Rawhide

No apologies necessary Ken. Just difference of opinion. My opinions are based on doing small projects like notebook covers and wallets and such. I've never made any garments or bike seats, so naturally I forgot about those situations where I think round holes would be almost a necessity. For instance, your vests, David's & Shirley's seats are fantastic and they all have holes for lacing. However, If you use the round holes on a wallet, it looks like it came from a kit. Which is not to say that it's bad, it just looks like a kit. I started with using round holes and the two prong needle. I then switched to using the permalock needle somewhere along the line. I did like using it, but after a session with Peter Main, he explained why he uses the 2 prong needle and more importantly how. Holes are definiteley easier to use, but when I look at the work by Al Stohlman ( and I don't mean the stuff he did for tandy catalogs, etc.. but his personal items) They all have slits. By the way, I do use holes for mexican braiding, but I hardly do that because of the time consumption.

It's the BEAV!! Hey man, missed you around here. Glad to have you back. Hope all is well. The stool looks great. Is that a tooled rope border or a real one?

For those of you that use the hardboard for a work surface, how do you attach it to the subsurface? Do you glue it down, let it float, or what? Thanks.

Fabulous site Barry, Simple, and effective. One suggestion would be to show the awl handles in someone's hand for reference comparison. Most people probably don't realize how fat the large one is.

I have spoken to Jim Linnell on this issue and he said that Tandy (him specifically) are collecting all the old craftools that have the higher quality than today's craftools. Once the collection is complete, they plan to re-tool all of them based on the old tools as masters. When will this happen? I have no clue. But it would be nice to contrast some of them to what we have. Now with that said, I've fallen in love with Barry King's tools and plan on trying Bob beard and Wayne Jueschke tools.

can you sand the back with sandpaper? I know this is what could be done on cow, but I've never worked with ostrich before. Marlon.

Ha ha ha. I'm sure everyone would. They did however come up with a little compressor and a beveler. I forget the name of it but I think Bruce Johnson had one. It would oscillate in and out and you could drag it along an edge and quickly bevel it.

That's what this place is for. We look forward to seeing your work. Everybody has to start somewhere and it's great to get started. Marlon

I agree here Rayban. However, the quality of tool does make the impressions look better, deeper, etc... with stamping tools, and swivel knives, while they won't make you a better user, they do alleviate a lot of the cramping, they turn easier, etc... As an analogy, you can build a house with a hammer and nails, but you can also build it with a nail gun and compressor. Some choose the hammer and nails, some choose the nail gun, but the invention of the nail gun has revolutionized home building. So while practice is needed (lots of practice), higher quality tools do aid in making the job easier.

I have no idea. I don't have one....yet. Just figured I'd mention that I didn't see one

yeah Luke, Looks like you need a head knife, a splitter, a plough guage, etc... the list continually grows. Marlon

There is something wrong with you....You don't have enough tools yet Ok Here's my collection so far, Top row, an Al Stohlman Brand (ASB) with a hair blade, and from my dad's collection an old craftool with a ceramic blade. Middle row, A new craftool with a Barry King Beader blade, a Henley with blade, Chuck Smith with blade, ASB stacked leather with filigree, Henley with blade, another ASB stacked leather with ruby blade. Bottom Row, ASB with hair blade, and finally another ASB with Peter Main blade. Whew. I also have a Robert Beard knife on order. Other tools, 3 head knives, Osborne, Marlin, and ASB. 3 scalpels, (two #3s, one #4) 2 skivers 1 bevel point knife 3 stabbing awls 4 stitching awls (one bob douglas, two Peter Main, one Osborne) 3 mauls (two Barry King, one ASB) 5 mallets (two rawhide, two poly, one ASB poly) 2 lacing fids There's more, but it gives you an Idea. Bottom line, TOOLS ARE GOOD! Marlon

Tom's right, There are as many answers as there are members. But to keep it simple, 1. Stain the piece with eco-flo highlighter stain. (This has the greatest possibility of success.) 2. put on a heavy coat and work it in circular motion with a piece of sheeps wool, or a damp sponge. 3. Somewhere within 10 min. Wipe the excess off with a folded, wet paper towel. 4. Use a clean piece of sheeps wool to get excess out of the crevices. 5. Let dry completely. (overnight) 6. Buff the belt with an old tshirt. Until the dye is barely coming off onto the shirt. 7. Seal the stain with supershene, or satinshene. (there are many more finishes available, but for now this is probably the simplest) 8. Bevel the edges with and edge beveler. (If you get the Tandy ones, you'll need to sharpen them first) 9. Dye the edge if desired. 10. Take a wool dauber and burn it until it's crispy. 11. rub off the blackened crust with a paper towel until no more is shown.(It should look dark brown.) 12. use this to apply the dye to the edges. 13. Let this dry about an hour. 14. Dampen the edge and use a slicker, or bone folder, or piece of canvas to rub the edge back and forth to generate heat and it will fuse the fibers together. 15. Apply resolene to the edges if you have it with a burnt dauber. Let it dry, and slick it again. 16. You can also slick the back if the belt if you want, but that's optional. Good luck, Marlon

You just missed one on ebay, but it went for over 300 bucks. Might as well buy a new one. I haven't seen many used ones though. Marlon

You can try buckstitching, or lace the edges, or even an applique lace. Marlon

You can also try David Morgan. I think he has a website.See Here Marlon

Ray, Lots of these questions are answered in that book I mentioned and it's kinda hard to explain them in words, but I'll try. There is a method to ending a laced project back at the point you started, but it's definitely a watch learn and try process. ( may see if I can put a youtube video together to explain it) For going around corners, the trick is to start there. Punch all your corner holes first and fill in between with the prong chisel. Trick for using the hollow needle is to skive the end and taper it to a point and thread this into the needle until it stops, If it breaks on you during lacing, you'll need to burn it out. (Use pliers to hold it and heat the end until the lace comes out.) The splicing you described is called wet splicing, and I don't like to do it. sometimes there's almost no choice. For glue, use either PVA or contact cement. The book explains wet splicing and dry splicing, which is what I use. There's no glue involved. Hope this helps Ray. Marlon

Roo, This is basically applique embossing, without the top layer of leather added. It may be easier for you to use a scalpel. Another thing to think about is burnishing the cutout areas to smooth out the finish. Looks good, I hope to see more. Always love your work! Marlon

I fancy Barry King's line of grooved bottom edgers. I think they are the best bang for the buck. They're more expensive than tandy, but less expensive than ron's or Jerimiah Watts. I've used Ron's and still prefer Barry's. I haven't tried Watt's so I can't compare, but Bruce Johnson loves 'em and I'd respect his opinion any day. Marlon

I haven't heard anyone's use of a lacing fid. I prefer to use slits instead of holes, because it looks 100 times better. It looks very amaturish to use holes. Second, use the two prong lacing needle. (hint: polish the needle and the fid). When using the prong lacing needle, pre-punch the holes in the lace with a scratch awl. you'll be amazed at how much stronger the lace is and how long it lasts without breaking. Wax your lace with beeswax. Use the fid to open the slits a bit to get the needle through. Leather tends to close naturally when you spread it apart. If you punch holes, they won't close because the material is no longer there to close. Same thing when saddle stitching, using the stitching awl, the holes almost disappear when you stitch, and same goes for using slits for lace. Best explination I found to lace was in the book from tandy shown below. And it's only 3 bucks (US) if you're a wholesale member.

There are several. Aussies Wax, Resolene (this seals completely and you won't be able to condition it later), Montana Pitch Blend, Snow Seal, and some other's that I can't think of right now. Marlon

Did you buff the piece before putting the tan kote on? As the dye drys the dyestuffs, (dye particles suspended in the alcohol) will stay on the surface. If the surface is carved, you should use a piece of dry sheeps wool on dry leather, or if not carved you can use an old t-shirt, to buff off the dyestuffs. Once you get no more or very little dye bleeding to the wool or shirt, you can put the tan kote on. Marlon

I'm not sure if it's a store front or not, It may only be a collection of people yearly. Email Kevin and ask if you're interested. I think it may be a good idea to drive up there that day and at least meet those instructors. I've met Bob Beard and George Hurst and both are exceptional guys. Marlon

David, Below is a link to a place that's probably not far from you, I would look into going there too every so often. They have a workshop they put on last year and I think they are doing it again in march sometime. They'll have some of the great leather artisans there to teach classes. Even if you don't take a class, I'm sure they'd welcome you with open arms. If nothing else, sign up for the free newsletter, they email i each month, and usually have a pattern or two in there. Welcome to the addiction, Marlon Hides to Art