rdb

Please, Please, Please, Please, make it go away........If I want "Red State", or Faux News, I know how to use the url bar!

Thanks again, Steve! Hey, I was thinking. Since we sold you all thouse extra "u"s we don't use, maybe we could offer you some "g"s, as in thinkin' and grinnin'... You could use them in words like plow, and spell them like "plough". We could save billions in typin time, alone...lol. Where's UKRay when you need him..... Now, back to the bag. I'll be showing it off this weekend, to see people's reactions. It will have a "Not for sale" sign on it, but I'll ask what people think, and what they might be willing to pay for something like this. IF in real life, the people might like it, I have an updated version, and a similar model in mind...stay tuned.

There is nothing better than a round knife, or head knife for leatherwork. Rotary cutters, razor blades all can have a use, but are limited, too. The traditional knife can do it all. The new user will have nothing but trouble with a round knife off the retail shelves. They AIN'T sharp enough!! That's where the cuts, and slips come from! A properly sharpened one can't be beat. It will cut light and heavy leathers. It will cut true straight edges, and slice complicated curves like a snake through brush. I am never more comfortable than when using one. There's no gritting of teeth, or hanging tongues. You can sharpen a $40 dollar one just as well as a $200 one, you'll just have to do it more often. I still use the one I bought in 1972 from Tandy, it's a tad smaller now, though! I keep putting off buying one of the nicer ones until I'm rich and famous...could be a while...lol

Thanx Timbo and Madmax... Can't wait to see what you come up with Timbo. Your right, of course Madmax, whatever we design and build, the user has the final say just how they use our products, and what they eventually look like after use...lol. Back in the 70s, I used to make all kinds of that old hippy-type leather stuff. People put all sorts of things in them...lol. The times have changed, that's for sure, although a lot of the traditional "western" styles have remained, a lot of craftspeople have tried to update to some modern look. They use computer software to design bags now. Mechanical draftsman do the designing, and then they build or use specific machines to construct these mathematically convoluted wonders. I still think that it's the "trial and errors" of us people who work with our hands and minds that actually comes up with the true wonders of the craft. A newbie, who hasn't a clue of how to make a simple case, can and will often come up with whole new ways of looking at things. Personally, I like life outside the box...lol

Phew! I'm tired just looking at all that work.... Nice job Tina. I don't see any boo boos from my house, that's for sure.

Real nice "possibles" bag SteveJ! The dutch design is classic and you pulled it off beautifully

Welcome Marietje! You'll find plenty of people from over there on the Board, and growing larger by the day. We all win! The Guilds started over there, looks like there'll be enough of you to start another one up soon.

Thanks Luke, you must have written just as I was, about the stitching. Thanks Steve and Tina. I hope the molding/moulding opens the creative ports....or would that be "pourts"...lol I might be wrong about the weight. It might be a 3-4 oz, seems kind of thick to be 2-3. To mold, I just cut out a 1" board, and rounded the edges...laid down the leather, then tacked it on the outside edges. You can push the basic shape when its fully wet, but the trick is to let it set to dry and leave it for awhile. Come back at intervals to final shaping. Sloppy wet is not the time to bone fold or crease. Hand/finger shape for a time, then as the leather starts to dry out, you can finalize.

Thanx badger, and Tom. I was tempted to sew tight to the mold line. like in a holster, then realized, by not doing that, the bag stretches out better. My only question will be whether the molding stays mostly intact after long term use. We'll see, I guess.

It's raining here, so my usual dodgy picture taking is even worse...lol Just trying something new. I've seen something similar before, but I don't remember much about it...I just liked the shape. I've never seen this type again, so go figger. I think the one I saw had a gusseted front, but since I'm doing a lot of molding lately, I thought that's what I do here. It's slim, that's for sure, but it holds a suprising amount, plus the little inside "vested" pocket. And I added a key ring thingy. The next one, I'll add a cellphone pouch to the top right body, maybe even fit in a pen type pouch somewhere. 2-3 oz leather from Zack White...very clean, and nice to work with. At this point, just neatfooted. Later I'll add some aussies, or snow proof, or some such. I consider this a prototype, so any suggestions are mightily welcome.

That is just fandamntastic! Better clean off the bench, this could lead to some business... Make sure you get us the transcript!!!!!!! I love how they have 60 subscribers. That doesn't seem like much, but I'll bet they are the serious ones, and each one knows 10 others.

Don't let Johanna trick you into using all those "girly" things...glasses, plates, candle holders. Guys will use shotgun shells, beer bottles, and rolls of duct tape!....lol

Hilly..backup to your external for sure! NOW! New machines generally have Vista right now. You can still get XP, but why bother. It is no longer going to be upgraded by MS. The new Windows 7 will be out (End of Summer/Fall?). There are a few stop gap measures you can take to put off the purchase til MS7. For a hundred or less, you can buy a new hard drive for your old PC. Download a cloning/backup software, open source and free. Backup entire operating system and files from your present XP to your external. Put new hard drive in. Restore from your external to new hard drive. If your PC is okay mechanically, the new hard drive will now contain everything the way it was, including drivers, only working.... If by some chance it is not your hard drive that's the problem, and the PC is kaput, the extra hard drive you can put aside and use in your new one you buy for more storage. You might give a chance to Ubuntu. It would be a good time to learn about it. Download it to your external. Install it on your PC. Then play with until it's time to buy a machine with MS7. Or keep it once you've discovered the joys of a free operating system, and software. I can build and repair any of them from PC to server, but the last time this happened to me, I just went out and bought an HP laptop for less than I could build one. It has Vista with all its quirks, but I put Ubuntu on my old one, so I have the best of both worlds. Before you do anything...close your eyes, and think of puppies.....a smile always starts a project off best...lol

Welcome Lee! There's quite a few of us started up after decades away. Welcome to the club. Learn your way around the board. Primarily how to post your pix...lol. Newbies are treated the same here as the old hands, and there are no dumb questions. PS: Stay away from the donuts in the break room.

Brass knuckles, a razor, and roses...just about sums it up! Great job of composition to fit the seat. Looks like another fine seat soon to be out riding around.

Welcome DPatterson! With your background, I'll bet you'll be a big help in a lot of the sections here. Might especially help out all the people trying to design out their tools and such. Fabricators are cool...

Well Done, Badger! There's going to be quite a few people trying to design out some bags today, after this post.

You should be able to get the oxalic at your local big box lumber store. They use it to bleach wood. Don't get any on the rest of your car seats/rugs.... Don't know if those other chemicals will do for you. The sealers you can get from Tandy, and all the others. By the time the sun bleaches down the color, you'll be buying a new car.... All in all, go buy the right color...

I don't think you'll have much luck with this problem. The best solution, you know already. Go buy the right color. That being said, I'll offer some suggestions. Always test first on a part that doesn't show. First, with a deglazer, go over the whole thing, that will get the sealer finish down/off. Then wash with oxalic acid. It might, and I stress, might, cut/bleach the color down a shade. Repeat, if it's had any effect, until it comes closer to the color you want. Then apply a new sealer coat, like Bag Kote, Tan Kote, Pecards, Snow proof. Good luck, and maybe some others might have a trick, I'm not aware of. That's why I like this place.

Now that I see your method, I like it. It's a little simpler than building a box. For pocket holsters, the amount of impression seems just right, so as not to give away the lines of the firearm inside the pocket, but shaped enough to hold it. PS: I dig the fancy stitching.

How about saying "a two piece gusset"....lol

If you go up to the right hand corner of your window, and click on search "vacuum", you will find a page full of discussions similar to this, including pictures of some molding setups.

The traditional method is to neatsfoot oil the project, suntan it out in the sun for a day or so, then NeatLac it. NeatLac is getting rarer to find nowadays but there are some alternatives like ClearLAc (Google). A lot of the bike guys use Pecard's. Some Saddlers use Tan Kote instead of Neatlac. Others will use Bag Kote, Leather Balm, Sow Proof, Dr. Jackson's, and Aussie's. It all depends on your sources, or the final look you desire. THere have been a lot of discussions here on this board about finishes. Just do some searches here, and do a lot of reading, especially under Dyes and Finishes, because the actual hands on experiences of our members is worth its weight in gold...

Thanks Grunt! Simple usually looks best.... Ray, You must be pretty amazing in real life...lol...BUT, I don't believe the story about the mittens, cause there ain't no PICTURES. Here's another thought. With all the people on this board, and the far reaching fame it's beginning to garner, WHY hasn't some manufacturers rep, or retail sales person come here and solicited an interest? A few types I have seen here involve some stitching work, and making a few things. I know a lot of us have contacted/worked with some suppliers and vendors to get them on the board, but maybe we need some of that "lateral thinking" Ray was talking about, and speak to some of our contacts about requesting actual reps and retailers to come on the forum? Geez, they would have their pick of the cream of the crop in the country here.... This would also fall into my thoughts about Guilds, and Co-ops, but that will probably be another thread, unless here is a good enough place...

I've moved this thread to Conversations, it's a better place for it. You are right RC, word of mouth is always the best way to get started, and keep going. I guess they call that "viral" now. There's a lot of leatherworkers here, who have taken that viral thing and used it in a more modern way...with facebook, myspace, twitter, other forums, etc. It must be working good for some of them, or they wouldn't keep doing it. But there are old fashioned ways of digging up work too. If you can afford/manage to get a manufacturers rep, or be one for yourself, I still believe that is the most effective way to get consistent work. Word of mouth viral, etc tends to hit pockets of customers, that may deluge you for a few days/weeks, but then they disappear, and you have to reinvigorate that by adding something new, or finding new pockets. With some consistent sales, not subject to whims so much, it's easier to build a true business. I'm not saying to go all wholesale, but a concerted effort to build some wholesale allows time for custom, and development work. Hope this starts a good conversation....