better (for me, at least) than Block Out. I haven't tried it with Super Shene. When I antique, I cover everything with my resist (again, in this case, resolene) and work the antique over and into everything. Then just wipe it back off, making sure to not press so hard with your cloth or whatever that you pull it back out of your lines. Nice deep, crisp lines makes it easier. Thinner leather or shallow cuts/impressions makes it a bit more likely that you will pull the antique back out of the lines. Also, try using a few coats of the resist, and make absolutely sure you let it dry long enough. If you don't, the antique just ends up mixing with whatever resist you are using and dying the leather. Hope this helps a bit. Edit: I'm sure the "only resist the certain parts" thing is a good way to do it, it's just not what I have personally done yet.

Very nice work. I've been thinking about doing something similar lately. The additional springs are a great idea.

Ok, I have real input as to your problem, but: Why does everyone seem to instantly assume that they rubbed people the wrong way or something when their problem isn't solved in the fastest way possible? Remember, there are a lot of people that use this site. A lot of them are newer than you, or as confused to your problem as you are. Just because you've had 48 people look at your question doesn't mean that any of those are a person that has an answer to your problem. It's possible that most of the views are from people that are curious about the same thing, and were hoping to find that someone had posted the answer in here.

The holes shown in that listing are punched. They are just using the scratch awl to mark the location they will punch. That's pretty much exactly what you need, I think.

lightningad, one of the biggest issues with the standard Tandy swivel knives is the way the saddle bit connects to the barrel. It's just metal on metal were the barrel goes into the collar. This makes it not swivel quite as easily or cleanly as it should. Most other brands use ball bearings in the collar, making for a much smoother turn. It's not really that much of an issue with the blades, although people often have preferences concerning blade angle, width, and so on. Edit: Had this post up since earlier in the morning, and didn't refresh, so I didn't see TwinOaks reply.

I can make do with any thickness that I get. I can't keep different thicknesses stocked, due to income issues, so, when I buy leather, any thing I make is out of whatever thickness I have enough of at the time, hehe. Yeah, I've been out to the Bonny Oaks Tandy. It's where I go if I'm in need of something quick, otherwise I order through SLC. Jim is pretty nice down there at Tandy though, hehe. The leather they have usually isn't fantastic, but you can usually find a few good bits among their stuff. I honestly don't know who owned it when it was on Broad, I haven't been doing the leather stuff for that long.

At the moment I make cell phone cases, Kindle cases, iPad cases and the like. I'm still rather new to the whole thing, so all of my tools are newish and still in use, heh.

Funny little world indeed. All of 20 seconds or so from where I live, hehe.

Ha! I'm on the TN side of State Line, close to the back of East Ridge High.

Until Recently, Ringgold, GA here. As far north as you can get along I75 before heading into Tenn. Now I'm just across the border in Chattanooga, TN.

I've been enjoying the Eco-Flo Professional Waterstains. Don't let the Eco-Flo label scare you away.

And sometimes buff again after oiling. Then buff after finishing (according the the finish you use), it helps either bring out the shine of some finishes, or give a nice mellow finish to others.

Also: Did you buff the item really well with a soft cloth after the dye dried? Doing that can help pull a lot of the excess pigment off of the surface of the item (depending out how much excess there is). With the standard Eco-Flo stuff, that will be a pretty decent amount. Afterwards you will still need to apply a finish, though. The type of dye or stain you use can make a big difference. Using the Professional Waterstain line of products from Tandy usually results in a more waterfast color, as will a lot of the different Fiebings products. The standard Eco-Flo dyes and stains aren't usually considering really the best for...well...anything, heh.

Did you use any product to finish it after dying? You need something that will keep water from soaking in. Acrylic Resolene works well. You need to put a finish over it.

I find that with basketweave, and single color doesn't really let the pattern stand out. I second the use of a highlight coat first, clear off the excess, then go over with your main color. Just make sure that the highlight and the main stain are compatible colors. That way you get nice definition in the basketweave. As far as the mink oil: I use that a bit myself, I find that, after dying, just a few drops of the oil on a rag, making a couple of passes over the item will usually be plenty. Don't want to overdo it with an oil that heavy. To get in every nook and cranny (which makes it look better over all, in my opinion), you can load up a sponge and kind of smash it down over the stamped or cut area that needs the color, it will kind of make a stain foam over the area that you can then wipe away with the sponge. It tends to nicely color the area. That may not be considered a good way to do it, but it's how I do it.

My experience with vinegaroon is limited, but, I've found that if you let it air for a couple of days, the smell on the item tends to fade pretty well. After that, finishing with something like acrylic resolene seemed to completely remove any scent. Super sheen (if that's what you are into) seems to work about as well. Seemingly any real finishing product will block the smell as long as you let the piece air out a a little bit before finishing.

Looks great. I'm still needing to make some lasts for myself. Loving the sharpness of the sides going down to the stitches.

I only have one basket weave each from Tandy and Springfield, but of those, the one from Springfield is considerably "sharper" at the corners and in the details, making for an overall crisper bit of tooling. Edit: Admittedly, they aren't the exact same pattern. I haven't seen the one from SLC at Tandy or in their catalogs.

Thank you. On the first I made (and am keeping for myself), my stamping wasn't nearly as good. I was specifically trying to see how quickly I could tool the whole thing, so the basketweave tends to bend and sway a bit. I took more time on this one to improve the quality of the weave. Ended up pretty pleased with it. Still a little sway, but I think that's mostly because I didn't get QUITE the exact angle I needed on the first couple of rows.

Just finished my second Kindle case. The first one I made for myself, this one I might try to sell. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. There are a few issues with it, but overall, I like this one. Accidentally pulled the thread too tightly at the bottom of one stitching run and ended up cutting right through the lowest hole, hehe. It's not too noticeable though. Any feedback or criticism?

I don't quibble over little things. It's the things that occurred during the learning process that irked me, hehe. Things like being left handed, using a righty stitching groover, and over-powering down a line and shooting off the end of the piece. Having some snaps set so poorly that the piece doesn't come together right, but I can't really remove the snap for fear of messing up the piece. Things like that. I'm not going to get upset over a slightly off stitch line or a belt loop that isn't perfectly aligned, hehe. My bigger mistakes (but stuff that's still salvageable) usually becomes my personal case or whatever until I make myself something better, heh.

I had thought about that beforehand, but decided that with the side curve from the molding, that it would hold well enough in the long term. It seems like it won't become an issue. As it stands, it takes some pretty vigorous shaking for it to come loose, so I think that even if it loosens a little bit, it will still hold well enough to prevent any accidental dislodging.