MonicaJacobson

Wow, is that leather?

Fascinating, I haven't seen that kind of work before. Ditto Bill - if anyone ever does a tutorial, I'd love to see how it works.

Yeah, the bear is awesome. I would never have started leatherworking if I had realized how expensive. But it's awesome, it certainly can pay for itself very quickly.

Ha, cool, I love the HP motif. Looks like you did a great job! I don't make quivers, so I can't tell you if your design is good or bad.

It looks great! I have an undyed left hand knife sheath cut-out too. Very annoying. I like how you hid the firesteel loop.

Frederiek, it's beautiful! I like the contrast in the carving, and it's only a pity most of the carving is hidden on the back!

Thank you, Joe! This tutorial will be enormously helpful!

Huh, yeah, I had no idea. http://www.keikari.com/english/bridle-leather-characteristics/

LOL, Bill and Macca

Bummer, Chief! I did that a few weeks back (only snicked off the edge of my finger, but it's still jarring), and then made a seriously bad decision on the strength of the first one and gave myself a worse cut than ever on the other hand. It definitely complicated leatherworking for a week or two.

Joe's right. You can make some fun stuff, but you can't tool it. If you have a Tandy close by, there will probably be some Christmas sales coming up...

Cool, Joe! Fun leather, too.

Hmmm... as far as I know, the only way to get 1st quality Horween is to buy it in bulk or from Tannery Row. If there's another way, tell me! Basically, from what I've read you can buy it from Tannery Row, Maverick, or Springfield (they don't seem to have anything but 9 oz right now), or you can buy off-cuts from other members or shoe stores. Some people bought pieces from Aurora Shoe Company... you could try that. I know you want to say you use prime quality leather, but a lot of hides from Maverick are probably there because there are some blemishes or scars you can work around. Just because Horween couldn't sell the whole hide as perfect doesn't mean that the piece you're using would be faulty or inferior if you have the staff at Maverick do a good choosing job.... Sorry, not much help. Let me know if you find a supplier.

That looks amazing!

I love your inlays!

It looks great, Bob!

Yep, and it looks exactly like the stuff I bought, which was also Hermann Oak "London Tan Bridle leather". Supposedly it will tool if you can manage to get it wet enough. That particular sample didn't really look like it, though. It looked like it would crinkle and do weird things. It felt to me like it had been compressed to be extremely dense. Anyway, I'll definitely ask Ducjecs about it. It'd be good to know if that's what people expect of it.

It turned out really cool, great job!

Me too - though I'm too chicken to make a briefcase yet. I did not at ALL like the Hermann Oak English Bridle I bought. It was terrible. It was dry, stiffer than veg tanned, and felt lacquered. I've been meaning to ask you about the English Bridle you used on the pockets of some of your roll top bags. What is the texture on that, and where did it come from?

I'd like to order from Abbey England to be sure of this myself, but I have read that English Bridle (from England) is more hot stuffed than American English Bridle. I hadn't heard of it before, but when I was researching it, someone said Western Bridle is more hot stuffed than American English Bridle. The Wicket & Craig catalog says that their English bridle is "lightly hot stuffed", while their harness leather is "heavily hot stuffed" and their Show Harness is "heavily waxed and oiled". Granted, this is just rumor that I've read, I don't have the leathers in hand myself. But I'm going to get black thread from Abbey England, and I'll see if I can get them to throw in a sample.

Cool project! I feel bad for the one you took apart, though. Can't wait to see the finished bag.

Good idea, 25B. I still don't have a proper maker's mark....

Wow, pretty impressive for two weeks in! BTW, I got those same leathers from nstar, and I can't wait to use them. Good luck, you're off to a great start!

That is stinking awesome.