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I suspect that these are for slightly different purposes. There seems to be a bit of an overlap in the terminology used to describe these things. A recent post in another section of the forum was covering something similar. It might help clear up some of the details.

This was my first guess, as well. When you roll it backwards tight enough, you'll end up stretching the grain side passed the point of being able easily to return to its original location. This can also happen on the flesh side, but it can take much more bending to get to that point and it's far less noticeable. As was mentioned above, the location of the hide that the particular piece was cut from plays a big role in the stretching/bending effects, too.

The use of a respirator or using it outside and downwind should be at the top of your list and cannot be stressed enough. You certainly don't want to be breathing any of the nasty chemicals in the dyes and solvents, and the risk of that becomes so much higher when you turn them into a fine mist with an airbrush. Dizziness and headaches are likely to be the nicest of things that can happen.

Judging by the pictures provided here and on the website, those are not tapered holes. There looks to be a normal 60 degree cone shape at the bottom of the holes from a standard drill bit. I did a bit of number crunching to aid in looking up the details for what it would take to get a tapered fit to the bottom of the holes. It looks to be that they rivet manufacturers will typically use a set amount of taper that is the same angle from center across the different sizes. The only change looks to be the main diameter and dimensions associated with the head, so multiple modified versions of one size reamer could be used make the taper at the bottom of the holes. This is good news and means that only one tapered reamer would be needed for the holes. Each hole would probably need a separate modified reamer to fit the bottom of the hole. The bad news is that now, there needs to be extra steps to make the holes and would, almost certainly, require more lead time to make and an increase in cost due to increased manufacturing complexity. Each hole will require a fair amount of planning and multiple steps to get an approximately correct taper in the bottom. I estimate a minimum of three separate passes for each hole. One for the minimum taper diameter, one for the shaft diameter, and one for the taper reaming. There may be some overlap in the tooling that will be required if it's kept to the same #9 rivet as the only change would be the desired rivet length, but I didn't do any high/low tooling cost estimates. If they were trying to make one jig for multiple rivet sizes, the tooling required just got a lot more expensive. For those curious, a #0 Tapered Pin Reamer is what would be needed. It would need a portion to be cut off near the bottom to make it fit the job of tapering the hole at the bottom. A #1 might do the job, but this would all require a fair amount of testing before going forward with any kind of production model. At least the halves of the jig can be separated to inspect the surface finish and proper fit of the modified tooling. Well, it looks like a geeked out a bit hard on that one. Sorry that it ended up being a much longer response to a simple question. I got a bit carried away with crunching numbers, looking at data sheets, and then attempting to make an estimate of the tooling and steps it would require to do all that. I could go even further into detail to lay out the train of thought and such, but I highly doubt that many people would find it interesting and it, more than likely, would just induce comas and copious mashing of the back button. $50 for this jig, that looks very well made, feels like a great deal. If they made one that created tapered rivets, the time needed to for the extra steps might not be worth it if they wanted to stay in the same price range.

I am just going to assume that you still the appropriate number of manual nostril excavators after one, or more, close calls thanks to Kevlar.

I would agree on the mail gloves, but the Kevlar is a engineered fiber with a similar feel to heavy weight yarn. I don't think that it would be prone to leaving marks unless you were rough handling the leather.

Holy Hell! Those last three images... They truly exemplify the level of control and attention to detail that you've gained.

I saw Bill mention them, but it's worth saying at least once more... This sounds like a job for Kevlar, seriously. Amazon has lots to choose from, Grainger has lots, and if you need proof, There's a pretty convincing video on the DuPont website of weighted gloves getting tumbled in their custom glove mincing, razor blade lined, tumbler for testing cut resistance. I'd argue that Kevlar has a lower cost, dexterity gain, and the reduction to damage of your knives over chain mail.

I probably don't have the whole picture, but that sounds like a lot of extra unnecessary steps to me. As far as I know, there isn't a quick way to get your hide to go from rolled to flat and back each time you want to cut off a section. Basically, if you need/want it flat, you store it flat. Not everyone here has the luxury of extra space to do that, though. There may be steps to storing it that might help with unrolling it, such as rolling it flesh side in so that the grain side is curved outward when you are cutting it. Weighted shot bags might help with keeping down, too. It might also depend on how tightly rolled up you have it when storing, too. What I do is use weights to help hold things down, measure and cut out the section I need, and roll it back up for storage. The section I plan to work with gets wetted out to flatten and then worked on. This presents the least amount of time and prevents the possibility of putting away wet leather that has the potential to decompose while waiting for the next use. Please keep in mind, that this is just my personal preference.

At first, I was thinking this would be fun to try, but then I remembered that I only have a laser printer. Heated, rolling drums and wax paper would certainly spell disaster for my printer.

I've been on the same page with Art for quite a while, but I just didn't know how to approach it. I think the pointy end of the stick is that you've only been asking what a certain tool is or who makes it and then it's quickly put up on eBay. I grumbled about it to myself and in closed circles, but didn't want to set things in motion without having a clear way to add to it constructively. If you don't have something nice to say... That's probably how it got the point it has, neither side letting the other know how they feel about it. The problem with that is that it's felt like a one way street and we, as the community, are just getting used. I can't think of one post, short of this one, that wasn't asking a question about something going up on eBay. I, personally, felt that a constant flow of asking questions about items being sold for your own personal gain didn't add to the content of the forum. Maybe, if there was the "Contributing Member" flair to you account, it could be written off as paying back those that help you out or paying it forward. I have wanted to donate to the site, but funds have not allowed much leeway for that, so I never really felt like I could rightly use that as a valid argument. Instead, I attempted to put forth information that others might find useful. Now, Art brings up a good point in that we, the community, keep answering and you keep asking. So, who's the one to blame? Rather than escalate the situation, I am hoping that airing it all out might help diffuse it and assist with seeing each others' point of view. I had no idea that you felt the way you do about this forum, so I have only contributed to making it the potential fire hazard it became. For that, I feel terrible and must apologize. The cat's out of the bag, may as well move forward. However, I am hoping that we can move forward, but with a different approach and less friction or animosity. I should also apologize if I was speaking out of turn by including myself in that "we" portion of the community. Not sure how anyone else feels about what I said.

I hope I didn't cause anyone to think this is my work. This was a screenshot right from the movie and I had nothing to do with it. Sorry for any disappointment/confusion it may have caused.

I like the execution. It almost makes me think of this...

I'm inclined to agree with the positive sentiments above. The Tacoma store, which the closest one to me, has always been a great resource. The new manager was somewhat new to leather when he started, but what he lacked in experience, he more than made up for in his willingness to learn and offer up assistance as best as can. The previous manager had been with Tandy since the early 60's and was a walking encyclopedia of leather knowledge, but sadly passed away due to medical complications, so there was some pretty big shoes to fill. Each and every time I have been there, it's been a great experience.

Here's an odd suggestion if you are still interested in trying out some sinew. A few of the pet stores local to me actually carry some pretty big strips of dried sinew as chew toys for dogs. They may have been cow or bison, but I do not recall at the moment. I also imagine that it isn't the most cost effective way to get it, but if you only wanted to test out some small pieces to see if it'd work for you, it's at least another place to look. They were typically in the same section as the "bully sticks," just in case you wanted to give a look.

This is exactly how I feel about this place and have difficulty finding better words to describe my sentiment. The helpful calm that exists here boggles my mind when you take into consideration of the size of the community, the wide variety of view points and interests, and vast array of subjects present here. I have seen smaller communities fall apart for dumb reasons and even left several places quietly due to poor moderation, yet the vast majority of the people here all want to give you a high five, help you answer your questions, and get better at what you are trying to do. Simply amazing!

At a cursory glance, I'd guess that your angle is too steep. It looks like you are just over 45 degrees based on the angle bracket plus whatever the angle the bevel on the cutting edge has. If I am not mistaken, the angle of the bevel on the blade should be somewhere near 22 degrees relative to the leather being fed into it. If you can lower the side opposite of the one with the blade mounted to it, you can change the angle with little effect on the actual blade height. Possibly by removing a bit of the material on the post and making adjustments with something like small stacks of cut up 3x5 cards. Aside from that, it looks like you have enough places to adjust an even cutting depth or anything else that needs minor tweaking. It's also possible that the blade might need a little bit of attention, but that's just a guess. I can't recall what the ideal cutting angle should be on a splitter blade, but my money would be on making that angle smaller than it currently is.

Look at this guy coming in here and making us all look bad... Just kidding, really... On a serious note, that is some dandy work. As far as the three point harness, it's probably not an ideal method. I suppose it comes down to personal preference and you can probably guess the direction of my bias. Those things aside, it's possible that a second strap can be fitted with the inclusion of some hoops along the main strap and may even allow for left or right handedness. I have a back quiver that allows for use as a left/right shoulder carry with the option for a third point around the torso. I have yet to actually use this feature and find it a bit cumbersome, but I haven't hinted with it either. It's worth mentioning that 99% of my shooting is in an indoor range and with a ground quiver. This third point actually diverges from the primary strap direction via a metal loop and then becomes a "Y" that has two adjustable strap connect within close proximity towards the base of the quiver. There are also some D-loops that have thongs to tie down to your belt or something else. I looked over my entire quiver to find out who made it, but I cannot find anything. I suspect that it might be by Neet, but I have no why to tell and no images to show you exactly what I am saying. I might be able to get some pictures of it and upload them for reference a few days, but at the moment I have nothing but a verbal description. It is a commercially made quiver and has a number of little pockets sewn all over the place for things like a knife, pencil, and various tools and such. I do feel that it could have been better made, but short of having a giant rucksack, it's hard to complain about the features. Also, at this point, I sort of feel like I may have even drifted a bit too far off the topic of the question being asked. I'll get back here with a few pictures of the details I was describing above and excellent job on the quiver. I know you say that you aren't "terribly pleased" with the quiver, but I'd be proud to wear it if it were mine. The level of care that went into making it is more than obvious and even if you aren't happy with it, there are plenty that would be. We are our own worst critics and can easily find ourselves focusing on all the "mistakes" of the things we make only to overlook the many things that went right.

I have to agree with the others here. The cost would be extremely high for such an item. It's not impossible, but quite cost prohibitive. I'd imagine that sewing together a bunch of shearling hides, lining the back with a nice wool fabric, and then filling bit of batting/down would have a better overall effect. It's possible that a bunch of sections of suede for the inside and outside filled with down/batting might be doable, too. The big questions are why and what exactly are you trying to accomplish. I am not saying that you can't do something like that, just that there might be a better direction that is more cost effective. Especially considering the price of a single side and that it would quite a few depending on the finial size you choose.

I am pleased to see that others were able to chime in with more information than I was able to provide. One of the many things I really enjoy about this place. It just might take some time before the right eyes get to see it.

Could this effect be accomplished with a layering effect with an antiquing gel combined with maybe a solvent and a wadded up rag? I'm truly intrigued by the effect that was achieved as it look so expertly done. I would love to know, though it's likely that this person might not want to share the details since it probably took a fair amount of time and experimenting to get to this point.

That was quite the read and pretty elated that you shared it. It seems that we have long since had the need to controllably poke holes in leather to make things. The question I had about the copper was how common it was to find it in nugget form or had we discovered and started smelting ore that early on?

Considering that it's lamb skin and will probably be thin and easily torn, have you considered just getting it wet and controlling your tears? From the pictures, it does look like pieces have distortion from being stretched and pulled. It would certainly create the randomness. Having it wet will prevent the fuzzy effect of the fibers when torn dry, should make it easier to tear and control it as it tears. It'll likely be slippery and feel a lot like snot, but might be able to get the look you're going for. If you have a small piece you could give it a test run and see if it works for your needs. If you do wet and tear it, you'll need to lay it out flat and let it air dry to prevent any shrinking. After it's dry, there is also a chance that you'll need to scrunch it a bunch to get it back to being soft again. Depending on how it was tanned can also have an effect. I have experienced both snot and non-snot like conditions when cleaning sheep fleece. P.S. While writing this, it occurred to me that the hides are scraped and stretched during the process of tanning and that you might be able to recreate the effect with chefs knife and some scraping. It'd still need to be gotten wet, but you can lay it out in the kitchen and crudely drag a nice and sharp chefs knife in a scraping motion to cut your bigger pieces into smaller ones. Just focus on irregularity and not slicing the skin. It's feels a bit difficult to explain with words alone, so bear with me. 1. After getting the skin whetted and laid out, decide where you are going to divide the skin. 2. Grasp the knife like this and hold it so the blade is mostly vertical. 3. With a scraping motion, drag the knife back and forth in 0.75 to 1.25 in strokes until is breaks through to divide your pieces. It'll almost look like you're wiggling your knife. 4. Continue this method along your "cut" line you decided upon at the very beginning. This will give you a rough and messy looking edge, but will likely take a bit of practice to get the look you want. It'll also require a bit of testing to even tell if it's gives the look you want. I have a tenancy to brainstorm and into-dump, so I may have gotten a bit carried away with the ideas. If you feel that anything needs a bit of clearing up, let me know ad I'll do my best to elaborate on it.

I was just playing the Devil's Advocate and meant nothing by it. I must have been stuck in "dry British humor" mode, and certainly no offense was intended.

I will preface this by saying that I have very little first hand experience, so take this with the typical amount of salt. I am just tossing out an idea and it will ultimately need testing. It is my understanding that guys that make holsters regularly and do the fading effect also have an airbrush or worked out the necessary steps to get the desired look if they don't have an airbrush. With an airbrush, you can do all your molding and shaping to your holster parts and then apply layers of dye to achieve the desired look near the end. It's doable without an airbrush, but requires a bit of planning and may involve getting your holster near the finished stages so that any molding and shaping do not interfere with the look you have going on. I think that the airbrush method probably has the most flexibility in color blending, but each method will have a learning curve. You can do some digging around in here for airbrush specific topics dealing with holster making to see if that might be the direction you want to go. I've seen some pretty impressive stuff from both methods, so an airbrush isn't a requirement by any means. Patience, planning, and testing are, however. If you choose to get an airbrush, Art has made several posts on a comparison between top end and import airbrushes, specifically the Veda WD 180. I hope this helps you get on track with what you had planned. As I said earlier, this isn't first hand knowledge, but rather information that was gathered from reading thread after thread in here.