Boriqua

I have tried a variety of things and the one that works best is a good heavy wood cookie. The one I use is about 12 inchs thick and about 16 inches around. I had a taller one but I like being able to move it around as needed. I can put it up on a table and it is virtually sound proof. I tried heavy rubber and I was still getting noise from my table. If you have a botanical garden near you ask them what they have. They are always trimming and if you ask nice ....

Well I figure I should post my fails in case anyone else was going to try. I mean I already spent the time and material money! So I have used coffee to dye small leather pieces for some jewelry type pieces and loved the look so decided I would try it on a bag. I boiled about 1/2 can of the cheapest ground coffee I could buy in about 4 qts of water and boiled it for about 1 hour and let it cool. After it cooled I put all of it including the grounds in a large aluminium tray and soaked my pieces for about 5 hours. I wasnt happy with the results but had noticed that one small piece I had piled grounds on top had come out with a cool mottled appearance that spoke to me. I took my pieces out of the soup and put the soup back in my pot added the rest of the can of grounds and boiled it some more. I put my pieces back in the aluminium pan and without straining the grounds poured the cooled coffee mess on my pieces and specifically covered the pieces in a layer of grounds. I left it over night. Pieces came out neat looking and after they dried I was thrilled. BUT they were as brittle as hell. So I rub neatsfoot oil into the pieces and let them set overnight. Still a little concerned I rub a light coat again in the morning and I move on to paying projects and come back to this a few days later. As I am sewing on one of the loops that holds a "D" ring in place on to the back piece I pop a hole. While it happens from time to time I have been handsewing for a long time and my elbows are pretty tension calibrated. I havent popped a hole in forever. I figure its me and move on with less pressure. I leave it to work on other stuff and a few more days pass and I take out my little pet project to sew the gusset onto the face. I'm being a little more careful about tension but still ... I manage to pop about 3 more spaces and finally ... I cut up the bag to save the hardware and call it a failed experiment. So any clues ... Im thinkng that the acid? in the coffee just destroyed the leather. I have another bag I did with Blueberry dye which worked out fine and it soaked for just as many hours so I dont think it is the amount of time it spent in liquid.

very nice! I especially like the design decision to break the design out of the background stamping at the end of the strap.

That is undoubtedly sanded. You can even make out the sanding lines. Only thing I can add is it looks like a pretty figured piece of leather ... Buffalo ?? There are bumps on it that were part of the cut but doesnt seem to be started out as tooling leather. Scrunching it up while damp might give you more figure but I think that one started out with the bumps.

I dont know if there is such a place but I had a batch of dye mixed up from Coreopsis flowers. It makes the most beautiful yellow but .. alas .. Im out and the wife says she cant score me more flowers until spring. So I thought I would ask .. is there anywhere that sells the flowers, do you think dried flowers would work? Alex

I think there are 2 shows that happen in AZ but I cant seem to find dates and locations. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I went to one in Wickenberg a couple years back but dont remember when it was. Thanks in advance for any info Alex

Very classy looking bag! Well done sir.

I have used the Bee's wax/neatsfoot oil paste and like it very much. A beautiful deep finish. It can rub sometimes so I use it for hefty outdoor gear but save the day to day stuff for resolene. What qualities does the carnuba bring to the mixture? The carnuba you are adding is liquid or is there another way to purchase it. I am ALWAYS interested in trying new stuff.

That is very very sweet! Stitching is immaculate.Nice watch too!

What great fun! I was asked to do something playful so I tried to keep it light and fun and not sweat it to much. I can go dark if left to my own devices. The new owner loves it and that is what counts. Cant wait to get pix of him at a gig using it. There are more pix here if your interested in looking and some pix before it was painted in the link below it. http://www.boriqualeather.com/Day%20of%20the%20dead%20Guitar%20Strap/ http://www.boriqualeather.com/Day%20of%20the%20Dead%20Guitar%20strap/

I am using the Tandy size 0 needles with this set up and it works just fine. If you are getting some stuff from tandy anyway you may want to grab a pack of size 4 too. The .040 thread does fit in the eyelet and for thinner leather projects I find I like it better sometimes but you will need to experiment and see if you like it. For holsters sheaths and the like I use the size 0 with the threads I mentioned and the awls I mentioned with no problems. Have fun! Im sure there are dozens of other thread awl combos but I KNOW these work.

The design looks fine and I really like the dye job. The stitching needs work but that is what practice is for. You still need to get those stitches closer to the mold though. The most important part of the holster is its retention and it will suffer if you dont get those stitch paths in closer. I dont know if that is a flat back or molded on back and front. If you are making a NOT flat back a good way to plot your stitch lines that works for me is to draw the profile of the gun very closely. Then measure the thickness of gun. Take a compass and redraw the profile line splitting the width of the gun on either side. Now I usually cheat in a couple of mm's. So if your gun measures out at 1 inch then trace a little shy of 1/2 inch on either side of your profile line. Make that your stitch line. Even after the leather is wet it should be a bit of a biatch to get your gun in there. It takes me almost 10 minutes sometimes just getting the gun seated. That is before boning if I plan on boning. Hope that helps

I can tell you through personal experience that The Seiwa #2, craft sha standard and vergez small and medium work well with the size thread you plan on using without having to thin the thread at the ends. I like using the Waxed Poly Cord from Maine thread company and its pretty inexpensive but I also like the tiger thread copy stuff from tandy very much but its a little stretchy. Makes a very pretty stitch though. They call it Waxed Braided cord. The standard waxed thread at tandy is a bit to gummy. I have never tried Tiger or Ritza but its on the list to do but is pretty pricey. If you buy the maine thread then the .40 is the size you are looking for. If you go higher you have to thin the thread at either end or sewing will be unhappy.

ALOT of great info in this thread! Thank you everyone. I have a related question. I contacted Peter Main and he sells his books directly. They are $27 shipped. Reasonable but I have a wholesale account with tandy so the Stohlman coloring leather book is $12 plus tax for me. I want to buy once and buy the best. Does anyone have both and have a very strong feeling about one over the other?

That is awful news! I hope it is not something tand she recovers quickly. I would love to get one of these palm awls and I will email you directly. Thank you for responding Alex

Craft Sha Japanese Stitching Awl I bought this along with 2 others from Goods Japan and received it about a week ago. I have punched exactly 8 holes with it. I thought it was going to be thinner and I already have 2 other awls that fit my need for this size. I own about 5 awls. This is what Craft sha calls its "Standard" size. It is a nice defined Diamond shaped awl with hard corners. I prefer this style to flatter awls. I put a caliber on it and it measured at 2.6 x 1.8 in cross section at its widest part and the blade is 1 1/4 inch long. overall length is 5 inches. It is sharp enough to use as is but if you would like I can pass it some on a black stone and polish the blade with jewelers rouge. Were I going to keep it I would polish it but I like my awls deadly sharp.. Some might want to do it themselves. Selling for same price I paid and you dont have to wait 2 weeks plus to get it. Free Economy shipping! $15.00 shipped in continental usa.

Yea I dig it. I contacted Bearman but he said I should contact an Ed Stiles which I did but so far no return email. Perhaps he is on vacation? I see that osborne offers a palm awl that is very similar in shape from what I can tell of the pictures and its fairly inexpensive so I may try that. Now to see if I can find a true diamond shaped blade for it. The search continues.

Dont know how you applied the stain but it appears to be a dauber. I have better results loading up a rag and applying in circles. You also cant be stingy with the dye. Boning looks great. On your next one try to get the stitching closer to the gun and a little further in from the edges. If the stitches are to far from the mold of the gun the leather can wallow out and the guns retention suffers. I included a sample below .. you can see the stitch lines around the gun are right up against the shape of the mold and about 1/4 inch in from the edges. Looking forward to seeing your next one since the first one looks great.

I dig it not wanting to invest alot of money on tools out of the gate but you can get a diamond stitching awl for about 15 bucks and it will make you so much happier, make your stitching easier and produce a much nicer result. If you can swing it its a great little investment. You will need to polish it up some when you get it but Nigel has a vid for that too. There may be others but Seiwa and Craft sha are available for that price but you have to wait two weeks for delivery from japan.

That looks Perfect ... how do I get one!!

Nice and clean brother those look great!

Now this guy knows how to squeeze the most out of his money. He bought his wife a Louis Vuitton Duffle bag years ago and it had become frayed and had holes in it. He goes shooting with his wife and asked if I could take his beat up bag and turn it into a gun rug, Mag holder and Holster for his wife's very sweet Kimber Saphire. The gun rug/purse is lined and has 1/2 in padding throughout. Hardest part was finding creative ways to place the logo and work around the damaged bits.

thanks for the heads up on the thickness Chief!! Dont know if I would have thought about it .... of course until after I spent a week making the holster and then seeing it didnt fit ...ugh. I will be sure to post my holster to the thread and any new findings for anyone else that wants to give one of these a shot as soon as I am done. Alex

That is a nice looking rig there Chief! Thank you for sharing. Do you have any pix of the back that you would you be willing to share? I have some flat spring steel that is about 3 inches wide. Its about as think as Pallet strap but more rigid and springy. Going to do a quick test with it between leather to see how it works.

Its not you. I dont get a pic either.