Mike Phelps

JWU Tried to send you a PM with attachment. Received an error message that said could not send, recipients mail box is full. Will try again later. Mike

JWU, I did have a two piece pattern I'd made for those style but it been several years since I've used it and it seems to have been misplaced. It was two piece because I'd alter the main body length depending on the min-max length. The billet end of the one in the picture appears to have four holes and the tail end with the buckle has three keyhole slots in it for more adjustment in an attempt to make it a one size fits all or allowing for a quick change to from standing to sitting. That appears to be at least a four inch wide strap tapering to three quarter inch for the belt part. If a person had a guitar in the bottom keyhole wearing it the way it's set up in the picture that buckle would be in the middle of the back. That's the main reason I try and shy away from the one size fits all styles as much as possible. Mike

The world is full of good and gracious folks. All you have to do is seek them out and ask. Mike

Nice work Tom. The cigarette box is cool. Liked the construction of the top portion of the lid and bottom of the cup. Mike

Thanks rdb. I've made some with rifle sling hooks for the adjusters that had a sliding cover for the hardware. Never braided just the loops but after seeing rawhide1's work I'm thinking about it. I'm barely 5ft.10 and with strap button on the heel stock i use a 49 1/2in length. But then my arms are long. If the button was on the upper bout/horn it would be less. I've made the main body of the strap shorter and thought of offering different lengths for the adjustment part, but found when I did that the coupling would hit a taller person in the middle of the back. Not good. So it's better to have a limited range of six inches or so and tailor the main body to the individual. There is a whole range of possibilities in the construction of straps. There is a gal in Australia that is really pushing the envelope. I go to her site for inspiration. I can never rip off her ideas. She is just too talented. Thanks Romey. I intend to start another one like to one you liked so well REAL soon. Mike

Thanks Studio-N A gal that really makes some unique guitar straps is Chantal Corday at pccord.com.

Thanks Mike. I wish all the leather had come from the same source. I'm almost to the point where I can keep those lines going straight down the center of a strap. Made a little jig to butt the strap edge against and kept a triangle close by so the weave didn't spiral down the strap. I really do like hand stitching. It's one thing I can do half decent. I like doing braid work around the edges and seams and appliqués. Both take so long to do it's hard to make it worthwhile except for the self satisfaction.

Howdy Masja! And welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing more of your fine work every chance you get to post. Mike

Phil, Tell me about particular, lol. That's the reason I started making them. One thing I've found out is you can't please everybody and some,,,,, well. Any more I make them to please myself and don't stray far from that. If they want something else they can go somewhere else. One of these days I'm going to get some good bridal leather to make straps with. Mike

Thanks Phil. How you coming with the strap for your working on? Mike

Really like the subtle color variations and how you worked them in the rawhide bracelet. The color contrast with the rawhide and yellow latigo is pleasing also. How many feet of strings and thongs are in each of those bracelets? Just looking there appears to be around 30 feet. That's just a guess from my limited experience at braiding. I'll be glad when my skills at braiding are half as good as yours. Mike

Now if someone can just get Lucy Lawless to don that in a feature length Zena movie. Way too nice to keep on a mannequin. Mike

With this strap I tried a few things a bit different than what I usually do. Some of them didn't work so good and some did. On the shell for the pad I usually cut the bottom part of the shell for the pad 5/8" shorter than the top piece to get an arch to fit over the shoulder. On this one I also cut it an 1/8" narrower to give the top piece a rounded appearance. That didn't work so good as I got a few puckers that wouldn't go away. Might have worked better if I had molded it? It looks pretty good just not what I envisioned. Second I went with a Sam Brown Stud for the adjustment device. Now that worked out fine. I like that and wonder why I've never seen one on guitar straps before. What didn't work so well was when I cut the slot on the wrong side of the hole and had to put a second hole at the other end of the slot. It works alright though and even makes changing adjustments on it a bit easier because once this thing is locked down and under both loops it's not going to come loose. Sewing those loops down on a strap that narrow is a killer. Broke my fine little awl poking angled holes through 3 pieces of leather. Because I had to double up the leather for the adjustment piece gave me stitches all around the border I decided to put stitches around the rest of the strap also and why have stitches just for decoration. So I did something else I've never done on a belt or strap. I put a lining on it. Used some undyed pigskin. It's nice and soft but not very thick. Learned not to be so haevy handed with the glue because when I cut the excess lining away it left some fuzz from the lining and dried along the edge that had to be sanded off. No Stains, no dyes, no antiquing, just "Tan Kote" on everything. Strap is 1 inch wide, 1&1/2 inches on the Snake Head ends, 8oz. veg-tan. Pad is 3&1/2 inches wide by 13 inches long 6oz veg-tan with 7/8in. gold shearling Adjustment lengths are 46-53. Mike

I really like/liked my little C.S. Osborne too Kate, you just have to put it in at 45% to get the diamond hole. The blade became loose I reamed the hole and put a maple dowel in it. re affixed the blade, it saw about the same number of holes, one thousand+?, and came out again. I love the small hole even when using heavy 6 cord thread. The two leaf blades with the 4in1 Craftool are just too big. So I went back to using the small 4 prong diamond thonging chisel and while it does speed things up considerably the holes are just a little too close together and can still see daylight between the edge of the hole and the 6 cord thread until the thread gets hammered down. Hilly just turn the leaf blade on the 4in1 tool at a 45% to get the diamond hole and unless your using thread the size of winch cable don't push it very deep. I'm in the process of honing the blades down to usable size on mine.

Wolvenstien, if I remember correctly it was the late 1980's early 90's when Auz, required registration of all guns and owners, plus set limits on the number an individual could own, the manner in which they could be kept plus required a legitimate proof of need to be approved by local authorities. Saw pictures of literally tons of long arms being dumped into smelters. And these weren't junk guns or relics, nice looking, well cared for Browning A5's, Winchester Model 12's. It was all pretty well documented in Arms and Man and American Rifleman. Some of the commentary said how many generations will pass before the individual right to bear arms by Australians is forgotten. A lot sooner than anyone would have imagined if a 43 year old urbanite from Auz has no recollection of it existing. Mike

Elegance Romey, True elegance.

Hey Jim if you throw some heat at the barge, like with a high output hairdryer or heat gun, it will get tacky and slippery again. I've heard of shoemakers doing this. At the end of a shift if they've got a bunch of soles with the Barge already applied they just go home come in the next morning heat them up and put them on. I've worked as a welder for years. I sometimes I would have to stand in one place and gouge a seam with an arc gouger. Molten metal would pile up around my feet. When I finished I would step away and the soles of my boots would stay there. The Barge cement had gotten too warm and turned loose.

leatheroo, In response to #14 where you asked why we feel the need. That is the one thing, in mine and many others that does not exist. We were raised with them and all my ancestor were also. The majority of them were Scots-Irish that landed on these shores and went straight into the unsettled, by whites anyway, Appalachia before or by 1750. There was no government there and no law other than what we made. Some of my ancestors came here from Austria as mercenaries to fight for the British during the French and Indian Wars with the promise of land grants. Before the ink was dry on the Louisiana Purchase we were on our way west ahead of the government. Some of my ancestors had even pushed into Texas before Austin's Colony with Wilkerson's and Burr's ill fated colony, dirty double and triple dealing Wilkerson. We have never relied on the government to keep us safe. We are the government. We are the law enforcement. We are the Armed Forces. And we are armed and we practice marksmanship like the duty that it is.

Johnsons Paste Wax [floor wax, yellow can] works. Plust there are some waxes made for the metal parts of firearms that will serve this purpose, one made by Birchwood Casey comes to mind, knife makers use a similar product. Do a search under gunsmithing and knifemaking supplies. With any of these products you don't have to worry about oils getting on the leather or oily salts from your hands putting corrosive spots on your steel tools.

I'm sure there are edgers at there that will handle that but I just take my #5 craftool edger and make several passes, high, low and in between until it is reasonable then dye, ink if I'm going that route then when dry apply,water, gum targ, there ain't no best way just what works best for you, sometimes and this is getting to be my favorite of late, just warm up the edge with a hair dryer hit with the beeswax and go to work with the burnishers, my round nylon slicker that chucks up in a drill won't do edges that wide without putting ruts in it[not good, been there], until and this takes a lot of hard and fast elbow grease, the I get all the edges to close up, fill until you get it looking smooth. If you've got a gouge in the welt or on the inside edge that won't smooth up after hitting it with the sandpapers, edgers and stuff during prep for edge treatment you can mix up some leather dust with a drop of Leather Weld cement and fill then blend it in with sandpaper when dry, it's got to be a pretty dry mix or the glue won't take the dye or other treatment well and be a slightly lighter color, but it's better than a ugly nick.

I can easily hurl potential lethal projectiles quickly and easily with any number of system. The logic of banning guns and knives makes as much sense to me as banning lungs because they can intake potentially lethal substances including that dreadful oxidizer, oxygen.

Nice boots, Had a pair similar to those decades ago. Those were my smugglers but that's a whole different off topic thread and I don't much resemble that guy anymore. How many square feet and what weight split/suede did you use.

Welcome rdb Good to see another strap maker on here. Just uploaded some images of one I've got on the bench. Was going to wait until it was finished but what the heck, I'm waiting for the finish to dry before I stitch a liner on. This one is a bit of a departure from what I usually do in several aspects. i might be going to hell in a bucket but at least i'm enjoying the ride Mike

What a simple, elegant design Skip. A big "DOH!" went off when I saw the construction views. I too dislike snaps, buckles, strings encumbering tools and arms. Very nicely done. Thanks for posting. Mike

Thanks Dave, Much more clear, in my mind anyway, than in the "encyclopedia of leather and rawhide braiding". Encompassed a guitar strap and pad a while back with a "Round Mexican Braid" and it took 12 hours and more than 50 yards just to lace. Used the el-cheapo bonded lace so didn't have much of a problem with string stretch and breakage but thought it would look so much better with a better quality lace. The cost of undertaking a project like that put it on the backburner. But now---- well things have changed, at least my perception has changed. Thanks for posting Dave. Mike