MonicaJacobson

Thanks Joe!

Is this the Aussie product you guys are talking about? http://springfieldleather.com/22094/Conditioner%2CAussie%2C15oz/ I have a customer who wants a bag that looks professional (like for a lawyer), but is still soft, and he wants tooling. Quite a contradiction in terms, I know. I was thinking Aussie on 4-6 oz veg tanned might be the best I could hope for.

Very cool! I want to make shoes someday....!

Your cinches are very cool. Good luck, and welcome to the forum!

HA! You've watched 'Allo, 'Allo?! Best show ever. Except for Fawlty Towers. I've never met anyone else who has seen it. Most of my favorite books and movies are British. Hot Fuzz? I won't even start, there are too many.

LOL, rawcustom.... let's not do the beating. I feel for you, though. Nothing like those frustrating details.

That's awesome. Great job on it!

Quite cool!

Very nice! Between yours and Claire's, I see I need to sew my handles much further down on the next one.

That is extremely nice.

It turned out really nice! I'm going to have to get myself some better leather. Yeah, attaching things after they're sewn together is a serious pain. I hope you're planning on posting it in a more general place - I doubt many people would see it here. The edges on the handles look great!

Well, that would be a cool present to get.

LOL, Dan, thank you so much. I thought it was only my computer, since you guys didn't seem to have any trouble. And RMR, that is one of the coolest looking bags I've ever seen. Thanks for posting pictures of it!

Well, it looks awesome, but my browser won't load the bigger pictures. Very annoying!

Very cool! I really like how you did the molded brow. That really makes it.

Dude, that's a lot of hand sewing. Great job!

Those are awesome. I can't even say which one is the coolest.

Maybe if you round over the seam edge on the inside just a tad it would be more innocuous?

That looks great, and the edge looks ridiculously great. Some skiving might help, but people don't seem to worry about those seams much when they're on the inside. Someone suggested binding the inside seam earlier on in this thread, and I've seen them with the string out and over the top of the seam, which makes it look more secure, although I'm not really convinced it actually helps. I'll be interested to see how it looks when you're done! I'm going to try an inside out bag like this in the next month: I like it because it looks like an old US Army saddlebag.

Ha, Lori, you're right. I thought it looked similar, but didn't make the connection.

I found this website on the forum: http://www.rbn.kz/gallery.php?gallery=leather&page=2 - I think I've seen the owner post shoes? And then I ran across Mike's (katsass) ostrich leg inlay holster. And lastly, I can't find who made this, but I saved this picture to my favorites a few months back and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Huh, I don't know why I didn't see this earlier. Very cool first attempt! I love the artwork.

Wow, so much better than my first project. Your edges aren't even too bad! I would suggest you watch a few tooling videos on youtube. There are tons and tons of them, and they give you good information on casing leather, and using a beveling tool around your design to make it stand out from the rest of the leather, etc. Cool photography, too!

That does look extremely nice. Now, I think your Horween leather is waaaaay better than my (dare I say) stoned oil tandy stuff. At least, the back side is much cleaner, as you shall see. So, I was talking to my woodworker husband last night, and he recommended that before I buy something, I should try enduro-var. He had it, and he claims it's probably exactly the same as "Edge Kote". I tried two kinds of leather, one thick, one thin: On that first one, I sanded the piece on the right, put enduro-var, and then polished it. It does darken it, and it is shiny, but it also leaves light crackles, like lacquer. The left piece is the raw leather. Second one: On the left is the piece I sanded first, then put enduro-var on. The middle piece I didn't sand first, but sanded after I sealed it with enduro-var. That one seems to have worked the best. The right piece is just with gum trag. Then I experimented with the tote... The enduro-var is on the left, gum trag on the right. The gum trag is lighter, and matte, but looks more cohesive. The enduro-var is harder, darker, and shinier, but has a few light, lacquerey notes. the top is enduro-var, and the bottom gum trag. So I don't know. I think I'm going to try the same experiment with plain, good quality, lacquer. I can't decide if it's the finish that's the problem, or just poorer quality leather. Ha ha, yes, I know I'm just trying to avoid buying Edge Paint - I'd buy it in a second if they had it at Springfield, as I have stuff to order there, but I'm not very excited about making a special trip to Tandy at the moment. I'll probably cave.

Sweet! Thank you guys!