Rawhide

Here's a new one from Peter Main... ...here is a belt recently completed. It is filigreed, backed with a pebble-grain black kangaroo....the lacing is also kangaroo, dyed black. The 'finger-cuts' on the reverse are shaded with tan to make them look more interesting. This belt also has a thick filler, to give it a 'rounded' look. Note that the belt is not filigreed in the area where the five holes are...this would weaken the belt. ...the shading on the back was done with a sable brush and tan spirit dye. The running loop is secured with what I call a 'keeper-keeper'...this is made from the same kangaroo leather that was used as a background behind the filigree work. Peter

Oil dye is really just a spirit dye with a little better alcohol and better dyestuffs for color. I would estimate the same dry time for oil dyes as regular spirit dyes. I do have to warn you that my edging process is fairly lengthy, so my timeframe may be different...

I use it strictly for making lace.

Ed, To tell you the truth, the best edge dye I've used is fiebings oil dye...It penetrates very deep in the edge. I tried the Angelus dye on the edge and didn't like it, but you may have better luck with it, but I like the oil dye. (As a matter of fact, I HATE the edge dyes)

That's exactly what I'm going to start doing...Wish I would have seen this about an hour ago...I just came from home depot.

Josh...I agree with you here. But I'll tell you why it is this way. It's not that it isn't taught how Americans had to fight for their beliefs, it's not that they are taught about God, not about the price and liberty of freedom...It is simply this, Americans have become complacent, because there is no major struggle going on. No one telling you that you can't eat here, or you can't have that religion, you can't assemble for a common cause. Sure there are the everyday politcal battles that go on, but for the most part that's a battle of ideals. With that being said the complacent American just let's everything slide, because it doesn't directly affect them in the immediate moment. No matter how hard it will affect them in the future, they'll only dwell on the now. What we need is persistence. The will to keep going, no matter what, no matter the education you have, no matter the money you have, continue to perservere. Continue to strive to be better than yesterday. Learn something new. I'll leave my comment with my favorite quote from Calvin Coolige: Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Here's what I do. I sand the edges flat if necessary, Egde with appropriate edger. Sand again to smooth out irregularity and to round over a bit more dampen the edge and rub with glycerin soap burnish with cordura impregnated with saddle soap dye the edge and let dry remove excess dye with a t-shirt burnish again with hardwood then again with cordura impregnated with parrafin wax. then polish with t-shirt then seal with a mix of 2 parts leather balm with atom wax, 1 part resolene. hardwood burnish to shine the wax.

Damon, I'll tell you that a skilled carver can cut deco cuts with just about any blade, however, I've found that for me, my Peter Main designed blade (made by Henley) is by far the only blade I'll use for deco cuts. It has a much wider bevel than a standard blade, so it will open a cut wider without going deeper. I also use it to carve on thin leathers. As far as your deco cuts go, You'll want to taper them a bit more to produce that perfect look. The end of the cut should look like it disappears into the leather, not just abruptly stop. Sharpening is the act of aggressive metal removal to produce a very keen edge, i.e. sharp edge. This is usually done on stones, or wet/dry sandpaper. Polishing is the act of removing the scratches from sharpening and this is done on the rouge. The idea is to get a mirror edge on the business end. I say all of this with this caviat, sharpening is only done on the metal blades, most ceramics are strop only (lots of stropping up front) and the rubys are maintenance free (i strop mine anyway, but it's a preference.) If you have a metal blade, and you have not sharpened it, I suggest doing so and then strop it well. with a new blade, I use a diamond hone to sharpen quickly, then I use progressively 800, 1200, 2000 grit wet/dry automotive sandpaper, then polish on rouge board.

Hidecrafter's carries roo hides in a few colors, I think black, natural, and maybe cordavan/burgundy. You'll have to call em tho. I don't think the website is ready yet.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I kind of figured I'd do more damage than good. By the way Steve, where do I get croacus cloth? Thanks

Hi Bob, Will the blasting ruin the temper? I certainly don't want to do that. So far I've slow wet grinded the bevel, then used my cardboard wheels to put an edge on, and hand polished with 800 grit/1200 grit/2000 grit/green rouge strop. I bought one of those portable blasters from Harbour freight and some 70 grit medium, I was going to try it out on some old metal to see how well I can control it first. I may just leave well enough alone. Any advise would be welcome. Thanks. By the way, did you sell your extras yet? If you decide to let one of those beard mauls go, let me be the first in line!!!

Russ, Just wondering how your Rose knife came out...I just picked up a small one myself on the old ebay and I found it so far really easy to sharpen and I can put a fantastic edge on it. This will be in the short reach range for a long time. Mine has a little discoloration in spots, not really sure if it's pitting or not but I know it's not rust, but I plan to sand blast it lightly to see if I can strip that off and shine it up a bit...If not, it still cuts faboulously.

Frank, I'm not sure how you're sharpening, but if you have a delicate edge, you may try using the needle files in one direction only and that being away from the cutting edge. Then once you get a burr, do the opposite side until the burr just disappears. then load up a string with rouge and drag it through the tool away from the edge as well... do that a few times and you should be golden.

Johanna, do you (or anyone else for that matter) still have the pattern for this purse (tandy jean purse) they wouldn't mind sharing? This is a perfect fit for a purse I need to make. Thanks, (sorry for the hijack)

...here are some boot-top inlays just completed. The design was sent to me...unfortunately only for a 'right' side. This meant re-drawing it so the guitar player did not appear left-handed on the left panel. This was a good exercise in cutting very fine parallel lines (no, not with a beader blade) and keeping the coloring 'within the lines'. The darker areas are 'backgrounded' and the lighter areas have beveled edges (beveled with 'that' modeling tool). These inlays will be set into a light olive green leather with outer stitching lines following the scrolls. I will post completed boots in August. Peter

Bruce, Do you warm you NF before you mix it? I have problems even with the pro dye mixing. What's you starting ratio, favorite ratio, and maximum ratio of dye to oil?

If you're diluting to lighten the color intensity, you need to use dye reducer. If you want to mix the dye with neatsfoot oil, I haven't perfected that one yet...I know there are people who do it well on the site... "hidepounder". What I do in the latter case is drop several drops of dye in a small amount of oil in a plastic cup... I then swirl it around really good to mix it up well, I try to apply it quick enough so that the dye doesn't have a chance to re-suspend itself. Good luck.

Everything's good up here. Except the heat....whew! I'm sure it hot down there too though!

Woodcraft carries them as well...they call them mallets though.

...perhaps a few of our overseas members may wish to know that I will be conducting weekend workshops in Norway and Germany. Dates are, Norway, September 12, 13 (box-making) and Germany (filigree belt)September 26, 27. Apart from the six days of classes in Australia next month, I will also be conducting a box making class in Seattle August 29, 30. Email me direct and I will give you contact information regarding these workshops. Peter

Peter's text in red, mine in blue... ...here are a couple of three inch diameter inlays for boot tops. They are carved on 2-3oz leather and are colored with spirit dyes. Peter Peter, Beautiful inlays. What did you finish the eyes with? And what did you finish the overall piece with? Did you spray the finish on? Thanks. Marlon ...the eyes (now) [see new photo] have three coats of 'clear glaze' on them (had the little jar for years, but the label has dropped off). The acrylic finish has been sprayed...then another coat given to the frog only by brush, to give a slightly 'wet look'. Peter

Hi and welcome to the addiction 'er craft... You should stop by the Lone Star Leathercrafter's guild meeting sometime...It's on the 2nd Tuesdays of every month at Hidecrafters, 7 pm. Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as we do. Marlon

Here's a photo of the set from Hidecrafter's. I think this one replaced the one they have in the catalog... I think it's a decent set, not the best, but certainly not the worst...I don't recall the price, but I do remember it being fairly inexpensive. Marlon

Peter usually waits until the next day to carve on leather... He wets it, let's it return to original color (visually), then covers it with glass. The next day when you uncover it, it's ready to carve...

As said mafia style.... Happy Boitday Bruce...