xStarkweather

I sharpen anywhere from 300-500 rotary blades a week. Get it spinning and put a stone to it would be the basic premise. That being said, you are going to want something to indicate it dead center on whatever you rigged up, and proper hones and stones. You can take it to a sharpening shop, probably cost you 5 dollars... Time is money.

These look like button studs with a hole drilled through them. So I googled "Button Stud With O Ring." The search was fruitful. The are also refereed to as "Saddle Studs." Hope that helps you all. There are quite a few Etsy manufacturers, and it looks like a few sites sell more heavy duty ones. Happy making!

I had started playing with an alternative to a bulky snap on leather wristbands. Its a tab in slot design that I had experimented with, so far it has held up really well. I have been wearing mine for a few months now. There is no discomfort from the tab, and There is little wear and tear on the band itself. Like I said, No bulk or weight from the snap, The leather band stays the same thickness and seems to just run together from the outside. The two ends are under the band on the inside of the wrist.

I used to have this same problem. I watched a few videos and I noticed that they never tighten down their thread toward the needle. They usually slide the lock over the thread and pull it up an inch or so. Then they run their fingers over the knot to flatten it out. This puts pressure on a loop in the thread instead of the point where the thread has been separated. A longer tail helps too, if your knot does slip and manage to rest against the eye, it takes a bit more doing to work the thread and needle apart if you have six inches to go through.

Thanks for the link, I did a search for "work shop" and didnt see anything within the first few pages. I guess I need to step my search game up. I love how organized you are! I am also envious of your huge table. Did you fabricate your stamp holders? or were they bought somewhere?

I have recently upgraded my shop space and moved it to a friends house. The current set up there is far better than what I had, and it got me thinking about what other things I can add to my work space to make life easier. So without further delay Here is my entire work-space. I have broken it down and taken pictures of my separate areas Here is my favorite part of my shop, my marble table. This is my cutting table, I am working putting together a few large cutting boards, but this plywood top will do for now. Then we have the fabrication table. Art supllies, rulers, squares, levels, my friend's girlfriend's laptop (she takes over my space from time to time to do homework.) And last but not least, my on the go box. Fat Max. He plays a vital part in storing my hardware and extra tools. So that's it guys! My workspace in a nutshell, Now go take pictures of your sanctuary and show it off. I would love to see your work environments.

Thank you for sharing! I have been working on a wallet design for a while now and I couldn't get the guts right. This really simplifies things.

I have had the most success by starting with small patterns and learning from my mistakes. I started with a zippo case, Then a few flask pouches, then some bracers. I drew up all of my own patterns because I wanted a custom fit, I just sit down with my T-Square, my tailors tape, and nice pencil with a good eraser, then I go to town measuring every angle of what I am working on. After my first pattern I learned a bit about seam allowance. My flask that I wrapped later helped me comprehend how important it is to measure the thickness of your leather. Working on a small scale first is less of a blow when you mess up, and the lessons you learn will stick with you. I would encourage you to just go for it, I spent a lot of time before this year intimidated by failing and wasting leather, but the bumps along the way only help you hone your craft.

Yea, I was going to edit the first post, but I guess I can't. I ended up adding a security strap over the top as well. Back view

So last week I started to make a new holster for my flask. I wet molded a peice of leather for the first time, and barbarically tacked it down with a few brad nails so it could take shape. I was not happy with the final product, the Tooling on it was terrible because I didn't want to hammer down on my flask, and I was to lazy to make a good mold of it. So here is the finished version of my molded flask pouch. See what I mean by lackluster tooling? Then I got a call from a friend Thursday night, He needed a pouch for his flask so that it would be ready by Saturday night at the latest. Knowing that I didn't have enough time to mold a second pouch. I decided to properly design a pattern for his flask (Which I have attached to this post, and also submitted to the patterns and designs thread.) Here is his final product And a view from the back. Those rivets hold the strap over the top and the belt loop/bottom in place. The flask wrap is stitched, but the stitches are well hidden. I am fairly happy with how it all turned out, but I did have to stretch the leather a bit to make it work because I forgot to account for the thickness of the leather in my pattern

Yea, I just looked at it too, same thing. That is weird, but its my first time trying to convert an Inkscape document to a PDF. Gimme a sec, I will try to get it up and running.

I have been experimenting with fabricating my own patterns, and I decided to share the pattern I like best. I am fairly new to leatherwork, because of that I like to keep things as simple as possible. In the plan i specify where to sew and where I put rivets (Rivets are not necessary though, you could just sew it). It is all cut with one piece of leather, which is what I wanted. This pattern is for an open top design for easy access to your drink. You could easily add a strap and a snap over the top of the flask though if you felt so inclined. Also, please note the thickness of your leather! I failed to account for this in my first version and it was a pain to get the flask to fit nicely. Edit - The pattern should work now, Sorry about that guys. Flaskbig1.pdf

Me too, I know its not the normal "show off" piece, but I was proud of figuring out a way to do it without any rivets/sewing.

I was thinking the same thing, I stopped at my local tandy today and picked one up

The title says it all, It is simple enough that all you need is a knife and some leather to make it. No sewing, No rivets. I am thinking of taking this down to a smaller scale with a thinner leather, then skiving off a bit to make the tab less bulky on the back. If you burnish it all once its together you could make a pretty decent ring without any bulky rivets or sew lines. The bracelet laid out Close up of the tab in place. Another angle. (sorry for the blur) Should I be a hand model? (sidenote- I didnt burnish the sides here, I like the freshly cut look, just seems more beefy.)