Jaboyd2u

Oh man! I bet that did suck! I had a small piece of gator back an man it's tough. Thanks for noticing the pattern layout. That took me a while to figure out. The hide already had pieces missing from someone else messing with it. So trying to get everything to look right did take a while.

It wasn't that difficult to cut. I was using the belly though so that does play a huge role. The back with the nodules would be pretty difficult to work with. The main thing was getting the "fuzzy" portion off the flesh side. Seems like gator hide has a lot of it ( or at least this one and one other one I worked with had ) I had to use a sharp knife and lighter to get it all off. The hide is malleable as well so I used veg. tanned leather as the base to keep everything solid.

Thank you very much. Really means a lot.

Hey you're welcome! I was shacked at their different patterns you have on one hide. It was nerve racking for me to say the least. As this was not something I bought but something someone else killed and tanned. So messing up wasn't an option. I made sure to triple check the checks. I am thankful it turned out like it did. This was actually my first attempt at any exotic leather. I had only made a couple sheaths. No belts at the time. Certainly not bags. Thank you for your compliments. They truly mean a lot.

Thank you! Unfortunately I don't have real detailed photos of this. I have a couple more pics that are just a little closer and thats all. I will try to post them now.. The bag was for skeet shooting it is made to hold several boxes of shotgun shells at a time. I used the neck of the gator for that part so you can see the different pattern. The sheath was made using the back leg, that's why there are more raised portions there. the the belt was a cut away from the tail to the neck. Giving it a couple different patterns all flowing from the front to back... Closer shot of all together Skeet bag Sheath welt close up of sheath

Thank you for the compliment. I sew everything by hand. The belt alone took around 2.5-3 hours if memory serves me right.

Thank you Rohn. Appreciate the complement. I thought it was really cool to be able to say the belt you're wearing or knife sheath was from a gator you caught.

I am a self taught newbie. Started out tanning hides for myself to use later. Then sort of progressed from there. The photo hopefully will post, shows the very first order I made for a guy. He actually killed the gator and had it professionally tanned then aske me to make a belt, sheath and skeet shooting bag for holding shotgun shells. Maybe someone will like it...?

Thank you for your time. I'm hoping to move in soon!

Thank you for that because really that was my plan glue it reenforce the desk and go from there. I don't like to do things over I like to get it right the first time. Is there a desk height that is better? I was just going to build a frame and put it at different heights to get a feel of where I'd like it. Any thoughts? I'm thinking somewhere in the 29-32" mark for the top. Then for my tooling area I'd add the 1 1/2"-3" for the granite or whatever.

I thought the tile would crack. I used it once before and it broke. But it wasn't glued down that's why I was thinking if I kept it from bouncing it'd be better. I didn't think about a grave stone place. I'll have to look into that.

I just bought a 12x16 shed. I have insulated and installed plywood walls. My main question is with the tooling table I am going to build. If I was to build a desk/work table really sturdy can I go to lowes and buy smooth granite tile and glue it down with no grout? Will it hold up? Canine see some pictures of how your shop is set up?