thekid77

Hey Austyn, I don't know much about leatherwork but I can definitely help you with this.... I know that Tandy doesn't have the best rep out there for dyes, but I recently discovered the Tandy Waterstain dye.....PLEASE do yourself a favor and try it...you will not be disappointed.... Here's what impressed me so much....I took some scrap leather and dyed it with the Tandy black waterstain......the people at the store told me let it dry 24 hrs then buff it....I waited about 8 hrs....buffed it, and noticed there was almost nothing coming off.....then get this.... I took the leather (before applying resolene finish) and held it under running tap water and tried to rub out the black......there was absolutely no dye coming off at all..........I have not found a better product for black than this.....and it just gets better when you apply the topcoat of your choice Again, I hope you try it out.....before, I was using the Tandy black eco flo stuff which was not good.....ran everywhere.....the Tandy black waterstain is an entirely different animal..

that's what I was thinking, especially since the eyes tend to flow toward the corners...thank you great idea! thank you, i use the dividers all the time but I haven't used them like that just yet...I'll have to try it!! yeah that's what I was thinking as well, just make the pattern custom to fit the SPI....thank you for the imput!! Thank you for sharing Jim!!! Thanks for posting this!!! great idea...I'm going to give it a go the next time I have the awl in my hand!!! thank you!!

so, say you're making your stitch marks along a stitch line (with overstitch/pricking wheel/pricking iron, etc), and you get to near the end of your stitch line and realize that there is either slightly too much space or not enough space to end with that last stich on the corner... does anybody know of a way to precisely even out the distance between all the stitch marks when this problem comes up? for example, say you get to the end of the stitch line and there's going to be either slightly too much or too little space between that last stitch mark and the corner........if there was a way to distribute that little bit of space off between all the stitches, it would not be noticeable to the naked eye.... but i cant figure out how to do this...please share!!! Thanks

WOW!!! looks awesome....I like the clip on the back too....my first project was a sheath as well and yours is light years ahead of mine LOL....keep learning and keep up the great work!!

JJ, you do beautiful work....unfortunately, this is a case of cheap leather, or sometimes you'll buy a good hide but like the others said if you cut the piece out from near the belly area, it tends to be softer and wrinkle easily......just try a different piece of leather from up near the shoulder and you'll be alright

Hey Ray!!! Thank you so much for sharing....gives me lots of ideas....I love the control you have with a dye dampened cloth....I've used that technique with lighter dyes where I want to cover a large area, but where a dauber would just put too much dye on.....this would also probably alleviate the bleed factor greatly....I'm gunna try maybe a stencil + the dye dampened cloth......thanks again for sharing your experience and have a great day!!!

+1 to the gum trag for stringy flesh sides...you can use the smooth barrel of an ink pen to roll over the leather and lay those fibers down...glass works nice too....also, some people like to line the back of the belt with pigskin but just experiemnt....theres no right or wrong

Has anyone here done this? I was thinking about trying it but not sure if the dye would tend to bleed as the leather absorbs....probably other challenges with doing this as well.... id love to hear your experience!! thanks guys

bump....I'm interested in doing this as well! anyone ever done it??

Thanks for the advice Tom, I'm just wondering how whoever made the wallet pictured below seems to have gotten around my dilemma using relatively normal looking lace...

Hi friends, I am wanting to buckstitch the perimeter of a small card wallet...with the grain side of the lace showing on both sides on every stitch (including around the corners)... In Stohlman's book on buckstitching, he describes the process of buckstitching around a corner, and in the attached photo, says that when turning a corner, the grain side of the lace will show on one corner, then the flesh side will show on the next corner, and it will alternate.... Is there a way to keep the grain side of the lace showing on all of the stitches, front and back?? Thank you in advance for sharing

I don't have a groover anymore...I have ruined too many projects with an errant cut while trying to turn a rounded corner with the groover that I had, unfortunately....maybe I should try a different groover in the future....the one I had was extremely difficult to control, even with lots of practice... I understand, thanks for the advice...the only thing I don't like about the groover is that once you take leather off, ie, one slip/mistake, you can't put it back on Thank you, I will do some research into that

Thank you!! Thanks Chief, I think I might try using heat.....the reason I ask, is because I make card wallets and usually I cut the leather and dye/buff/finish it before cutting the shapes and assembling... I'm looking to crease the leather along the curved border of a card wallet instead of grooving it...since I have ruined projects with that groover I wanna try a crease to lay the thread down in. Some people have told me that it wouldn't work and that the creased leather would push back up over time but I'm going to give it a try.

hey friends, just wondering if leather has to be dampened before creasing? Is it possible to crease leather after applying the top coat finish? thank you!!

Gotcha, thanks Chief!! Much appreciated Wow that's a really interesting idea....never would have thought of that! Thank you for sharing your insight!

Hey friends, I just wanted to let everybody know that I had been looking for a way to dye leather black and not have it lift up when applying the acrylic resolene, or bleed/run... I have found the solution and BELIEVE me, this stuff works... Tandy Professional Waterstain From what I have read, Tandy dye products have gotten a pretty bad reputation for not penetrating, lifting, and bleeding... Let me tell you my experience with this stuff... I took a scrap piece of leather and dyed it black with the Tandy Black Waterstain... I was told to wait 24 hours before buffing it and applying the resolene......I waited about 8 hours instead because I'm impatient lol... I took the piece I dyed and buffed it....I noticed hardly any black came off at all. Even better, when I applied the resolene with an old white T-shirt, you could barely see the slightest hint of grey color on it. Here's what impressed me the most though...I took another scrap bit of leather and dyed it. Waited 8 hours, then without applying any finish, i took it to the sink and ran water over the leather that I dyed black and rubbed it vigorously in the dyed area. NOTHING came off at all. I hope that everyone looking for a solution to the dying thngs black problem reads this post and gives it a chance. This stuff is unbelievable!!

hey friends, when you're lacing a basic roper style wallet, (three pieces of leather----one back piece attached to two inside panels), how do you get the lacing to look continuous when going across the middle section of the wallet (top and bottom) where you're just lacing the back piece? in other words, doesn't going from lacing through two pieces of leather, then suddenly lacing through one piece break the visual continuity of the lacing, ie, the lacing would look thicker when lacing the two pieces of leather than it would when lacing thru one layer? sorry for the bad wording....i'm not sure of any other way to ask the question....thank you in advance for sharing

Man I love everything about this wallet...and it's uniqueness....you really don't see a lot of two-toned handmade stuff out there....stitching and design are great!!! I can tell you're a perfectionist Please keep posting more of your work...it's a great inspiration to the rest of us who are trying to do the same thing!!!

Hey there, welcome!! I don't have answers to your questions, but if you haven't already, familiarize yourself with the advanced search feature of this forum...you can easily search keywords related to the questions you have either in just the title of the posts or in all forum posts...i believe there is also a wanted/for sale section on this forum...sorry I don't have answers but I hope this helps!!

Again, I'm no expert, but that stuff looks like paint...it looks to be too thick for the leather to even absorb it....what is the base? water-based? oil-based? I totally understand wanting to work with what you already have but in the future get some quality leather dye......Fiebings makes good dyes that penetrate the leather well. You should be able to get the Fiebings oil dyes as long as you're not in CA. Here in California, they ban it if it works....

I don't have all the answers, but here goes... If the finish looks plasticky, it could be the type of finish you're using. If it's not that, it could be that you are applying too thick a coat. If that happens, the leather will look like plastic because the finish has filled all the pores of the leather and is just sitting on top of the grain...with that being said, I prefer to use acrylic resolene cut 50/50 water:resolene. I keep it in a small bottle, and when I'm going to apply finish to the leather, I take a couple paper towels and wad them up, then wrap a piece of old clean cotton t-shirt around the paper towel ball. I'll cover the mouth of the bottle with the resolene and loightly tip it onto the cotton ball. Then I blot the excess resolene off onto a separate paper towel and apply the finish to the leather using either a swiping or a circular motion. This results in an extremely light coat of acrylic on the leather. The first light coat will leave a dull matte finish. You need to wait until that coat dries (how long depends on the climnate/humidity)...then apply the second coat the same way as the first coat...you can buff the resolene with a piece of wool in between coats which will work to polish the resolene and buff out any streaks that may appear. It's more work this way, but the end result is just a better looking finish and you have much more control over how much finish you're leaving on the leather. I know you said you're trying to work with what you have, but for future reference....I was dying a bunch of things black with the tandy eco-flo stuff and was getting a lot of dye lift and the dye wasn't penetrating the leather very well (especially the black dye)....I had purchased their Tandy Pro Waterstain (black) and this stuff is a whole different animal.....it penetrates the leather well, and 24 hours after applying it, you can run the piece of leather under water scrubbing the surface and will not get any dye coming out at all....mind you, this is BEFORE even applying any kind of surface finish to it.........you might try it if you're having dye lift problems...... a lot of people will tell you to stay away from the Tandy stuff, and I do agree that they put out some pretty bad products at times but I can tell you with certainty that the Waterstain in Black stays put really really well...hope this helps!!!

Jason, I use the red label weldwood and the contact cement can be picky about temp/humidity....with that being said, I went on the suggestion of a saddlemaker who uses the stuff all the time who told me that once you've covered both pieces that are to be glued together, heat the contact cement up with a hair dryer (non sparking) just until the glue is warmed up a bit....I guaranteed you'll have to tear either the leather or the liner to get the two separated...give it a try it's especially helpful in the winter when contact cement just does not want to set at all....hope this helps

hey David, I am not an expert on this, but I don't know that it is possible to get the front to look identical to the back by hand in terms of the way that the thread lays... this is because when you make the holes with the awl, there is a taper to the awl blade...the hole opening will be larger on the front side of the leather than it will be in the back because of the tapered profile of the awl blade....when the stitches are pulled tight, the thread will lay differently on the front than it does in the back because the holes on the front are shaped differently (wider, broader) than the holes in the back....i don't know if that makes sense, but here's an analogy... this is an extreme example, but stitch a line of stitches with and without a groover. note how the groove affects the lay of the stitching...hope this helps

I just dip a Q-tip into the dye, blot it lightly on a paper towel, and roll the Q-tip along the edge of the leather...it really gives precise control over how much dye you're applying to the edge of your work and you can prevent getting excess dye on either side of the leather. not too sure if this technique would work with edge paint since the consistency of the paint is probably different than the water-based eco stuff that I use...Good Luck!!

Yes Ingrid! Thank you!!!