immiketoo

Here is a sampling of some of the letters I carved over the last few years.

Ah yes. Ive never heard it called lazy stitch before. Why is it called that?

I don't even know what that means...

With the exception of the Tandy Euro bends, and the HO they sell, I find that almost everywhere has batter leather. I only buy HO and some of the italian leather now. You can't beat quality.

Shit, I moved to Greece and it cost over 11K for the move. And thats not counting the IKEA trip

Did you move? Or are you getting a new toy?

No idea on Chrome tan. Maybe a leather conditioner that has a nice smell?

Pics would help tremendously in diagnosing the issue. Please post some. Otherwise, we're just guessing.

The pictures of your work help on a diagnosis. There are many ways to achieve the look you're going for and it appears to me you're using a standard beveler. A figure beveler is a far better tool for this type of work, but a modeling spoon will work in place of one of you don't have any. As for the book, Al tells you what tools he uses for every image in it. If you don't have those particular tools, you'll have to improvise. What the book can't show you is the technique. Only the aftermath. The reason you don't like the depth isn't only because of the matting, although that will help. What's causing you problems is the steep little Vs where you beveled, with the surrounding leather still at the same level like a plain of wood with channels routered in it. You have flat leather with those Vs beveled in it. What you want to do is create wide stair step effect, with each peak or valley standing at different levels (Or at least appearing to do so). Lastly, your book has everything you need to know, but if thats still not enough, seeing HOW the technique is done can help tremendously.

That is a possibility I hadn't considered. You might be right. Still I'd pick a henley every time!

Check out www.learnleather.com. There is a video by Bob Beard about beveling that shows how he does this technique. Very informative.

Splicing is your friend. I do it all the time for larger items. Conversely, you could take it to a print shop with a large format printer.

I agree. I use the photocopy method as well. Saves time, energy, aggravation and materials.

Thank you! It is actually quite round, so that helps

Feel free to shout if you have questions.

Lakejumper, there is a very discernible difference in the crispness of the impressions made by the older craftool compared to the new ones. Pre letter are the best and in addition to the impression, the steel is far superior. Most importantly, the actual shapes of the tools have evolved over the decades and many are far from what they were intended to be. This doesn't mean much in a pear shader, but in the figure beveler series they have become almost unusable. If you have the opportunity to get your hands on some of the older stuff, by all means do it.

Do your borders separately. They're easy to do and you can adjust them if necessary.

Awesome, Ray. I know how you feel. Been away for too long myself. I really like you shop and I hope to have a dedicated space for myself one day. Perhaps with a retail storefront.

Ok, I'll play. My first holster and a more recent one. My first ever carving wont load for some reason.

Cleverly Generated Image? Why yes it was

Thanks!

Good luck, bud!

What an awesome connection. How did you figure it out?

Thanks, everyone. Its a Peter Main spoon.

Finished with color. Now to put it in the mail!