GampasShop

Thanks Ric. Lol, I beat you to it and decided to order one yesterday morning. Will have today, leaving tomorrow on vacation and will be working on it while setting at the cabin.

Has anyone made the Tandy Large Tablet Case Kit? Kinda interested pictures of the inside, with the Tablet in it. Also wondering about the camera ability with the Tablet in the case. I know my Xoom has the power button on the back along with the camera lens, do I need to take it out of the case to use either of them?

I dont think I have ever seen the ones that Elton listed on any magazine rack that I can remember. I sure wasnt aware of any magazine that dealt with our passion. You get to thinking about it there are tons of hunting, fishing and such on the racks all the time. I know in the woodworking, there is one that I really like called "WoodSmith" and its companion "Shop Notes". The woodsmith one has a section for tips and then has plans for building a couple of different projects in it. I think something like this in the leather hobby would be a great idea.

Got to thinking the other day. Out of all my hobbies (Hunting, fishing, ATVing, woodworking, Leatherworking), why is it there isn't a monthly or bimonthly magazine for leatherworking. Just thought it was kinda odd that I have not seen a magazine for us leatherworkers. Now the big question. Why??

Im with Billy P on this. Diet Mt. Dew most anytime of the day, unless I have a big old glass of ice water in front of me. Alcohol doesn't go well with diabetes at all. Is starting to cool off here so I will start drinking coffee first thing in the morning.

The #1 problem most people have when drilling thru SS is the drill speed. Keep your drill RPM's low and any bit will drill it. If you just pull the trigger all the way you will go thru bits faster than you can chuck it up. When drilling SS you want your RPM's somewhere in the 350-500 range, which if using a 3/8 drill most of them are geared in the 1500 rpm top range. Just take it slow and when it is removing chips good, DO NOT GO ANY FASTER. Many years of working as an electrician in meat packing facilities has taught me this. Many of the guys I worked with never did catch on.

Must be nice to have a dedicated room to just your leather work. I use the computer desk for my tooling area. Have often thought about clearing an area of my woodshop and if I did that I would be the winner of this contest hands down. I try to keep my area picked up while working. Now in the woodshop, it is a MESS, really a case of to much cramed into to small an area and nowhere else to go with it.

I will let you guys have at the coyote carving. As I found out on the coyote call I made last month, my animal carving really is TERRIBLE. Course the size of the one I was doing was only about 1 1/4" tall & maybe 1 1/2" wide so a little bigger would maybe help. I will stick with the flower carvings from now on.

A year ago I had requested a Hidecrafters Catalog (about the time of the sale, reorg whatever) and I never did get one. Then a couple of weeks ago I requested another, still no catalog. Do they actually have a catalog available? Or do you have to call them and give a secret password to get one??

The only problem with the Stohlman books is they are so dated, but at the time he did them the would have been right. I know in mine it has a camera case for the little Instamatic Camera with the External flash bulb. Anybody else remember those things?? I still have mine in the closet with the box it came in, along with all the old 8-Track tapes from the days. I will admit that the Stohlman books are really good as far as showing how to do different corners and sewing techniques and such.

Bruce, the more I think on this, and since my allergies are really flared up right now due to all the dang weeds that are in pollen stage, I will get the measurements on it and give it a toss.

I had used the original leather mallet that came in my kit from the mid 70's for a long time. Actually until I found this website and everyone was talking about using a maul. I was worried about a glancing blow, so I just had to try one out. So off to the woodshop I went and ended up with and While they didnt end up being near heavy enough the first one was turned out of Osage Orange and weighs 8 oz., the second was turned out of Black Locust and only weighs 10 oz. When I tried them on the next project I did, they worked great and like was said they are just an extension of your hand. I was going to drill out the end and add some lead shot to make them heavier, but ended up buying the ASB 1 lb. maul and have been using it ever since. I will be getting a 2 lb. this fall as I have now started using basketweave stamps and you really got to give them a solid wack.

I have showed people some of my projects as I get them finished. Some (very few) have done leather tooling in the past, either as a Boy Scout or in 4-H. Others think you have a big stamp that you hit one time and poof there is the design. If you are lucky you will be able to find a single imprint of say a A104 background tool, so they can get some idea of how many taps with the maul it takes to do what we do. It really opens their eyes then when you walk them thru the different steps it takes to do a carving/tooling. After you tell them what it takes from the blank piece of leather to the finished product, they will usually look at it really close and start asking questions. This has been my experience of late anyway. Ya, maybe you can buy a "Leather" billfold at Folly World for $12. When people ask me why I would spent hours on tooling a billfold, I have the last one that I made/used sitting here on my desk. I say well this one has lasted me 18 years of carrying in my pocket every day. I could still be using it if I would just relace it, but there are a couple of holes at the fold that are gone/wore away.

I will take pics as I go along with this. It will be a learning experience.

My wife suggested Vinegar also. I will get pics of it still in the bag tonight and then give it a good hosing off outside and then try the vinegar. This leather looks about like some leftover spagetti we had in the frig many many years ago. When one of the kids found it he asked if he could pet it. LMAO. It was funny then and we still bring it up almost 20 years later. Wolv, that was my intention to get it back in the frig when we got home so I could work on it. I thought I had put it in the frig, but when I looked in my spot, it wasnt there so the hunt was on. When I found it, it was a green & white with mold everywhere. I do very similar to you in my work.

Yeppers, they do work great. You want to open them up and check for being smooth before using though as I have had to use a file and get rid of some burrs on a few.

While on vacation, I had taken my leather tools with me and had made a checkbook cover and was also working on a couple of billfolds. One of the billfolds I had all of the stamping done and just had to lace it up, which I did on the way home while wife was driving. The problem is with the other billfold. I had it dampened and in the frig in a ziplock bag. When we were packing up to come home I had put the bag in the tote box with my tools and supplies. This would have been from the 3rd of this month. Well this weekend I go to get the ziplock out of the frig at home and its not there. I couldnt find it anywhere. Well night before last I found the bag and it was not in the frig, but at the bottom of the tote box. The leather is now covered in mold. Is there anyway to get rid of the mold, or is this piece of leather ruined? I have not bothered opening the bag to let the mold out.

Thanks guys, this is the kind of info that I was after. Having never used the film before, I don't have a clue what I would be looking for. As far as the glues, I didn't have a clue that rubber cement was only temporary. I have used contact cement for years in woodworking projects. I need to find a book on braiding so I can use up all the lace that I have in a Christmas cookie can.

#1 X-Ray film, where do you get it? My wife is a nurse and talked to guys in the X-Ray dept. and they said I was out of luck getting any from the hospital. I then tried a local Veterinary and he said they keep theirs in the Customers file for ever. #2 I keep seeing posts that say either use Rubber Cement or Contact Cement. What is the difference in the two and how do you know when to use which one?? #3 This one is the best. Whenever I make a Tandy Kit, I have never used the lace that comes with the kit, instead I use the "Superior Leather Lace". What if anything is the lace that came with the kits good for? I guess I could learn to braid lanyards with it.

Thanks LeatherBum, that tutorial confirmed my thoughts about spacing needing to be adjusted. I will practice on it tonight and see what I come up with.

Ok, wife talked to a guy in E-Ray this morning. He was going to get some different films for me to try. He also told her that they are no longer using the film, that everything is done on computer now.

Ok, now a dumb question, has anyone ever done a basketweave pattern with a curved line for a starting point?? Am already thinking ahead for the next one I do and got to thinking about the curve. I will have to see if I can dig the original piece of leather I cut for this one out of the trash and try a basketweave on it tonight. I am probably thinking about things way to much, but with one side being shorter than the other the spacing may have to be adjusted. Or I guess I can do the stamp from end to end.

Ooops, don't know what happened to my type, but just noticed it missing. I cut to length and then skived the ends to make the seam and then used rubber cement to hold the leather to the call. I didn't turn out to bad. If I do another call like this it will have a basketweave or flower carving as my animal carving is TERRIBLE. I had actually thought about an Oak Leaf, but didn't that would look right on a Walnut call.

While doing my last project, I had a wild idea, combining leather tooling and a predator call. In my last order from Tandy, they included a "Calfskin Sample Pack". This leather is really thin. I had to change my call shape a little bit but it turned out GREAT. The hardest part of the whole deal was getting the leather cut to fit around the call.