Palacki808

Is there a process or product I can use to protect suede from the elements? Something that can keep water out without changing the color of the leather? I have a hat that I worry about wearing outside and I can't really get a good answer from anyone. Thanks in advance to anyone who can give me some info.

Your edge where the welt is looks perfect.

The sheath is a little wider than the blade to accomodate the pocket. The pocket itself was made to fit a certain model compass and knife sharpener that my younger brother has become stuck to for hiking. When I say he's stuck to it I mean likes those products enough that he has a few new in the package just in case anything happens to his and doesn't want to use anything different. To answer the other question. Yes, I could have wet molded the pocket. However, I don't have the experience to do that yet. I've tried wet molding on two occasions and both had less than good results...both times I just ruined a good piece of leather. Hopefully some day I will be able to mold leather with decent results.

I made this sheath for my brother's brush knife. The sheath that came with the knife wasn't bad, but he wanted something more functional. A pouch on the face sheath for the sharpener and other stuff, a loop for a leg tie and a loop for a fire rod. Things that were not on the original sheath. It took me a while because things had to be stitched in a given order so I didn't make things difficult and or impossible to stitch properly. I tried something new with this. Instead of burnishing the edge with a slicker, I tried a wool wheel with some beeswax. Worked okay on some edges, but not others and I'm not sure why. Now I need to get this thing out of my house before I start to notice mistakes and general sloppiness. Otherwise I'll keep trying to clean stuff up and never get it finished. here's some pics of it. http://s1298.photobu...155004.jpg.html http://s1298.photobu...519004.jpg.html http://s1298.photobu...f097b7.jpg.html http://s1298.photobu...0ee718.jpg.html http://s1298.photobu...700858.jpg.html

Did you have a way of laying out the stamping before you get the tools out? The stamping and the stitching look really even and consistent. Even with the small mistakes you mentioned, I think it looks great.

Being a bagpiper I must ask if anyone here has tried making or does make their own pipe bags? Even with the fancy gortex bags and other new synthetic materials, a lot of bagpipers still use hide bags because they're much easier to play.

I would like to see the NSFW area as well. If it's not too much trouble that is.

I can't criticize, those sheaths look great. I can only hope that some day my stitching looks that clean and perfect.

Thanks for the kind words. Also, thanks for telling me about sno-seal. That sounds exactly like what I'm looking for to finish it. I think the dye I used was an alcohol based dye.

I've been diggin on this forum for a week or so trying to find some info to help me finish my hunting holster. I was considering buying a holster for awhile, but the only leather holster that would really work is $130. So, I decided to try doing it myself because I wasn't about to shell out that kind of money if I could do it myself for less. It's very plain, no tooling. However, it fits the gun very well. Tight enough that the gun isn't going anywhere. I can draw the gun easily and the holster does not flatten out when the gun is drawn, so I can put it back into the holster with one hand. Since I didn't have any leather tools, everything was cut with a utility knife. The holes were laid out with a fork to try to keep the stitching evenly spaced and clean. Also, since I didn't cut the sides perfect, I sanded the edges flush with a dremel after they were stitched. That was a trick I read on this forum somewhere. I still need to burnish the edges and add a top coat. The top coat is something I don't know how I'm going to do it. I'll probably end up at the local leather store asking for something that I can coat it with that will handle being out in the weather. Thanks to everyone on this forum, as the project would not have turned out as good without the info here. As well as it turned out it's not perfect, but my next one will hopefully be better. http://s1298.beta.ph...309362456777306