Halitech

The only time they have any say in how I do something, is if they are paying me to do it their way. If it was up to them, we'd still be using whale oil to light lanterns, horse and buggy would still be our method of transportation and food would be saved by salting only.

We had that discussion a few weeks ago in a FB group that I'm in. Basically a few of the old time "gods" basically feel anything not done by hand (including stitching) is not hand made or leather work. Laser engraving is just cheapening the craft and they would rather do a key fob by hand, take an hour of their time and make nothing on the job over doing a laser engraving on the keyfob and spend their time doing something where they can make money.

I do laser engraving on 2/3oz veg tan cow and sheep all the time so you are fine with the thickness but chrome tan doesn't burn that well and the darker the leather, the less it shows up. And funny enough, I have some white that I tried it on and even at max power and depth, couldn't see it at all. You could feel it but the burn actually stayed white.

Actually, if you use an interior like I make myself or from SLC or Tandy, they will generally have a notch cut out right in the middle so you could actually stitch all the way around, just mark where to start and stop, and you'll be fine.

Depends on the design but generally 15-25 minutes Yes, the design is basically burnt in the leather. I've been treating them the same as everything else, resolene or satin shene, depending on if I need full water resistance or not

didn't keep anything that failed so no pictures of them

Of what? finished items or where things mess up?

I've noticed that too. I find if I up the resolution from 72x72 to 150x150, it's not as bad. I also double the size of the image I'm working on so if I want a final image of 2"x3", I make my image in GIMP 4"x6" What engraver do you have? I have the SixDu 80mm 1500mw and run it under windows 7. There was recently an update that caused mine to stop at 5minutes. Removed the update (it's a virtual machine so don't really care about security on it) and it's working great again.

If you are in the US, there is now a supplier of colored antiques https://makersleathersupply.com/collections/indelible-h2overcoat-colored-antiques You can make your own antique using Fiebings neutral antique paste and mixing in your choice of acrylic paint. Personally I prefer the Fiebings Pro-Resist now over everything else.

Definitely not alone lol for the short one, could you convert it to a dangler style instead of tossing it?

nice work on the holster and cool idea on the box. However, you overpaid for the box, I can get them here at the dollarstore for 2.50 lol

She didn't. it's pretty easy, just glue and stitch/lace it to the outside what do you mean it won't open all the way? Got a pic you can show us?

I usually oil after I've dyed and before I top coat with whatever finish I'm using. I normally use a cheap sponge brush that I buy at the dollar store, 6 brushes for $1.50. Put it on fairly heavy in a circular pattern then while it's still wet, do another application really heavy in a straight line. An airbrush will get it on more even but you are using less dye so it doesn't penetrate as deeply into the leather.

There are products out there that are supposed to stop fraying but why pay extra for a special bottle when it's basically white glue. I've never lined a belt with fabric but I do what Matt suggests when I'm lining a wallet or bag, especially on the open sides.

Antique is for just that, to make it look like an antique or old. It should be used to highlight tooling and carving, not to dye an entire piece or work.

I have, works great. Only issue, if you want to call it that, is you are limited to the size of the bag as to how big a project you can do. The other thing you will notice, the inside of the bag has a pattern so that will be transferred to the leather. Front of the phone case was done with it, so was the magnesium firestarter holder on the knife sheath.

interesting. and no 2 seem alike so at least you wouldn't get bored doing them

what I do is leave enough thread that I can double up a few stitches after I start my next thread. It's basically like a modified backstitch where instead of backstitching, you go forward a few over the new thread

that's upholstery thread. It's closer to a 46? or whatever the normal thread is for a household sewing machine. I've used it before in my brother machine and its great there for sewing jeans. But it's not really designed for heavier leather

Tandy sells Journal refills, not sure if thats exactly what you are looking for or not. If you are interested in making the signatures yours (the actual groupings of pages), check this out and especially at the 3:00 mark

sorry to hear about the foal, not good when you lose any animal. Be safe on your travels and work.

Mark already pointed out about the saddle stitching so I won't say any more on that. With your card slots, instead of punching holes at each end and joining them with a single cut, cut from both sides of the hole so you end up with a bigger spot to slide the cards in and out, will make it easier to get them in and out. You can also burnish them that way if using veg tanned leather.

I worked these up this morning, tried to reverse engineer the kits from tandy and slc as best I could

Some will say no chrome tanned leather, some will say veg tanned will absorb water. If you are planning on tooling, it will have to be veg tanned. Steps I follow: cut out tool stain or dye resist if using antique antique oil apply top finish assemble Some will line them, some won't, your personal preference on that

A lot of times I'll do the initial application using a 2" foam brush in a circular motion. Once everything is covered, I then do a heavy application in a straight line. let it dry then buff like mad. Usually end up with very minimal streaking that way