nokiddin

Thanks for the insight everyone. I think the important part in getting it to look good will be getting a nice, straight, clean beveled edge glued tight to the case.

Thanks for the replies guys. Here are some examples of some screenshots from the web. The one must be glued, the other, I'm not so sure. I'm mostly interested in having the case be quality and offering good protection, not just a cheapy case. So if anyone has ideas on sources for that, that would be great. Thanks again!

Hey everyone. I've recently seen some phone cases/covers on Instagram that seem to have tooled leather on regular plastic phone cases. To be clear, I am interested in being able to do custom tooled cases that provide protection for your phone, similar to an Otterbox or Lifeproof case. Does anyone have more info on how this is being done? Is the leather just being glued on? A lot of examples show clean lines and edges that look great and make the case and leather appear to be an integral piece. Thanks for your help!

Wow thanks for all of the responses to this thread. Lots of great information!

Thanks for quick reply! Love this forum

Hey all. Hoping to get a little help with wallets. I took a stab at a wallet interior and I don't think it turned out so well. I made the interior the same length as the exterior, and when it's closed, it bunches up on the side that isn't stitched (see pics). The card slots are fairly close together so they may be binding when the wallet is closed. So I'm wondering, does the exterior need to be longer than the interior, with a little slack left in the fold? I may need to make my wallets a little bigger. This one is 3 by 8. Am I just using the wrong leather for the interior? I'm using a lining leather. It does look a little better with some cards in the slot, so it's this just the way it is supposed to look? Thanks in advance for your help!

Thanks so much! That's helps a lot, I'll try that out.

Hey everyone. I've been trying to find some advice for this by searching but haven't come up with much. I want to do some filigree Sheridan work, and have the colored panel behind be topgrain leather. It seems as though to have a good quality piece, I'd have to have glue in every area of the veg tan, which must mean I have to trace the pattern into the backing pattern, to get glue in the right places if using contact cement. Does anyone have any tips on how to do this well? Thanks in advance for the help!

Thanks Tom. I was thinking I should leave it for a bit. There are lighter spots surrounding the darker part, so hopefully it'll spread out. It really isn't soggy yet, just not an even color.

Hey all. So I am working on a project, it's a case that will fold like a book or journal cover. I typically add some Neatsfoot or olive oil to the rough side of the leather to get a little moisture into it before staining. I like to do an antique with Tandy Hi Lite Stain, colour Briar Brown. So as I was adding the oil, I had a little mishap and oil ended up getting poured directly on the rough side of the leather. I tried to quickly spread it, but it was too late and the oil has now shown through the tooled side of the leather. It currently is splotchy looking. So I think I'll have to lightly add more oil to even out the color. What I'm wondering, is will my HI-Lite Stain will work well with all this oil in the leather? Or am I starting over?

Hey. I'm wondering if anyone can give me a hint on how much string to start with when I am doing an edge braid of some sort. The next project I'll do, I want to use an 8 string or 4 string round braid edge. Is there any rules or formulas to figure out how much I need without splicin/g Also, is there any tutorials out there that teach to splice these braids if needed and also how to make the end tie into the start of the braid if you go all the way around the project? Thanks for the help!

Thanks for the help! I will have to pick up some Barge and give it another go.

Hey everyone. I recently made some chinks that have veg tan tooled yokes with some filigree cut outs to allow the light grey colored leather underneath to show through. The filigree shapes are a cross and a gecko. I have an issue with the gecko. I did not stitch around it, as the gecko shape has several small tight corners etc that would be difficult to stitch. The problem is that the contact cement I used to glue the pieces together isn't cutting it to hold the veg tan down to the leather underneath and some pieces around the gecko are lifting away from the underlying leather. I am wondering if there is a different glue that would be better to hold the pieces down if i fed some glue into the areas and clamped them down. I'd like to avoid stitching if possible because there is no way to follow the shape completely with stitching and the owner loves them the way they are (as long as I could get the edges to stay down) Any ideas?

Thanks Bob. I will contact them to see if they have any suggestions.

Hey everyone, not sure if this would be the right place to post, but I'm looking for some advice. My friend has a leater purse, basically a saddle tan color. She had a water bottle leak inside the purse, soaking one corner, which after drying, has left the leather in that area a darker color. Is there any way to remove these stains? Or do I have to re-finish somehow? Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the picture Bruce. That's exactly what I wanted to see.

I'm lookin to build some of my own leather stamps. I want to build an undershot beveler but am not familiar with the contour of the stamp when viewed from the side. Unfortunately, It's not easy for me to check one out since I live quite a ways from a shop (Tandy) and I don't think they even have undershots. Could anyone describe, or post some pictures of an undershot beveler so I could get an idea of what kind of side profile and shape they have? Thanks for any help.

I'm looking to start building some of my own leather stamps, mainly for Sheridan style tooling. I haven't made any yet, but do have experience with metal work and knife building, so I think it'll go pretty good. One thing I was wondering is if any of the members on here that make your own tools have ever made a bargrounder and how they did it. I can't seem to come up with a good way to build one. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

I have been looking for some resources on Sheridan style carving so I can hopefully improve in the style. In other forums, people mention the book "Sheridan Style Carving" by Bob Likewise, but I can't seem to find this book when I look around on the web. I do however find a book called "Sheridan Style Carving" by Bill Gardner, Clinton Fay & Bob Likewise. And other books listed as being authored by just Bill and Clinton. Anybody know if these are all the same books? Also if there are any good tutorials kickin around on here, can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks for the help!

The strip is 2 inches wide, 145' (if I remember right, but its at least 120). I had cut it originally for a reata, so I planned it out so I would have enough to cut it into 1/4" strings. Some of the strip is probably a little thin for a reata, probably went too much into the belly, So that might make it less uniform I guess, and not as strong. Does anyone out there use cores for reatas? If so what is it? Or is a four string round braid without core sufficient?

About 3 years ago, i stretched a hide, scraped all the hair off, soaked it and then cut it into a 145 foot long strip. Since then, the rawhide has been hanging in the tack room in a dry place, but has been frozen in the winter. I am just wondering if some of the people who know about rawhide could tell me if i could still cut big strings from this and braid a reata. I assume this hide won't be the best of quality but I am thinkin it will be a good practice run on building a reata. Any tips on stuff I should do before cutting into strings, or before braiding to get better rawhide? Bruce Grants book always talks about soaping the rawhide with saddle soap, does anyone do that? is it necessary?

If i want 8 inch fringe at the bottom of the chink, when i cut the fringe at an angle on the side of the leg, do i make it so the fringe is actually 8 inches long, or do i make it so the fringe area is 8 inches (measured horizontally from the side of the chink body to the outer edge of the fringe?(This way the actual length of the fringe will be longer than 8 inches because its on an angle.

Thanks for the help, I think I understand, just not completely sure. Some sort of example would help.

So there will be fringe all the way up to the piece that goes around the thigh then?