pete

what do you folks normally use for(oz.) weight when making 3 ring foto albums? pete

rubber cement it to x-ray film. Get it free from your dentist/doctor. works great and with an erasure you can get the rubber off easily and re-use it 100's of times. pete

what a great looking purse!!! Well done my friend! Burnish the edges and you have a real head turner!!! Care to show the pattern??? pete

that's their brand. I worked from a really bad b/w zerox logo and sized it to look right. It was a gift from a friend to the ranch owner so I couldn't even get suggestions. His logo also goes from brown to nothing on the "R". I need to work on my dying skills- should have done 3-4 coats dry brushing so as to fade it out. I've never dome any figure carving so I went with a TLF deer stamp and beveled around it. DON"T SLAP ME CLAY! I didn't want to learn figure carving on my first commissioned piece! pete

I wasn't aware of the name either. I thought that they were just decorative cuts. Is it cheating to trace the patterns first- does it all HAVE to be done freehand? (Not for the contest but traditionally?) pete

Thanks that 's what I'll probably end up doing. I just wanted to avoid rebuilding it instead of simply sewing it together! pete

My best friend bought a stingray skin and gave it to me. He wants for me to make a standard wallet with 3-4 vertical slits on each side and of course a bill slit. Standard stuff. Problem is that I can't find in insert ANYWHERE that is black! TLF Hidecrafters etc..They are all brown!!. Maybe Ohio Bag Co but I'm not a re-seller. Could one of you find a standard black wallet insert for me. I will pay the cost and shipping gladly. I don't know what Ohio charges(if they even sell inserts) but I saw one this morning at a shoe store. She is re-selling them for $59.00. thanks pete I'll send the e-mail back to you.

great looking! Tell me- how did you do the border- ceramic border(2 blade)knife? pete

I have a Mac. This is what I get when I click onto the free pattern under each project. pete

when I click I get an error page! Then I have to re-load the page without the /# after the .com otherwise the click does nothing. pete

I can't seem to download the patterns. Do you have to sign up or be a member to get them? pete

can one of you makers tell me the(better yet show a picture or 2) of the difference between the 2 trees. thanks pete

I just go by my name- pete. It's short for pppppppppeeeeeeeeeettttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeee.

really nice job! What are the dimensions and did you draw the pattern? Also, how wide is the lace and what is your lace hole measurements beauty!!!! pete

Thanks so much storm!. It turned out quite well. The lacing in no trick. I scribe my line and just pay attention to the 4 prong angled punch. Wherever I punch the leather be it the tip or bottom of the prong or in the middle of the line- I just carefully make sure that I do it all the same. I USED to get sloppy and just run down the piece with my punch not paying attention to the line scribed and it would look ok- that is until I started lacing and then- WHAM_ it was obvious to a blind man that the lacing was crooked and wavy!!! For this I scribed a 1/8th line and placed the bottom of the punch touching the line. thanks again pete ps- I left No. Cal (petaluma, marin co.) 12 years ago for arkansas. Where are you?

here's my pattern for the 4x6 notepad. Fun project! Thanks Anne

All in all I think that it is a very, very nice piece. Obviously you have the talent and the experience to do nice work but if you paid attention to some finer details you would put your work "over the top" and establish you own style. Check out the little things like the stems in the top left corner. They don't go anywhere. The veins of the flowers don"t all point or end at the flower center, the mules foot(feet) are too long on most of the stems and the pear shader could be walked so as to fade out rather than just "holes" at the tips. I say all of this as I and MANY others here have been where you are at. Everybody better than us have been there! When I give a golf lesson to a beginner and he hits a squirrely shot I remind him that at one time Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus couldn't have done better! Stay with it. You are doing fine with the Sheridan style. ps- I still can't draw a pattern better than your!!!!! pete

it would have been neat if you had maybe put chicago screws in each side so that you can easily replace the pad. pete

do you trace the cuts or are they completely freehand after casing? Beautiful work!!!! pete

what is the "basketweavy" tool tha you used? pete

Maybe I mis-understood the question. If you want to scribe a line then dividers are what you need. If you want to make an actual groove for the stitching to sit in then a saddler's groover is it.' pete

a 2 or 3 should suite you just fine. MAYBE a 4 for really thick pieces but try the 2-3. All it's supposed to do is knock off the edge and round it a bit. Water or spit is good (spit is better but you'll get a little dry if it's a big piece!) but don't waste your money on a plastic edge slicker. A piece of canvas or a rough washcloth works great. I like to wet and rub the heck out of it with a bar of saddle soap. I use the amber(glycerine) . Then slick. have fun! Regarding the freehand groover- they are fine for specific lines but get a" saddlers groover" It's a little more but you will love the adjustment/tightening feature not on the cheaper one. Just tighten with your fingers- no screwdriver necessary. WELL worth the difference. pete

I have almost all of the mule's foot tools that I need but would really like a big wide one. I don't want to spend another $25 or so so I made one out of a 30-06 shell casing cut in half. On a piece of scrap it works fine but I wondered if you "jewelers" out there can save me a problem in the future. Is the brass going to hurt the wet leather in any way down the road? I have cleaned it well and polished it too but I would hate to have black marks later. pete