Redochre

That's some great work for such a little time scale. Suggestions: firstly the leather looks like its been saturated. It's either gotten too wet when you've stained it or it hasn't fully dried before it was worked. The stitching looks good for the most part, just some practice with the irons and it'll near flawless. The edges need a bit more finishing or not finished at all. However these are mainly things that only a leather worker will notice. Did you by any chance use Tandy leather?

I would suggest making your own leather conditioner. Equal parts oil,tallow and wax. What oils and wax are best is debatable, everyone seems to have their own preference. Personally I use a vegetable oil because that's what the veg in vegtan stands for and wax wise I prefer beeswax because it smells nice and doesn't go shiny. If you want shiny throw in some parrafin wax. However the tallow is essential, because during the tanning process its fat that gets lost more than oil..... At least that's how I understand it.

Dougster that is in no way shape or form exceptable behaviour by that particular manager. With the amount of money you've spent there they have already made a pretty healthy profit off of you. If they have done this with you then they have done it to someone else, head office should really know about it. I can only speak from experience with Tandy UK, I've found them a terrible company to deal with. The only reason I dealt with them was because of one particular employee who was a wealth of knowledge and was also honest about the stunts Tandy pull.....He has now left One example is the royal meadow promotions they do.... He openly told me they rebranded craftsman oak sides.....

This is where I want to be

I might as well just hang my tools up for good....

Hi Monica. Edge finishing is the bane of my existence! I haven't made anything to sell for months now simply because I'm not satisfied with things like the edges. I've had 1 wallet comeback because the edge paint peeled off on the fold so I stopped using it after that. So its back to good old fashioned hand finishing... Though I have just ordered a power burnisher for my dremel because I've given myself tennis elbow doing it by hand. Too actually answer your question though... After 4 years I still don't know what I'm doing... So I've stopped selling until I do.

Thank you for taking the time too write this. I've given up with this stuff, I can get a nice finish but the durability just isn't there.

Dear Novices everywhere....... This is how its done. Well done that man.

Does anyone else lay awake at night trying to figure out how to construct something or find a solution to a problem you hit on the bench? If so what's the best break through you've had? I sometimes go through the motions in my head too, just laying there in the dark, mentally practising my stitching, visualising the sequence. The funny thing is I'm not even that good... Yet.

I had the same problem with a shoulder I had from metropolitan.... It stunk my flat out. I found that airing the shoulder out helped considerably but did no fully remove the smell. I did find along with the smell it just wasn't very nice to work with. Have you contacted your supplier?

You can melt down old milk jugs in the oven to make the head.

I'm currently experimenting with equal parts beeswax,parrafin wax,vegetable oil and beef tallow. So far it does a cracking job, even turns the cheap shite Tandy leather into something semi decent.

Hi art thank you for the excellent reply. I don't know about the Barnsley knife,the grind looks badly done, I've included a link. http://www.artisanleather.co.uk/saddlers-round-knife-868-p.asp

Im looking to buy my first round knife. Ive narrowed it down to a Geo Barnsley at £40 or the don carlos at £35. Ives used the search but cant find as much info as Id like. Does anyone have any experience with these particular brands? The barnsley is sheffield and the carlos is solingen so in theory they should both be good steel? As a fly ball there is an Ivan Leatherworks pro head knife for £25.

Terry those are cracking! Wil you be selling any?

Firestorm that is spectacular! May I ask how you treated it?

I have used cotton webbing in dog collars as an experiment. 2 layers of 38mmx1.5mm dyed through shoulder with a narrower cotton strap in between. Glued using contact cement. Worked great, no distortion. That said if I had 3mm or thicker leather to use I would of just used that.

That's a cracking bit of workmanship that is!

You're stitching improving, its good to see. Well done that man.

That's a cracking looking belt! That awl is beautiful too.

It's a difficult one. I'm welsh so I know all about trying to keep leather boots dry. It rained so much one summer I lost all the veg I planted.... Rotted in the ground. And I don't think I have yet to find a 100% garaunteed way of water proofing. I've tried numerous over the counter waxes, sprays,Creme's.... Etc. Nothing works for prolonged periods, Usually though it is a seel that goes. However it has kept boots in good condition, I have batterd boots in the woods, getting stuck in bogs, breaking through brambles and just general abuse. You could try ko-cho-line. Its made for saddlery and harness's so should take a good amount of abuse. How ever you should be careful because over conditioning will ruin leather. You could even make your own from bees wax, paraffin wax and a carrier oil. Throw some tallow in too. The good thing about home made stuff is you add more wax for more protection. Hopefully someone on here would have experience with this problem and give you a better answer than I could.

Thank you for your generosity. Some genuinely useful stuff there.

If you're dying at home, is wanting to make heirloom quality a reality? I'm struggling to see how it could be. Is buying dyed through the better option for items with no carving? Also, don't forget to be awesome people

Have you asked the skate supplier for recommendations?

Thank you for your replies guys. Anyone else wanna weigh in on this?