Johanna

Brent- how to we get banquet tickets? Tina- Just made my reservation, too! See you next week! Johanna

Wade (my husband) was up and about, getting ready for work this morning, when our Toby started dancing and prancing like he wanted to go outside. Toby doesn't ordinarily get up with Wade, he gets up with me and the kids later on. Wade opened the back door for him, and Toby stopped, spun around, and went behind the couch. Wade tried to coax him out, but he wouldn't budge. Wade finished his coffee and headed out the door at 6 am, and he said he never felt any shaking or heard anything unusual. At work today people were talking about pictures on the walls being crooked, and things falling down from shelves. Only a few said they woke up and felt it. Our village is right smack dab on the Anna-Champaign fault, the busiest seismic area in Ohio, but the only earthquakes I've ever felt were in Charleston, South Carolina, 25 years ago in my wilder days. I was in a 7-Eleven late one night, and the floor rippled for what seemed like quite awhile and all the shelves shook. I took that unsteadiness as a sign that I'd done enough partying for the night, and went home to bed. Johanna

The link to the tutorial Beaverslayer graciously labored on is here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...amp;#entry36163 He gave me permission to make a separate set of pages for it that we could feature on the front page of the site and that members could use for quick reference. Stay tuned- I'm working on it! Johanna

By now everyone has noticed that you don't cut a 1 1/2 inch strap for a 1 1/2 inch buckle. It won't fit. Straps have to be cut an RCH smaller than the buckle. If you have used a strap cutter before, you have also noticed that the measurements on the arm don't mean much compared to the actual size strap you are about to cut. Here's what to do: Get a few pieces of scrap and some buckles, and make a short strap to fit each size buckle. Write the magic number on the backs with a Sharpie, punch a hole through them and tie them together. The next time you need to cut a 1 1/4 inch strap for a belt, simply slide your 1 1/4 template scrap strap into the strap cutter, and tighten the screw. No guesswork or measuring involved, just cut your strap. If you make a lot of belts, the few minutes invested making this cheat pays off. Johanna

"Rough-out" means the flesh side of the leather. (The grain side was on the outside of the animal) The grain side is usually finished smooth, and the back side has fuzzies, hence the term "rough-out", back side on top. There are ways to smooth the leather somewhat for a better appearance, so the degree of "rough" will vary, depending on what the maker wanted to achieve. When leather is split into several hides of different thicknesses, the suede results are called "splits". These leathers are also processed in many ways for an array of colors and may have a variety of similar texture effects. Johanna

Send pics to admin@leatherworker.net I've got a few already. Holly- I'll combine those threads, don't worry about it. Great to see all the enthusiam & participation. Rayban- don't be mad at us- this whole thing was spontaneous, and we're trying to work out any bugs on the fly! Johanna

DO NOT REMOVE THE HAT!! geesh!! remember what happened the last time??? You can shower with it on, right? So are you still having the problem? Did you delete the cookies in IE? You are using IE7, right? ~J sputtering and muttering about the audacity of taking off the tin foil hat when so many people are depending on it...

I was in the shop hunting for something, when I saw the sample ring hanging and thought, "Wonder if other leatherworkers do this?" When we had the business, this sample ring was a great way to help the customer with their decisions. Whenever John was trying something out, he'd finish by punching a hole and adding it to the ring. Sometimes he'd write on the back so he could remember how he did something. The customers liked having the choices, and seeing and holding the leather always seemed to encourage sales. Also on this ring are the 3D stamps, alphabet sets and lacing examples. Do you keep a ring too? Got a picture you can share? Johanna

Oh my, Ken- did you try clearing the cookies via the button on the board (midway down the page, on the right)? I have no idea why it is generating that error message- if you haven't fixed this by now, holler back. Johanna

My dad nailed a row of baby food jar lids to a board that he nailed under a shelf above the bench. He stored hardware in the jars, and we just screwed/unscrewed the jars as needed. The clear glass made it easy to see what was inside, so there was no need for labels. I've done the same thing with clear peanut butter jars. The pb jars are bigger and my kids eat a lot of it, so I always have replacements. Johanna

I have the full Adobe Acrobat. If anyone needs a pdf made, email it to: admin@leatherworker.net with PDF in the subject line, and I'll fire it back to you right away. Johanna

Moving this to "Show Off", Jordan. I'll put it back in "holsters, slings and sheathes" in a couple weeks. Johanna

Hey, Tina! Send me hubby's phone number, and I'll try to convince him! I'm still hoping we can meet in Michigan City later this month. Nice bag, thanks for sharing! Johanna

Help us improve ourselves. Comments, feedback and criticism is welcome and appreciated. Johanna

This must be Fate. I was thinking about posting a request for someone to please design the board a logo that can be used on stationary to t-shirts... What a kind and generous offer! Leatherworker.net will take you up on it! Thank you! Johanna

Sorry, Mike- I didn't see this either until akhawkeye bumped it. If the hard drive will still spin, buy a cheap exteranl hard drive enclosure, and put the old one in there. Use another computer to retrieve the files and back them up. To minimize the chances of anyone else having your data, use fdisk or a sturdy hammer. HTH Johanna

Leather Balm with Atom Wax is not technically a "waterproofer", but it does a nice job on armor and other things that will occasionally get wet as a "water resister". Last year I discovered my car had a leak in the trunk driving through torrential rain in Florida's Panhandle. Not a big deal, but Dave Theobald's entry for the IFoLG was in the trunk. It was soaked, but undamaged, and took a Blue Ribbon in the Advanced Division, even after the flooding. Apply leather balm, then rub in, then buff. Buff until your arms get tired, then buff some more. It looks good, and works great. We used the black balm quite a bit on biker items, and never had a problem. Johanna

The people of this site are incredible. Ken has been with us pretty much from the start, and is one of our Ambassadors. In addition to doing outstanding leatherwork and teaching and writing great unselfish lessons, he also welcomes new members to LW and helps folks find their way around our site. Can we get a round of applause for Beaverslayer? Thanks for sharing and caring, Ken. We're all glad you are here. Johanna

Michael, the store manager for the Cincinnati Tandy, hosts an informal workgroup session every other Wednesday after the store closes to the public. Wade and I hopped in the car after work and drove 90 miles to check out the Tandy store and meet the folks. I was a Tandy manager from 1994-1999 when the stores closed (before TLF) so most of the inventory was familiar. I was pleased to see some new tools and patterns available. I was disappointed in the quality of the leather. Even the Royal Meadow seemed dry and brittle. I was shocked to see the deerskin and suedes folded. Folded. The manager explained that the wrinkles would be sprayed with water and ironed out. My last experience trying to iron leather resulted in throwing out the iron and an odor kind of like burning hair, so I'm not sure I'd want to go that route. Michael has lots of enthusiasm, and his workgroup does too. I saw my friend David Theobald, and got to meet Sawyer and his wife, also CW & Scott, two newer members of LW. Michael agreed to help sponsor a new leather guild, and we talked about applying for IFoLG membership at the show in Columbus in September. He figures at least 20 people are serious, and 20 more might join up once it gets going. It's good to see people actively trying to keep leatherwork alive! I was just hanging out, checking all the goodies, when I broke out into hives. David and Wade were surprised at how fast and furious that came on! I haven't been around leather day in day out for 10 years, so apparently I'm a little extra sensitive these days! I was very careful not to touch my face, but my eyes got red and teared, too. Yep, I remember unpacking shipments and then washing my hands, using cortisone cream with lidocaine as a moisturizer! Hard to believe I survived 15 years in a leather shop, huh? We had fun getting to visit with everyone, and looking over the store. I bought a few buckles, some jewelers rouge and some pyramid spots, and Michael tried to sell me a wholesale club membership. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I've bought less than $50 worth of good from Tandy in the last 10 years, since I closed the shop. Wade cracked me up because after he looked all over the shop he whispered to me, "I think we have everything at home, honey!" He never saw my shop "open", but yes, it's well stocked. Looks like something frozen in time, now, half done projects still on the bench. When we got home close to midnight, the kids were asleep and the house was dark, but it was a lovely evening, and thanks to everyone for inviting me. I'm sure the new Cincy Leather Guild will be a success, and I'll do what I can to help it along. I like the way leatherworkers cooperate with each other- what wonderful people leather attracts! Johanna

added to calendar http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?a...amp;event_id=81

Statcounter.com has a nifty little html code you can embed in a site, if your host has no tools available. I'm not sure why your pdfs are growing bigger, unless they are saving all the images more than once? If you insert an image into a Word doc, then drag its sides to change size, all the generated images end up in the corresponding folder. Could the pdf be retaining even the unused images? If you want to email me an example, I'll take a look and let you know what I think is happening. Try changing the size of your images in another program (Paint, Irfanview etc) and then dropping it in Word (don't let Word do the resizing) and see if the pdf problem persists. Johanna

Some dogs are allergic to raw veggie tanned leather, so lining them or using a drum-dyed piece as the inside is not a bad idea. I also saw a poodle with a bright green neck, from a veggie tanned color that was dyed, but then ran. It took a month for the green to be less noticeable on the apricot dog. Welcome to leatherworker.net! (Somebody get Emily a coffee and a doughnut, please?) There are a lot of great people here- hope you enjoy yourself too. Johanna

I have a couple sets in each size. I used to make lots of redneck or "property" belts, and wristbands, and names like mine (2 As and 2 Ns) are easier to do with two alphabets to work from. I don't know if Tandy sells individual letters, but you could always ask. It might be easier just to buy another set and have extra letters available, if you use your alphabet stamps regularly. Johanna

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