immiketoo

No worries, I used to be. Then I fell in love, retired and moved to the old country. Anything that involves something living other than plants is probably considered figure carving. There are as many debates about this as there are leather workers, but I classify them like this. Geometric and basketweave go together. Animals, people, and many logos and symbols fall into figure carving. Floral covers flowers, plants and acanthus. Pictorial covers scenery, mountains, trees, structures etc. Celtic could almost be its own category, although many viking images involve a bit of figure as well. There may be more I am forgetting and I'm sure others can fill in the blanks.

I'm international too. No worries.

I'll talk to him and see if I can't get my hands on a few for distribution.

The only place is from Bob. He does ship internationally. You'll have to call him or message him on FB. Problem is he's REALLY busy. Like think a year wait list.

Railrider, Thank you. In the video, I am using a steep figure beveler by Bob Beard. Its the only tool I've found with the right shape for this technique, although there may be others that can do the trick, or you may be able to modify your own to suit your style. I use B2 through B6. If you want to see a close up, let me know. Now, for figure carving, this is the single most useful technique I have, and now you have it too. You can use it to do 80% of your figure carving, and after that, the rest is easy. A little matting and some spoon work and you're well on your way to figure carving mastery. Also, there is NO reason to start with floral carving if you don't want to do floral carving. The techniques have some overlap, but generally, if you can carve a face, you can carve a flower. The converse isn't necessarily true as the beveling techniques are vastly different. Regarding the Eddie or any of the other faces I have done, its all the same as what in my video. This one has both celtic and figure carving with Odin and his crows. Celtic is a pain, but a few simple tips can help. Number one, always cut just outside your lines on knot work so you can see where you're going. Always maintain the same thickness on knot work or it looks bad. On intersections, how you bevel makes all the difference, and a standard steep beveler isn't enough. You will want a figure or shallower beveler to create the appearance of over under on you weave. If you're interested, I can put together a short segment on Celtic carving for you since it's not too complicated, you just need to follow the formula and pay attention to the details.

You can use a piece of steel. Many people do. The only issue with steel is that if you touch it with your hands it could leave black marks on your leather. You can clean these with oxalic acid but its easier to avoid than to fix. Now, I HATE counter tops because they are usually irregular, they are thin and prone to cracking if you ever need to walk something with a bit of force. I choose a surface plate. 3 inches thick, come in a variety of grades and sizes, and are frankly perfect for leather work. If you have the strength and space, a grave stone will also work wonderfully, but they're a pain to move around.

Ian Atkinson has a ton of good content. He is Leodis Leather on youtube. My site also has a lot of good stuff, www.learnleather.com.

Aside from the aforementioned cost issues, the real problem is finding someone who can print the file properly AND making certain the file is correct. Someone did a 3D gun for me and when I got it, the barrel was oval indicating the cloud file had been stretched on one axis. Without the gun or a proper mold, there is NO way to ensure that your 3D prop is correct. I'd hate to make a holster only to find out the gun didn't fit because of an altered file.

I agree. He is one of the coolest people I know. Well worth the time to watch. Serge is about as creative as they come. He puts an amazing amount of thought into his classes.

Thanks man, Serge is a master of unconventional thinking. Plus he's jut a cool dude to hang out with. This class is also about minimalism and making awesome things with limited tools.

It takes four times the planning and execution of normal BW, but its awesome looking and you can fit it anywhere.

Thats the only way. The reason most people use a camo tool at the edge of basketweave is to hide that faded from angling the tool. The only other way to get it to the edge is to hand carve your basketweave. Its a different look but its cool.

May sound silly but what about corn meal and super glue? Or something similar?

Hmmm...I never use edge paint as a single application, so I don't know. Maybe leather dust and glue? What are you making? And, I hate to ask, but are you hammering your seams? You are pretty accomplished, so I assume you are, but trying to help find a solution...

Pics would help diagnose what you're trying to achieve, but generally I try to avoid all gaps in edges that are glued before I start my edge finishing process. If there is a gap, edge paint generally covers what I need it to with a little work. If I really needed to, I may make a custom plug out of veg tan and fill the gap that way but that is fixing a problem that shouldn't exist.

Point is that I doubt other edge processes would hold up any better on soaked leather. Not buying a liter of anything you don't have a use for or a solid process in place with is good advice though!

I don't think that his tests invalidates the use of this product. I don't know ANY leather gear designed to stand up to what he did to it. I use the exact same process when I apply it, and it has stood up to all kinds of bending, folding and deliberate scratching. It doesn't come off. All I do for a finish is use RTC over the entire product, although its not necessary. Any leather product would fare poorly under the conditions you put it through. As a foot note, I don't use the top coat. Only the edge paint.

If you're using edge paint, I wouldn't use gum trag with it as theres nothing for the paint to stick to. In fact, I wouldn't use gum trag at all. Ever. So many better ways to get a good edge with leather. If you're using dye to color your edges, you can do it without trag. Apply dye, slick, wax, sand, repeat until smooth.

YEssir, its online as are all of my classes. Serge is going to make this one a lot of fun!

Floral tooling is the most tedious aside from perhaps celtic work. Don't stop now!

I have the big red, and its pretty nice and you can find it here or by contacting them. https://chuck-smith-leather-tools.myshopify.com Also, maybe check out the new sharpener by Gordon Andrus. Its fantastic. you can find it here: http://sagecreeksaddles.com/red-ox-brand-tools/ Alternatively, I made myself a wedge out of leather at the angle I want and just use high grit sand papers to sharpen, using the wedge to help me keep the angle. After a while, I don't need the wedge anymore and can do it by hand. Its a lot cheaper and works if you put the time in.

When it comes to tools, there as many variables as there are leather workers. Usually, saddle makers have the largest sized stamping tools available in the range of tools due simply to the size of saddles. This is not always the case, and seems to be less so today than say, 50 years ago. This is likely because back then, Craftool were the main supplier of tools and custom makers were not as prevalent. The Craftool camouflage 455 is more than an inch wide, so its HUGE compared to most of the other camo tools made even by Tandy back then. Now days, I don't know anyone who makes a camo that big, but old craftool had an entire range of larger sized tools which are still available on eBay or from private sellers. They are also great value for money as the most expensive of them is 15 bucks, whereas pro tools usually start around 30 dollars and go up. Now, guys like Barry King and Wayne Jueschke make several sizes of all their tools in order to meet the demands of modern leatherworkers while Craftool is lagging behind a little bit. Earlier, I mentioned pro tools. I consider makers like Bob Beard, Barry King, Clay Miller and Wayne (And others) pro tool makers. They are far superior to modern Tandy offerings (Not so much with the old craftool as they are quite good) in terms of materials, crispness of impression and variety of designs, ESPECIALLY in the geometric tools area. Tool purchasing can be a HUGE investment if you're not careful, and I speak from experience. I like quality tools, and the results I get from them, however I have 10 or 20 times the tools I need. I bought a lot in the beginning because I didn't know what kind of tooling I'd prefer and I dabbled in everything. So I have a full Sheridan set from Barry King, a reasonably full set of figure carving tools from Bob Beard and a few tools from Wayne because they're amazing. All of that being said, if I knew then what I knew now, I'd have quite a few more old pre-letter craftool tools and a lot less of the others. Not because they're no good, but because my style of carving has developed to the point where I can manipulate fewer tools in a wider variety of ways to achieve the same effects as a lot of the tools in my racks that now go unused for the most part. Now, more to the point. If you know what you want to do and you've identified a need for larger tools, and you've looked at the makers I've listed and can't find what you need, then it might be time for some full on custom tools. Backgrounders are tricky though because the larger the tool face, the more difficult it becomes to strike the tool and get a good impression. So then you need a heavier maul or you need to really watch the heck out of it with your smaller one. My guess is that you'll find what you need already in existence if you look at only those makers listed above. Good luck!

Stohlman Award winner, Serge Volken has teamed up with learn leather.com to teach his basketweave class! Check out this teaser video for the upcoming class! If you'd like to join Serge for this awesome class, you can register here: https://attendee.gototraining.com/r/34199600688760578

Sometimes, its the stamp itself. Especially if you rotate it without noticing. They are not all equal. Mark one side of the tool so you always use the same face.

These? https://www.sailrite.com/Snap-Fastener-Cloth-to-Surface-Silver-Button-3-8-Screw-Stud