Avgvstvs

@Kovant It does need some getting used to (so do the pricking irons to be fair) but not that much. The "ball" rests in the pit under the collar bone, one hand holds the handle and your free hand is used to guide the wheel. It's fairly easy to work with really.

If you're thinking about getting Blanchard pricking irons, you might want to consider getting a pricking wheel instead. The one with reservoir comes with #7,8,10,12 wheels and you can get more wheel sizes for peanuts compared to iron prices. Works a treat and you get a complete tool for 4 stitch lengths for less than one set of irons. I couldn't work without mine (and I own my fair share of Blanchard irons). If you do get one, don't get one with a guide, I find it's basically useless.

If you want your strap to remain as strong as possible, just skive part "A". That way, the leather at the stress point will be at full thickness. If you want it to be even stronger, you could take a really thin piece of leather (1-1.5 oz) and line part "B", with a slight overlap with parts "A" and "C" (skive the thin piece on the ends that will overlap to prevent bulk in those areas). I believe that would be overkill for a camera strap though (but it's a technique used for bag handles and straps as well as belts)

Hi, I have recently been in contact with ETS Regad & fils and can confirm that the G6/M unit is discontinued and has been replaced by the M6000. From what I've been told, the M6000 unit is of simpler conception, which makes it more affordable, while retaining the same characteristics as the G6/M. Cheers!

@ MonicaJacobson : thanks! I'll take that into consideration for future projects @ Colt W. Knight: thank you for the input. By the looks of it, you're not the only one who's not too keen on the way I made te strap end/ keepers. I guess I'll have to work on that.

@TwinOaks: that's a pretty good idea. I'll have to learn how to make a lock stitch. Thanks for the suggestion!

@thefanninator: now, now, I'd have to have a pretty hard time with cutting to aim for round/english strap ends and end up with oblique cuts. Hahaha @Jhstong: thanks man! Cheers!

Nice work! The tooling design is quite nice and original! The coin you tooled is actually a drachma, ancient Athens's currency. The border is there so that people changing currency would't take too much metal off the coin for payment to keep coin value. Cheers!

Thx guys for the comments. I really appreciate it. @thefanninator: as Thor said, the strap end/keepers are and aren't symmetrical at the same time. I did that on purpose because I think it's a simple element that makes the bag a little different and gives it a little "flair". With english or round points, it would just be a classic single gusset briefcase like any other. I really like the result though I understand that many people might not. @Thor: the idea for odd shaped strap ends came to me when I made a watch strap about a year ago. I didn't want to make a round or english point and experimented with a lot of different shapes and ended up with a design similar to this one, which I really liked (though not symmetrical because of the strap end being the only part with that shape but rather a "recall" of sorts of the other diagonal cuts of the watch band). See attached picture of the watch band in question. When making the briefcase, I decided to make something similar but made it somewhat symmetrical. @Craftsman Made: there was a shoulder strap in the works but I wasn't satisfied with the stitching. The strap is black on one side and tan on the other and I went for black stitching coming from the black side. The stitching is not as straight as I'd like it to be and the backside stitching being of contrasting color with the leather makes it stand out quite a bit, which displeases me. If I am to make another one, I'll either use black thread coming in from the tan side or beige thread coming from the black side so that the contrast is not on the backside (straighter stitch) and the backside stitching won't stand out as much if not rocket straight (hope this makes sense...). It's a small detail but I think it'll make a world of difference. I made this bag for my personal use and don't really need a strap for it, but the D's are there for whenever I decide I need one/ want to make one.

Hi folks! It has been a while since I had the chance to fool around with leather. I finally made a briefcase (a first for me) out of veg tan. The leather used is 5oz thick and was dyed with tandy's pro waterstain for the black sections and the tan parts have been treated with olive oil and "saddle butter". The whole thing is stitched at 7spi with 532 linen thread. The edges are painted with fenice ebony edge paint. Hope you guys/gals like it! PS: sorry about the poor picture quality...

Sent you a pm

Hi Phill, On the VB screw crease: I have the VB screw crease and I personnally don't find it very useful (although that could be because of me using the tool improperly). I find it hard to use it when I want to make a crease really close to the edge (say between 1/16" and 3/16"). The end result is that I don't use the tool at all... I see a lot of european workers using a wood creaser (traditionnally made of boxwood) for making cold creases. I am tempted to give it a try as it seems to me like the shape of the tool would make it more convenient to use than the metal creaser. I believe that's the case because the 'blades' of the metal creaser are of the same or similar length so they don't make for a very good guide, whereas the middle part of the wood creaser goes below the creasing tips of the tool, probably making for a better guide. Here are the two models of the wood creaser VB makes: http://www.vergez-blanchard.fr/boutique/fiche_produit.cfm?ref=3_724&type=42&code_lg=lg_fr&num=2 http://www.vergez-blanchard.fr/boutique/fiche_produit.cfm?ref=3_725&type=42&code_lg=lg_fr&num=2 Here is a video with the wood creaser in action (6:35- 7:25): I'm also curious to know what others use/ what experiences they have had with different creasers.

+1 for the hole punch and cut method instead of getting a belt punch. Also, to prevent cutting too far: When cutting between the holes, don't go all the way. Stop before the other hole and end the cut from the hole, That way you won't go in the leather with your blade (on the other side of the end hole) when ending your cut. An illustration! ______><____ > O >< O instead of O__________>O

Pergamena sells veg tan goatskin in many colors. They sell 'one-off' colors on an etsy store. I made a watch strap and a portfolio with that stuff about a month ago. Very nice to work with, really clean look. $50 for 5-7 square feet hides.

Just a thought: You could put your maker's mark on the inside of some of your items (like in the bill compartment of a wallet), although some designs might not allow to do that. Also, to complement the business card idea, I once bought an item from a prominent leathercrafter and it came with a hand written thank you note that really gave the transaction a nice personal touch (I actually kept it).