rschreck

That's awesome. I should probably get rid of the photo's of my belt after seeing this... I have a lot of work to do.

So I tried making a belt and my stamping didn't come out as well as I thought. After dying and all that other stuff, I hated the way it looked. So I took my random orbital sander (which I normally use to make tabletops) to it. I then cased the area where I stamped my name again, re-stamped the letters, dyed it, highlighted it, and then took the random orbital sander to it again. After all of that, I kind of like it now. The letters seemed to stamp really well the second time. All of the other stamping is there but it's not that great. Sorry, I took the photos with my phone.

Know anywhere I can get belt blanks made of decent leather? Springfield sells blanks but they are described as "Low Grade belt blanks cut from various and miscellaneous leather". I looked at these: http://springfieldleather.com/18883/Belt-Blank%2CSnaps%2C1%22x48-52%22/ But it has the same thing about being a low grade belt blank. Am I misreading it?

I'm going to finally order a nice piece of leather to attempt to make a nice belt. I see at Springfield they sell it by the square foot. Anyone know how many square feet I am going to need to make two 1 1/2" wide belts?

I tried tooling a belt. I made sure to case the leather and not just wet it. I took my time cutting and tooling and once it dried, it came out looking really bad. The leather was one of those Silver Creek Leather Company precut belt blank's you buy at Hobby Lobby. Could that be the reason that my stamping didn't come as well as I thought it would? It look pretty good when I was doing it but the next day after it dried, it definitely didn't look like anything I have seen on here. I'm lost.

Rick: could you shoot me a link to that 15 tool stainless set for $155? I went to their website and didn't see any sets you could buy.

I see there isn't a lot of love for Craftools. Even the older ones that were made in the US?

What would most consider "professional tools"? I want to spend money on really good tools.

No, I mean how did they get the leather of the leaf to raise like that.

Specifically the border of the leaf?

Is this a good place to get "pro" tools? http://proleathercarvers.com/tools/vintage-tools/craftool-company-usa/craftool-usa.html

Thanks everyone. Just going to do more research and spend my money on quality tools. Again, appreciate the help!

http://springfieldleather.com/29324/StarterSet%2CProfessionalProject/ Is it worth the money? As in the tools that are included?

Just wondering if the leather in the kits you can buy at Hobby Lobby is decent leather. Kits like these here.

How long do you leave it in the bag after it starts returning to its natural color? And do you just leave the bag on a table or?