GampasShop

For those of you that use the X-Ray film, where the heck do you get it??? I know in the medical field, they keep it in the persons file for ever. I then had the bright idea this morning to call the local vet to see what they do with theirs. They also keep it forever in the owners file. So break out with the secret info on how you get it, please. I have always just used masking tape myself, but am wanting to try the X-Ray film, if I can find any. Wife is a nurse so she was going to visit the X-Ray dept at the hospital where she works to see if they had some goofs or something.

I got the test call turned last night. Right now it is ugly with its shape. In my last order from Tandy, they included a "Calfskin Sample Pack" of leather. This stuff is really thin and that is what I am going to try tooling. I will have to be careful not to cut thru with the swivel knife. Havent come up with a good picture to put on the leather yet. Am looking for a coyote sitting with a full moon behind it. I may end up having to draw my own. This thing is going to look really neat when I get it done.

I will admit the 2 color lace looks really neat, but I dont know if it is worth the hassle of actually doing it. Trying to keep on lace going tangle free is enough of a hassle, but add a second one in and you are having to keep both of them pulled snug even though you are only lacing one at a time. Will I do it again, probably, but just to really set off a special project. For those of you thinking about trying it. REMEMBER you must have an EVEN number of holes for it to come out right. You will not see this info in the instruction book ANYWHERE.

Tina, you will notice on the far left one there is a dark spot toward the bottom, that was a knot and then on the big one of the middle pair there is another spot. I make the best of a knot in wood. Most people would go out of their way to cut them out and not mess with them. To me they are the most natural part of the tree and really help show it off. For some of the things I have made go Here and for all of the calls go Here . I have made a bunch of the little boxes at the end of the calls pics.

I had seen the wheel type you are talking about on the Woodcraft site and then I remembered having this old thing sitting in the shop.

I will have to think about the sewing, have NOT done much sewing at all yet. If its not to hot in the shop tonight, I will have to turn the call and see if I can cut the leather to fit. Then I will have a better idea of how to fasten the leather. For all that goes, it wouldnt have to be a tight butt splice, I could leave a space in the joint and put some holes on both sides and do a boot lace look to hold it in place. Hmmm, the thinking continues.

I use the Blue 3M Painters Masking Tape on everything. Have tried the regular masking tapes but some of them anywhere there was tooling on the other side the tape would not come off the back side. Have not had any problems with the Blue tape.

What I am thinking is do a sleeve to go around the barrel of the call where it tapers up to the bell end. Keep in mind the length of the long call is only 3 1/4" so am maybe looking at 1 1/2" or so long at the most for the leather. I could do a little design changing on the call also, as the final shape is done on the fly anyway. The diameter at the smallest part is usually right at 5/8" and the bell is about 1 1/8". How would you suggest fastening a carving around this? If I would do an angle cut on the splice ends of the leather and then use rubber cement to hold it on would it last? Keep in mind, while calling coyotes it could be in all kinds of weather, hot & sunny, to colder than haddies and the snow falling. Give me some ideas please.

Ok, one of my many other hobbies is woodworking and last winter I got into making Predator Calls.

Rawhide had done a Notebook Cover, which that Topic is in "Other Specialties" in the "Books, Journals, Photo Albums" section. I asked him and he posted a pic of the booklet he got from Tandy's that shows how to do it.

To be honest, I didn't think anything at all about it when I was punching the holes. Really didn't think about it until I got close to the end of the lacing last night and realized I needed an extra hole, but it was to late then.

I started this project Saturday afternoon. Had never done basketweave and had never done the 2 color lacing. It didnt turn out to bad, except for the very obvious mistake that I am sure most everyone will see in the first picture. Who would have thought that counting was important in leather work?

Ok, got some pics of the tool last night.

Maybe I can get it finished up tonight and will get some pics and post tomorrow. Do like I did and just jump right in with no practice on the basketweave. I had ordered the Tips & Techs booklet and it showed how to lay it out to get started, but didn't show much detail. I just went for it.

I do some woodworking and have a lot of tools, even some of my grandpa's who passed away in 1967. Anyway I am doing a CD case with curved corners and I needed to lay out the area to do my basketweave. Well I go to my woodshop to grab the wing dividers and then get to thinking (I know, its bad for you). Had to dig a while but I find one of my grandpa's old tools and used it instead of the wing dividers to make my border and then last night used it again for the lace holes. The tool is a General Tools "Butt Gauge". This tool would have been from the days of laying out and installing your own door hinges. I looked on the General Tools website and they do NOT offer it any longer. It scribes a great line in cased leather and it also worked pretty good on the finished leather last night for the lace line. I will get pics either tonight or tomorrow and post here.

Well the order came in friday afternoon. I opened up the CD case kit and wet the leather and put in the frig. Saturday afternoon I got it out and got to work on it. My basketweave didn't turn out to bad, not great, but not bad at all for the first time. Anyway got it all tooled on Sunday and set it back to dry, put the stain on early yesterday morning and then a coat of finish at noon and again in the middle of afternoon. As soon as I got home last night I started punching the lacing holes and then got about a 1/4 of the lacing done. Everyone that has seen it so far is amazed at the 2 color lacing. I wish I would have got a different punch, as the ones I had are about 5 1/2/inch, which is a little to far apart for a good looking lace.

Around my house it is SWMBO'd. I cant complain though, she is my biggest critic. Tells me what color lace needs to go on after I get it stained and such. I also do woodworking and have a very small shop and she likes what I make. I don't try to hide my purchases from her, just hurry and get a project done and then it is forgotten about. Last winter I got started turning predator calls on my lathe and sold several of them. I think in all my years of any kind of work, they were the first projects I had actually sold. I have been trying to think of a way to do a leather carving of a coyote on a piece and then attach it to one of my calls. May have to do a call design change to be able to attach the leather. I guess the leather and wood working have kept me at home and not spending money on other things, whiskey, women & such and I am having a blast doing it.

Just wanted to thank all the posters in this area. YOU are costing me a fortune. LOL I have never done basketweave before, so I just placed an order for some stamps and while I was at it, I ordered a few more things I was in need of. Ended up with a $450 order. And then a while back Rawhide posted a notebook cover that had 2 color double stitch lace, so I am going to make a CD case with basketweave on the back and am going to try the 2 color lace. Thanks a lot folks.

This is where I was doing my work, sitting in one of the comfortable porch chairs. At sun rise it was a whopping 40 degrees and all the natural light you could want. As far as what I am doing with the 2 items. I had made a mens billfold for this little towns Volunteer Firemans fundraiser in June and donated to the fundraiser. The gal that runs the Lodge where it was displayed had told me that she displays/sells "Local Made" Art and told me if I made a few things she would be glad to have them in the store. So this is testing the water work. The billfold was an old Tandy kit that still said "Made in the USA" on it, I have no idea how long I have had it. The lacing looks crappy in the pic, but the pic is not doing it justice. It was a bear to get put together, as you would have the tooled leather with the backing and then jump to 3 more layers of insert and then back to 1 layer of insert. On the last few things I have done I have been using Valspar Wood stain. My biggest critique (SWMBO'd) is liking the lighter color better than I was getting with the Tandy stains that I had been using.

While spending 2 weeks at the cabin in CO, I did 2 projects. For some reason I up at 6:00 every morning and the wife likes to sleep till 8 or so. This year I packed my tools and took with me. If I didn't get up and go fishing in the morning, I found a log that worked for a bench and sat out on the front porch and tooled away. Made both of these in 2 weeks.

Ok, after thinking on this project for 11 months, I finally have a finished product. This was the first time for me to make anything from scratch. It didn't turn out to bad, NOT great by any means. Seems as though some pieces got longer and some shorter as I was sewing everything together so the top flap didnt fit the way it was supposed to. It is definatly better than what I was keeping the maps in. Anyway Here are pics of my latest Map Pouch project.

Twin Oaks, last winter I found a predator hunting website and saw where guys were making calls. I looked and thought, man I can do that. Found where to order the reed kits and placed an order. Went to the shop and found some small pieces of wood in my stash (just like leather there is no throwing it away). Had 4 calls turned and finished over the weekend. A couple days later, take one out and called in a coyote. Was great. But with wood and especially with a turning on the lathe, you can modify on the fly. There really is no planning other than what you want the final product to look like. With leather you are pretty much stuck, cant cut off and add a piece. To me that means you must do a lot of planning ahead of time, unless you have one of the leather stretchers (like a board stretcher only for leather).

I go to the mountains in Colorado to vacation every year. Do a lot of fishing and ATV'ing while there. I have come up with a good collection of topo maps to use in the area. A year ago, the plastic bag I always keep them in was getting a rip in it, so decided I needed to make a leather map pouch. I thought about it and thought about it, bought the leather in Oct. of last year. I am currently hand sewing it together. Just in time to go on vacation next friday. Now for me the biggest problem was I have never done anything but Tandy kits with directions. Was afraid to go out on my own. Leather isn't like wood where you can cut down and glue a piece in if you mess up. I don't know how good this pouch is going to look or work, but it has been a BIG challenge for me to get it figured out. I have now had practice skiving and v-gouging where I decided I needed to double over the leather around the opening. Also the hand sewing, had never done that before. Using the awl to poke the holes and sewing is taking me a while. I have always laced (double loop) everything in the past. Hopefully late tomorrow I will have a finished product that I can post pictures of.

Ken, I didn't get any pics of the inside. This was a Tandy Nanette Clutch Purse kit.

Anne, this is the first thing I have made for my wife, out of leather anyway. I also do some woodworking and have made a few things for her.