Krystian

Thank you for a good word! She is wearing it and all of her friends are asking where did she get it - so I guess that she likes it as well

Hi all, Thank you for all the responses and apologies for disappearing from the forum for a while. I have had a very busy begging of the year at my day job and weather in London was so cold that my garage was not a very pleasant environment to work with leather anyway. The belt in question has been finished. It came out nice, not perfect but nice - girlfriend was pleased! I will try out your ceasing agents recipes for the next belt. Many thanks! https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36379698/2014-12-14%2017.39.50.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36379698/2014-12-14%2014.22.56.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36379698/2014-12-27%2022.21.11.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36379698/2014-12-27%2022.22.42.jpg

Thank you all for your advice, you are all great! I managed to finish cutting it with swivel knife before I could see your responses and I have to say that the more I wet it and with stropping the knife more than often it did get slightly easier by the end. But not as deep as I would wish it to be. Oh well. I will definitely try out your recipes for the second belt (too much hustle to return them). I have a side question: does any of the chemicals that you add to your mixtures affect dyeing ?

Thanks Big Sioux, I have no ceasing agent and I don't think that I will be able to have one delivered before Christmas in time to have this finished. I guess your answer was what I was looking for: "deal with it, shit happens" I will strop the knife every leaf (as it seems to help a bit) and do what I can with it. BTW, seller insists that the leather is high quality and it is not old/dried out. Well, that's his opinion. I am sure that I will not buy anything else from him. I guess we all have our own imagination about "high quality"... Pity that I had to learn this lesson on my girlfriends present though...

Hi Papaw, Thank you for your reply. To answer your questions: - I have ceased the leather and I re-do it when it dries out. I've done it exactly as you have described - I don't mind the belt being thick - as you said, belts should be thick. Problem is that the flesh side is very thick and the skin side very thin. Flesh side is very hard as well, so when the swivel knife goes through the thin layer of skin it gets dragged by this thick and hard flesh side. I will attach the photos but they are a bit embarrassing - my tooling normally looks much better. I have to put so much force against it that I can't be as precise as I wish to be - my hand is killing me and I am only half way through ! And it drags, it drags a lot. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36379698/2014-12-10%2015.07.33.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36379698/2014-12-10%2015.06.59.jpg

Thanks Bob, Seller just replied to me saying that it is definitely "good quality" leather and it may not be "ideal" because it is "natural" (???) Say what? That's the whole point of veg tan to be as close to natural as possible, am I right? Anyway, he said that I can return it if it is in the same condition. Obviously it is not because I discovered that it is poor quality in the process of tooling it... I don't think that I will bother to argue for the sake of £15 (I bought 2 of them). I should have got a strap cutter and order "half of a cow" from my trusted supplier... Live and learn I guess. Thanks for your reply Bob.

Hi Bob, Thank you for your answer. The seller listed the belt as veg tanned leather, I would not buy it otherwise. Please see the auction below: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171325936943?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&var=470388457103&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Cheers, K.

Hi guys and girls, I have a bit of a problem. I am still a beginner and I don't have all of the tools yet. Not enough skill to use the ones I have yet so I guess that there is no need to build up on my workshop. Long story short. Instead of buying a strap cutter for my girlfriends belt (Christmas preset, so bit urgent issue!) I bought a pre-cut belt on eBay. It supposed to be a "high quality" veg tan tooling leather. In my not-so-experienced opinion it is far from high quality. The skin side seems to be very thin and the grain side is thick and tough. As a result the swivel knife drags like hell and I can't go in as deep as needed for the tooling to look right. I tried 4 different blades. Those blades work perfectly fine on other leather I have (even some cut off scrap pieces I bought for practice) so it is not a matter of them not being sharp enough. I thought that I will ask you before giving an earful to the seller. Is there any way to make this leather work or I should not waste my time? Thanks! K.

Hi all, This was put on a back burner due to work etc. I've learned few new things which are probably obvious to you experienced lot, but I thought that I will list them for those who are just beginners like me: - do not save on dyes, professional oil ones are far better. End result is amazing in much fewer coats (just look how deep is the black on the eyes!) - invest in a nice paint brush, don't go over the top but a set for under £5 is not the way to go. I had so much more control over what I was doing with the one my painter girlfriend recommended - you can correct the antique finish with a bit of wet cloth if you think you went too far with it. But you have to do it before it dries. - thinning dyes is an option and it gives nice results - take your time with tooling ! Be precise and the end result will amaze you! - NOT every object on your piece needs to be beveled around! This is the important bit that my partner pointed out after I made few very strange looking things. Some objects are just good enough with swivel knife cut and some will do with a little bit of modeling spoon - no need to punch everything in! - align stamps many times, punch them once! There is a very good chance that you will not get it in exactly the same spot if you have to re-do it. Practice the amount of strength needed on a scrap piece, some stamps are sharper than the others and harder not always means better! - good leather tools better (I just got a not so good piece and it is very frustrating!) And last but not last - DO stuff not only watch videos and read about how others make them. This is a mistake that I made for a very long time. My knowledge grew but skill were left behind. I know that this piece is not perfect and I very welcome any comments/suggestions. K.

Thank you all for good word. I was away for a bit due to work and festive season madness...

Hi all, This was made due Halloween and all... I had this piece of leather since I made my first bobber seat (bottom side cut off) and I felt like finally doing one of those recently trendy cool Mexican Sugar Skulls. Being not as skillful as I wish to be (yet!) I went for one of the cleaner/easier designs. I will definitely do more of these as it was so enjoyable and I will try to make it bit more challenging next time. So far it is one of my better pieces - let me know what you think.

WOW!

Beauty!

very nice work!

Hi, thanks for this. I was more interested in knowing if the existing wheel can be fixed somehow? Anyone?