steveb

Thanks all for the kind words. funny story about that belt - I gave it to a friend for a 50th bday gift based on a measurement she gave me. well she must have been holding the dumb end of the ruler cuz it came up 2in short. Now I make most of my belts with a long billet, and in in this case it is a damn good thing I did...lol measure twice, cut once i say...and now i say that to my customers also!!!

Thanks guys - yeah the pirate was fun, i wanted to make him a little different and it certainly came out that way...lol I really enjoy stamping though and coming up with new and combo's - amazing the different looks you can get mixing up the sequence of stamps sb

ok ok - i know, enough is enough - but this is it - promise here we got: pirate wallet - with my own weird spin - my fin shape stamped wallet - my super squire shape- with a nice interior treatment and there ya have it!

here we got: bonnies belt - a gift for a good friends wife - stamped up just how i like it lucky 13/sinner wallet - my fin shape with some stuff on it dr evil - my fin wallet, with a killer color interior, for a recent Iraq returnee...i can only imagine how the laddie got his moniker...*sigh*

been busy: between my day yob and my leather yob, i am busier than all get out. no time to noodle around and chitty chat, this is the busy season - in all regards - house work, family, work-work, road trippin, leather work and bike prep, so - here is a sampling of what I've been up to: a matched wallet and belt set - flames all around, black on black with a tan thread/277, checkn out the sweet airbrushed interior! the psycho wallet - my signature fin shape, done up in some of my finest texturing and dying - psycho called me in tears when he got it...sweet of him, eh? who said Psycho's are poor, ungrateful wretches? I am going to shoot up another spam bomb to the board...lol...with some more stuff and please notice i took the time to downsize my damn pictures! arrgh steveb

Great - love the photo, make sure to make a print or two of it and frame it for him, he will come to cherish it when he gets older! steveb

mmmm...i really like it....good job.... your work has a nice twist to it - very distinctive and you always seem to work one unique attribute into each piece - in this case the hanging tooth. cool steveb

A new customer wanted a wallet, belt set - couldn't talk him out of straight black, but he went for the dark brown, with a hint of burgundy thread. Tried a very small 160 needle with my 277 thread - made for a beautiful stitch and didn't harsh up the thread too much - super small holes stuffed with thread - i love it! I was taking a chance on stressing the thread and breaking a needle, but its worth it for the great super tight look...IMSHO steveb

Killer - i love the oil bag rig...and your one hell of a machnist if your turning out those risers too! i checked out your site - great work!! thanks for sharing

cool - i like the brown color...and that texture on the tophat, looks really deep where did the art come from? and i like the fact you mark your seats with your mark asymetrically - really feels "custom"

unless your really sucking wind for business, i'd run for the hills... you dont need a relationship with this customer and that's what people like this usually want - they want "you" on the hook and once you take their money - your on the hook, like a wide eyed leather pounding fish - oy! been there done that!! aint no fun!! hurts like hell!! IMSHO you exircised excellent judgement...gold star for Skip

hmm, i like the idea... you using broomstick bars or is this just a rig for making the grips?? the grips paired up with your brass misumi risers... sweeet! cool, what else ya got?

hmmm, looks kinda cool in a fuzzy way, i'd really like to check out your lacing, but youve presented a challenge! Did you look at your pics before you posted them for the world to see and live on in digital perpetuity? Methinks not! 3 quick suggestions when you use a camera: 1 - back up a bit - let your camera focus on the subject 2 - turn off your flash, your drowning your subject in light 3 - shoot at an angle to your subject - head on's tend not to work so good... try it - and see if it works for you, if not, keep noodling around until you find something that looks good - probably take you 15 minutes at most - and i suspect based on the brief look at your leatherwork that you will know when youve got somethng that looks good.... i wanna see how you handled bringing the end of your lacing together ...so try the photo thing again bevo! steveb

Yep - your gonna have to buy the fancy construciton paper and stapler toolkit to design your own sheath - i think between staples and the supermarket youll have all the tools youll need, maybe some scissors too maybe buy a book of sheath construction techniques, or dig around online or you can use paper and figure it out in an hour... and have your own design but i'd dig into the idea of welts and welt/locks before i started making freeform sheaths

Welcome - your in NYC? Looks like a real unusual niche youve got going...excellent.... and if your in the garment center, I bet your busy as hell..... love to see pics of your machinery! steveb (34th & Park - during the day)

Now THAT is crafty...very cool and you get a green star for being a good (and artistic recycler).....never ceases to amaze me how resourceful people in leather can be. whats next on the list? a couch? lol steveb

Looks great Ian - really clean look - I like it and your tooling is quite good. Do you work for any shop in particular?? anyway... I am in Southern CT, nice to see another East Coaster/New Englander here!! steveb

that is one burly belt with 2-layers of 8/10!! I am also a sucker for contrasting stitiching and brass hardware.. I applaud your rugged construction technique & hope you added some length to the belt to compensate for the added thickness

nice job - that is now a very important looking box cutter! i like the edging treatment in particular - clean and neat. ...did you use a welt?

he must love that.....lol love it

Drac-taking a closer look at your bag, i see a problem I am dealing with and have been encountering on occasion in my own work and it has to do where the carving is getting bent around a curve - kind of breaks the edge of the carving...like on the chin of your lower skull i am not sure what to do - other than carve less deeply (duh) or use an applique (not the look i want) or simply move my art around to accommodate the curve of the material - sometimes hard to do..like on your bag Since i line most of my work and tend to use a heavier weight of vegtan in most applications, i know my work still has decent strength, but i know the carving is going to take a beating.. so - how do all you slicksters handle it when you carving is getting bent on a fold?

I really like the way you handled the gussets and edge treatment - very nice.

consider this: i use plain old weldwood contact cement found in the local hardware store and it works fine....for me. i started using it after encountering the crazy and heavily regulated shipping situation that is outlined above. steveb

ok - just the one response and i am done - i dont want to turn this into a flame war or a diatribe I am not a tree hugging wide eyed animal nut. I eat meat, I tool and use leather, my friends hunt (for edible game).. I see a diff between animals bred in captivity for slaughter and industry - cows are a good example - and animals out in the wild "minding their own business" being killed for sport. Animals bred in captivity like cows and pigs are "used" in their physical entirety ..nothing is wasted...and while you can certainly argue that any sentinent being deserves better, I somehow manage to rationalize eating them and wearing and using their bodies for clothing and craft... Bears, lions and other wild game-are another kettle of fish - unless they are seeking you out and attacking you or threatening harm in your neighborhood or home, we have no business shooting them...IMSHO.....you want to really hunt - go after them bare-handed - level the playing field, eh?? Now THATS hunting, and ya know what? If ya win - ya earned the head. These wild animals want and have nothing to do to us - we pursue them, in their habitat and kill them - for Sport, not industry or food...... and in my book - thats a diff dynamic...a whole nother situation. i suspect theses animals memorialized on this holster didnt seek out and attack the shooter in his home or neighborhood - rather i suspect the shooter sought out these animals, in their natural habitat and killed them for sport, not to eat. or make belts steveb

I bet the animals that were murdered (oh, sorry - hunted) would have been happier if left to live out their days in anonymity.