Reegesc

@ Grey -- The rawhide was just handy. I liked that it was relatively thin but tough as nails. Been thinking of making a pair out of rawhide only. I bought scraps from Springfield http://springfieldleather.com/33907/Pieces%2CHorse%2CVegTan%2C5lbs/

There ya go..... Like the grunge look. ;-)

That is totally cool! Thanks for sharing.

Ok, finally figured out how to upload the tutorial. You can find it here under Patterns and Templates. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=62573

While written for the intermediate-level audience, here's a relatively simple project for most anyone. Using the concepts presented here, the variations are limitless Please post a pic of your project interpretation here and share your tips and tricks as well. Making Leather Flip Flops.pdf

@ Shyla -- Sure, just shoot me an email and I'll send the tutorial. Clyde.Seeger@gmail.com Trying to figure out a way to upload the tutorial pdf to the forum so that folks can just download from there. Have a request in to Admins on that, but haven't heard anything. If someone knows how to do that, please let me know. thx

Here's another pair titled "Lotsa Dots". Pics don't do them justice (of course). But check out the crystal bead inlays in the front (placed them in the back as well). But what I mainly wanted to point out is the treatment on the straps, where the front strap cover is omitted to show the criss cross decorative stitching instead. Just another example of the myriad of designs you come up with on something as simple as a pair of flops.

@ Jstar61 - Just sent you the tutorial.

@ Tinker -- Ha....now that's funny. You might be assuming too much. That rock star pic of me is from the late 70s. Been to college, got me some learning. But what I don't know is how are things VBC?

Yep, just fire up the lathe....soon as I get one. @ Tinker -- uh, you don't have any hair.

Hmmm...I gotta a ton of those just sitting a box. Never thought to cut them up and do anything with them. I will now... Thx

Perfect! I like the knurled idea. (hell you didn't say you had a lathe hahahaha) Thx for turning me on to these unique feet. Very cool.. Definitely post pic.

Just had an aha moment thanks to Tinker's idea, Here's a drop dead easy solution. These are pre soldered copper fittings, plumbing fittings. "Pre Soldered" means they already have solder in them -- that's what the ridges are for. They're packed with solder. You could just grind or cut off the ends (or use as is), then cut a slot and shape as Tinker suggests. Then glue your leather in the middle strip. Done. Well, along with the some holes for stitching or rivets. Granted, it's copper and not brass, but polished copper is gorgeous IMHO. To prevent it from tarnishing, just spray it with some spar varnish (don't use poly though -- the spar varnish looks terrific with copper). You would need to do the same with brass as well although laquer looks pretty good on brass. I did a search for pre soldered brass, couldn't find any (wasn't expecting to). These never really took off, so don't expect to find them at Home Depot or Lowe's. But here's a place I buy from -- cheapest source I've found yet. I do a fair amount of metal work using copper tubing and these pre soldered fittings (lamps and stuff). http://presolderedfittings.com/presoldered~prices.htm What you want is the 1/2" Slip Coupling -- Item 4 on that page. $5.90 for a pack of ten. That's dirt cheap.

I like the way you think... ;-)

Hey YinTx -- on the off chance you haven't looked at the Chinese irons, you ought to give them a look. There's a number of eBay sellers. Here's the one I went with. http://www.ebay.com/...=item5d540a5045 I bought the 4, 5, and 6 mm sets (that's 12 irons all together) for $40. Yeah, forty bucks. They arrived just a couple days ago (took a month), so I only have a little bit experience using them, but so far I'm VERY pleased with them. And at that price? THRILLED with them. Check out Nigel Armstrong's review on these irons -- he gives a thumbs up and that's saying a lot. Left off the video link. Here ya go... And make that "Armitage" not Armstrong :-)

@ TinkerTailor -- Yeah, great idea. And you could even use rivets instead of stitches. Clever...

@Troy Burch Re: Pic of the Bottom Soles I didn't take a pic of the ones posted, but here's a pic from my very first pair which I have been wearing continuously for nine months. I'm glad you asked because I wouldn't have looked at them otherwise and there's a couple newbie errors worth pointing out. In this case, I stitched the uppers all the way through the soles. I no longer do this and instead just stitch to the upper layer. It just isn't necessary, but certainly no harm in doing so if you do it right, which I didn't. Notice there are no stitching grooves and you can see in the photo why that is a bad idea -- you wear right through the stitches. Surprisingly, mine are holding up just fine -- a testament to just how strong the saddle stitch is I suppose. I also didn't make my perimeter stitch groove nearly deep enough. For the pair featured in this post, once I wetted the "DEEP" stitching groove and let sit overnight, it closed up so much you could barely see the stitches below the surface. The crappy perimeter stitching groove speaks for itself. My latter pairs have perfect stitching grooves (ya know, like how my other car is a Mercedes). ;-)

PM me if you're not set up for metal work. I'll make you a set for a nominal charge.