cardinal leather

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the hardworking leather craftsmen and women on this site. Here's looking forward to your next great year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the hardworking leather craftsmen and women on this site. Here's looking forward to your next great year.

Sheila, What a great space. Now I'm jealous, my little shop will be full and you will still have space to turn around and acquire more leather goods.

Thanks guys, I have reviewed the photos of a good many of the shops on this site, I couldn't even list all of great ideas and solutions that were found to solve the problems encountered in small spaces, rental houses, barns and just about everywhere leatherworkers ply their trade. Mine came out like it did because of a layout by Valerie Michael in her book The Leatherworking Handbook, copyright 1993. from review of her shop it was easy to see that it would fit the way that I work from left to right. I studied shops on line of leather workers all around and most of them large or small follow a similar course of layout. Then it was just a matter of finding the right spot for it. keeping in mind that I will sell the property some day and wanted any small business to be able to walk in the door and use it as a turnkey operation. It also helped that I've been a carpenter for 50 years and worked in and built other shops for other folks. So thanks many to this community for the great ideas and keep up the good work. Ummm, The next step is a small remodel to tweak a few things then finish the sewing/storage space and then I'm done, maybe.

The space was planed for a cutting table, will install a 6 or 7 ft pool table with a cut top on it so that it can be removed. there is a space under counter for a beer I mean a leather fridge to keep cased items over night of course. I mean a guy cant work all the time, can he?

that's an old two needle union special surge machine. when the pedestal is set up it holds 6 spools of thread. bought it as a project machine. bought the mannequins from a guy in Texas this year while on vacation. will use them for something along the way.

sorry about the huge photos, not sure how that happened. the brown floor in the entry way was given to me by a guy in a Menards parking lot of all places. the large tile in the center was rescued from a scrap pile then cleaned the glue off the back and dry laid it in the studio. There wasn't enough tile so filled in the rest with osb board and painted it. the cabinets, stone and wood countertops were all recycled from a kitchen remodel. the door to the back storage room was rescued from my basement, the paneling was salvaged from a gun club project. This is a metal building and I could not get at all of the wall spaces so the wires and future plumbing piping runs in the overhead soffits. the window and door trims are cut from sheets of osb, corners routed off then painted. The stone countertops are 1 1/8 inch Cambria, if you could see it closer you would see where I had to recut it to use all of the finish edges. Could of done it a lot faster with new material but I hate to waste good product, so took the time to recycle the old. Anyway that my new leather studio, cleanest it will ever be.

New space is ready to start move in. Its taken longer than I wanted but then most things do. Have been working in a 7 x 12 space so this 20 x 20 will be nice upgrade. had to take a break to restore this vintage guitar case for a friend.

Hey Yin, That one is for sure usable. looking good.

there is a glove company out there by the name of Give'r Gloves, My son gave me a pair that were to small for him. They look to be well built but thinsulate lined so a little to warm to use them now. and a little pricy at 32-45.00 per pair.

I normally buy the cheap split leather gloves from Menards, the ones with the leather palms and cloth backs. this allows them to be used from early spring to late fall. The don't last that long but can be extended with duct tape repairs to the fingers or whatever else you have on hand. then just throw them. When the going gets rough with chainsaws and trimmers etc. then go to welding gloves. Buy a pair a little big as they will go on and off easily. most of the split leather welding gloves with the liners will last a couple of years with heavy use from tree cutting, wood making and fence work along with protecting your arms almost to the elbows. They also work good if you have a knuckle buster job to do. A slipped socket or pry bar will make you a believer in a hurry.

Rossr, nice job on the knife, a good stout blade with handle small enough for large and small hands. sheath matches up great as well.

Pete, Is your copy from 1956 or the 1970 copy?

Ray and I traded stories, parts and bought equipment over the past few years. Rest in piece Ray, our hearts and prayers are with you and yours.

Try this site. I bought the sample bag, there are a number of different types. I plan on using some of it when I replace the seat covers on my old jeep next summer, so I cannot tell you how it works out. The pricing is a little high but the product appears to be top notch. https://www.sunmatecushions.com/ They are in North Carolina not Canada. I do not know if they have a shop up in Canada or not but an email would find out.

Found a Fiebring's dye called show brown in my dye lot collection. Don't know if they still make it but the test piece in the photo is really nice brown with no red tinge to it. the center circle is the show brown cut with denatured. the upper circle is the dark brown showing the red tinge to it. Not sure if this qualifies for your walnut but i really like the color. best of luck, Jim Parent not sure what went wrong but this photo is way to big.

I tend to use the dye straight out of the bottle. paint is thinned when used.

Happy New Years to all. May next year be your best ever

I use the W/C belt latigo for my leashes and collars, works well, seems to be less oil stuffed into it. Like JLS says so far the product is quite good. I am not a large account at a couple of hides at a time so always ask if they can make the delivery in a couple of weeks. So far So good.

Ray's 3 ton Ratchet press is back on the market. Shipping to WI, prohibited the sale.