Colt W Knight

From personal experience, I can tell you that when you glue two pieces of leather together, the absolute best thing to use is Contact Cement. Coat both pieces, let it dry til tacky, and put them together and use a roller to apply pressure to get them to fuse together tight. Aerosol glues, while convenient, do not hold two pieces of leather together nearly as well. The best of the aerosol glues is 3M high strength Super 90, followed by 3m Super 77. After glueing, you still need to stitch along the edges. I use the spray glues when I glue cloth to leather, and iron it afterwards to really set the glue. Works very well. On my projects where I have spray glued leather to leather, it simply doesn't hold together as well as contact cement. Yes, contact cement application is a pain in the ass, especially a large area.

I have Consew 206 that is about 40 years old,and it is a bad cat for sure.

You could always get into that kinky sex harness/whip stuff. I mean, it is already black.

I made some guitar straps with crosses, and I thought they would sell quickly because of all the positive feedback I got from facebook. I ended up giving them away, just wouldn't sell. Seems folks prefer the stereotypical western floral and basketweave leather stuff.

I made 30 GPS tracking collars out of biothane, and it was a nightmare to work with when the weather turned cold. I was having to preheat it before punching holes, bending, sewing, or really doiing anything with it. someone asked me for more, and I declined.

Grab yourself some upholstery material of choice, and try to sew belt size mock up piece or a 18" square. It is heart breaking when the straight stitch machine quits feeding halfway through a real projects and the stitch length goes from 5 SPI to infinite. That is why I bought my walking foot machine. I could get my straight stitch to work on short pieces or test pieces, but things would always screw up on my actual work piece.

Slick rig. Have you tried some Magpul mags in that leather holster? I was just curious if that synthetic material would slide in and out of the leather.

They are also easy to break, sometimes I have to use an awl or something to "pre drill" or "poke" a hole into the leather to keep those tiny brass set screws from twisting off. They will also back out fairly easy, so I use some super glue or loctite.

I had an old Singer 66 that would zip through Vinyl, but give it 2 layers of veg tan leather, and all hell broke loose.

I have some HD mine belt (coal conveyor belting) and it dulls tools quickly. A tree stump makes a great punching surface because you can easily remove the tool because the end grain. Once it gets worn, you can cut the top slice off and start fresh.

Joanne fabric, be sure to get the online coupon, and don't use the polyester felt, it fuzzes. Wool felt is more expensive, but much better quality

I would try to find a local leather shop with a splitter, they can cut some off the back to whatever thickness you need. Being an old farm implement drive belt, it probably doesn't have much stretch left to simple squash it out thinner.

Ive been wanting to make myself a head knife to try this style of leather cutting. Currently, I use a straight edge and a utility knife.

The problem is all the glitter they leave behind.

I have actually done something similar, but used a template and a bearing guided router bit to cut out a complex pickguard for a guitar. There was a lot of fuzzies made, but it cut the shape out right.

I use wool felt on guitar straps all the time, and Ive never had one that felt itchy.

I can't get on board with this. I get bored looking at everyone tooling the same floral patterns from books made 50-60 years ago.

Yes, that will work just fine. Fiebings dye-prep is ~90% water, the other 10% is alcohol, soap, ammonia. Meaning, its just soapy water. Fiebings deglazer is just a solvent and and alcohol - Like I said before, its meant to strip off old finishes on already finished leather like clothing and shoes.

If you are going to dye new veg tan leather 1. Clean with saddle soap, allow to dry 2. Apply a light even coat of neatsfoot oil, allow to dry/soak up 12-24 hours 3. Apply Fiebings dye. Allow to dry, buff off extra dye. You could switch the order of 2 and 3. Some folks oil before because it helps the dye penetrate more evenly and helps prevent the alcohol in the dye from hardening the leather ( a very real phenomenon). Some folks oil after. Practice on scrap and see what you like. But whatever you choose - Light coats of oil, and give them a half day or day to soak through for best results. If you going to dye something like tennis shoes, boots, a couch, etc. The deglazer removes the old finish and allows the dye to penetrate better and more evenly. The cleaner they sell will work the same as saddle soap or any leather cleaner. Cleaning the leather before dyeing will give you better results in my experience. Which is basically true of everything.

Neatsfoot will darken the leather some, but if you are getting a lot darker, you are using too much.

As long as you do not soak the piece in neatsfoot oil and give it time to soak through there is no problem with adhesion. Take a rag damp with neats foot oil and wipe over the leather once. Most folks use way too oil. Lightly oiling the leather actually improves how well the piece dyes

I dont know of any leather that is finished on both sides. Whenever I see a piece that has a finished side on both sides, it has been glued together - flesh side to flesh side.

To keep from wetting and drying your leather over and over, i would recommend looking at Bob Parks casing thread, and keep your work covered with plastic while tooling and keep it in a plastic bag in a cool place between tooling sessions.

When I case my leather, I give it a good wipe down/scrub with Fibings saddle soap. This both cleans and conditions the leather and removes oils from the tanning and handling process that screw with alcohol dyes. 9 out of 10 times this is enough to keep the leather conditioned and flexible. If the leather is stiff or extra dry, I will wipe it down with a light coat neats foot oil affer the tooling has dried snd let it sit for 12-24 hours

Also, I prefer acrylic because I can get even color application. Its very easy to get splotchy dye or stain on leather.