RiverCity

Thanks! I didnt keep the actual recipe as I just mix until I hit what I want. But here is what was in it,X1 conditioner as a base, small amounts of fiebings med brown, and dark brown alcohol dyes, then a healthy bit of fiebings hilighter stain. The amounts of dye are small, its more akin to tinting the leather instead of dyeing it, keep putting more on till you get the color you want kind of thing. The hilighter fills in the tooling and "glazes" the leather a bit. Then take a spray bottle of water and lightly mist it here and there then wipe off the "glaze" to get the mottled worn look. Its all pretty much a matter of playing around on scrap with stuff to get the look you want to achieve. The final finish is resolene. Hope this helps Chuck

Thanks for the kind words everbody! Ive always liked saddles, and the borders and filler stamping. Im gearing up to do more carved cases, which was the plan from when I started doing these. Again, thanks! Chuck

Latest case off the bench, I wanted to do something to pay homage to the leather workers and saddlers who paved the way for modern leather craft and style. Its a 2x4 with a custom dye job to give it an old worn saddle look, 16" pocket, strap and pad, and a LOT of saddle style stamping. Thanks for looking! Chuck

I have tried and tried, and I cannot draw good enough looking patterns for my needs. I need someone who can draw nice Sheridan patterns to fit dimensions Ill give. Examples would be like a 2.5" x 18" run etc, some bigger, some smaller. These patterns will be used on products I make for sale. If you have drawing talent and would like to use it to make some money, please let me know! Thanks! Chuck Im attaching a pic of some of the stuff Ive drawn, and it needs to look more professional than mine

Same here, multiple orders, never a problem. Every once in a while a backorder situation comes up, but even then, I usually get a phone call asking what I would like to do.... Wait or order a different item.Chuck

Sorry you had a bad situation with Black River Laser. Ive used their services a couple of times, and had nothing but good experiences, good communication and fast service. That said, Grey Ghost Graphics/Jeff Mobley is your next best bet to try. Chuck

Avoid the rivets from tandy, get the solid brass ones from Ohio Travel Bag. I use a LOT of jiffy rivets, and they are different quality. If I remember correctly Zack White sells the rivets from Ohio Travel Bag as well. A note about setting the rivets correctly/well is to make sure you are using the correct length. The post should "just" poke out a little bit. If its too long it will bend and not hold, if its too short it will not set enough. Youll hear people say they are junk, but most people arent setting them well. I can rivet 2 pieces of leather together, and the rivet will either tear through, or the bottom of the rivet will tear apart before it separates. Rough guide if you are putting 2 pieces of 7-9 once together use a 9mm long rivet, if 2 pieces of say 5-7 ounce use a 7mm rivet etc.

I would like to go if there are still openings?

Very nice!

Thanks! for the most part yes, 95% is just a tandy veiner and border tool Thank you! Thanks! this one is pretty basic with no pockets etc, Ive got probably 15-20 hours into it Thanks! Thanks you!

Been a while since I posted anything. Ive been experimenting with Wickett & Craig leather lately, and while it doesnt carve as well as Hermann Oak IMO, it is some clean clear leather. When I unrolled the side I used for this one, I was taken back by how clean their leather really is. I left the body natural to show off the leather, and added some brown trim to break it up a bit. Thanks for looking! Chuck

Give it a go on some scrap. You will not achieve anything resembling an even color, but you might get a nice effect out of it. A lot of dyeing leather is trial and error. I do a mottled dye job sometimes that I stumbled on playing around, looks almost like marble. I would go to autozone or the like and get a car detailers spray bottle as it puts out a finer mist.

Double stick tape for leather is your friend. Glues and cements are too messy IMO. Chuck

At this point I don't know if you're trying to insult me or you have NO clue about leather work and what it takes to actually produce something. If you think a case can be made in 2 hours you're off base. If I could make a case in 2 hours a wallet should take what? 5-10 minutes start to finish?I have about 100 material cost in a case depending on options. The rest of my retail is my labor cost. And it is fair pricing for the market which you have no clue about other than looking at a website or 2 with factory made cases. You like to over think and over analyze things. That much is obvious. So enjoy your economics class formulas, I'm speaking from 25 years experience in retail and working with product production and buying wholesale from vendors. Chuck

No, I dont wholesale, and Im not sure where you are getting your made up numbers about what my wholesale and retail SHOULD be, youre wrong though. Tried to help you figure your cost, but you seem to know it all, so good luck in your ventures. Chuck

On the cases I make, I can get 2 sets of blanks out of a back. I dont even figure the waste, I split the cost of the leather ( a back costs me about 150-160, so I figure the leather cost per case at half of that), add other materials, hardware, and packaging materials etc and that is the product cost. From there I roughly estimate the time it takes me to produce it and do the math with an hourly rate I have set for myself. Add the labor on and that is my retail. I dont know exactly how many wallets you can cut from a side, so my example is for explanation purposes only. Say you buy a back of veg tan, and a big piece of lining/pocket leather. Total cost is say 200. You have enough leather to produce say 20 wallets with scraps left over. Your leather cost is 10 dollars per wallet. That should be the figure you use in your cost of materials. Not the .50 a square inch or whatever, yada yada yada. IMO after 25 years of working in retail management, you can worry about shrink as much as you want. But is you consider shrink as a percent of sales, the best way to manage your shrink dollars is to increase your sales. As long as you are not being purposely wasteful, you should be fine. Then every so often, go through the scrap bin, and see if you can make any additional sales from the leather thats there. One of my biggest shrink busters is dog collars. Quick and easy for a basic collar. Dont jump over dollars to save nickels. Chuck

Always go overkill on things like zippers. You dont want to get a couple months down the road and realize you should have used a different size. For a book bag, you will probably be ok to start with a #5 ykk brass zipper. Better yet would probably be a #8. There are decent nylon zippers, ones that self heal etc...... but I just dont trust them on something that is going to get a lot of use. Even the best zippers are still cheap money wise, so no reason not to go with the best. YKK. Just dont buy them from places like Joanns. Look online for seamstress supply houses. Less than half the cost of "store bought". One last tip with zippers, buy some bottom stops, and get your zippers longer than you actually need them (jacket zippers). From there you can make it the exact length you need even if its not a standard size. Hope this helps. Chuck

If you dont mind spending a couple of bucks, a nail set would be better. Hardened steel, and meant for hard use. Chuck

Bevel the line. You can bevel it inwards or outwards, depending on if you want the serpentine to look recessed or stand out from the surface. Chuck

Angelus neutral does as well. Chuck

As mentioned above, there are various geometric stamps that can accomplish similar looks. But the belts you showed were done as I stated. Heres a couple of examples I did real quick. I spent more time looking for the craftaid than I did stamping...... So youll have to imagine taking more time to line up better.... Lol The craftaid was a little large for the seeder I used, but again if you play around on scrap you could figure it out pretty quick. Chuck

Use a 45 deg triangle against the edge of the belt blank to mark your guide lines, the marks will look like diamonds. Youll need to practice on scrap to find out how far the lines need to be apart to work with your size seeder. Then stamp the oval seeder on the lines. You can leave a blank "center" or use the round seeder like the first picture. Its a tedious pattern to stamp, but if you look close, you can see some of the stamping is not perfect. The biggest thing is to lay it out good. You might be able to use the craft-aids they make for geometric stamps, youll have to butcher it and cut a belt wide strip at 45 degrees. Hope this helps Chuck

Cut the line with a swivel knife and bevel it. The stamping is done with an oval seeder, and the first pic has a round seeder also. You might be able to get by with a push beveler, but if you buy a nice wide beveler, you would be surprised at how fast you can walk a long straight line. Chuck

Yes, its just like resolene. I mix it 50/50 in a soda bottle and either spray it, or some stuff i wipe it on with a sponge. Chuck