Tim Schroeder

My wife's friend at work has a bag this size so my wife asked if I would make her a leather bag for Christmas.

Venator, Thanks for the video. It really helped a lot

I am using the 88044 2mm chisels. I have the 2,4,and 6 hole punches. They work good with bigger thread. My issue is the back. I punched the holes in the outside before I assembled it and then used a diamond point awl to punch the gusset after it was assembled. I have never been able to make the backside look descent. Always crooked. The sewing machine is a least straight on the back side. Do you put a stitching channel in the back side? The only time I did that I missed the channel a little in places and it really looked like hammered crap. Maybe a little practice would go a long way. I was just at Tandy and looked at the fine diamond chisels but 7 spi are to small for me. I usually machine sew everything 5 spi with 138 or 207 thread. Mostly small stuff. Thanks Tim Here is a picture of the only really bad spot, the rest is acceptable. This drives me crazy.

This is a Christmas present for one of my wife's friends at work. The outside is 4/5 oz. Herman Oak and the gusset is 2/3 oz. Herman Oak. The inside is lined with Tandy's pigskin. Black. I don't hand sew anything but couldn't get it on a machine so this one was hand sewn around the outside. It would be nice to have some good hand sewing punches. This was done with Tandy's punches. Thanks for looking. Any tips on hand sewing are welcome.

This is my version of a separate bobbin winder. I think I saw one set up like this on Ebay. No belt just direct contact. These winders are great because you don't have to spin your machine so fast. I usually only have one big spool of thread so I will wind 4 or 5 at a time. Converted my regular sewing table legs to a cylinder arm table and then mounted the bobbin winder on the corner.

Barry King Bargrounders I have the next to the biggest set 3,5,7,and 9 hole,and a smaller set about two or three sizes smaller. Both pictures are using the smaller set.

Hi Tom, Thanks for the positive comments. Moisture is one of the main things to get right when it comes to tooling. Here is a couple of pictures to see the difference. The one with the CC initials was to wet when I tooled it. I am still a little impatient. It looks a little mushy. When the leather is just rite the tooling will leave a darker color. The beveled lines should looked burnished or darker. Same as the thumbprints or pear shaded areas. You can see the flower centers are not near as crisp as in the other picture. Hidepounders casing tutorial is the one to follow. I fill my sink with water, slide the leather thru the water and you will see air bubbles coming out of the back. You don't need to wait until the air bubbles quit coming out but you need the water to penetrate all the way thru the leather. Then I put a piece of glass on it covering the whole piece for 24 hours, then take it out and let it dry until it is almost back to natural color. Both of those are tooled on 2-3 ounce leather. Good luck

New backpack for my daughter.