billybopp

I wouldn't mind havin' that under a nice glass of old enough to vote Laphroaig. Looks good! - Bill

I just came across this on eBay ... It looks about right, and might be helpful if you ever do similar armor again! https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Hand-made-Leather-Punch-Cobbler-Saddle-Maker/302989484499?hash=item468b94a1d3:g:0dEAAOSwhfRcDGRw - Bill

Antiquing is generally done with something darker than the surrounding leather. You can't get darker than black, really, so can't exactly antique that way! But, you could try using a lighter color dye or paint that will settle into impressions and wipe it off the same way you would antique. It'll highlight the tooling for sure, but may not be a look that you want!! - Bill

I don't make holsters, and probably never will unless somebody asks me to make one for 'em. But still learned a thing or two that will be helpful for other items! I love to learn. Agreed about Sam's voice - and feel badly for his wife LOL. But I suppose like anything you get used to it.... There are other youtubers that I check out often and have to cringe through their voice, but the content makes it worthwhile. There are one or two others that I just can't get past. LOL. But, this does bring a question to mind @JLSleather. I know you do your own designs, and curious if you "get it right" first time every time now, or go through iterations? And if mostly first time, how many did it take you to get there? Just curious and food for thought! - Bill

The best casters for you really depends on your situation! There are a ton of choices all with pros and cons. Personally, I'd go with something like this from Woodcraft (and probably available elsewhere as well). They won't raise your stand at all until you are ready to move it, and the wheels won't go out of round if things aren't moved around for a long time. You just flip the wheels down when you are ready to move stuff! The only downside to that particular wheel it that they are smallish and could be a pain on carpet or uneven floors. Maybe somebody makes something similar with bigger wheels? - Bill

It's a single LONG strip of leather with bleeder knots in three places. That video that @Mattsbagger linked should be very helpful, and I agree with him that if there is any concern about strength of the rivet, the leather will tear before a properly set copper rivet lets go. - Bill

I rarely make the same thing twice. And even when I do, there are usually minor changes from the previous version, so I'm always in prototyping mode. When it comes to gussets, I cheat and just make the gusset a bit longer than needed and trim off the excess! Works every time (it's not really cheating if it works, right?) . But yeah, gussets are one item where going from concept/paper to leather is a bit weird. I have pre-punched, and it works fine but it is tedious to me. You need to count an equal number of holes in panel and gusset so that they match and I work with far too many numbers in my day job to unnecessarily do 'em in my off-time! I tend to most often do it they way that @JLSleather mentioned, mark the panel, tack the gusset in place and to at it. But as I said, I leave the gusset a little long to be sure it comes out at exactly the right length. If I were making the same item repeatedly, I'd zero in on the exact gusset length and just use that, but I don't roll that way. You are right, resources that carry you from design through completed item are scarce to none. There are design books (mostly akin to idea sketchbooks from what I have seen), and there are technique books, with very little that covers the in-between part. That's probably not a bad thing, since that in-between part is where creativity comes in. With that said, Arthur Porter on Youtube has some videos series that take you from design to completed item - Mostly fashion bags and accessories using garment leathers. Nigel Armitage has a Youtube video in which he constructs a messenger bag, and explains many of his design decisions - worth a watch. For print resources, if you poke around on Amazon and search "Handbag Design" you'll find a number of books, but I have not personally perused any of those to recommend one or another. For construction technique, I always recommend The Art of Making Leather Cases Series by Al Stohlman: There are 3 books in the series and all excellent. The specific projetcts in them are mostly outdated (Are you old enough to remember instamatic cameras with flash cubes?) but the techniques are just as sound today as ever. - Bill

A LOT of what is being sold as butcher block isn't end grain, which is why I asked. End grain really is a fantastic cutting surface. It tends to not pull your knife off-course, is more or less self-healing, and certainly good and solid! Long grain is just not as nice (although also not terrible!) If you are trying to cut along with the grain, your knife can pretty easily be pulled off-course, and cutting across the grain leaves scars. They also tend to be thinner and lighter weight with less wood in them, and easier to make, which probably explains why the marketing folks are trying to pass them off as a true butcher block. More profit. They both need a little maintenance here and there, but more so the long grain kind. Also, with either one of them, I wouldn't worry about finish. If it came lacquered, no worries - leave it as it shouldn't hurt anything. If it is shellac'd you could have an issue with dyes or other alcohol-based stuff, and I'd remove it (alcohol softens and dissolves shellac). At some point you'll want to clean up the surface by planing, scraping, or sanding and any finish will come off: I'd just leave it off at that point. Workbenches ain't made to be pretty, although just natural wood is pretty without any finish. - Bill

If the wood grain-end up, or long grain?

Outstanding! Really impressive work. - Bill

Chief retired from leather work and sadly took his videos down. Bill

I was wondering if Wendy's was branching out to leather so they could sell All aspects of the cow! - Bill

At those prices, they are not bad. Tandy's pro tools are generally decent: Not as good as something like Barry King, Jueshke, or other higher end but worth the sale price - Full price is a little high. The regular Tandy tools are OK but not great, and I'd avoid basketweave and geometrics where precision is needed, but most of the others are worthwhile. My general opinion on tools such as these is that they are worth the money if you don't quite know for sure what sort of tooling you want to do since you can get a wide variety affordably. Once you know what you like to do you'll know which sorts of really good tools to buy with your hard earned money. Even then, the cheap tools that you find you don't use so much will still be on hand for those rare occasions when you need them. - Bill

Lookin' great as always, Ryan! - Bill

Hmmm. I'm not ready to do a makers mark just yet, but had to give these a look. Found a couple of fascinating things at Steelstamps ... Who knew stamping ice and branding hot dogs was a thing! For that matter, wonder if a hot-dog brander would work for a heated makers stamp? - Bill

That really looks great! I don't think I've ever seen a billet and belt keeper done that way and I like it! -Bill

Different people have different tastes in awl shape. Some like more pointy and tapered, like a rapier sword, some more rounded broadening like a spear point, and some more straight sided like a broadsword. Each will behave a little differently in the leather and in the way they shape the hole. All of them cut along two edges of the blade, and just get thicker toward the base along the other two sides. The rapier tip makes a nice clean hole that is not so different in size between front and back side, but you have to place the tip in EXACTLY the right place and orientation every time which is hard to do. The spear point tapers to be much wider along its length, which means that in thick leather the hole can be quite a bit wider on the side where it enters than on the side where it exits, and also you need to be fairly precise with how deep you push it through. One awl will let you do a wide variety of hole sizes, tho. The broadsword tapers a bit at the point, but is then straight after that, so holes are about the same size front and back, and you don't need to be so precise with the depth. The downside is that the blade has to be the right size for the hole that you want so you may need more than one. Both the spear point and broadsword point will settle into the marks made by a pricking iron pretty nicely and make it easier to get angle and centering right. The picture below might help a little bit: Leftmost is a Tandy all-in-one awl with a spar point, and is an old-school saddler's style. It's a crap blade, but I managed to get it sharp enough to use for a short time .. but long enough to know I didn't like it! You can see by the thick leather it's lying across how different the hole is one side of the leather to the other. The length of the blade also makes it harder to position. The middle three are Seiwa awls which are broadsword types with little to no taper beyond the point. There are three sizes since the width of the blade alone determines the size of the hole. The short blades make them a little easier to position as well. These are my preferred weapons unless I'm working on something too thick for the blades to penetrate all the way through. The rightmost one is more rapier-like, and tapers along most of its length, and is sharp for most of its length. It pierces the leather easily, but is pretty difficult to position properly. There may be other shapes and other opinions, but this is what I've discovered for myself! Hope that helps - Bill P.S. Somewhere in this thread, there is a really good description of the classic spearpoint with pictures and description on page 11 of this post:

Looks good ... Great idea! - Bill

I use cloth athletic tape around my fingers where the "wear points" are. It's cheap, readily available and even gives a bit of added grip on needles. - Bill

Really beautiful piece. Well done! - Bill

Very nice looking! Great work. - Bill

Those colors really do go together well. I'll take one! Oh wait ... I should probably get a gun first. - Bill

Welcome aboard, Boris! Growing up in a hobby shop (REALLY jealous here), I'm sure you've got the patience part down. Tandy kits aren't the greatest thing in the world, BUT they do start to give you a feel for how things go together: Think of them as snap-fit models for leather. The pre-punched holes are enormous, but still start to give you a feel for sewing leather, etc. They are also usually nicely proportioned designs, are usually a blank canvas for you to do a little tooling, dying, etc if you are so inclined, and often include a few suggested tooling patterns with a list of needed tools! After my first Tandy kit, I realized that I could trace the leather pieces on some card stock and then use that as a pattern so that I could buy leather and cut out the same pattern (without the enormous holes for sewing if you want) - at far less $ than the kit cost for probably better leather. Plus, it's kind of fun go back to a project you made early on and redo it with the skills you've gathered in between! You may be amazed! Tandy kits are on sale this week (Nov. 10-18) at 40% off, so there ya go! They have wallets, bags and a ton of other kits available. Even some stuff that Mrs. Boris might like for a holiday gift. If you are shopping Tandy, a couple of books I'd recommend are "Leather Tools" and "The Art of Hand Sewing Leather" by Al Stohlman. There are several others worth having, but those two should be in just about every leather library! Also, a really great and not-too-difficult first project is a belt, as a few above have suggested. A belt may not come out pretty, but unless you cut it too short, there's not a whole lot that can go wrong enough to stop it from holding up your britches! Tandy has belt blanks and buckles from very plain to fairly fancy. The only things you need for 'em is a hole punch and a knife. A little fancier and nicer, some dye and finish(resolene or the like), an edger and a slicker maybe. Get as fancy as you like with it! - Bill

Happy Birthday, @chrisash! No doubt you'll do some amazing stuff with that new printer!! - Bill