immiketoo

Lol...sort of? That's funny! If you find one that works, use it. The versa groover is the easiest to use for sure. Until you try to use it on a friction knife sheath. I can't make it work. So Tandy gets the nod. 480, you probably don't know me, but I have earned the title of tool whore for the exact same reason. Almost everything I have is top end, beautiful tools. I love them. They feel nice and I like spending money on tools that work. I only mean that in this case, one of Tandy's groovers has a use. Plus, I have been accused of influencing folks to buy expensive tools they don't need so I now offer cost effective alternatives too

Thanks, folks.

Heres an in progress of a dragon I carved and painted in Natalie's class. Not quite finished, yet. Colors are all Golden Acrylics.

EDIT Just saw your most recent carving and its pretty good, especially compared to your first effort. That said, I specialize in carving text and I did a video about it. There is a lot to say about this, and frankly it's too much to type. Casing is easy, but it has to be right. Spray your leather or run it under the faucet twice until the surface goes dark. Wait til it looks its normal color and that will put you in the ballpark. For the carving, this might help you, if you don't mind taking the time. http://www.learnleather.com/shop/carving-letters-michael-dale/

I used to think that way, but the fact remains, the right tandy groover is just as good. I have one that is the only one that works for certain applications, and I keep it for those reasons. And lets be honest, a groove is a groove.

Thanks, everyone. I have about 8 hours in the carving and another 8 in the color.

I agree. It doesn't look like the hole is even drilled through. That tool is shit. Send it back and get a good one. By good, I mean one by Tandy, Douglas Tools or Danny Marlin. You don't know how much trouble that tool will cause you even if you get it to work. This is one of the things you MUST experience properly or you'll always fight it. Get a new one.

Sand them till the leather is natural again, dye and re-burnish. I always do edges last for this reason, unless theres a spot in the build that needs them done earlier. For example, the front edge of a pancake holster or wallet lining pockets. Sanding them will also give the benefit of smoothing your edges.

Another option is to leave your daubers filled with dye and let them dry. They become hard, and then you can put a little groove in them that's perfect for making clean edges on your leather projects. Burning the dauber definitely helps speed the process up. Also, you must dab the dauber on a towel or paper before applying to your edge or you'll get a nasty drip or over flow that kills your clean edge. You can see my video about professional looking edges here, http://www.learnleather.com/shop/edge-finishing/

Thanks, everyone. Not too difficult, but fun to build. The customer had one idea and we developed that idea into this.

Spud, its supposed to represent the crossroads, but I don't know its origins. Customer wanted it so thats what they got. Could be a voodoo symbol for all I know

Thanks!

A little tooling, a little airbrush and a little braiding. Lined for your comfort!

Nice horse. I had one of those for a few years. Cant go wrong with Bruce, either!

Thats a repurposed piece of drawer hardware

Its attached with the four rivets you see.

Nah, ya gotta keep it up man... lol..thanks Thank you sir

Made a few new cuffs the other day. I enjoy fitting stamps together.

A steampunk Nerf rig.

A steampunk Nerf rig.

Same thing in the holster world. Only so many ways to wrap a gun in leather. That said, there are many stylistic cues that are "borrowed" all the time.

Only if people know its you, then I agree.

Reminds me of Garbage Pail kids cards.

Good. Good. Let the hate flow through you...

The winning piece was amazing. As in I need to go back to school amazing. Gary, your piece is cool and whimsical and I like it. You and I will both indulge this fantasy and we will get better. I have a LOT of swivel knives, but none of them were free