Johanna

Some people clean leather with oxalic acid or lemon juice before dyeing it. Some people oil leather, too. Others will point out that leather is a natural product, and it's supposed to look a little uneven to look real. I think it depends on the particular hide you are using, and your own style. We were always careful in the shop not to lay leather on newspaper, get ball point ink marks on it, keep our hands clean and that kind of thing, but if we did, oxalic acid usually did the trick. No two hides will take dye, oil or cleaner the same, and no hide will be consistent throughout. It does keep things interesting. Johanna

Good grief, Ed, you're trying to set copper rivets with a poly mallet? Get yourself a maul and save your elbow the reverberations! If you're going to be doing this full-time, you have to take care of your hands and arms. You can seriously hurt yourself, over time, using a poly mallet trying to do heavy hardware pounding. I use the rawhide maul in the shop for 3-D stamps, alphabets, all hardware and anything I need to whack hard. On the smaller snaps and rivets, the weight of the maul is enough to set them, and it saves time and effort. A maul only costs maybe $20-$25 from HC or Tandy. Johanna

**Johanna picks herself up off the floor after looking at a Hermes bag for $56,000. (If I spend that kind of money, it better have doorknobs and windows and a mailbox in front!) Pat, when I used to have a shop, I used to fix one or two of those fancy bags every week. They often use crappy hardware and leather-like material on designer bags, but they do have a fancy label and price tag to justify the price. Regardless, you made an excellent point about noting the trends, and modernizing "classic designs". We have to do this in order to put a $300 tag on a purse that's actually worth the money (it will last a lifetime plus) and SELL it. Johanna

"The Cowboy Capital of the World" has some of the most outstanding mustaches ever found in one place! (Some of the members of my family are hard of hearing, and I forget how much I read lips out of habit, until there are no lips in sight!) What a fascinating subject- an important history, interesting cast of characters, and pride in our unique American heritage. Thanks for sharing that, Bruce. The forum is not set to accept embedded video (at this time) but to show a link and make it light up and be "clickable", just press Control and c to copy on the address bar. If you type the URL, just make sure you start it with "http://" Johanna

Hello, Gray, and welcome! I can tell you're going to fit in just fine, we all have "alternative rooms". To upload pictures, look for the "upload attachments" button on the right side of your screen after you click reply or post a new topic. The forum software will automatically shrink them into a thumbnail image. If you have any problems, holler, and someone will help you out. Glad to have you here. Johanna

Oh, I've got "Tinkeritis" real bad. I'm on a roll- 12 hours at the keyboard, and only quit for coffee! Look out... neat things are coming our way (if I don't break something first!) Johanna

How far away from Pittsburgh are you? The Pitt Pounders and the Buckeye Leathercraft Guild (Columbus) are both excellent sources of information and fellowship. We are trying to get some volunteers to do online video demos- would that help you? Don't get discouraged. Most of us started out in the same boat. Johanna

OOOPS Sorry, guys, I was tweaking for some improvements today. Everything okay now? I added a new "who was online today?" feature, and I changed the registration to ask in a drop down menu if "Are you a human?" to try and cut down on the computer generated registrations I have to manually delete. Please let me know if you are still experiencing any problems, because I think I fixed everything that I did break today. Johanna

"Rawhide" is untanned leather. If you don't regularly skin animals, a bloody 30 square foot hide of a loved one may be distressing and upsetting to the people (horses?) that see it and know who it is. I'm not sure exactly what you had in mind to make from her hide, but rawhide isn't used for harnesses and reins anyway. Have you contacted any deer processing places or taxidermists with your request? Ask a butcher or slaughterhouse if they know any tanners who do custom work. I would expect this will cost quite a bit, and exceed what you could buy similar leather for at retail. I guess I tend to think of dogs and horses as friends, not meat and hides, so to me, it seems macabre. Johanna

Gosh, Dave, don't you just feel older than dirt some days? My daughter asked me why it wasn't "greatful" dead, and what did "grateful dead" mean, anyway? I knew the answers, and can hum the songs, too. Anyway, you did some (here comes a pun) "great" work again, as usual. I'm disappointed you aren't going to enter a seat in the show, because I think you could earn a ribbon. I'm looking forward to the tutorial on lacing, too, and holler if you want any technical help putting it together. You do amazing work, and I'm glad you keep sharing with us. Johanna :hug:

Thank you, gtwister09, for sharing your pics of the Stohlman Museum in Sheridan Wyoming, with all of us. These pictures include the famous carved workbenches, tracing patterns and some leather carving examples. Stohlman Museum Enjoy! Johanna

My daughter just reminded me of another helpful piece of advice. "Limited Accounts". In the Control Panel of your admin account in Vista & XP you can create accounts for teenagers, and decrease or elevate permissions. My kids know that certain activities will cause the computers to prompt them with an admin okay dialog, and will usually clear it with me ahead of time. This is a feature that makes the computer pause and prompt for an admin password before it does something that can potentially wreck the computer's day. The kids no longer download every funky infection that accompanies the junk paraded in front of them on many of the popular kids' sites that says "Click here!" which dramatically improves the life expectancy of Windows. It also makes me visit the computer now and then to see what they are up to, sneaky kids. Each kid also has his or her own account, and they are responsible for any activity on that account, which means they actually protect their privacy and don't let their friends do stuff they know they are not allowed to do on the family computers. My kids are 8, 9, 10 & 13 so you can imagine the consequences of unsupervised surfing! Aaarrgghh!! I refuse to share a computer with them, but limited accounts have saved me hours and hours of maintenance time, and it's worth the occasional interruption to type in an okay for an authorized activity. If you have to share your computer with your kids, this option makes good sense for your peace-of-mind. Johanna

This tongue-in-cheek list was written for PCMech, one of my regular stops on the Internet Highway. It's got some practical advice to prevent your computer from choking, clogging up and leaving you stranded. If anyone wants more information, I'll be glad to explain in excruciating detail. Prevention is always easier than the cure, but it's never too late to clean up your computer. This has got some great advice that anyone can follow to avoid computer crawl. Johanna How to Clog Up your Computer in 10 Easy Steps by Force Flow Computing habits often have an effect on how well your computer runs. If you’re aware of what can hurt your computer’s performance, you can save yourself some aggravation by cutting down the time you have to wait for software to load or for Windows to boot. Here are ten ways to get your computer to run slower than molasses on a cold day in September. 1) Install Every Anti-Spyware and Anti-Virus Application You Can Find If one is good, several have to be better, right? Some people think so. If you’re one of those people, this could be a very good reason why it takes forever to start the computer, open up your browser, or open up a Word document. So, trim the fat. All you really need is one firewall, one anti-virus package, and a couple anti-spyware applications (the kind that don’t hog resources, such as adaware, spybot, and hijackthis). 2) Install Every Widget You Can Find Widgets are cool. They can tell you the weather, they can tell you CPU utilization, they can display pictures of your family and friends, or they can even show you a map. But after a while, they tend to add up if you start to have a fair number of them all running at the same time (and especially if you have so many installed that you don’t really know what they’re for anymore), it’s time to get rid of a few. 3) Have All Your Programs Run at Startup It’s convenient to have everything load up when Windows starts. After all, you use Real Player, QuickTime, MSN, Y!, AIM, Steam, Office, and many more programs all the time. Unfortunately, you have to make 3 trips for coffee by the time you can actually see and use your desktop. All the little icons you see in the system tray in the lower right near the clock load at startup. You can either go to Start > Run > and type “msconfig” (without quotes) and go to the “Startup” tab. Once there, stretch out the file patch. That should give a good hint as to what each program is. If you’re still stumped, do a Google search for the filename. If a program still boots with Windows after taking it out of msconfig, hunt around in each program’s settings or preferences to turn off the option “automatically start when Windows starts” (or words to that effect). ** Mike Lin's StartUpCPL puts a tab in your Control Panel that allows you to select what programs start at your Windows boot. Johanna 4) Visit Every Known Warez and Pornography Site on the Internet (Especially Without Protection) Nothing wrong with downloading some *cough* free stuff, right? Chances are good that these sites are infested with viruses, trojans, spyware, malware, and whatever else these guys can dream up. Your weakness for sites with these free goodies is your loss and their gain. Especially if you have no firewall, AV software, or spyware utilities installed (although, note Step #1 about overdoing it). It’s even more embarrassing when the neighborhood teenage techie tells you what caused the problems. Moral of the story? Be careful about wandering around in the Internet’s red light and underground districts. If you do choose to lead this lifestyle, don’t use Internet Explorer. Porn sites are known to have secret ActiveX downloads that sneak onto your computer. Let’s call it a STD on the internet. The easy way to avoid the ActiveX problems is to use a browser that does not support ActiveX (Opera, Firefox). Earlier this week, I cleaned a machine with over 100 viruses on it. Let’s just say my customer had been doing some naughty things and his computer was watching. 5) Install Every Piece of Shareware and Freeware You Can Find Lots of people have software on their PCs to do all sorts of things. Some have many pieces of software that do the same thing. All these pieces of software confuse and confound your poor PC. When you’re no longer using a piece of software; uninstall it - especially if you have other applications that do the same thing. Most programs come with an uninstaller that appears in the Start > Programs menu next to the program’s shortcut. If not, you can always go into the Control Panel and go to Add/Remove Programs (or Programs and Features in Windows Vista). Having too many odd-ball programs installed tends to clog up the works (and even some choice well-known ones do as well). 6) Instead of Using Bookmarks/Favorites, Leave 90 Tabs Open I was actually guilty of this one. Any page I wanted to reference that I recently visited, I left open in a browser tab to go back to later. As a result, my browser took about 2 trips of coffee to open. Organize your favorites using folders and sub-folders, name the bookmarks according to what makes sense to you, and not what the title of the webpage says, and close tabs when you’re done with them. Your browser will then happily load up within a few seconds, which will be especially beneficial on slower Internet connections. 7) Put as Many Files and Folders on the Desktop as You Can Some people store their pictures of their pets, their MP3s, or even their downloads right on their desktop. Pretty soon that adds up to be quite a lot of data (several gigs worth in many cases). The first thing your PC tries to do when it finally boots up is load the desktop, and that means everything on it. As you can imagine, going through a large number of files (especially if they’re large) will increase the amount of time it takes for everything to fully load. So, make use of the Windows file system, shortcuts, and possibly folders to group some of those shortcuts together (Audio, Video, Graphics, Games, Chat, etc.). Remember, you can also create shortcuts of almost anything by right clicking on the file or folder > “Send To” menu > “Desktop”. That will create a shortcut icon on the desktop. 8. Never Empty Your Recycle Bin Out of sight, out of mind right? Once you delete a file, it just disappears into some black hole never to be seen again. Not quite. When deleted, most files end up in the Recycle Bin, and while there are files there, they still take up disk space. So it’s good to empty it every once in a while by right clicking on the Recycle Bin icon > Empty Trash. 9) Never Delete Your Temporary Files Temporary files are just that–temporary. These are files that are created through the course of normal operations on your PC, but most of the time, just get left behind after a program is done using them. So, it’s good to clean them out every so often since the accumulation of them tends to clog up the works a bit. To get rid of them, go into “My Computer” and right click on your C drive and click “Properties”. Click “Disk Cleanup”. This can take anywhere between 10 seconds and 30 minutes to load, depending on how many of these files are kicking around and if you addressed some of the previous steps for clogging up your computer. Once loaded, you can check anything with the word “temporary” in it, as well as “Office Setup Files”, and “Recycle Bin” (yes, you can empty the recycle bin more than one way). It’s best to leave the other items unchecked unless you know what they are. A quick Google search will most likely reveal what they are. 10) Never Defrag Your Hard Drive Over time when more and more files get saved to a drive, they get split up into different pieces, so instead of a nice mosaic floor, you end up with a bunch of jumbled puzzle pieces that your computer needs to figure out how to put back together for the files you want. This is where defragging comes in. It reorganizes all those loose pieces and puts them all back together in sequential order, helping to speed up access time, thus making your computer run a bit better. You can run the Windows Defrag utility about once a month (or more frequently if you have a lot of disk activity) in Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. There are many other ways and pieces of software to defrag a drive, so this is by no means the best or fastest method–just the most easily accessible. The Thrilling Conclusion By avoiding these situations and doing a little preventative maintenance, your PC will be feel much better and will seem much more responsive. All of these steps are relatively simple, and if they don’t seem so, just try going through the motions at least once–I’m sure it will “click”. Unclogging your PC can be as much fun as clogging it, especially when you get that feeling when you start the machine and do not wait 10 minutes for it to load! PCMech article by Force Flow here

Why don't you announce a time you can be available to talk about this with anyone who wants to on "Live Chat"? Maybe you could put together an oak-leaf contest? I can try to hustle up a few prizes. Another outstanding tutorial Clay, great pics to illustrate, too. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us all. Johanna

I heard through the grapevine that Tandy has Hebrew alphabet stamps available now. I don't know the alphabet, of course- how do they look? Johanna

Hey, B- bet Harry was proud to have you as a student. I really like the depth and texture of your floral carving. It looks very attractive. Regis- I like the pattern I can see in the thumbnail, but it won't open up. I like those kind of glasses cases better than the slide kind, but I have to use heavy leather or the glasses get smashed in my purse. Johanna

Brandon- I would really love to see a pic of the carving in the above pic close up. I didn't know you did floral carving, but maybe I did. Didn't you once say Harry R. was an early teacher of yours? Somehow I have it stuck in my head that you did more fabrication than carving, guess I was wrong. I'd love to see some detail there. SJM1027- for custom orders like that it is easiest to create your own pattern. Use some cheap fabric or a heavy paper bag from a store to make a pattern you like. It lets you see where your attachments and hardware needs to be before you start cutting your leather. To make a glasses case you just need to fold a piece of leather, with one stitch line. The glasses will slide in and out. Stich a half piece with it on one side for a pocket. Upgrade and sell the customer an attractive case that fits on his belt or with a shoulder strap and enough room for a camera. You are only limited by imagination. Johanna

The title of a page before this one was "do it yourself saddle repair", so I couldn't resist looking. How to set a rivet This shows step-by-step how to set a copper rivet. Johanna

I usually do the first buff with plain water, until I get a feel for how the leather is going to accept the rubbing. If it squishes down the way I want it to, then I usually finish with Leather Balm with Atom Wax by Fiebings. I use gum tragacanth on the occasional stubborn hide that needs the Elmers Glue quality gum trag has to make the fibers compress. On really rough edges you can use a fine sandpaper to prep it for the water buff. I know I'm not explaining this well, someone else want to chime in here? After awhile you just get a feel for which can to reach for next, depending on how the hide acts. Since each hide is unique, there is no "right" answer. Johanna

I really like the shoes, too. My girls would not only love wearing them, they would enjoy making them, and you gave me a few ideas! I don't know if I would sew them or rivet them, but if I sewed them, I would go through the sole bend with a Dremel tool. Zip, zip done. One thing I would do is to dampen the edges and have the girls buff hard with a piece of scrap, then some sailcloth or denim, and then probably rub one of the edge dressings in and buff some more with sheepswool. If you apply enough heat (friction) you can almost "melt" the two layers together. Smoothing the edges of projects is just a nice finishing touch. Thanks for the good ideas, JWU! Johanna

I'm just curious what resource was the most help to an aspiring leatherworker through the years. Everybody think back. What one resource gave you the most assistance when you were first starting out, and which one would you rather have had? Which one taught you the most? What did you like about learning leather the way you did? What would have been better? Please tell us what kind of leather education you would suggest to a newbie. Thanks, everybody! Johanna

Grabowski has to be Dale Grabowski, Grandpa's Pastime. http://www.grandpas-pastime.com/ He makes a number of useful items for leatherworkers out of wood. edit- found it "Sit-n-stitch" http://www.grandpas-pastime.com/stitch.htm Johanna

Randy- don't do it, or you'll end up getting banned from the IILG or sued by Tandy. Johanna

Hmmm...I'm trying to think of the last time I had steak in a restaurant, and I'm pretty sure it was before marriage and kids, and thus a distant (but fond) memory. How to cook a steak: heat cast iron skillet with canola oil (will get hotter temp than reg oil) until a drop of water sizzles rub beef with pepper put steak in pan, turn once eat My sister turned me on to "Cavender Greek Seasoning" a couple of years ago. I like it on steak, in vegetable soup, meatloaf, fried potatoes and so on. What goes well with a good steak? Baked potato and asparagus. My neighbor moved, and she told me to dig up her "schpargle" beds. (I have no idea how to spell the German word, but I knew exactly what she meant!) I planted about 8 X 4 ft. in my garden, and for a month or so in the summer, we are in schpargle heaven. The kids don't like it, of course, and since fresh asparagus is $5.99 a pound in the store for most of the year, it's just as well. Johanna

I don't think there would be any problem with posting tool reviews in the tool forum. We might learn something new about the tool from the different perspectives and experiences. People could refute or confirm another's impressions, so no thread would seem "one-sided". You have really good ideas, Regis, keep 'em coming! Johanna