Halitech

Congrats Bob, your work is above outstanding and your willingness to help the rest of us out, makes you truly worthy of the award

what I've done is only use very light pressure then lay it on a flat surface and run my burnisher over it to eliminate the mushroom

I agree with Otto, cut and then sand the edges so you get a more uniform edge then use a wing divider to get your stitches closer to the edge. They should be about 1/8" - 3/16" from the edge. Then once you have your stitching done, sand it lightly again and then burnish.

cool idea on using a small rivet for the primer on the shell, never would have thought of that

If you have the room and access to one, get a small compressor and air brush for your resolene, you won't get any streaks that way

Very nice and I like the way you rounded the inside corners of the slots

Nice work kiwi. Have to admit when I saw you posting about a bikini I wasn't sure what to think I was going to see lol

If you can rub it off, even slightly, then to me it's something topside. I've never seen tan kote do that before

The tan kote should waterproof them. How long are you letting them dry between each step?

Vinegaroon is not a dye, it's actually a chemical reaction with the leather so it's not really something that is going to work well with just trying to get the top layer colored. And it should take close to a month for a batch of vinegaroon to really work well. And as Red Cent says, dunk it, wait only a few minutes then put it in the baking soda solution. If you let it sit for a day and it barely touched the surface, your vinegaroon wasn't ready to use. Vinegaroon shouldn't have much of a vinegar smell once it's ready to use.

When I make a sheath, I make a tracing of the blade itself then add 1/4" around it. Then I cut both the tracing of the blade and the 1/4" outside to use as my welt. I use the same piece as my outline for the front and back piece. In case you are talking about the thickness, I try and get a piece of leather that is the same thickness of the blade are its thickest point. In both cases, it helps hold the blade without being too tight in case the snap/button stud doesn't get closed here's the tutorial I use when making one http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41280

that is cool, very nice

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nice work Chief and interesting combo but if that's what they want, they should be happy with it

I had that happen on a belt I was making for my mother, I was the middle letter in her name and I inadvertently turned it sideways. I made a pattern of 3 sideways I's and moved her name to the sides. She still doesn't know the difference lol

I've done the same thing myself but it does look cool and someone that has never done leatherwork wouldn't know the difference

Bob, that probably does make more sense, I was told you could do it after to smooth it out. I guess it depends on how hard you press on it