Regis

Bonnie, Glad to see you join us. Great group of folks here to share ideas and help with.

Curt, Beautiful work. Did you doo it all with iron/tip? Or some with torch/flame?

Growth is your hard work and sharing/helpful spirit of the members of this great forum. Thanks for clarifying "last 24 hours".

Last night 10ish there were 179 logged on for Nov 5th. Today, there are 90+ but most ever logged in shows 186 TODAY. should have Nov 5th me thinks.

I've only used un-dyed veg tanned leather for tooling. I see that some suppliers sell tooling leather that is already dyed (e.g. W & C has black). I can see where black might be a little hard to see while tooling but, are there any other disadvantages / advantages? Thanks, Regis

Romey, Well thought out and articulated. From rights to hunting to protection of our heritage (from outside or inside) I agree with you. We are seeing such a gradual/sly dumbing down of many many children & adults (e.g. 60's crowd on) that many are becomming blind to the danger of ever increasing government "protection and providing for" and how it can harm our nation's foundation. History needs to be taught and not changed. Gosh I can't wait to move back north and hunt in the snow (at least cool weather). Regis

Knut, Glad you could join us. You'll find a number of saddle makers here to share ideas with. Welcome

It seems that nearly every guitar strap I see has a buckle. With the risk of scratching guitar, why is that? Is there a practical reason other than perhaps greatly extending length range (more than with a few keyhole slots at each end)? Or, is it simply traditional? Just curious as I'm about to make a couple for friends and I know the length they use (51" & 48"). So, why should I use buckles? Thanks, Regis

Very nice and thank you for sharing.

Welcome Avril. A walking foot attachment and diamond point leather needle on a sturdy home sewing machine can make a good startiing point for garmet leather. Glad to have you here and as a seamstress, you may be giving a lot of advice too.

In the mail for sure Oh aaa, um aaaa ummm aaahh, well, just ignore the name on that check, the bank told me they were recycling.

Nick Jim, Sign me up for any carving classes. Happy to drive 165 miles for class. Regis

I did notice one thing on both. Stitching is even on top, bottom, and right but, smaller and less even on left (as you are looking at photo). Is that perhaps lighting or camera angle?? Or, the stitches themselves. Still wish I could do close to that neat.

I hear that! 165 miles to closest one for me.

Supprisingly, today I got (in mail) the same Hide Crafter 10th anniversary catalog. It had what appears to be the same price list (effective Jan 2007). Don't understand. When I saw the envelope, I thought "wow their new catalog". Not so???

Ohio Travel Bag index Check page 58 and I think you'll find um

A hearty welcome Doug. You'll find lots of help here when you do have a question. I'll bet you have something to also help most everyone here because of your experiences. Gld to have you join. Regis

I have to agree with Ken and say the skull one. Are the ends skived any or is it just toooo soft to skive very thin? You are mighty handy with your machine. I don't see any thread ends on the decorative parts. Do you pull them through to the back/inside?

I noticed some catagories have a 2nd & 3rd or 1st & 3rd but, "None" in the other places. Is there some kind of benchmark to meet in addition to competition with peers? Examples are B5 and D3. What am I missing/not understanding? Looks like someone could win 2nd but there is no 1st place. Regis

James, Glad to have you join. Lot of help online here.

Well Fred it is just great to have you join us. Looking forward to seeing some of your work. And, Lord knows that some of us need all the help we can get.

Now that is a fact, Luke has a LOT of 8 tracks (and an enviable shop I might add). Regis

Welcome... Looks like you may be helpin' fols pretty soon as that is a really good looking strap. I'll be making my 1st guitar strap later this week. Once again, glad to have you join us.

There is more than one issue here but, the original question was what to charge. There is a big difference between teaching something that can be completed in one day vs 2 weeks. Carving an oak leaf can be done several times in one day and only requires very minimal tools and is realistic for dedicated full time teaching and oversight. Making other or larger projects that require multitude of tools and might take days or weeks to complete one is a different story. The more complex a project the more a student needs to practice steps/tools over and over therefore; direct dedicated instruction is not realistic. Dedicated time should receive full hourly charge plus significant premium depending on quality of teaching (not necessarily on teacher's ability/mastery to do the work themselves). In other words there are master makers, master teachers, and occasionaly both. To really learn from a master maker, you need to be pretty skilled to begin with or you can not even appreciate or translate the touch of master to your work. doesn't matter if the object is a fully tooled oak leaf or a strong, perfectly fitted tree or saddle. You have to be pretty knowlegable & skilled to fully gain from a master maker. I would think that tree making or saddle making is comprised of multiple skills. Some of these skills can/should be learned outside a dedicated instructional saddle/tree making enviornment. In other words you should not be teaching how to use a band saw or a sewing awl in a $100/hour class. But, I would think a $100/hr would be the absolute minimum for fitting, assembly, and finishing skill teaching. That rate would go up if you have a planned course and proven path to teach a student to be competent (not a master). STORY: About 20 years ago I was in an advanced goldsmith class. Anyone (limited to 3) with $900 could attend the 3 day intensive workshop. One of the students spent most of the time learning how to adjust his torch and handle a Foredom handpeice. Do you think that person left with any advanced skill??? I hope those of you living in areas with guilds and other leather workers fully appreciate that value. Regis

Sooooo is the link bad or is our map gone for ever? I have not seen anyone on this for several weeks now. Is it time to quit checking? Tx,