MonicaJacobson

That is a beautiful bag. One of my favorites I've ever seen. Great job!

Snubby, that idea is pure genius. I'll definitely do that next time.

LOL, I wish I had a cat to blame it on. At least you get side benefits with cats. They keep you keyboard warm, right? No, it was aaaall me.

Very nice, Chief! I love the basket weave one, especially. Dobros are awesome, too.

... and what I did to it this afternoon.... Whoops!

It looks great, I love it!

Very cool!

I love your wallets and your inlay work. The wallets are all gorgeous, and very interesting designs. Thanks for posting pictures!

It sounds like an awesome video. I can't wait to see it! Sorry, I don't have any blanchard irons, or I would totally loan them. Thanks a lot, your videos have been a life-saver.

Great job - I love both the knife and the sheath.

It's beautiful!

Wow, that's a lot of leatherworking! I especially like the holsters.

If these experiments fail, I'm going to take a note from Joe's book and try mixing edge kote and the fenice. I've had trouble with a gum tragged edge lasting forever... or else I wouldn't mess with fenice. It's not easy to deal with, that's for sure. Oh, one other thing - it seemed to work better when I only burnished in one direction, rather than back and forth. And I really needed to use a burnishing wheel (and preferably a sanding wheel, though I don't have one set up right now). But, as I said, insufficient evidence.... I'll be quiet until I've tried it more.

I honestly haven't given it an honest enough try to be definitive. I could certainly be wrong. However, what you said might make sense - I found that when I used gum trag and slicked the edge first, the fenice on top made a gummy mess that didn't work at all. I was more successful when I put it on a completely raw edge, let it dry, and sanded (and then repeated two or three times). I'll experiment with it more in the next day or so. So far, I haven't bothered to use it on veg tan because gum trag and burnishing works so well.

In my very limited experience (I have some, but haven't put in the sanding time to get it perfect yet, since I've been using a lot of veg tanned lately), it penetrates so well that I can't see how it could peal off. That would indicate that it didn't penetrate at all, but sat on top of the edge. Whenever I've used it, it sinks in, and dries to a very hard edge, a bit like burned string. Not at all smooth. Then you have to sand it, put it on, let it dry, and sand it again. After that, I think you can put on one last coat, rub it, and get it smooth. I don't have a heated iron, so I think I'm having more trouble getting it smooth quickly. I noticed it does get gummy and uncooperative if you try to do anything with it before it dries.... I can imagine it would peel off in that scenario. I plan to use it on a veg tanned and a chrome tanned strap on some personal bags I use, and see how it lasts with some heavy use.

It's my birthday, can I be your friend? J/K - it's not my birthday, and that's an awesome wallet. The snake skin inlay is sweet, too. My favorite part is the motorcycle, though, and the orientation of the snap.

Awesome! I agree with the above - I'd feel bad about sitting on it, especially the braiding.

Very, very nice! How did you attach the lining? I'd love to see some pictures of the lining, edge, etc.

@jqtoms - Thank you, I appreciate the ideas. Now I just need time to finish off the leather I have so I can order some! @David - I agree, I would love to use only Horween. But unfortunately, I have to stagger my buying and selling, which makes it hard to invest in a $300.00 hide. Maybe in a year, once I've made a range of bags in more expensive leathers. I'd also love to use crocodile. I'd especially like to use it for bags that look less overtly handbaggish. I assume calf skin is too thin for what I like to make, but I haven't researched it.

LOL, thanks, that's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said. I think I've been able to get it fairly clean because I started using pre-dyed leathers, and my construction is very uncomplicated. We'll see if I can transfer the clean look to something a little harder in the future.

Thank you for letting me badger you - I've been wanting to try it for two months, but I couldn't afford to shell out for it (even though it's not super expensive) without some confirmation from someone.

No, you're definitely right. Also, the manager of the Norcross Tandy will put damaged or dirty hides on sale, which is a great deal more reasonable than expecting you to pay full price for a damaged hide. I think he acts with more freedom because he's been in the business for a while. The Lithia Springs manager is very nice, too, but his employees don't really know much about leather, yet. I'm exactly in the middle between the two.

That phone pouch/wallet is sweet.

@plowboy - I don't suppose I could convince you to take a picture? The picture on Springfield looks like it's generic. What happens when you scratch it? Does it rub out, blend in, or what? @Karina - I dare say you go to the same Tandy I do. Heh. Thank you for the EIN number tip - I've been paying $35.00 a year to get the mid grade pricing. My best price for Austin has always been $110 on sale. However, there hasn't been a sale in a while. Fortunately, I have convinced my extremely kindly customer to let me use Bridle leather instead. As for sticking with Austin, I'm trying to up my prices, because I'm getting as much business as I can handle in my two-hour-a-day work segments. But I don't feel like I can up my prices without upping the quality of leather. I love Austin, but it does tend to scratch, and once it does, the only thing you can hope for is for it to get all scratched up so it blends in. (Also, it must be admitted, I'm getting really tired of making the same bag with the same leather.) @Joe - Thanks, they even have some thicker chromexel! Granted, it looks a little rough, but the W&C Bridle looks gorgeous. I'm getting some, as soon as I sell another bag and am in cash again. For a week.

Oh yeah, that cognac essex looks beautiful. I should probably call them - I really like 8-10 oz chrome tanned leathers because they're soft, yet they still hold their shape. Most things I saw were 5-6 oz, which was another thing that put me off. However, I'm sure there's something Horween sells that is that thick. If not, I'll just start lining things.