Hilly

I agree about the Rober Black DVD's! Hey, if they can teach ME how to do a turkshead knot, they can teach anyone how to!

You can get tanned beaver tail leather here. Scroll down near the bottom of the page. Merry Christmas! Hilly

I've participated in one of the PIFs, and would like to again, but not till after the beginning of the new year. Too busy with my family and Christmas plans to do one at this time, as I'm sure are many others here. Merry Christmas! Hilly

Vivaldi "Four Seasons" is a great album. Winter is my favorite.

Vivaldi, please re-read my earlier post. I said it is roughly half the diameter of Tandy's waxed LINEN thread. I don't know whether or not Tandy sells waxed nylon. Have a Merry Christmas.

How unique! Love it!

One of our members, Anne Newkold, covered an entire wooden chest with tooled panels of leather. I have seen larger pieces of furniture that was covered in leather. What about making a covered box like the ones that copier paper comes in, and covering it in leather? You could make it deeper if you wanted to. Just make sure the inside dimensions are correct. OR, the book "The Art of Making Leather Cases" series has an interesting project for a briefcase that could be adapted for your needs.

Vivaldi, here's some more info that will probably help you. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=20998&pid=135368&st=0entry135368

Hello, and welcome! Your stitches look very nice, and you are right about the size of the holes in relation to the size of the thread. Those Tandy 4 in 1 awls are good for the birds as far as stitching goes. You would be much better off buying yourself one of those C.S.Osborne diamond point awls, IMO. You can find them on the Tandy (and others) website. These make much smaller holes than the Tandy 4 in 1 awls, and your stitching will look neater. Frankly, that prewaxed linen thread that Tandy sells is not very nice thread. It might do in a pinch for large projects, or to tether your dog, but it is much too heavy for smaller items such as wallets and checkbooks, etc. As far as thread goes, Royalwood sells prewaxed linen thread in many colors and several sizes. They sell a sample card for $2 that gives you samples of the different size threads and the different colors so you can judge for yourself which size is suitable for your project. The only problem I find with prewaxed thread is that there is always way too much wax on the thread. You can fix this by folding a piece of heavy brown paper over the thread and rubbing back and forth very briskly. This melts the wax further into the thread and removes excess at the same time. Makes the thread much easier to work with. Also, don't get sticker shock when looking at linen threads. It's quite expensive. A #1 spool Barbours unwaxed linen thread costs more than $40, so the smaller spools that Royalwood sells can be a good alternative, especially if you want different colors. As to thread size comparisons, Barbours 5 cord is roughly 1/2 the diameter of Tandy's waxed linen thread. This size is great for smaller items. For larger items, use a larger size such as 7 or 8. Now I'm going to let someone else here jump in and offer advice on needle sizes, and where to get them.... I hardly ever hand stitch any more, as I'm spoiled beyone belief with 2 nice stitching machines. Good luck, and have fun.

I always just used a sharp stick to poke out my mind's eye, or washed my brain out with soap!

There's a unique idea.

Check out Beaverslayer's vest tutorial on the main page.

Sorry I can't relate, but I can sympathize, right? Having any kind of painful condition sucks, especially at this time of year when we need to be sooooo busy! Hope your shingles go away quick.

Thanks everyone. I called Springfield leather, and the woman I talked to said they'd probably be carrying CF inserts by Jan 1, 2010.

I haven't cased anything in a looooong time. I just use a spray bottle. I spray on a bunch of water, let it soak in, wait a few minutes till the leather starts returning to a dry color, then tool away. There's been times where after tooling a piece that I find a very small spot that I'd like to work on further. I'll often take a small paint brush to moisten the leather in a really small spot. It works for me because I rarely have time to finish a whole project before my leather dries out. In the winter time with the furnace drying the house out, even heavy weight leather tends to dry out in no time. This is only what works for me. Do what works for you.

Does anyone know of a supplier of Chaylor Fenneli inserts here in the U.S.? I'm looking for the A4100 notebook/folder insert. I know there is someone in Arizona who carries them, but I don't have a name or contact info for them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

That would be somewhere near Curtis?

A stitch groover and an overstitch wheel or pricking chisel might be handy.

Neat! I like it. Looking forward to seeing the finished work!

Welcome, and screw that "Happy Holidays" stuff! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Beautiful work! Whoever gets that is gonna love it!

Wow, that sure is.................................green Seriously, nice work! A lot of tools are gonna find a home in there. Hilly Another Wisconsin boonie dweller.

Very nice work. The large photos show all the fine detail.

Yes, this is a nice book. I bought it a couple years ago, and still pick it up every now and then.