immiketoo

I always get some lift when I use hi-lite. You can try this. Use a dauber WET and dab straight up and down. NO side to side motion. Once the finish dries, you should be ale to buff with little lift.

Glad to see you used solid rivets. Anyone named Hooch is probably big enough to break the other kinds!

HEy fellow Illinoisan! Where you located?

Great first anything! Wonderful idea as well!

Impressive.

Good post Oink. I have a respirator I use for gluing and it will be getting more use.

I expect it will depend less on the sharpness and more on the amount of burnish you get. Or more specifically, the contrast between the black and white parts.

You might want to post this in the sewing machine section for better response sir. I can't help you.

Natalie, thanks for coming into chat. Let me know how it works out for you.

This is an interesting discussion. I feel like the maker's mark adds to the finished, professional look of a piece. I actually agree with both Electrathon's side and Beaverslayer's side on this one. Garish detracts, subtle adds. However, on my tooled purse I made for my mom I left it unmarked. She told me this was unacceptable! In fact, she begged, pleaded and literally whined in joking way to get me to put my mark on it. So mom get what's she wants and my mark is on the strap of her purse. So is this garish? Does it detract from the the overall product? You tell me...

Syl, that guy was PISSED...

Yes Natalie you can tool it no problem. I'm glad the floor worked better for you. You NEED a thick slab of smooth stone though. It will help your impressions and your noise.

Syl, I gotta disagree based on the pics, and the fact that she said the color changes drastically when wet. Chrome tanned just looks at you. I have tooled chrome latino and while it wasnt easy, it can be done. Anyway, hopefully we can help Natalie with her problem.

You said extrapolate...

Seconded...

It's veg tan, and its got layers because that the way the tanning process is on some leather. The layers you see are the full grain top, the collagen layer in the middle and likely some level of rawhide still in the center of the leather. Leather comes in all grades and the poorer grades have lots of rawhide. This will affect tooling and cutting but not as much as you hitting on a wooden surface. You are probably getting "bounce" when tooling and I'm sure your poor impressions are caused by this. You should try tooling on your floor or a concrete sidewalk, basement floor or garage floor as a test. I will bet you that you will see a huge difference is a solid surface. Try it now and let us know.

Hey Natalie, It shouldn't take that much effort so to clarify, are you wetting the leather prior to tooling? Wetting or casing the leather may be your issue. I also have an issue with noise while tooling and I found that a 3 inch thick piece of granite makes an incredible difference in tooling noise. I went from something about 2 1/4 inches to three and the three is much denser. You might try that to reduce the sound. Also, a rubber mat between your table and your tooling surface helps. Adding mass to your surface, table etc will all reduce perceived noise. Good luck.

There's a special stapler specifically for keepers, or you can buy pre made keepers, but they are very generic.

Johan, I went to the falconry museum in Hohenwerfen, Austria and it was amazing how significant a role birds played in hunting and culture. How do you fit the covers to the birds head? They looked wet formed, but I cant see a bird suffering through that.

Jono, welcome to the forum! Many of the great leatherworkers of the world didn't have tools either. In fact, many of the tools we use today were made out of necessity by the founding fathers of leather work. Your stuff looks good. Keep up the good work!

Welcome! You might want to try the sewing machine section.

That's not a moon, its a space station. And its ugly as heck... wow I lug these shooters around all day every day. They get sweaty. Wet even. They poke you cause they're hard and pointy. I guess that guards seem a bit like correcting for a problem that doesn't exist. Maybe I have dead nerve endings or I take comfort in the fact that I can feel my thumb safety. Really, all they look like is the back side of a thumb break without the thumb break portion.

Welcome and great saddles! I think... Pics are out of focus and I really want to see the details.

Syl, now I want a yurt! Those are cool!

Charles, everyone here has given great advice. One other thing is that Bruce is a MASTER leather carver. Of course its going to look effortless. Carve for about 30 years and you will look like that too. Not to take away from anyone else's comments here. They are all valid, but time behind the knife is important too.