billybopp

I don't have a leather sewing machine, but I do hand sew and use binder clips to hold things together, such as these from Amazon. You can find them at any office supply store as well. If I am using a type of leather that is easily marked by the binder clips, I'll use popsicle sticks between the jaws and leather to spread out the clamping pressure. - Bill

The only stringed instrument I could ever really manage was that 88 string guitar. Just can't get my fingers to move right on any others and arthritis has only made that worse. I have a neighbor that is a "found items" artist and has managed to find a LOT of cigar boxes, and gave me few. I gave them a light sanding inside to bring up that lovely aroma of Spanish Cedar, and covered them with leather to give as gift boxes, jewelry boxes, or valet boxes. Most were covered with lightweight chrome-tan, some with a little fancy stitching at the corners, and I tried a couple with come carved veg-tan. They're a relatively simple and quick project that makes a really nice gift. - Bill

That is indeed sad news.

When I was in HS, I took up photography did lots of pics for the yearbook of sporting events, dances and such. I picked up a book on the subject and I think it summed up tools pretty well. Better cameras do not make a better photographer, they just make getting the photograph that you want easier. - Bill

Yes you can. It's a bit fiddly and takes some practice, but certainly do-able. Many kinds of knives can be used, some use a round-knife, but they do make specialty skiving knives which aren't terribly expensive - anywhere from < $10 for a Japanese style knife on ebay to better ones at $35 for very good ones from Lisa Sorrell (a sponsor here), to $100 for really pretty ones from the likes of Vergez Blanchard and Chartermade. The big key is making sure they are VERY sharp, and work on a smooth hard surface! There are also "safety skivers" from Osborne and others with replaceable blades, but many find these particularly fiddly to use. There are a number of videos available on the subject, and the following is a reasonably good one. - Bill

I'm still making my list and checking it twice. Have some ideas in mind, but haven't really started on them yet!

I've been eyeing these up for awhile, and waited for airbrush reviews on them. The reviews have been starting to come out lately. It looks like some of the airbrushes included will flow air continuously and need to be turned off at the power switch when you don't want air, others only kick on when you start the air from the airbrush. For the ones that do not flow continuously, it will use less battery. Some of them can work with just about any airbrush, but may need an adapter to do so, and you may need to move adapters around to get it to work. Unless your airbrush has built-in air flow control, you get whatever the compressor puts out. They seem to move air at about 20-25 PSI, and not a large volume - that may not be enough to cover larger areas, but general consensus seems to be that they do work! - Bill

I'd have to agree, that IS the single most important factor to consider! - Bill

LOL! Yes! Pretty much everybody that has made anything has faced that dilemma. Whether it be an expensive piece of leather for us, some expensive wood for a woodworker, expensive canvas and paint for a painter: Getting started is often half the challenge! I've even gone so far as to have a piece of wood in a vice, saw in-hand, just to suddenly be overcome by doubt and stop for a week or two! But eventually I got to it and everything came out fine. Maybe this will help you along ..... Here's a Round Tuit for you . - Bill

I like Fiebings Pro Dye. USMC is a royal pain to use. Yes, it is a very deep black, but that is because it has an excess of pigment that you need to buff until your arm just about falls off. Then you buff some more and still may not remove enough pigment to keep it from bleeding. - Bill

My bet is that it's a dye transfer of some sort - either such as @maxdaddy or @Dwight suggested. If you look closely at the picture, there are a few places, particularly on the right side lighter leather strap, where the image drops out ledger lines, and a place or two where it's a bit blotchy. Laser would not do that (but it would be a great way to do this if you have one!). i have not tried the inkjet on waxed paper method, but have used a laser printer with some success. The way I did a laser printer was to reverse the image then print it, but stop the printer before the paper goes through the heated rollers so that the image does not get set on the paper. Be careful, it is very easily smudged at this point. Lay it onto the leather carefully: Do not reposition it. In my case, I used acetone to cause the toner to set onto the leather, but you could also use heat as in @maxdaddy's post. Acetone does discolor the leather some, but in my case that was not a problem. The "beard pullers" in the picture below were done this way, and also partially outlined with a swivel knife. - Bill

Look for Low VOC dye or Acrylic dye. - Bill

You may want to check out Prince Armory and his YouTube channel. There are patterns to be found on the website, and video tutorials on YouTube. Most of his work is pretty fancy, but there is no reason why you can't use that as a jumping off point for what you want to make if armor strikes your fancy! - Bill

I'm certainly no holster expert, but I do know that just about the last thing you want to have happen is for that expensive pistol to come loose (even in its holster) and hit the floor! I'd make it perfectly clear to the client that it is an experimental kind of thing that they have requested, and agree to NO liability as a condition (I'd get that in writing as well)! It may work well, but even so you don't want to be on the hook if for any reason it does not after it's out your door! - Bill

You will know when your awl is sharp enough when you are able to reasonably easily go through several layers of thick leather and into your finger without you even feeling it! - Bill

Yup! That is a really nice workspace, but it's far too neat and clean! I suspect you cleaned it up to show us. - Bill

Some dyes will do that. Pigment floats to the surface as it dries and needs to be rubbed off. I was not aware that black dye would do that! But now I know. Thanks. It does make sense, though. The reason it looked red is that there really are no true blacks in inks and dyes other then squid ink. Everything else is a very dark version of other colors, usually red, blue or green. I helped a friend of the family do a science fair project when he was in high school in which he tool different brands of ballpoint pens, made a mark on some blotter paper and diluted it with alcohol which then spread it out on the blotter paper so that you could see what the true color was! He won the science fair. - Bill

In normal times, it is prudent to wait for beer o'clock .. .and it's always beer o'clock somewhere. But in 2020, it's pretty much beer o'clock everywhere all the time! And thanks for posting the pics and info! I love seeing folks make their own tools!! - Bill

Just a note to add to what @zuludog said. If you are not comfortable with sharpening an awl blade, Leatherwranglers offers sharpened Osborne blades (for additional $, of course)! https://leatherwranglers.com/shop/ols/products/awl-blades - Bill

One alternative to brushing on dye is to airbrush. In your case, however, I'd dye first by dipping, or whatever you want to use and then paint over the dye! Acrylic leather paint will generally work just fine over dye. - Bill

I believe I would consider contacting the folks at Colonial Williamsburg. They specialize in that era, have leatherworking apprenticeship programs, and are noted for their research on the era. It's a good bet that if you can get in contact with their research folks there they will be happy to provide any information that they can for you. I do not know if your setting is more frontier or more East Coast city. They type of leather work would likely be a bit different for each, but again it's worth a try to contact them. https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/ -Bill

Exactly! Pro dye colors are "synthetic", and often petrol based (hence Fiebings old name for these of Oil Dye) - Think Prussian Blue, for example. As @Mattsbaggersays, there tends to be less rub-off with pro dye, and in most cases the colors are more vibrant. - Bill

Looks great! I love the simple yet elegant look. I have tried something similar in the past, but just as an experiment really. I used a geometric craftaid from Tandy, which gives a similar effect, but hard to NOT get lines where you don't want them with it. If you could figure out how to do that, it would make quick work of such a pattern. https://tandyleather.com/collections/books-patterns/products/geometric-stampinggrid-craftaid-14-38-12 - Bill

Powered skivers are fairly pricey, but pull skivers are more affordable, but limited to 3-4" width. That should be plenty for all but the biggest sheaths. We're still talking about a couple hundred $, but far less than the thousand $ for a power skiver. You can also skive by hand using a safety skiver, but that takes a lot of skill and practice. - Bill

After spraying dye, I run some isopropyl alcohol through my airbrushes. If I won't be using it again, it gets disassembled and cleaned in a cheap ultrasonic cleaner that I had lying around. - Bill