Rawhide

...thought I would share a little fun. At the recent Leather Conference in Brisbane, Australia, a young lady asked how I sign my name (she has never done lettering before). I showed her at a large size, so she could understand the strokes, then did it a little smaller beneath...then smaller again. (Ann-Maree has been only doing leatherwork for one year....three hour classes on Saturday mornings in Sydney). She went away with swivel knife in hand and returned showing me what she did. This amazed me...I have never seen (in all years past) anyone do this before. I then cut my name smaller again (bottom right)...and, she did it again! Peter

John, You can take the same needle and put it in a sewing machine. This will punch all your holes consistently and spaced perfectly without the tiring out your arm. just my .02.

If anyone is looking to get rid of a Beard polyurethane maul, please let me know and let me know the asking price. Thanks, Marlon

I prefer the double action as well for control. I have a Badger 150 and is middle of the road and works well for just about anything I would do. I also suggest getting a compressor with a small tank and not the diaphram type. I got one for airbrushes from Northern Tool for about 100 bucks and it has the regulator and water separator with a mini tank. It's extremely quiet. Also, I purchased my Badger from Michaels using a 50% off coupon for one item. Marlon

Dyo -Reptile Shoe conditioner. There was a post here a long time ago, that had a very similar situation 30 yr old snake skin and they cleaned it up nicely with Dyo -Reptile. See here.

I haven't used the Crown tools, but if you want a better quality tool, for no much price difference, I would try Hidecrafter's Craft Japan line... they yield much better impressions than the Craftool line.

Honing oil is what you put on a stone to sharpen tools with...you can find it at a wood supply store like woodcraft, maybe even home depot or lowes.

I always do this...i spread rubber cement on the illustration board (Cresent #201 found at Hobby Lobby), let dry and then stick my leather down to it. remove excess rubber cement with a crepe rubber. Case the leather and use a glass slicker to slick the grain of the leather. this will make sure it's adhered properly. Cover with glass until ready to carve. To remove it, just peel the board away from the leather (not the leather from the board.)

Spence I agree with you here, however, the fact is one side isn't happy that there is no website.."When will the website be up? why don't you update your website? Can't you get your website up quicker?. Then once it's rushed to satisfy that group and it isn't perfect, then you'll get "Why can't I order from your website? I can't see any pictures. By the way when is the catalog coming? I mean sheesh, they're getting it from all sides. I understand the frustration, but you can't please everybody everytime...I know it sounds like I work for them or have a vested interest, but I don't, I just think they have a place in the leather business and hope to see them survive.

this will depend on the rouge quality...If the rouge is really hard like chalk it will flake for a short period of time, if the rouge is waxy, it shouldn't flake at all. The honing oil will sort of make the rouge act as a waxy type. The more you strop on it, the less it will flake.

Absolutley. I think the econo line at Hidecrafters is much better than the Tandy line. The impressions are much crisper. They're still an economy line, but much better quality.

I talked to Eric on Tuesday at the Guild meeting. The problem with the pictures is that the website developer had pictures with incorrect discriptions. Plus the cart was having a problem with incorrect pricing (sewing machines were for sale for $2.00). He wanted to take the whole site down to correct it, but they said to leave the site up and take down the pictures and the cart. Then the guy went on vacation, so they have to wait until he gets back. As far as the catalog goes, they've got over $100,000 into the new catalog, and it still has a long way to go...It's very expensive and time consuming and they wanted to focus on the website first, then get the catalog finished. They are slowly getting things in order, but things are really looking better for them.

you can do a 'leather' mache. I did that to my scalpel and i like it very much. It starts out with wraping the shaft with thin leather glued to itself...then take thin random strips of leather and glue (pva glue) it onto the wrapped shaft in a random fashion. let dry completely (i let mine dry about a week.) then sand the whole thing down. Dye it and coat it with Neat Lac. Makes an interesting piece and feels great in the hand. See examples here

Thanks guys...I don't know about the artist part, but I appreciate it.

Hi Richard, Unfortunately, this buckle does have metal on the inside. It's sandwiched between two layer's of leather. I used an oval buckle blank that you can get from just about any leather supplier. I tooled the front, then I used contact cement to glue the front to the buckle, then do the same for the back, using a bone folder to 'mold' the back piece to conform to all the creases. Then laced her up. That's it.

Hi, I used bleached rawhide lace. It's very thin, probably .5mm and it was dyed and dried prior to buckstitching. It is three separate pieces with the ends glued in place on the flesh side of the leather.

Hi resqman, That is a custom made stamp, for the Lone Star Leathercrafter's Guild. It contains the letters, the state of Texas, the star and the swivel knife.

This is going to sound cliche, but the real answer is keep cutting.... the more you cut, the more cuts you do the more the more errors you'll see to improve on. If you're right handed, cut the left side of the project first, then the right. That way you can see what you cut on the left as you cut the right.

One of two ways... you either cut half in one direction left side first and the other half on the right both starting at the top. or you could turn the leather and cut half and half. if you need an absolute perfect circle, use a coin or a circle template to follow.

Yep, I sure am planning on it. Hope you guys make it up, it'd be great to see you guys again. By the way, George has made a two gun rig for the IFoLG show that's outta this world. I can't describe it 'cause I don't want to give anything away, but it's definitely going to be a show stopper.

Thanks Bob and Tina.

Hi folks, Here's a buckle I completed for a competition sponsored by Lone Star Leathercrafter's Guild. I won 1st place with a prize of $50 donated by Leather Crafter and Saddler's Journal. Thanks to all that voted for my entry, and all here on the site that share lots of knowledge for the benefit of us all. Marlon

Your answer... ...lace is always dyed before the actual lacing process begins. I go to some trouble when preparing kangaroo lace...I buy it (from Australia) slightly over 1/8" wide....I then stretch it...cut it back to 1/8"...then thin it to around 0.6mm...bevel the edges....then dye as required. That procedure keeps me out of trouble for some time. When the lacing is completed, it is lightly dampened and gently hammered using a shoe hammer with a highly polished face. I then spend a lot of time with a (real) bone folder, slicking the edges until a nice roll is achieved. Peter

He always seems to one up himself with each project.

Hi Tim, Peter is a friend of mine...We kind of developed a web friendship after I took a few of his classes. As he completes items, he sends me copies of the pictures that he posts to the IILG forum. He is a member here also, and lurks every now and then. I am also a member of the Fort Worth Guild (Lone Star Leathercrafters). Marlon