Rawhide

Be sure to wax your thread very well. Also put a stitching groove in the leather, this minimizes the contact of the cord with the dye.

try and find an old drafting table light and use 5000 to 5500 kelvin flourecent light tubes. These are the closest to daylight and are not tiring to the eyes. (at least not in my case), plus they will show what colors will actually look like when you take a project out.

Pictures say 1000 words. Can you explain this a little more.

Burnish it while the edge is damp. Don't soak it, just enough to dampen it.

This knife would be fantastic cleaned and sharpened. I have an old Rose knife and love it. It's the first I reach for. Having said that, I probably wouldn't pay 70 for it. 40-50 should be about right. I think the "straight" edge that 8th saw on the right side was a glare from the light as I can still see the full curvature of the blade. Can you call them and try to negotiate?

Afternoon Jim, Hair blades are very easy to come by. I don't know your location, but any reputable leather tool supplier should carry them. There are two versions a course and a fine. A hair blade is nothing more than a a blade with multiple serrations that basically scratch the grain of the leather to give the appearance of hair, or grain to the surface. You can use a modeler to get by without the blade, but it won't be nearly as easy to control. Hope this helps. Good luck!

So far, the best knife i have is an old W. Rose knife...it's over a hundred years old and has a little pitting, but still glides through leather like air. I found it on ebay for about $40. I also have a Danny Marlin knife that I am fond of as well. It was about 75 new. If you have the time, I suggest finding the old knives. And by all means don't get the Al Stohlman brand head knife from Tandy, the blade won't stay sharp for $hit...

you might try using penetrating lubricant first. like WD-40 and the like. Then hit it with a wire brush to see if you can break the rust loose. I don't know if you can get them repaired or not, you could try Bob Douglas, he specializes in old tools. Maybe Jeremiah Watt.

Depends on the color I'm after. All it does is dilute the mix and reduce the intensity of the color. For instance if I want a light blue, I mix a heavy ratio of reducer with a little blue dye. I don't pre determine the ratios, i just mix until I have the color I want.

I use Angelus dyes and I don't use the deglazer. I dilute the colors with Fiebings Dye Reducer. I usually apply with dye brushes. I never dye with daubers. If you make holsters you might use dipping, but I don't make holsters, so I can't really comment much there.

You can try making a wood jig that can help. Line up one edge (the other three edges don't really matter.) Screw two boards together temporarily, and cut a 45 degree angle on the edge that's lined up, then unscrew the pieces. Place the leather between the two boards and line the leather up to the bottom piece, place the top on the leather (line it all up). Then just cut off the protruding leather. it'll give you a perfect 45. I think this is shown in one of the Al Stohlman books.

sure, Al Stohlman carved with sharpend nails..., however, I don't think there is any tool better for the job than the swivel knife, but it's the hardest tool for a leathercrafter to master.

I'm going to take a little different spin on books to get. After you've figured out what type of leatherwork you plan on attempting, my suggestion would be to get these two books first. The Leatherwork Manual, and Leathercraft Tools. The Leatherwork Manual is a general book on tooling and a good all around starting book to get an understanding of what (and how) to do leatherwork. The second book, is probably one that should be bronzed...the Leathercraft Tools book explains the purpose of tools, how those tools are used, and most importantly, how to maintain them. I also agree with Bob (hidepounder) on the books for the different areas of leather crafting. These books are a tremendous source of information. I also recommend finding some old Leather Crafters and Saddler's Journal magazines to thumb through. This will give you some ideas on what type of leathercraft you prefer to take a stab at. Marlon

That's not a pricking iron, that tool is intended to punch all the way through. It is called a diamond hole punch. A pricking iron makes diagonal marks on leather so that the maker can align a regular diamond awl (which doesn't make large holes by the way). This is a pricking iron in use...

This is part of a page from a book I bought authored by Valarie Michael, entitled, The Leatherworking Handbook, A Practical Illustrated Sourcebook of techniques and projects It's a very good book and explains the use of lots of tools.

They are intended to just mark the leather, not punch all the way through. I have heard of some using it in that fashion though.

If you use Gorilla glue, be sure to clamp it until it dries. Gorilla glue expands as it drys.

The part of the hide shouldn't dictate how it carves, it's the tanning process. Sounds like you just got a piece that wasn't tanned completely or correctly. The different sections of the hide are better for different types of projects though. i.e. backs for belts, bellys for molded projects etc... I've used dbl shoulders quite often and I think the live oak is much better tanned than crafstman oak. However, I'd try some hermann oak, wicket and craig or thoroughbred leather for you next prized piece. It's a little more expensive, but you won't spend all your time trying to make it work.

It's sure one for the china cabinet. I feel privileged and blessed to be the one to own it!

Our guild had it's annual Christmas party this weekend. We had some of the nicest gift exchanges I've seen in a while. Not all were handmade, but most were. We also had several door prizes. And of those I happened to win the very last drawing which was this notebook, made by the one and only George Hurst. How lucky was that?

Yes it could be. Try mixing some lexol with your casing water and case with that. I would try a pretty big proportion too, like 50:50. See if that helps.

try putting pads of soft material under the feet of the table to dampen the sound the table gives to the floor. you can probably start with those felt furniture mover things and top that off with a folded towel under each leg. seems as though you've dampened the block well, but not the table to the floor. Good luck

I would never use an awl like that, simply because, your point of reference could yield a different angle of viewing each time and that will cause your awl to enter at an angle to the leather, but looks straight to you. The best method for using an awl is the tried and true stitching horse or pony. this way the point of view is right over the top of the edge and you can see the straightness of your stabbings. Also place a guide line on the other side where you didn't use a groove. This will help when piercing the leather to get the alignment right. At first this process will go slow, but practice will improve speed dramatically.

I don't know. It's an html document, so it should be easily seen. Here's the path to it though... Go to the main page of leatherworker.net, click on MORE TIPS AND TRICKS HERE, then about 2/3 down the page, there's a link that says HOW TO USE A HEAD KNIFE. If that doesn't work, it could be your computer, try another one if you have access to one.

Try this Ray, Use old CD packages. The ones where blank CDs/DVDs come packaged on a spindle stacked on top of each other. The size that fits 50 discs are usually good enough, but you can use the 100's if you need more storage. they have twist lock slots to keep the base and top together. Screw the base (part with the spindle, which you can trim off) to the bottom of the workbench and then twist to lock or unlock the top (you'll basically be mounting it upside down). They are plastic so there's no breaking.