Rawhide

Here are some pictures of the spray table so far.

Not at all. I do this on every hand stitched item. Just place the point of the wheel it between a stitch where the awl hole is and run it back and forth over the stitches. This will help the stitches fill the holes so they disappear, assuming you used a proper sized awl. And help correct minor stitch laying problems so they look more uniform. The best compliment I get is, "what kind of sewing machine sewed this?". Marlon

Hisself, Thanks for the pointers. I just got back from lowes with a bunch of stuff to build myself a spray booth. I've got a 50 cfm exhaust fan that will move the air in a downdraft form. let's see if it works. I'll try to remember and take pictures to post later. Secondly, the compressor I bought was this one complete with filter and regulator. A little teflon tape and I'm spraying. Crystal, the posting said that the white jug was a rinse and cleaning station.

I know what you mean. Have a good trip. Which book are you after?

There are several skiving tools. One is the safety beveler, this is a pretty inexpensive skiving tool that uses injector blades to skive, material. Then there is the super skiver, a little bit better handling, but still uses the injector blades. Then there's the french edger, a hand tool that looks almost like an edge beveler, but has a flat bottom and a wider footprint. A head or round knife can be used, and then there's a lap skiver, and finally a bell knife skiver. I'm sure there are more tools for this but this is what I can come up with and they are in general order of least to most expensive with the bell knife being about a 1000 bucks used, and the saftey beveler, maybe 8 to 10 bucks. What is meant by skiving is reducing the thickness of the leather evenly, so as to reduce the bulk of the belt at the bend. The U channel you speak of is called a gouge, there are U gouges and V gouges.

ok just one more for the road...don't worry i'm not driving!

10...9...8.......drink...happy new year Peter.

If you work it into the leather with some clipped sheeps wool, that should minimize the cracking. If you spray it however, it's bound to crack.

I saw one that looks really neat. It's a little large, but the concept is fabulous. it has a down draft with holes in the "floor" and a cabinet underneath large enoughf for a pancake compressor. I has a box fan mounted under the "floor" that creates the down draft through a filter. I'll see if I can find the link or the pictures. Twin, My compressor is so small and quiet you wouldn't believe it. It's about as loud as a sewing machine running. It's got a little 3/4 gallon tank on it. Here are the pictures.

Better get it while you can if you like it. The company that made it will not be making it anymore.

Thanks for the tips Bree. I do plan to build a portable booth and fit it with a hvac filter and a fan. I don't plan to do enough to need explosive proof housings, but I'll keep that in mind if I ever produce enough work to need em.

No they are not the same. A high level view of each: Tan Kote is a resin based finish and will leave a mellow gloss finsih. Supershene (old one) is an acrylic based finish and will leave a high gloss finish. Supershene (new eco-flow) is a water based finish and will also leave a high gloss finish. Neatlac, isn't produced anymore, but is a laquer based finish and will give a high gloss finish.

Thanks for all the replies. Kate, a special thanks for taking the time to take a post photos of your explinations. Makes it a lot easier to understand.

I use a charcoal type filter that looks like a surgeons mask, but not the type that looks like a gas mask. Should I get one of those? Also, pictures would probably do a world of good!! Thanks for the suggestion. Also, what about ventilation? How do you vent your spraying activities, especially when it's cold? I have a large room (closed in garage that's about 400 sq. ft) but other than opening a window or two....

Sounds like you're not quite ready to tool this saddle. Custom tools won't help you a whole lot. Even though the learning curve is shortened, nothing will beat practice. My suggestion would be to practice using what you have, then dive into the custom tools as your work improves to the point you're satisfied with most of what you do, then the custom tools will help bring the satisfaction level higher. Just my .02

I'd like to do overall dyeing (solid color for large pieces), blended (shaded eges) I guess this would be called shadowing, Not sure of the terminology. Nothing really fancy, but I thing this will help to get more even coverage and not saturate the leather with dye.

To avoid hijacking another thread I started this one. I just bought an airbrush, a badger 150-5, and I have a small 3/4 gallon tank with, piston type compressor. I'm looking for some basic instructions and suggestions from all the airbrushers out there. Thanks.

Kate, Ijust bought myself an airbrush, and I'm looking to learn some basic techniques with it, Any suggestions on usage or instructions?

Randy, don't look now, but the 'oil' dye is also a spirit dye. It just has much better quality dye stuffs and alcohol in them, that's why they penetrate better and cover more evenly.

I would pm Artisan Dave and tell him to have Steve call you. Dave may be able to help as well.

You can use a head knife or a french edger. (lot of work for the french edger though)

For tooling tools, I like the Barry King line. See here. They are expensive, not the most, but they are more expensive than tandy. Hidecrafter's has a much better economy line than tandy, and an intermediate line that's about 10 to 15 bucks a tool, that most on this board are very satisfied with, including me. Other makers include Robert Beard's Pro Series Tools, Wayne Jueschke, Chuck Smith, Bob Douglas, and Paul Zalesak and many more, see the main page for a list of them all.

I groove both sides if the leather is thick enough. When stabbing the holes, I line up the awl with the mark and begin to push, I watch on the back side to see if the tip is going to come out in the groove, I adjust as needed then push the awl through. Once you do a few, you kind of get a feel for it and you don't have to watch each stab.

Yes It is possible. Assuming you let it get fairly dull with no nicks in the cutter, you can use progressions of wet-dry sandpaper to bring it back, followed by stropping it. What you do is find the bevel of the cutting edge and lie it flat on a piece of 800 grit paper glued to a hard flat board. Pull the bevel along the sandpaper, away from the cutting edge and at the same time rolling the tool to cover the entire cutting edge in one stroke. do this several times on 800, then 1200, then 2000 grit. Then strop it on a rouge board with the same motions. If you keep it fairly sharp and just need to touch it up, you can get away with just stropping it, or using the 2000 grit, then strop. Good luck.

I think the "twist" is to give the user a better view of the work so that the proper angle of the awl is visualized. The "lean" is to compensate for the work being above your center of gravity and helps to keep the awl straight when piercing the leather, so that the back stitchline, is as straight as the front.