Hilly

Mike, if you're getting too much overspray, you need to turn the air pressure down. Airbrushes are something you really have to get aquainted with and like leather tooling.... practice, practice and more practice. Get a good regulator on your air line, between the compressor and the hose for the airbrush, and get some kind of moisture trap, cuz when you least expect it, your airbrush will spit out a drop of water with whatever else you're trying to spray. It can definately wreck your day. If there's someplace on your project that you absolutely do not want overspray, you might try using liquid friskett. It brushes on and wipes off, though I'm not sure how it would work on leather. You might want to experiment there. Or you can get regular friskett, which is a plastic sheet with very low tack adhesive. You apply it, and use an exacto to carefully expose certain areas. Almost forgot to add the previous posters were right when they say your liquid needs to be the consistency of milk. And make sure and clean the brush very thoroughly after using and plan on cleaning the needle tip a lot, depending on what you're spraying. Acrylics tend to dry on the tip a lot more than auto paints. I always kept a small container of solvent (water or laquer thinner) handy, with a small paint brush for cleaning the needle tip and nozzle when needed, and for cleaning the paint cup between colors. My husband and I own a few airbrushes and I've experimented on saw blades and painted some cycle tanks for kicks. He mostly uses them at work on custom paint jobs. Hope this helps. Hilly

If all else fails, try and find someone with an ozone generator. Your best bet might be a used car sales facility. Ask them if they have one, and if they intend to use it soon. If they say yes, ask if you can put that bag in the vehicle with the generator. Ozone removes all traces of organic smells. It will take out the heaviest smoke, or the nastiest B.O. in the world, and leave the vehicle smelling like fresh air. I'm not trying to be funny here, but... I drive a harvester for a large canning company during summer, and belive me, there are some NASTY smells in those cabs! One guy that drove was so fat that he couldn't "take care" of himself and didn't make and effort to practice proper hygiene. Can you say v-o-m-i-t? After a few days with the ozone generator in the cab (during the winter) ALL the smell was gone, and myself and others were able to enter the cab.

I've been looking on the internet for an extra steep beveler without much luck. I've got a couple steep bevelers, but they don't give me the results I want. I don't want to attempt to rework them myself, so the I guess I will have to purchase one. Does anyone know where I can get one/have one made? Thanks!

Yes, once I was to a renaissance fair, but the only "characters" I saw were skinny men in tights and poofy pants eating turkey drumsticks, and fat women in big dresses and bonnets.

It's very beautiful, and your lions are exquisite! Great job! I really have to wonder (in a good way) WHY someone wants it? I just kind of get the creeps thinking of someone wandering around wearing this! Is it for a play, or something? Is it a fetish thing? I mean you just GOTTA wonder about people!

I was talking to a Hide Crafter store employee yesterday, and he told me they are also dropping all the craftool stuff. He said that Tandy won't sell to them anymore, so they're dropping all the "Tandy" tools.

I've had an aluminum canteen for years, and never noticed an off flavor or odor. I also clean it using a mild bleach solution, followed with a rinse of baking soda and water, then plain water. I leave the cap off until it's dry. I've tried plastic canteens, and have always noticed a strong odor and flavor of plastic. Haven't been able to get rid of that. But I question whether the aluminum canteen would cause discoloration of the leather???

Do you know WHY Hidecrafters is discontinuing half their stock?

I wasn't allowed to vote either, so I'll just put my thoughts here.... I've never worked for Tandy, but it might be fun to work there. Any conclusions about Tandy I've expressed in the past have been because of some people that work there, not Tandy itself. On the other hand, I've been greatly helped by another Tandy employee at another store, and he went above and beyond to help me, to help maintain a positive image of the company. If I worked there, my main goal would be to provide good customer service. I feel it would keep repeat customers. Just like when you go to a restaraunt with bad service.... you probably will never go back, just for that reason. And maybe I'd get an employee discount. I actually find Tandy a good resource. Just not the one nearest me.

I belive the book you are looking for is called: Leathercraft Tools *How to use them*How to sharpen them* You can get one at Tandy et al. Have fun learning the craft - it's an interesting journey!

Thanks for teaching me something you don't want to do to leather!

I hear you! I drove 200 miles and 3 hours to TLF for their customer appreciation sale. I wanted some single shoulders which were on sale. Arrived approx 3 hours after the beginning of the sale to find there wasn't one to be had. Store employee told me that someone came in and bought them ALL. I asked " Can you order from another store?" "Nope." "I asked do you gIve rain checks? "Nope, but maybe we could back order, but I'm not sure." So I said I needed some help to get some tools suitable to try my hand at Sheridan work. I was told to "go look in the Sheridan book and see what I needed." Wow, THAT'S what I call customer appreciation! :ranting: So I used my coupon for 50% of any one item in the store on the most expensive book they had, and left the store with one book, and a whole lot of money in my pocket. Also have ordered from them and recieved partial order after waiting for nearly 2 weeks (Thank goodnes for Clay Miller in the S.D. store!). So I ask "Where's the rest of my order?" "Oh, it's on backorder" , to which I reply "Why wasn't I notified?" The store manager says "You mean my assistant never notified you?" so I say "No, please cancel the remainder of my order." They were too lazy to even check other TLF stores to see if my items were available, or they just didn't give a rip. Afer I got home, I was still steamed, so I emailed TLF "Customer Service" dept., and complained about their service. Never heard a word back. I guess they don't care, either. You are NOT alone!

What do you all use for glueing a liner in? I'm making a holster, and I feel ready to try and learn how to line it.

I'm wondering how many use this? Do you feel it makes any difference in your carving/tooling? I used packing tape on the back of my project, and wet it using EcoFlow in the water. I applied it to my 8-9oz. leather until the water no longer soaked in quickly, but not so much as to soak completely through my leather. I set it aside under plastic for about 20 minutes and when I took it out, the leather felt nearly dry. It dried very quickly - dry and no loger cool to the touch in about 75 minutes. I've also used it on 4-5oz. leather, and it dried even faster. <_< I think I prefer using just plain tap water.

Thanks Johanna! See what I mean I'm not a horse person?

Not being a horse person either, I have to wonder why it's a bad thing that the reins get in the trough?

Hi Bill. You have a great beginning to your website. May I suggest that you include a portfolio of your work? One photo just does not do you justice. People want to see more examples of your work. Happy Holidays to you!

I've learned that nothing is as easy as it looks! When carving, always take your swivel knife away from the work if you feel like you are going to sneeze! Always cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze! LOL Always make sure and do your carving in a different area than where you do your cementing! Always have extra needles on hand when hand stitiching! Be aware that dogs love beeswax - especially puppies. Nothing will stick to foreign substances on leather! Never leave leather unrolled where you think your dog or cat can't walk on it. Paw prints don't come off leather very easily. Just when you think you have everything you need to do a project, you'll find you don't. It's really, REALLY hard to keep a basketweave stamp going in a straight line! How do you all do it? I've learned that I have learned very little compared to what I need to know!

I got bad golfer's elbow on both sides. It became so bad that I could not touch anything without feeling like a white hot knife blade was slitting the insides of my elbows. I had surgery on both elbows 5 years ago, and the left one came out perfect, and the right came out kinda so/so, not great. I did lose a lot of strength in both hands to the point that I cannot open twist off caps. That's what husbands or friends are for! The best advice I can give you is to make sure and stretch those tendons as often as you think about it, even if you have to do it at times that it looks really strange to others. Exercise and blood flow to the affected parts is extremely important, so make sure and have your doctor or phys therapist work out an exercise routine for the affected parts. Also, mildly arobic exercise helps with blood flow. Go for a brisk walk at least 20 minutes a day.Take extra vitamin E, as it helps in collagen production, and healing the micro tears in the tendons. I also use physical restraints to the affected muscles to anchor the muscle to the bone before the tendon has to stretch (elbow straps). If you have surgery, keep in mind that if you start using the arm/hand in the same manner as what caused the injury in the first place, the injury is much more likely to recur. My tendon troubles are caused by my job (repetitive motion), and are beginning to return, as I haven't changed occupations. I have 8 years till I can retire, but I doubt I can tough it out that long and still be able to use my arms. It's a choice you need to make for yourself. Also, if you can learn to use your hands/arms in different positions, it will help, but can injure other parts. I'm now beginning to get bad tennis elbow because I use my arms differently than I used to, so different muscles are affected. Carving leather and using a rotary punch really give me grief. Tooling and stamping are fine. I'm trying to talk my husband into helping me with carving and punching holes. Okay, enough ranting from me for now. Thanks for reading.

Hi Jarl. I'm going to put my neck out here and say that unless you have an industrial walking foot machine, or one designed to sew heavy leather, you probably won't be able to sew anything but the very thinnest of leathers. A machine that was intended for tailoring is able to handle fabrics, but does not have the power needed to punch through heavy leather . The industrial machines have very powerful motors and are able to sew as much as 3/4 inch thick leathers . As far as sewing machine feet go, all I ever use is a regular foot, a welt foot, and a zipper foot on my industrial machine. I personally don't see a need for teflon foot, as the walking foot on the machine works differently than a regular sewing machine. If you still have questions, I'm sure someone in the sewing machine forum can answer them better than I.

Try an old cheese grater. Works on my knuckles.

Very nice, Mike. I like your oak leaves a lot. If I carried a big purse, I'd carry that one!

Thanks. I'm glad it's used in a gentle manner, and not as a form of punishment.

I was thinking of making myself a clutch purse, but need a pattern. Anyone want to share one, or know where I can get a pattern for making one?

So what does it do? Does it crack 'em in the jawbones if they misbehave? Bet you can tell I'm not a country girl