howardb

Looks great from what I can tell. The pics are small, but it looks incredible from here. I don't think you can go wrong by going ahead with the finish! Brent Howard

The local hospitals have all gone digital, so someone told me to buy a package of "quilters templates" from Wal Mart. I did and they seem to work if you can get your project glued down. Note that rubber cement applied directly to the leather doesn't come off very well. The suggestions involving the low tack tape work pretty well. Too strong of a tape will rip up the back side of the project when removed. A friend recommended 3M Packaging Tape (he was very specific...). He has good luck with it. Note that the tape WILL make a difference. I am trying an experiment. It seems to me that the tape alone should stabilze the leather against stretch, so then you shoudn't really have to glue it down to the backing sheet. I have my holster taped in place on the quilting template film. Leave the tape you put on the back side of the leather long and when you flip it over, tape those exposed edges to your plastic sheet (above mentioned template, x-ray film, etc.) and Ta Da! So far so good for me on that one.

Clay, Nice work! I could see those hanging on a hook at Target, but not for long. Really sah-wheet! Brent

Very nice work! Brent

Boy, am I glad I kept reading down the thread... I thought I'd stumbled into the KinkyLeatherWorker.net!

Thanks for all the nice compliments. He does like it, but I have temporarily re-posessed it. My MIL thinks I should enter it, so I'm going to enter it in April in the midwest show. She advised against scuffing... Anyway, I will put up some pics of the holster in progress. I got most of the tooling done last night and I will have some questions for the group. It's a LOT "flatter" than I would have hoped or expected. Hold comments for that thread though so I can find them in the dark! Thanks again, Brent PS: the original artwork (CD case) attached.

I think it turned out much better than I'd hoped. I made this for my son, and it's my first official project since learning how to do this at IFOLG07. Let me know what you folks think. I saddle stiched it, and there wasn't enough "thread" in the kit for that, though they showed a lazy saddle stitch in the directions. So I found some other black waxed cord that was a bit heavier and went to town with it. Holes were pre-punched (Tandy kit). If I did another one, I'd probably start with a blank piece & punch smaller holes or proper diamonds for saddle stitching. It stretched out on me a bit, but not so much that it didn't come back in line during stitching. I need to find a good way to control that. A friend gave me a suggestion and it didn't click until I was done tooling that I could easily have tried that one here since the back was hidden! Oh well. The holster is next and in process. It's cut and I'm working on bevels & such. I'll post when I get somewhere!

Wicked Keeeewwwllll! Years doing camera stuff and you think I'd have tripped over it before. The strobist site was nifty and it's bookmarked for future learning. Thanks! Brent

Chris, Good news, bad news. The good news is, there are hundreds of GREAT digital cameras out there. Now the bad news. There are HUNDREDS of great digital cameras out there. It's not hard, really. All of the suggestions so far are good suggestions. My advice: If you are an experienced photographer and ready to go digital, do the research. You will know what ISO ranges, focal lengths, F-stops, etc. will mean. You will be able to find exactly what you want. If you are a digital camera novice, and don't come from a photography background: 1. decide whether you want a big camera (SLR, or the kind with the interchangable lenses) or a more pocketable camera. Note that the SLR's are all going to be $1000 with a decent lens. Don't be fooled by lower prices. Canon makes a GREAT series of SLR's but to get them affordable they package them with a very crappy lens. A decent lens will cost as much as the camera body in any of the major brands; usually more. A nice pocket (or point-n-shoot) camera will run 200 or more. 2. Pick a price range. There will be a lot of choices in any price range. 3. Stay with a name brand! Canon, Sony, Nikon, Kodak... someone who understands photography and makes cameras. Avoid brands like panasonic or guys that make radios or TV's. 4. Go OUT to a big-box store like a best buy, circuit city, etc. Fondle them, touch them, see if you can intuitively figure out how to use it. Lots of really nice cameras have awkward controls. Even my Rebel XT drives me nuts and I sort of know what I'm doing with it. My personal recommendation is to get big optical zoom (digital zooms aren't worthy). There are a handful of cameras with 10x to 12x zooms. I have a really nice older Kodak that I still love even with the XT around. The current Kodak offering isn't as nice, but there are others out there. I saw a nice pocket camera (Canon) that had a 6x zoom in the flat pocket style. But that's my preference and not a deal breaker for most folks. Hope this helps cut through the fog. Brent

Chris, I sent a contact name to you via PM. Brent

I love not knowing what the heck I am doing. I get to make mistakes & learn from them. I got some free stuff at the IFOLG show, so I am using what I have. I got a bottle of the Tandy eco flo gel antique and it's dark brown. Wear gloves with this stuff! I keep forgetting and end up with brown finger stains. Ewwww. Attempt #1 - gel antique directly onto tooled leather. I got a dark brown (almost black) piece of leather with zero highlights. Good thing it was a scrap learning piece... I've sinced tossed it. Attempt #2 - stained a piece with saddle tan (Tandy eco flo stain), and then two coats of bag cote (it's what I have). The saddle tan left some nice hilights all by itself, but I was on a mission. Now the gel antique. Flowed it on, wiped off the excess (damp sponges), and then buffed with a wooly thing. Left - saddle tan stain & bag cote. Right - same plus antique gel stain. I can see that I didn't get it worked in very well, but here you go. Brent

Chris, I got tired of being tired. My hands cramped after several minutes of carving. I also noticed the leather was more "pulled" around the cuts. No amount of stropping seemed to work. Knowing the importance of sharp woodworking tools & knives I decided to re-edge two of the blades I was using. I have a nice diamond plate sharpener for the kitchen knives, and it's about 7" x 2". I inherited, along with my mother in law, access to all my father in law's tools. She's only too happy to have me use them. Anyway, I found one of those little sharpening jig's you can find in the Tandy catalog. I re-ground the edge, just a hair shallower (not really on purpose...) on both blades & did the initial stropping with the blades still in the jig. WOW what a difference. The hot-knife-through-butter analogy works pretty well here. I actually had to lighten up to avoid cutting the leather in two. Significantly less fatigue. The other comments here on buying a quality knife, or at least blade, are dead on. I have the ultra-cheap tandy knife with a very nice blade in it and it feels good to me. Now, this knife fits my hand well, so I polished the crap out of the swivel until it was smooth. I also have a very expensive ball bearing knife (chuck smith - "maker" knife) and it got even better with a sharpened blade. It doesn't fit me as well, but I like the heft. It has a shortened angled blade in it for very curvy cuts. Get a jig, get a nice stone or diamond plate & re-edge the knives. It will make a difference! Brent

Tim, Welcome from a newbie. Go for the Enduro. I knew a guy who kept a BMW Dakkar strapped into the back of his work van when he traveled for training or long off-site jobs. That's probably more extreme than most people will get, but I always dug the idea. Brent Howard

I was determined to prove wood glue would work! Alas, Jordan seems to have it pegged. The wood glues, at least the ones I had, were definitely brittle after drying. However, I did find two possible glues with varying levels of environmental friendliness. I used the Aileens Tacky craft glue (brown bottle) on several samples with good results. I also tried some "Gorilla Glue" (Urethane glue) as it tends to remain flexible once cured. On to the show & tell: Aileens Tacky Glue - I glued up two "stacks". One was flesh to flesh, both scored with a feather blade prior to glue up. Hand squished and then peeled, and when re-squished it seemed to grab pretty quick. Not like a contact cement, but just enough to lay aside comfortably. Peel result: Note the flesh tore away before the glue let go. Flex: Stayed flexible. The other stack was 4 pcs bonded back to back, back to flesh, and flesh to flesh again. Similar results. Note that the back to back almost wouldn't peel for me. Gorilla Glue - I clamped this setup together after lightly casing the leather and applying the glue. VERY high strength. Reasonable flexibility, though I'd consider it for rigid assemblies rather than moving ones. Note that the back-to-back joint gave way at the glue, while the other joints tore the flesh side. Contact cement (DAP Weldwood) - I coated both sides of one piece, and a flesh and a back of two others. I even re-coated as it seemed to dry out much faster than expected (absorbtion?). after just a couple minutes I joined the pieces and wieghted them down for several hours. Then I let it sit overnight. The next morning, I peeled and it didn't take much effort. The flesh gave way quickly. That may have been the type of leather too. Peel result: Hope this helps. Brent

I felt like experimenting today. I'm attaching before and after photos of two of the suggested methods. I didn't have any of the chrome plated tools that needed cleaned, so I used the ones that were yucky to see what would happen. The first picture is the before for the heated cream of tartar bath. The second is the after. It peeled off the corrosion, and the plating, and was probably starting to eat the metal. I got a funny feeling these are cast zinc tools with a dichromate finish rather than steel tools, so this may sway the results somewhat. The small nosed tool (topmost in the first pic) has a bright and shiny tip which is unscathed, but the rest of the tool is pitted. The others don't seem pitted, but no real improvement either. The 3rd picture is the before for a vinegar bath, room temp. The second is the after. No real change for these. Again, the metallurgy may be an affector. One of the tools clearly shows a reddish (iron) oxide both before and after though. Sometimes, I just have to try. I'll rig up an electrolysis bath one of these days and give it a shot. What it will do to these funny yellow tools is anyones guess... Brent

Try phosphorizing them. Look up "Naval Jelly" and no that's not the bits of jam that drop into your belly button when you're not looking. I used something of this ilk to remove rust from a tractor seat prior to painting. I think I had to remove the very loose stuff and then just painted it on. It does a chemical reaction on the iron oxide and replaces the iron with phosphorous (I think), which ends up being a suitable primer for painting. Worked like a champ on a tractor seat. I've got some of my FIL's older tools that have corrosion on them. I will be trying some tartar and possibly some vinegar dunks to clean them up. Metallurgy info: Oil / kerosene / wd40 / etc plus brushing will remove the rust but will also remove metal. It also exposes bare iron again which will rust again. The cream of tartar / electrolisys / vinegar / naval jelly solutions will CONVERT the rust chemically and can save the metal that isn't flaking off loose. Might be worth comparing a couple of these before jumping in. Brent

Echoing the scuba tank idea... There is an article in this month's Model Railroader about using a portable CO2 tank as an airbrush source. The tanks are available at home stores (Lowes, home depot, etc) and are designed to run air tools portably. I'd check on refills, etc. but it sure sounded like a grand idea. Brent

IFOLG = International Federation of Leather Guilds. The IFOLG show is an annual convention of sorts for all the leather guilds in the US and around the world. It moves around each year and next year will be in your neck of the woods. There are classes from world renowned leather workers, a competition, and at least one nice dinner, vendors, and even a swap meet If someone doesn't reply soon with contact info for one of the Ohio guilds, I'll ask my MIL. She's very involved with IFOLG and would have contact info. I know there is at least one guild as they are hosting next years show! Brent

Being the newbie that I am, I bought some generic contact cement at lowes to try. The leather pieces that I glued took hours to cure and still peeled (with effort) the next day. I never considered wood glue to bond leather. I have several floating around (being a woodworker as well) and will try to set up a comparative test between some of the major types. I've got some "craft glue" (aileen's tacky) that stays flexible when dry. I will add that to the mix. One of the good things about having too many hobbies is I do have a wide range of supplies to try! Brent

{slaps forehead} SINK CUTOUTS! Now why didn't I think of that? Brilliant! Thank you for the suggestion! Brent

Dave - Great show, bad hotel. The drive down yielded caverns, casinos, and outlet stores. Oh, and an Oklahoma Thunderstorm that made me jittery and I wasn't even driving. Worth the effort. Texas really put on a nice show and it was my first. I'm looking forward to Columbus! Hopefully I will have something worthy to enter by then. Brent

Huh? Cookies!! I never met a cookie I didn't like... I'm in Fort Wayne. I've joined the Calumet Guild and will probably be joining the re-forming Hoosier Leather Guild. They just had their first organizational meeting in Logansport last month. Brent

Looks like the same ones I've been squishing all summer. We put in a doggie door and they think they can just 8-legged waltz right into the house!! Not on my watch... OK, I've also been known to scream like a girl when they catch me off guard... Definitely not a hobo. Wrong markings. Judging by the webs around my yard, I think they are funnel web weavers, but they are only going to be poisonous to other bugs. Brent

Block the shirt onto stickyback board (they do this for needlepoint & other fabric crafts), keeping the design straight and square to an edge. Then just scan it or trace it directly. The shirt will peel off with no harm done. I think they call that stuff "mounting board" and there are several kinds. There is a "lo tack" which would allow an easy removal once scanned or traced. Link below... You could also pin it to a cork board & trace it manually. Pres on Corp

I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on TV... (hahahahaha) Seriously NOT a shark, but I do have to put up with them sometimes. Copyright law is pretty clear. IF Tandy has copyright on the DP's, then it is indeed agin' the law to copy or distribute (or post) them, even at no fee. You can sell your copy (hence e-bay) completely legally. Now if you are making more copies and selling them, The Man gonna come knockin' and haul your butt away. [Warning: Opinion to follow!] The SMART thing for Tandy to do would be to scan all of them to PDF's and offer them on CD for sale. Of course an even SMARTER thing for them to do once scanned is allow people to download them individually at N/C. This craft nearly died out and while gaining more support it is STILL "sparsely populated" compared to it's heyday in the 60's & early 70's. Sharing the doodle pages again wouldn't hurt anyone's image. I LOVE the idea of creating new designs and making them open copyright. That way an author can keep it as his own design, but then it can be freely distributed and shared. As soon as I get that good, I'm willing to pony up designs. I may be freelancing my first project (a holster) and will definitely share if I do. Regards, Brent