DavidL

I will remember the stropping tip next time I strop. I also will go with a scratch awl for veg tan and a pen fine tip for chrome tan. Tomg- the wood handle knife is the same type of knife I have that doesnt work too well for patterns. Next time I will go for kiridashi.

O type zippers are the ones you are looking for. I think anyone that sells YKK zippers has them. A heads up, theres another zipper that has two sliders in one zipper but both run the same way, which wont work for your situation. This is just guess work (I've always used pre fabricated zips)it might be worth buying a regular zipper, buy an extra slider and install it on the other end. Im not sure if O type zippers use different teeth or if you can install a slider the other way.. I do have some backpacks that use O type zippers, it seems like its just a matter of adding another slider. Al stohlmans book has instructions on how to remove zipper teeth and add zipper stops to create a zipper with a stop to prevent the slider from going past center all while in one continuos tape.

Its a bit of an obscure question.. Cutting around a stiff pattern doesnt work with my knife (clicker) that has a convex edge and I would like to learn to cut freehand using a round knife, exacto or rotary. When you freehand cut leather (pen traced around pattern) do you cut on the line, inside of the line or outside of the line? Any tips to cut straight line to avoid jagged or wavy lines. It looks near impossible to cut these lines with a exacto. I have seen it done using a japanese leather knife, round knife or french style knife in videos.

Fiebings dye for whatever reason doesnt like to dry. If I reach into the container with the dyes inside my hand will get dye on it from small amounts of dye left on uses rubber gloves, even when I haven't used the dye for weeks. Knowing this you may want to be extremely thorough in removing the excess. One member, whose name I can't remember recommended applying resolene before dyeing, preventing leather from acting like a sponge soaking up too much dye. Saddle soap before final finishing can rub off excess too. constant heat from heat gun or burnishing using boxwood may help too.

One way I secure the last 2 back stitch is to loop the needle twice around the loop (casting the thread) to create a knot set in-between the leather. Trim the ends short and tuck into the stitch seam w/ white glue. I can't get the loose ends secured in between the seams permanently, the results are so-so, it looks it will unravel like a shoelace. Casting the thread twice does permanently secure the threads for items that need strength, but not for the loose ends.

Chinese iron and vergez are very different tools. Vergez are forged (tool steel), hand hammered to shape, case hardened and filed by hand by a craftsman. The cost is in the skill and quality of the tool. Apparently it takes 3 people and a few hours to make.. Chinese iron is made by machine most likely with stainless, maybe case hardened. The vergez are for professional use, just like how japanese hand planes need to be tweaked for use the vergez teeth are left for the customer to polish and tweak. Both are reasonable in price looking at what goes into the irons.

an air tight bag that wont leak while going through the dryer would work for experimentation without needing to clean up anything. From there if you can work a method out it would be relatively simple to find a barrel that can rotate electronically and find a way to send hot steam into the barrel. It wouldn't be worth the time and experimentation if this is only for one piece though compared to several dozen. Good luck.

Maybe an old dryer can be used for experimentation? From what I understand fat liquoring is done after chrome tanning and veg tanning. You could take beeswax, beef fat grease (tallow), lanolin and paraffin in different ratios, grab a 2 inch by 2 inch piece of veg with the waxes and put it into some sort of cotton bag similar to a pillow case and put it through a 30 minute dryer run. Will this mess up your dryer or is this dangerous to add small amounts of waxes in the appliance I'm not sure... so try this at your own risk.

thanks huns. Im looking forward to the finished bag

I did a bit of research on this subject... Acrylic paints (angelus) can be hand painted on leather cleanly and without any issues. So if you could put it through a screen press it would work in theory. The way acrylics are, they dry out fast and would require you to add screen printing medium so that it could work like a regular screen printing ink. There are a lot of differences in leather even piece from piece (oils, dark base colour, different tannage) that can affect the print quality. Theres always a bit of testing required and no guarantees in effectively screen printing like the way t shirts can be done.

Its hard to tell without seeing a picture. Most hammers used in leather working are poly, rawhide, plastic. The metal hammers are not to be used with metal tools but I have seen them use a hammer to flatten seams or manipulate leather to form around a last. The face of these hammers are rounded to not mark the leather. If it really is warped and not how the hammer is suppose to look you could try to get a refund.

Looks great. Do you use a v groove in the middle of the leather (the piece that folds over canvas edge)?

The thought process should be in this order, Who am I selling to (demographic) and at what price point, make a product that is tailored to that demographic of people and at the right price, then you can go farther into the thought process and find methods of quickening the process, substituting materials (lower price tier). You must first set the foundations of the type of goods you are creating and which price tier. Everything after that will be based off the "foundation". Meaning decisions in the design, pricing, process are decided based on the demographic, market, competition among other variables (too many to jot down) First questions I would ask is what age range is buying my belts, gender are they online shoppers how large is market for these goods what are the competitors prices Why will they buy my brand vs another. A good place to start is a business plan. If this is too much work you will always be able to tell if its over priced if you don't get steady sales or lack of sales. Other factors may influence lack of sales too.. more so starting out. Everything above is done so you anticipate issues before they occur and solve issues with a calculated plan. Also can cut down on trial and error.

Thanks for sharing this. thats sounds like it should fix the issue of bleeding. So the lacquer/resolene before dyeing prevents the dye from over soaking the hide. Does it still penetrate the lacquer/resolene into the grain or stick onto the resolene to prevent the bleeding?

probably to save costs, vintage dixons were symmetrical. I hold mine with the flat side away from the edge, it shouldn't matter I don't think as long as its 90 degrees holding the iron by the base connecting to the post. Your iron looks more asymmetrical then my 1 year old dixon, I would guess that the force isn't distributed well because of this. Is that a 2015 iron? I never seen dixon advertise their website on an iron..

The supplier may of just spirit dyed the leather and did not do the proper steps to prevent dye from bleeding. From the samples I received from tanneries, only one has bled, a piece of latigo . Drum tanned leather from what I on hand has zero tendency to bleed if you submerse in water, its almost permanent. From what I read spirit dye on veg tan there needs to be rubbing with saddle soap plus water or water alone after the leather is dried to fully remove the extra dye. Let the piece dry fully and then seal it properly with a finisher. To further the chances of the leather not bleeding a bone folder or smooth boxwood can be rubbed to glaze the leather. I haven't had too much luck with spirit dye and prefer to use pre dyed DRUM tanned leather for time saving (Front dyed by drum and back pasted). If you manage to fix the bleeding issue I would like to know your method...

The way leather is tanned can make it more likely crack, it may or may not be the reason you are experiencing cracking. thick leathers could crack more. Some of the budget leather tannery may skip out on some chemicals or steps other tanneries add in the tanning process. There are 10-20+ chemicals in some cases needed from start to finish. Everything can be controlled from the ph level of the water, softening the leather, evening the tone.. More expensive leathers have better characteristics generally. You could try next time to oil the leather, dye, add more oil and finish to prevent cracking as best as possible.

That one stitch could be done at 6 SPI. On wallets hand stitched at 11+ SPI that is what I have seen.

If the wax isn't absorbed into the leather (because of resolene) wouldn't it just rub off within a month? I believe english bridle doesnt use any spray finishes, only wax, fats and oils for that reason or to keep it consistent historically. It is common for the need of excessive rubbing for alcohol based dyes otherwise they bleed or get picked up by the wax or finish. Saddle soap on 12 hour dried pieces help to pick it up. Although I never used water stains I haven't read any problems with dye rub off. Old methods of making water stain include iron sulfate (commonly available online), bark liquor, iron rust - pulled from a leather tanning book from 1850s. You could experiment with natural powders from dharmatrading if your interested in making your own stains.

First you might want to determine if it is carbon steel or much harder to sharpen, tool steel. If its the latter you need a ceramic or diamond stone. The regular whetstones without ceramic or diamonds only polish the steel. Murray carter has a video on razor sharpening where he sharpens back and forth on the stone, once the burr is felt on the finger he carefully does pulling towards strokes lightly until the burr is removed and he repeats on the other side. Same is done on the next stone plus the compound.

Combination tan is a mix of two tanning methods, usually vegetable and chrome. re tan sounds like another way of saying combination tan. Never heard of half tan before. They would tan in heavier tanning liquids to only penetrate the outside layers, leaving the middle raw? What type of goods use half tan usually?

steel rule dies or a thicker forged die that doesnt need reinforcements.

Thanks jack. Maybe the lack of a binder is why oil dye for me bleeds a LOT making it unusable for me regardless of how much I rub. I for sure am not going to source the solvents though. My question was more of me spit balling a thought and seeing where it goes. I am looking into aniline dyes, semi aniline dyes and natural dyes and learning about the other few methods of dyes that are outlined in a book I'm reading. Just for reference I recently stumbled on a potential mordant, copperas aka green vitriol aka ferrous sulfate. Source was from a old book on tanning. Used in inks and indigo dyes and very old methods of dye making. The last time I checked prices from tandy was 40-50 for the larger bottle (I think it may be removed from the catalog), but tandy has been known to raise prices.. so I probably should have known.Next order will be zeli if I need pro dye. The thought of 100 hides to manage is more of a goal (that I may or may not want to pursue depending on how well I can tan a single hide) than a reality as of right now in its beginning stages. I do have the tendency to go too fast at times.. so your comment is very valid. A single hide (more likely a square foot at a time), natural tannins (powdered or bark) plus syntans (penetrating), lime, and other common organic material and tools plus a litre of dye is all thats needed right now. So around $500 plus shipping is a realistic cost analysis for testing. 1-2 years for development. In a barn it should be enough room to tan 100 hides comfortably , although these things are more apparent when its time to do it.

I apologize if it comes off as ridiculous. I posted this in another leather forum dedicated to leather chemistry and put this on here just to see if any responses show up. The dyes I have right now angelus and fiebings pro are far to expensive when bought in Canada so I'm looking for anyone who has made these dyes themselves.. A sort of simple solution like: Water Aniline powder Plus chemical binder

When I see leather from the tannery it looks to be a homemade blend composed of a few ingredients, so I'm looking for help from someone with knowledge of chemistry. Do leather dyes need a binder to prevent dye bleed? I suppose heat setting could bind the finish to the leather, but thats not certain. Fiebing PRO Oil dye Diethylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether Dipropylene Glycol Monoethyl Ether Propylene Glycol Methyl Ether Ethanol Isopropanol Xylene Ethyl Benzene Ethyl Acetate Cobalt and Chromium Complex is any one of these chemicals a binder? What makes a leather dye hold (chemical or otherwise) and penetrate into leather. I would like to be able to make the dye water soluble (aniline powder) with the minimal amount of material and easy to source chemicals.